What is the differences between the type 4 usedd in the 914 and that used in the VW bus?

Not much. As long as your referring to 72 and later busses

The core long block only has a few differences. One of which being the oil dipstick location.

yep, slightly lower compression ratio, I think the biggest differences are in the heads...

I think the biggest difference is in the camshaft used. A stock bus engine in a 914 would not be a fun ride ...

Andy

The heads are more like 1.7 heads, pistons are deep dish & low compression, cam is not designed for performance. At 65 to 68 HP it really is a dog. Oh yeah, the bus engine had to haul around something almost twice as heavy as the 914, and they get beaten to death doing so. Most are totally worn out so I'm told. So not even a good core in most cases.

i used a bus motor i moved the dip stick on. so i could put it in my 914 to get by and it sucked it wouldnt rev like a 914 motor.but i was driving my car at the time
james

The rods on the bus are heavier, about 5 grams. You can see the difference in a side by side review. The bus rods are a little thicker just above the big end.

Cam

Bus motors have hydraulic lifters, different push rods too.

Bruce

72-77 (or so) have solid lifters. The later ones have hydro lifters.

But the cam grinds, as far as I can tell, are all rather milder than the 914 cam.

--DD

914's are VERY rare in SA. So in theory a bus motor can be modified to replicate 914 power? Flowed heads, larger valves, higher compression pistons and after-market EFI could achieve this? Owned one back in 1982 and then we only had about 50 road registered cars in the whole country!

For a core there's nothing wrong with a bus engine, 1.7/1.8 case is always the best case to use for a performance build-up. If the rods are 5 grams heaver that is a very small amount. Use the 1.8 heads.

Let's see. Relocate the filler and dipstick. New cam (and lifters of course). Re-work the heads significantly or get different ones with better ports and bigger valves. New pistons for higher compression.

Sounds like a 914 engine now!

--DD

Please educate me. Cam and lifters as well as bigger/better valves will not be an issue. The 'better' ports part bother me - can the ports be improved? Is there somewhere on the web where I can see a comparison between a bus head and 914 head? I have direct access to a cilinder-head shop and can have the ports matched/ported and enlarged, but I need to be able to see what the diffirences are. I read somewhere that certain heads' sparkplug location is not ideal - any thoughts on this?
Thanks guys, this forum rocks

Several years ago, there was a thread in the "Type 4um" over on http://www.shoptalkforums.com that showed sectioned Type IV heads including the port shapes. You would have to search for that thread--hopefully it is still around.

There are two spark plug locations used--the 2.0 914 head one, and "all the rest". The 2.0 914 one is better than the other one, Len Hoffman from HAM tells us it's good for ~5% more torque. The location can be changed by welding up the existing hole and drilling a new one. Usually a smaller-diameter hole is used to help combat the tendency the stock 2.0 heads have of cracking around the spark plug hole.

Search on this forum as well for posts by Len, he has discussed at least some of these things here. His user name starts with HAM, I think, but I can't bring it completely to mind at the moment.

--DD

I made a mistake on my last post , the bus rods are 25 grams heavier .
775 :vs:800