Pistons and Cylinders
I believe these are for a 2.0 L. Would they be of any use to someone rebuilding a 1.7?
Price looks good but whats the catch?
Tx
Doug

Go over to Shop Talk Foums and do a search on "West Coast Core".

Not sure if they are all "Mahle" parts.

Ken

It will give you the wrong deck height. You would also have to open up the head bores.

You would need a 2.0L crank set to do it right.

What are you going to use carb or FI?

I have 2 - 1.7's. One is complete and siezed.(spark plug missing) The other was running well when I bought the car and tore it down. Currently it is on the engine stand, stripped, and ready to split the crankcase and take journal readings.
I want to keep one of my engines original to stay with the car. So far it is all still "original".
I'm just weighing out my options for the other engine. $229 for a complete set of cylinders, pistons and rings sounds pretty reasonable if I can make them work on one of my engines.
Redoing the heads is not a problem but will things like, will my 1.7 engine tin fit over the 2.0 cylinders?
What is the cc's of 2.0 heads vs 1.7 heads? Will they even fit on the 2.0 cylinders? Will it change the compression ratio to the point that I would have to run higher octane gas?
Since the stroke is different would I end up with a 1.9L?
Would a 1.9L work with the 1.7 FI or should it run carbs for a more variable set up?
I have done a fair bit of mix and matching with V8's 305 to 350 - 318 to 340 to 360 (great success) and such but never with German engines.
Sounds like a challenging project but I just don't want to waste my money.

The add states that pistons are dish topped. Optional flat tops.
Mine are domed topped.
What are original 2.0's and 1.8's?

You will have too much deck height and that means to low of a CR.
1.7 and 1.8 have 66mm cranks, 2.0 has a 71mm, that would give you a extra 6mm of deck, your going the wrong way.
If opening up the head is no problem then get the 1.8 pistons. Should work OK with the stock FI (but I could be wrong).

The stock (USA) 2.0 piston does have a dish, but it's nowhere near the huge dish bus pistons have. Those are a bus piston, not 914.

The tin will fit OK, all type 4 engines look the same on the outside, except for the 2.0 914 heads.

Can the 2.0 cylinders be machined down to a 66mm crank stroke? It would apear that they could be put in a lathe and have 8mm machined off one end without too much trouble.
Are 2.0L (914) pistons flat topped, dished or domed?
Anyone know the cc difference between the 3 types of heads?

2.0 US pistons are dished.
2.0 Euro pistons are flat tops.

Your going about it the wrong way. If you don't believe me, ask over on the STF.

Also is this the company selling these piston sets?

http://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=61326

The Euro's have a 3cc dish (not flat)

I have a 2.0 crank I can sell you with rods for 150$

Forget the whole "machine them for a 66 crank"

If you want to do that.. buy a set of 96's for a 66mm crank and make a 1911.

B

I read the thread, thanks, I'l stay clear of that guy.
Those weren't exactly what I was looking for, I am mostly just trying to figure out what can be done with these engines.There seems to be enough people tinkering with them that I was wondering what combinations work and what ones don't.
(eg. a set of 305 FI heads put on an older 350 smogger engine with raise the compression ratio and increase performance to the tune of about 30 hp and 800 rpm, by then the smaller valves limit any more output)
Does any of this logic apply to the 914?

Here is what I'm talking about options!!!
1.911 will it work with 1.7 FI or would I have to convert to carbs?

It will work with the stock injection (I normally install 2.0 injectors)

We dont have over 1million Small Block Chevy combo's to choose from so the options are slim.

My favorite combo in the past was a 1911 engine with true 2.0 914 heads and a nice cam with .450 lift and carbs. The 2.0 heads really wake up a 1911 engine (or even a 1.8 for that fact). What you end up with is a short stroke large bore combo that likes to REV right now.

B

I stand corrected, after looking at mine I should have said:

2.0 Euro pistons are virtually flat tops. 3cc seems generous, but I am sure that is right.

I wouldnt have corrected you ...but several companies do sell a 94mm true flat top with NO dish. I have had people in the past pull apart engines I built and call me up saying "you said these where flat tops".. I quickly stopped using the term. Educating people about the parts is key.


B

Now this sounds like a fun project for my spare engine
I'll have to get it apart to see what is salvagable so I can start looking for parts.

Oh, it is fine, you are right they do have a dish and we should have the right info out there.

I did not realize they had a dish until you said that.

Here is what I have used in the past:

66mm counter weighted crank (was 199.00 in the past)
2.0 heads with stock rebuild
96mm Pistons/Cylinders
European Racing "H grind" camshaft
2.0 heat exchangers or the late 1.8 heat exchangers.
Balance the entire assembly.
Dual 40mm Dells or tweaked factory injection.
Bursch header/muffler


B

Dyno that and it must bring you up close to the 95 - 100 hp range? What rpm does it rev to?

