hydraulic lifters - cam?

[madoski]

I got an 1835 with hydraulic lifters that came in a car I bought.  It's got a cracked head and I'm wondering if it would be worth my time to just replace the heads and carbs without tearing the engine completely down (I don't really have space or tools for this).  It's got a stock solex carb on it right now, and it runs like crap, and pings once it's warmed up.  I need to check the timing.  I know that with solid lifters, it wouldn't be hard to put a dial indicator on it out by the valve retainers and determine lift and duration at the valve, but I have no idea what's inside this one with the hydraulics.  Is there any way to tell by watching the valves cycle?  Hydraulic lifters have to build up pressure with the engine running, so I assume putting a dial indicator on it and turning it over by hand wouldn't tell me anything.  Assuming that whoever built the engine for the street knew what they were doing, is there a generic valve size/head carb combo that should give decent performance on any 1835 regardless of cam specs?  I've got a set of Kadrons and some Weber 44IDFs available to bolt up to it.

[John P]

I ran hydraulic lifters almost 20 years ago on my two liter. You can assume that the cam specs are pretty mild, because hydraulic lifters in aircooled VWs have problems tracking rampy cams. Specifically, you can't run too much spring pressure because the lifter can't overcome the resistance of too much spring. If it was set up correctly, you can assume that it has a mild cam and single, HD springs. You NEED to run single, HD springs in your new heads.

You therefore don't need much of a cylinder head.

If you want to do a quick and dirty, and time, space and budget are an issue, I would simply run a set of stock, ported heads, especially with the Kadrons. There is no reason to run too much carb, as you cam will be the restrictive part. A set of dual, single port, or dual, dual port carbs (with modest venturies) should be more than enough. Kadrons should be fine. I also ran dual 44 IDFs with 32 mm venturies in order to keep the port velocity up. They ran great, but I had more displacement than you. My heads were CB 044 40 x 35, out of the box, which might work well with the IDFs. 

It's probably pinging due to the cracked cylinder head, but be sure to CC your heads and check the compression.

Due to the problems of measuring lift with an unpumped lifter, I used to measure lift with the rocker arms off, tracking the pushrod with a dial indicator. It's crude, but let me know if there was a cam lobe (at least on the nose) that was off. You can then multiply the lift by the ratio rocker to get close.

My memory is that I used to set the lift to zero, start the engine to let them pump up, and then re-set them to zero (plus a half turn). Or something like that - it has been years...

I ran them for 50,000 kms with no issues. The only thing I noted was, upon tear down for a cam change, some of the stock pushrod tube ends had begun to mushroom due to the mileage with the HD springs. No big deal. You MUST run aluminum pushrods, as steel doesn't expand at the correct rate to keep the lifter pumped.

I hope that the engine has an external filter, as the lifters need CLEAN oil - very important.

As an aside note, while I had no issues with them, they make no sense to me. Adjusting the valves on the VW is so simple, and it's a way to keep track of your engine, staying connected with it during regular maintenance. Yes, they were a bit quieter, but not worth the hassle, IMHO.

My 1.5 cents. Good luck.

JP

[madoski]

Thanks John, that's all very helpful.  Sounds like my best bet would be a nice set of stock heads and Kadrons.  I'm kind of veiwing this as a throw-away engine, but if I can have some fun with it till I can afford to get something better, I might as well.  It's becoming evident that it makes no sense to run it in its current state of disrepair.  When you mention setting the lift to zero, you're talking about valve lash, right?  What you described sounds similar to other recommendations for setting valve lash.  The engine has a spin on filter that uses the oil pump cover, so it's not full flow as I understand it, but hopefully it's good enough.  Would it help to run synthetic oil?  Otherwise, I'll probably stick with Delo 15-40 that I'v been using.  I'm still aiming to have a nice 2110 built for my car at some date in the future!

[John P]

Yeah, I think that a nice set of re-worked stock heads with Kadrons will make a good little engine. Save your time/money for the 2110.

Yes, I was referring to valve lash.

No need to switch to synthetic, IMHO, as the Delo should be fine (I've used it with good success). 

Good luck - let us know how it works out.

J

[Donny B.]

You could always have the lifter bores rebushed and go back to solid lifters.

[madoski]

Cool...good to know that I can rebush the lifter bores as well!  I'll probably take the route that John's recommending for now, and if the case is still in good shape when I get the time and $$ to take it all apart and do something with it, I'll consider getting it rebushed at that time.

Thanks!