Hello everybody we are Kim and Ray. We bought a 1968 EMPI Imp dune buggy with a 1600 motor. After dealing with some motor problems we meet Bryan Porter who brought our motor back to life. We both thank you Bryan. Kim and I look forward to meeting all of you at the Fredricksburg buggy run. Here are some pics of our buggy.
Cool! Richard and Sandy here. Welcome, and get ready to have the time of your lives running around in that buggy (if you haven't had one before now) - we're having a blast in ours!
Do tell what was up with that engine, I'm sure everyone else is wanting to know.
John and Karen here, pretty buggy guys. From the looks of that engine in that picture, there was more to do than just bring it back to life. Looks like it needed some organ donations!
Yep, Frankenstien has put together our monster, except she got new parts not dead ones ;). The engine is now all together and ready to be put back in. Then we will spend this year checking out everyone's cool buggies and put together some ideas for Diamond.....and taking suggestions for sure.
Hey Kim & Ray, Bill & Linda here: Wecome to the group and you are indeed in for some good times. And, be assured, you will thoroughly enjoy the company of this group of folks.
Diamond is the name of our buggy...for now. Cute little story behind it.....but to make long story short, the buggy is what I got in place of an anniversary diamond ring. As from where we hail, Magnolia, TX.
The engine needed a little work Ray brought the buggy by before the roundup because it would not idle I got it running and it proceeded to kill all the flying bugs in the shop. We talked about a rebuild and got it started. Line bore,turned crank,new pistons & cylinders,new heads,and cam & lifters plus chrome tins .
The old motor was shot spark plug holes were repaired badly , rings were shot when I pulled the heads oil ran past the rings and ran out the cylinders so it was time for a new start
You sound like a great mechanic Bryan! Have a question for you, and after that build, I am sure you will know. After the original tightening of the heads (type 1 engine) do you have to go back in after some running time to re-torque the heads like you do with a cast iron V8?
Sorry man, an alarm went off in my head and I was curious about it. I thought 500 miles was a number I recall about re-torque. Based on some of the stuff I read; it sounds like it's a bit of a crap-shoot whether you re-torque or not. VW says yes, but that might be because they have to cover ALL the bases as a manufacturer. Now you have me thinking that I should do mine; ahem, 8500 miles later. Oops? Maybe that's where all that oil is coming from?? Nah..
I was hoping that it would not be an issue. I just do not want to pull the engine again and then have to pull the tins to get to the head bolts! I guess I should have asked this under the Tech Talk forum! I did not mean to get in the middle of Ray and Kim's Diamond blog!
Sorry about that....just picking Dr. Frankenstien's brain!