THE STORY – engine
The original 1500cc aircooled engine was not present when we found the bus and the replacement F-code 1600cc was in a pretty bad shape and to be honest my intention wasn’t really to drive around with a max of 70km/h so I have purchased a 2000cc TYPE4 engine with a custom cooling system, added a set of 40” dellorto carburetors and an Ahnendorp exhaust system with custom made header pipes. As the original transmission would not suit the power of the type4 engine I have also purchased a brand new AT code transmission from BBT for better performance.
It’s a standard CU code 2 liter typ4 engine with the following upgrades:
- 40” original dellortos + intake manifolds with new seals + servo brake inlets
- stainless steel ahnendorp exhaust system (B.A.S)
- stainless steel shortened header pipes (B.A.S)
- brand new hydraulic tappets (BBT)
- brand new valve covers – not on pictures (BBT)
- brand new oil fill tube (BBT)
- brand new custom made crankshaft pulley
- brand new V-belt (BBT)
- custom made alternator / turbine strap
- custom crossbar linkage
- custom upright cooling
- overhauled (re-wired) alternator / generator
- autometer oil temerature gauge 52mm new (set for the engine)
- autometer volt meter gauge 52mm new (set for the engine)
- 210mm clutch and pressure plate
- electric (AC) fuel pump
- brand new coil
- brand new starter motor (BBT)
- new stock bosch ignition and bosch ignition cables (BBT)
The cooling keeps the oil temperature at a comfortable 95 – 100 degrees celcius even at steady highway speeds exceeding 120km/h it’s tried and tested runs very sweet, no problem at all with keeping up to the traffic going up hills. The cooling is super – it’s not a porsche fan but cools just as good or even better and a pro is that for this fan and shroud we didn’t have to machine the engine block to fit the fan. It’s made using a robur turbine which was supposed to cool a 3180ccm truck engine (very effective)
You can her the engine run in this short video:
An you can see it perform in this long one taking over trucks and passenger cars on a highway with rock solid confidence (watch the needle on the tacho go near 130km/h plenty times):