05 May Building a Reliable and Powerful Street Engine Part I
Over the last decade or so (or, at the very least, since 1995) the Volkswagen sub-culture has relished the re-birth of the once popular, so-called California Look style. The traditional style was created within Southern California during the late Sixties and early Seventies. The band of enthusiasts within this inner circle were striving to assimilate street-legal Volkswagens that were kissing-cousins of their drag-race siblings such as the famous Inch Pincher and Dynosoar gasser sedans of the era. The effect these young zealots had upon the VW scene was phenomenal. The result was a style that not only improved the appearance of the Beetle, but also its abilities on the street and strip.
By 1972 or so, numerous VW’s in the Southern California area had adopted the latest style, which included a lack of bumpers and exterior moldings, a lowered front suspension (and a resultant “raked” stance), lightweight alloy wheels and in most cases, a modified and highly tuned engine. While the exterior changes were somewhat subtle, the engine modifications did not go unnoticed. Typically, many of the California Look VW’s roaring around Los Angeles were powered by 1700cc or larger, dual-Weber-carbureted engines, some as large as 2000cc or more, making such VW’s blindingly fast. Pioneers of the VW street-scene such as Doug Gordon and Don Crane were regulars at Southern California dragstrips, consistently posting quarter-mile times of 14 seconds or less. Yes, way back when.
Fortunately the contemporary resurrection of the traditional California Look not only honors the established key appearance transformations, but also outright performance without compromise. Indeed, a “genuine” California Look VW is defined by its high-output engine. It is now quite common to find a street VW with as much as 210 horsepower. Even VW’s utilized for frequent street use can enjoy the merits of a 2000cc-plus, high-output engine (in the region of 150-160 horsepower), if planned and assembled correctly. Attention to details counts here, more so than you may think, as does defining your goal, and keeping this goal in sight. As the planning, machine-work and assembly-work transpires, you must stick to your initial goal, as this will ensure that all the parts you select will coexist and operate “together”, as a fluid-like package, producing profuse amounts of horsepower and torque, but remaining completely reliable while doing so.
The first factor to deal with is the total cost of the project. Be honest and up front with yourself. Building a reliable, yet powerful Volkswagen engine takes dedication and a firm financial commitment. The costs can add up fast, and to search for “the best price” isn’t always the key to success. Parts that produce streetable horsepower never come cheap. To take shortcuts is to design premature failure into the entire engine system. For example, an individual can select the wildest cam-grind offered by a camshaft manufacturer, but without the proper valvetrain, connecting-rods, cylinder-heads, intake and exhaust-systems and gearing (among other aspects of both the car and engine together), the results may prove highly disappointing, if not disastrous! The key here is to evaluate your budget, and use these figures to guide your search for suitable parts.
The next prime consideration to be evaluated during this planning stage is the first and foremost use you will have for this engine once it is completed. An all-out drag-racing engine is definitely not the same as a daily commuter engine (though there are probably a number of VW enthusiasts who’d like to argue with me here!) Even a “weekend warrior” type of project is far from being suitable for a daily driver. I feel that it isn’t feasible to expect an engine that was created with top-quarter mile E.T.’s to spend its life drudging back and forth in highway traffic.
Obviously, if all-out horsepower is your goal, you will follow a very tried and trued path in gaining it, using very radical cylinder heads, a long-overlap cam, large carburetors and also a hefty price tag. However, if you plan to drive your California Look VW every day, you’d be wise to select cylinder heads that provide good mid-range torque over ultimate-rpm horsepower, along with a more conservative camshaft and carburetors. Don’t be misled though, a reliable, high-output engine can be built, and be built with fairly regular use in mind. Not exactly daily use, but more than just the occasional weekend outing as well!
This brings us to the next important factor to plan: the displacement. If economically feasible, you should plan on building the largest displacement engine you can afford (note the words “you can afford.”) I feel it is much more wise to build a larger displacement engine that makes its power and torque through its sheer size, rather than a smaller engine that will require high rpm’s to generate decent horsepower (and typically more exotic heads and valve train to attain higher rpm’s). The larger displacement engine will generally prove to be more enjoyable to drive, especially at times when it isn’t practical to see the high side of seven-grand.