It easily rev'd to 6k and had power to 6k and didnt poop out like a stock 2.0 at 5200rpm. I also used a HD spring on the valves.

It was at least 100hp to the rear wheels (compared to driving other 100RWHP cars)

B

My thoughts now:

build a 2056 on your case. 71mm crank/rods and the 96mm P+C's.

The Chevy slogon "no replacement for displacement" still applies to our engines.


B

If your going to put down the coin for a motor do it right. A 2.0 crank and rods is a fairly cheap bump in displacement.

But be clear your now entering the hi-po zone and power costs.
A hopped up T4 can cost just as much as a V8, maybe more.

Those Ebay P&C's are bus parts, they are 7.2-1 CR vs US 914 7.6-1 CR. They are made in Brazil not Germany. Hence the $229.00 price.

I'm still looking for my 2.0 parts car
A year and a bit and still haven't found one this side of the border. I found 2 - 1.8's and a couple of 1.7's but no 2.0's yet!
It may just be worth waiting for and doing it up from there.
If I don't find one I think I will go Brads route and build a 2056. I like the sound of that.
I don't needlessly throw money away but for my "project", coin won't be a factor to do it up right. Once I have my "original" 1.7 done then I will work on another engine to get some power out of it.
As for the cost of doing small block chevy's, they're cheap to do.
$1500 and I do all the machine shop work and a couple of my engines are still in race cars (winning) 6 years later.
If you want to see big dollars, try redoing a current year model 2 cylinder snowmachine engine. I have seen those run up to the $5k mark. Ouch!
For you guys in SoCal, snowmachines are like seadoos to be used on frozen seas.

"Big block" versions of most any motor cost lots more. Small block Chevy parts are as cheap, compared to big blocks, as type I's are compared to type IV's. But brother does displacement make a difference!

I have a set of P & C Euro Made in Germany I bought from Doc and Cy's for sale in the classifieds. New never used the correct Euro parts.
Thanks
Van914

I thought the 2.0 Bus crank/rods were the same as the 914 2.0. Can someone correct me here?

Surely there's some junker 2.0 VW Buses arround.

I believe you are correct that the Bus 2.0 uses the same bottom end. The bus pistons are very dished. The bus heads are much like a 1.8.

I do have a 73 914 2.0 core engine I may sell. It was "converted" for bus use so a bit of reconversion would be needed. I sold the bus heads, but have a core set of 914 2.0 heads that could be used with some work. And I'm on the north side of the border!

DaveP

LOL!!

I haven’t got a clue about Chevy’s… I’ve probably rebuilt/hopped-up over a thousand VW engines and I’ve never put together a chev V8!!! Don’t even know how to set the endplay.

BUT it must have been a big block or whatever, because one of my buddies just put together a $14,000 (Canadian) Chevy engine.
Also my brother and his buddy had stock car that they raced at Westgate in Peterborough and that engine was a small block that cost them $6000 in 1995.
You might be able to build a cheaper smallblock, but they won the championship, for their class, two years in a row.



“I thought the 2.0 Bus crank/rods were the same as the 914 2.0. Can someone correct me here?

Surely there's some junker 2.0 VW Buses arround. “

Porsche turned the 66mm (1.7, 1.8) crank into the 71mm 2.0 crank, and then VW started putting them in busses in ’76 I believe.
A lot of people say the 914 2.0 crank is a better crank, but the bus 2.0 crank will work just as well.

If you have the ability to do your own heads, blue print and balancing you can easily save yourself $5k. the time is all the money here.
I raced stock cars for years ( with a 75% winning average) with several championships to my name. Yes I was racing against a bunch of "Canadian Rednecks"(3/4 of them were easy to beat) but the only engine failure I had in 6 years of racing was a bad distirbutor that took me 2 races to find crapping out after 500rpm. The last engine I did cost me $650 CAN and is still in my last racecar I built ('82 Z28) and racing in the Ottawa area 7 years after I built it. It can be done and done right!
I have people I know that take an engine to a shop and say "build me this, I want it to be fast and win races" A month later they walked away with an good engine and a $10K bill to show for it. That doesn't mean you need all that $$$ to win. It really made me feel good to beat those guys however most of them were racing in super modified classes and I only got to race them once a year.
In stock or mod stock you can still get 275 hp out out a small block chevy with a 2 barrel carb and the right stock (Corvette) parts. If you want to push the 400 hp + range and risk reliability then you do have to spend much more money on parts but still I would only be looking at $3K to do it all myself.
As for the type IV's I am just doing as I did for Chevy's, find out all you can first, do my homework and then build a good reliable engine for the minimum number of $$$. Then next time do it even better.