[T3] 1971 Squareback F.I. Auto; new engine coming

Bobsnotch at aol.com Bobsnotch at aol.com
Wed May 3 16:51:33 PDT 2017


In a message dated 5/3/2017 4:54:53 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
stet.sanborn at gmail.com writes:

Hey  Everyone -
1) I've got the factory 3-speed auto.  The car has just  over 100,000 miles
on it; if I'm doing an engine swap, should I also find a  shop to do an
overhaul on the transmission?  I haven't noticed any  problems (other than I
need to adjust my kickdown switch).  But; given  age, etc... is it best done
now while I've got the engine already coming  out? They seem to be a pretty
robust build.

2) I'm trying to decide  between a stock 1600, or ACN's 1800cc
mini-stroker.  Any trouble with  a larger displacement and the Automatic
transmission?  A few folks on  Samba have indicated they've done the 1800cc
with stock F.I; but I wanted  to run in by the experts.  I wouldn't mind a
bit of extra power, but  not at the expense of other parts of the car.

3) The car also has the  dealer installed A/C unit, although I'm pretty sure
the compressor was  leaking, so I disconnected it years ago and plugged the
holes into the fan  housing.  Have their been any new products out there for
replacement  compressors (more efficient, less drag, etc) that anyone has
seen?   I'm tempted just to pull it out completely, but might give it
another shot  at life.
I'm going to try and answer these, but they'll be out of order. 
 
As for going with an 1800, you might want to re-think this. I'll  explain 
this by saying the plenum and runners are too small to adequately supply  any 
air volume/supply over a 1776 engine. Look on the Samba in the D-jet PHD  
sticky, as the numbers have been crunched, and 1776 is the limit. You'll also 
 want to hunt down some green injectors too. I'm pretty sure Phil is 
running this  part of the set up in his 71 Fastback. You WILL have to tweak the 
MPS though.  Phil might be able to help you with this, or contact Ray 
Greenwood on the Samba,  and he'll give you more info that you'll ever want to get 
it dialed in.  ;-)
 
If you're going to rebuild it, wait until your engine is almost done,  so 
the bands and such can be adjusted to a running engine. The trans itself is  
an 003, and can be rebuilt by most anyone, as it's a Borg Warner unit. 
You'll  definitely want to replace the gasket between the rear axle assembly  
(differential), and the trans itself. This is the 1 gasket in the trans axle  
assembly/unit that can cause a problem from failure (it pumps ATF into the 
diff,  causing the bearings to go). But, if it's working fine, I'd be hard 
pressed to  rebuild it. Might be something I'd do after having gone thru the 
engine and  dialing it in.
 
As for the AC, you'll want to swap most of the entire system to R134,  and 
use a Sanden compressor. They don't use as much power to run (like the old  
ones did), so they've become an excellent choice for retro fitting. I'd 
contact  Tram in the Samba t-3 forum, as he has a list of parts needed, and has 
done a  few retro fits into type 3s over the last couple of years. He was 
talking about  doing a type 3 kit, for those who have mechanical ability, or 
know someone who  does AC work to install it. The option is yours though if 
you want to have it  working, or leave it as it is.
I hope this helps.
Bob 65 Notch  w/Factory Sunroof converted to IRS
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