Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/05/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The 356 heads had an angled exhaust valve for a, fashionable at the time, semi-hemispherical combustion chamber. Now we know that the larger combustion areas of the hemi engines are not as efficient as narrow angle heads. So VW engines can be made more powerful than 356 engines (much cheaper too!). Hemi heads require dual plugging to keep timing advance to a minimum. One of my personal projects is a Ducati single (80 degree included angle) and I just had the head "breathed upon" and dual plugged. You can knock back its maximum advance 5 degrees after dual plugging. Helps to keep the aircooled engine running cooler. Right now at work I am doing up a stock 914 1700 70 hp engine into a 2270 160 hp fully streetable engine. Heck, it is even considered to be a bit mild compared to some of the options out there. Not cheap mind you. John Collier On 28-May-05, at 7:41 AM, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote: > Marc Small writes: > > <<(The VW motor > remained essentially unchanged from its origin until 1960, an engine > designed to last, with routine service, for 200,000km (125,000 > miles or so) > and, after a minor rebuild, for that length of service again. The > later > 40hp engines were capable of far greater pwoer and led to the curent > excursus into the nitro powered ones we witness occasionally > today. But, > in the end, the basic VW engine was a winner and I still have a > single such > engine in my basement>> > > ============ > > I used to race a Porsche Speedster around the hay bales in Ann > Arbor in SCCA races during the late '50s. When the engine blew, we > simply bolted in a stock VW engine. My lap times were only slightly > slower. The early Porsche engines were simply hotted up VW engines > using the same block castings. My Speedster had a roller bearing > crank, increased cylinder capacity, different valve timing and a > bigger carb. VW parts could be substituted for everything but the > crank. > > I still have a Judson VW supercharger in my garage. Maybe we could > combine it with your old engine and have a really hot VW van.