New 2270 engine kit combo, Testing is complete! Options

[Jake Raby]

As you guys have probably read my engine program and engine kit side of the Type 4 Store have been going through some big changes with the development of the "New Generation" cylinder heads. Len and I started this development many moons ago and we have finally got the program down to the "T". These heads have given my most popular kits and complete engines a solid 15-20% gain in power over their counterparts with our previous cylinder head technology. We will not be revealing exactly what the heads entail to the publi until the first installment of the Type 4 Build up article is circulated in Hot VWs in early May as we utilized these heads on this engine in the article, but in the mean time we can let you in on some data I have gathered both on my dyno and in my 66 Beetle test car.

To do this the best way possible I'm going to include in this post an excerpt from a post I made on my forum explaining in detail the info we have attained during this past week of testing. Also I will include info and data from todays event, the Southeast dyno day, where I brought out the first test engine with these heads to the public.

Keep in mind before reading further that this is a 9.3:1 engine, built from one of my new engine kit combos. It was running on pump gas and has no fancy tricks. Also keep in mind that this engine made more power at the rear wheels than this exact same engine typically makes AT THE FLYWHEEL and all that was done was a swap to the "New Generation" heads... This kit isn't going to cost more than the current 2270, and YES it will work GREAT in a 914, the torque is astounding!

......and yes, development will continue with these heads on all my most popular engine combinations. We are seeing such huge gains and we are so into this test work and the program that I have suspended further Turbo development until we get at least 10 more of my recipes equipped with these heads for back to back testing- MY GOD IS IT FUN! You can expect to see a 200HP 2316cc engine on pump gas, with cool temps not needing exotic components with these heads as a ROUTINE occurance now, we have already done it and know how to easily replicate it!!!!

Read more if you want...

The past two years I have taken top HP and Torque at this event, last year I had first and second spots filled, but this year I let the boys play while I did some R&D work on a new engine kit combination utilizing the "New Generation" heads. I set aside the huge numbers to gather some data from a "regular" engine built with 100% off the shelf parts, with the newest 2270 combo we are now offering in kit form.

I have all the datalogging equipment installed in the Blue Bug and witnessed some INCREDIBLE temperatures from this engine on the 2 hour drive to and from the event. I had planned on drag racing the car/engine tomorrow in the Street Car challenge but my dad has his health issues so we decided to stay close to home. The gearing is definately set up to benefit the 1/4 mile and not a Type 4 thats going to be adily driven, with it's 1.04 4th gear. Due to this I was turning roughly 4K RPM at 65 MPH which in 80 degree heat would put a Type 1 to it's knees quick in the oil temp department, the highest oil temp we noted to and from the event was 190F! I only have a very small external cooler, 24 plate Mesa thats 12 years old and probably half filled with crud by now!

The head temps were unreal! The biggest CHT difference that was noted on the 4 hour trip was 23 degrees! The highest CHT I spotted was 332 degrees with most of the time the heads running between 290-310, I only hit the 332 number when pulling a huge hill while accelerating up it.

The most amazing thing is I was still attaining 22 MPG while turning 4K RPM for the entire trip! This is absolutely made possible by the effectiveness of this combo and the effects of the "New Generation" cylinder heads.

Now on to the POWER part of the story...

The dyno operator was a "New Guy" so he had no prior experience with ACVW engines and this morning he really sucked! I was #4 on the dyno and he didn't rev the engine high enough on the first run and acted like he was afraid of breaking something. I told him to stand on it for the second run and he did and got a better reading of 138 HP at 5500RPM and a whopping 147 lb/ft of torque at 3,400 RPM with a wonderful graph that I'll post later. This engine is all about usable power and the plots prove this as the torque curve is damn near flat from 2,500-4,800 RPM!

The engine was a tad bit lean but I didn't figure it was lean enough (13.2:1) to warrant a jet change. Later in the afternoon several of the guys that went earlier in the morning with me and had shabby runs had then re-done, as the dyno operator was doing much better after a few cars hit the roller and he got more used to them.

So we tossed the bug back up and did 3 more runs, 1 with the fan belt, just as it was earlier in the day and then two without the belt. Max HP without the belt ended up being 147 HP at 5,800 RPM and max torque was a whopping 155 lb/ft at 3,500 RPM! Remember that these are RWHP numbers from an engine that was built exactly as it would be from one of my kits, not a single "Trick" was added! Also remember that in the past the 2270 was only good for about 150HP AT THE FLYWHEEL in "kit" form so this new kit and the "New Generation" heads have given us a solid 20% power increase without impacting reliability, or maintainability at all! This kit is running COOLER head and oil temps than any 2270 of this stage of tune ever has before! As a matter of fact this engine made MORE power on the same dyno than the 2316cc Hybrid that was in my 914 at this event last year, and it did this without having to rev 7,500 RPM like the 2316 needed to, this engine was all done by 5,800 RPM which makes it last forever and be easy to drive at the same time!

On the last dyno pull a bunch of the guy wanted to hear the engine rev as high as it could and were giving me a hard time so the owner of the dyno got me out front with him and told ME to tell the operator when to stop rev wise. The engine was all over by 6K making power and all the revs were pretty worthless, but I decided to entartain the crowd a bit because I had already taken this engine well past 7K on my dyno and had plenty of valve control left.... So he keeps revvin, revvin and revvin and I finally hear it run completely out of air and get on the verge of valve float, so I had him kill it at a whopping 7,400 RPM- Remember this is all off the shelf parts, nothing lightened or radical! The crowd was happy..

I'll be doing a lot more test work with this engine in the Blue Bug over the next month or so before I have to change the drag gear box out for my tall geared tranny for the trip cross country to California. I plan on taking it to the local track for the next several test and tune days to get some 1/4 mile logs for HP and torque as well as some temperature data logs. I will also be doing the final testing of the 914 version of the DTM on this engine in the bug so it'll get plenty of time on it very soon both at the track and the street as I'll be driving it 80 miles a day for the next month + from work to home and back everyday.

You'll be seeing A LOT more of this engine very, very soon!

So there ya have it a new engine kit has been born, and dyno proven with great results.. It'll be available in about 2 more weeks for purchase through the store as I have to break it all down and come up with the prices of components, don't expect it to be any more expensive than the current 2270 kit, just more powerful.