RV8 powered VW van

[Danny-Boy]

Hello all,
Well i`ve finally got the van M.O.T`d so its on the road,I do still have some questions though, the temperature sits at about 90 ish degrees is this too hot??,it does come down with fan on to about 82. Should i be worried?
Also i had put some filters on the rocker cover breathers,but have since learned that there should be pipes going to the carbs,will this improve the performance?
Last question,for the moment anyway, how high should the engine comfortably rev and where in the rev range should most of the power be seems to run out of puff about 3200rpm,is this right.

I rather suspect that fitting the pipes back on the carbs will answer question 3,but best to ask those in the know.

Thanks in advance.

Danny

[kiwicar]

Hi
temperature range sounds OK to me, the important thing is the temperature comes down when the fans go on, this means the cooling system has a big enough rad and the fans work.
I would re fit the crank evacuation, two top rocker cover pipes, one on the back of the valley (1/4" pipe), it is probably worth 4-6 BHP at the top end on an engine in good condition.
On a standard cam It should produce power (worth having) to about 5500 revs, and make noise to 5800 with peak power at around 4800 and pead torque at 3200 ish so somthing is wrong.
A good bet is that the ports on the manifold side of the carbs that the crank evacuation fits to have not been blanked off and the carbs are set very rich at idle to get it to tick over, at about 2000 revs these pipes will not flow any more and the mixture richens out until 3200 when it is so rich the engine won't rev any further.
Got any pictures? (of the Van)
Mike

[Danny-Boy]

[russell_ram]

Well that's a surprise - I was expecting to see a Splittie bus of some description or at least a Bay window. I like it, a real sleeper.

Russ

[bodger]

does it wheelie ??

[Danny-Boy]

Very nearly ,still getting used to all rattles dont want to push it too hard yet, its a hell of alot faster than the standard 1600 aircooled unit,and it sounds the dogs

Danny

[ChrisJC]

I'll have to watch out for that one. I take great pleasure in passing those things in standard trim, might have a bit of a match on with that one!

Chris.

[Danny-Boy]

It is a marked difference from the standard 50bhp, it does go well.

[chodjinn]

whoa that's awesome! My mate has one of those vans, great little things! And even better with a meaty V8 hehe

[Danny-Boy]

Yeah i was going for kind of american inspired "rat" look,which is basically my excuse for not painting the thing.
I`m still not happy with the carb set-up though,its running SU`s of some description i`v not really had much to do with them since i had mini`s and that was a good few years ago. It seems to run lumpy when i turn what i think is the mixture( a small screw beside the fuel inlet pipes ), please tell me if i`m doing this correctly?? or have i missed something?

as always any advice greatfully recieved.

Danny

[ChrisJC]

You really need to get a Haynes manual for the engine and follow the procedure for setting up the carbs, i.e. balancing them, setting idle speed & mixture up properly.

Chris.

[Paul B]

You really need to get a Haynes manual for the engine and follow the procedure for setting up the carbs, i.e. balancing them, setting idle speed & mixture up properly.

Chris.

It is worth checking out the ignition timing too, which can be a big restriction to performance, like a built-in factory fault that won't let it advance beyond 26 degrees mechanical advance, depending on what set-up you have.

http://www.seight.com/ignition.html