First oil change

I did the first oil change and valve adustment on the Volkswagen bug tonight. Ran it for 15 minutes at 2,000 to 3,000 RPM. Drained the oil and pulled out the screen while it was still nice and hot. The oil had a few small metal shavings as to be expected for the first change.

Tools used for the oil change. 10 mm socket for the 6 plate nuts. 13/16 in. socket for the main oil plug. (I have a 19 mm socket, but that didn't quite fit)

While the oil was draining, I noticed that the plate had been painted. I think its from the engine heat and oil, but the new paint was starting to flake off in little peices. Not liking this, I used a scraper and some 200 grit sand paper and removed all of the new paint from the inside surface of the plate before I put it back together.

Before adding the new oil I adjusted the rockers tippets to .006 in. They where all real close, but I tweeked them to have a better fit. (My buddy Mike reminded me to do this while the engine is cold, even the slightest bit of warmth may alter the valve clearances.)

Tools used for the valve adustment. Regular screw driver to pop the valve cover holder and for the tippet adjustment. 13 mm box wrench for the retaining nuts. 13/16 in. socket for the generator pully nut to turn over the motor so the appropriate cylinder was at TDC when adusting the valves. I made sure to clean out any oil, shavings or other gunk from the heads while I did my adjustments.

With everything back together I added 2.5 quarts of 10w-40 oil. Ran it for about a minute, checked and added another .25 of a quart. All together I put in 2.75 quarts of oil. No leaks yet ...

Notes: Need to pull the distrubitor cap off to tell which cylinder is at TDC and firing. Also, don't leave your tools under the rear of your air cooled VW when getting the engine warmed up! The cooling air blows out the bottom, everything gets toasty.

Engine break-in

I talked to a few of the guys at the Twin Cities VW Club this week about engine break-in. Since this car has a newly re-built engine, I want to make sure I treat it right in the beginning so that it give me a nice long life. Not knowing if the engine has been broken-in, I'm going to be cautious and treat it like its new and break it in.

Picked up some 10w-40 oil and new drain cover gaskets.

I'll run the engine at about 3000 RPM for 15 minutes and then drain the oil when its still warm. Fill it back up and adjust the valves. Then for the first 300 or so miles I'll do stop-and-go driving mostly. Then drain the oil again. After that I should be good to go for regular oil changes.

Engine displacement

When you talk to bug guys for a while they frequently throw our engine sizes in CC's. You hear numbers like 1585, 1776, 2110 ... So I wanted to figure out how to calculate the size of an engine. Here is what I found out.

Engine displacement is a measure of the volume of air displaced by an engine. The measure of the distance between piston's top dead center (TDC) and bottom dead center (BDC) is known as the stroke. The measure of the cylinder diameter is known as its bore. Knowing the bore and stroke of an engine and the number of cylinders we can calculate the amount of air/fuel the motor displaces or its' displacement.

The formulas for a cylinder is given as:
Displacement = PI * BoreRadius^2 * Stroke * NumberOfCylinders

For my stock 1600 DP engine, this is what we end up with;

PI = 3.1428
Bore = 85.5 mm
Bore radius = 42.75 mm (85.5 / 2)
Stroke = 69 mm

Now for the math for my stock 1600!
3.1428 * (42.75 * 42.75) * 69 * 4 = 1585.25 CCs

Here are the common air cooled VW engine sizes (bore * stroke)
85.5 mm * 69 mm = 1585 (called the 1600)
87 mm * 69 mm = 1641
90.5 mm * 69 mm = 1776
92 mm * 69 mm = 1835
94 mm * 69 mm = 1914

A stoker motor has a crank shaft that has a larger diameter, which means the piston travels farther with each up and down stroke.
Stroker engine sizes :
90.5 mm * 74 mm = 1904
90.5 mm * 82 mm = 2110
92 mm * 82 mm = 2180
94 mm * 82 mm = 2275
94 mm * 84 mm = 2332

Super Beetle Technical Information

Although they looked the same as previous models, the 1302 and 1303 ‘Super’ Beetles were the most radical reworks of the car during its long life. MacPherson strut front suspension was adopted, which allowed more front boot space (and thus provided the easiest way to tell these cars apart, by their bigger and more rounded bootlid) and improved handling. The struts also allowed front disc brakes to be fitted too. The 1303, from 1972, had a more safety-conscious padded dashboard and wraparound windscreen, plus bigger tail lights.

Performance:
0-60mph: 18.3secs
Top speed: 81mph
Bore 3.36 in. (85.5 mm)
Stroke 2.72 in. (69 mm)
Displacement 96.6 cu. in. (1584 cc)
Compression ratio 7.3 : 1
Maximum output SAE net 46 hp at 4000 rpm.
Maximum torque SAE net 72.0 lb. ft. at 2800 rpm.
Maximum and cruising speed 81 mph

Dimensions and weights:
Length 163.0 in. (4140 mm)
Width 62.4 in. (1585 mm)
Height 59.1 in. (1500 mm)
Ground Clearance 5.9 in. (150 mm)
Unladen weight (ready for use) 1984 lbs.
**Vehicle capacity weight 739 lbs. (335 kg)
Gross vehicle weight 2844 lbs. (1290 kg)
Gross axle weight, front 1190 lbs. (540 kg), rear 1670 lbs. (760 kg)
Permissible roof weight 110 lbs. (50 kg)
Wheelbase 95.3 in. (2420 mm)
Turning circle diameter 31.5 ft. (9.6 m)
Track at front 54.3 in. (1387 mm)
Track at rear 53.6 in. (1364 mm)
Wheels 4½ J x 15 safety rim wheels
Trailer 882 lbs. (400 kg), tongue load 55-88 lbs. (25-40 kg)

Capacities:
Fuel Tank 11.1 US gal, (42 liters; 9.2 lmp. gal.)
Engine 5.3 US pints of engine oil (2.5 liters; 4.4 lmp pints)
Transmission and final drive 6.3 US pints of hypoid oil (3 liters; 5.3 lmp. pints)
Windshield washer approx. 3.6 US pints of fluid (1.7 liter; 3 lmp. pints)

Here are a couple sites with more Super Beetle technical information
SuperKafer
1302 Super
1303 Owners Manual
Wikipedia