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EA81 transplant into a '59 Beetle


spikedbeetle
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Here are the intake manifold about half way done. If you are going to try this, have someone cut your flanges. A dremmel tool takes way too long. I port matched everything before I assembled and welded.

 

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If you have any specific pictures you would like, I will try to take and post them.

 

I myself am very excited and anxious to find out if the dual carb setup will be any more powerful or not. If it is, I could make kits for subaru aplications. It looks like it should all fit in a suby too.

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Thanks for the positive responses.

 

You can see the radiator in the first pictures hiding in front of the engine. Here are a couple more shots of the radiator. I used an aluminum radiator for a jeep chrokee and had the outlet moved and resized. I think it was 11" tall and 36" wide. I raised the luggage compartment area behind the rear seat about 5-6 inches to have a place to put the radiator above the tranny. I wanted to make the diehard VW guys scratch their heads. Which is why I used VW parts on the engine. These carbs are supposedly good to handle up to 100 hp. I took them off of my old VW motor as well as the generator and generator stand. I made a small adapter to bolt the vw stand on. one of the holes actually lined up perfectly with the hole in the block that was used to hold the bracket for the suby alternator.

 

Yes, a Kennedy adapter for the trans.

 

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I tried starting it tonight, but the battery is dead and I am not 100% sure where the black and yellow wires on the side of the distributor go.

 

I have the black hoked up to the neg. side of the coil. The yellow I think is supposed to go to the pos. run position somewhere. I have it hooked directly to the pos. side of the coil right now just for testing.

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Okay here is a question. My lights are all still bright. I tried turning my engine over this morning. It turned over fine the first time then did the same thing where it seemed to lock up and only do a partial turn.

 

Could this be due to the hydraulic lifters not having oil in them yet?

 

Should I turn the engine over for a while with no spark plugs to give the lifters time to fil up?

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I tried starting it again today. No spark. The wiring diagram I have for the subaru says my positive wire should go through the ignition module. I thought that was just a run position of the ignition switch. Is the module something else? Do I have to get one for the engine to run?

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I tried starting it again today. No spark. The wiring diagram I have for the subaru says my positive wire should go through the ignition module. I thought that was just a run position of the ignition switch. Is the module something else? Do I have to get one for the engine to run?

 

ok, there are a couple of things you need to do, =->

 

- make sure the disty is electronic; i.e. no points....then :

 

#1- re-route your wiring (regardless of mfg.) so the run position switch goes to the coil (+) ...take the Yellow wire from the disty ,land it on the same coil post (+). Land the black wire from the disty to the (-) post on the coil.Do not ground the (-) post from the coil! So go on and hit the key! If it still wont spark, then :

#2- identify the distributor mfg.(Nippondenso or Hitachi) ? Most models have an INTERNAL module....I've been told the exceptions are the '80 Hitachi, and the '80-'82 ND... you said 1 yellow, 1 black feed the disty, so that narrows it some, and I can see the advance has a single diaphram, that narrows it further...it's hard to describe the differences between the ND and the Hitachi. But yours looks like the Hitachi to me :banana:

Go ahead and open up the disty,peek inside... if the advance weights have a spring-inside-a-spring setup , it's certainly a Hitachi...if the springs are single affairs, its a ND.

You'll need to know this in order to get the right module/pick-up coil for your distributor, if everything else checks out....

 

Sure hope this helps, your Beetle looks amazing ! Keep us posted with your progress!

-Rob

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I believe the one in the car is ND. I also belive I have a hitachi on the shelf. Both seem to have the same problem.

 

I checked my wiring. I have the black-to-neg. Yel-to-pos. Still no spark.

 

I checked 2 coils and 3 coil wires. and no spark. This leads me to think the problem is in the dist. The ND was supposedly remanufactued and the car I got it from had less than 100 mi. on this dist. :mad:

 

I really don't want to spend any more on this project.

 

Where would be the best place to get a pick up coil or new dist?

 

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Thanks for the comments.

 

To answer your question; The VW engine runs the same direction as the Subarus. The gears in the tranny are just opposite from a subaru. It makes a simple swap.

 

I JUST GOT SPARK! I was getting different responses regarding where the black and yellow wires were to go. I was getting no spark the way it was, so I figured if it's ruined already, why not try it the other way just to see what happens. I got Spark! I had my wife crank it over a couple of times. It popped like it was going to start! I decided since there is no muffler on it at this point to call it a night since it was 10:30pm and the neighbors have two week old twins. Tomorrow being sunday, I don't know if I will start it up or not. But Monday for sure.

Edited by spikedbeetle
I got spark!
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That makes sense , thanks for clearing that up - nice self-control not fireing it up at 10:30 pm , i'm not sure if i could have waited ! I am getting older and a little wiser , i probabley wouldn't have gotten any sleep though . Good luck , your getting closer !

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Thanks.

 

I think it's cool sound is mostly because it may only be running on a couple of cylinders. I think I may have some of the wires mixed up. The whole engine in the wrong end facing the other direction is messing me up. Or I may have the distributor 180 out. How do I know that one?

 

I drove around the block, but all I could do was idle it. As soon I stepped on the pedal it would bog. I think I may need a better fuel pump.

 

I also found a couple leaks under pressure That I should be able to fix fairly easily.

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Well, It runs a lot smoother with the plug wires going to the correct plugs. :-\

 

I still think I have a fuel delivery issue. I will remove my regulator and pressure gauge to see if that will clear any blockage if that is even the issue.

 

I thought I was almost done. I think I am just getting started. :banghead:

 

Once I get it running half way decent, I will have to tear it down and fix the couple of leaks, get it all done up nice and put it back together again.

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