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Rotary Beetle Update

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Old 06-26-08, 08:33 PM
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Karis and Jeff
I've been having some electrical gremlins and I cant advocate the grounding practices enough! Jeff has responded to some of my other posts dealing wiht the ignition. I do have the exhaust done with a rb presilencer and homemade

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7zekl/k...ykuny/id1.html


header. I have had them pwoder coated twice and we'll see if ti sticks this time. I'm really disappointed because it was running decent before the motor and tranny rebuild but now intermitent at best. I keep running into cheap parts that are new and go bad so I keep making a circle.
Maybe I will change the oil
this weekend get it inspected and blow the gunk out of it on the highway.
Karis,
A lot of people were impressed with the gm hei ddflis. I wonder if we can rig up a low dollar fuel injection system??

Kevin
Old 06-26-08, 09:34 PM
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your supose to use a 6 volt starter....
Old 06-26-08, 09:42 PM
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Yeah I have the 6volt starter- Can't say it's the cat's *** but I do have one on there. It turns the motor great with the plugs out but not too much with them in
Old 07-09-08, 01:38 AM
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I'm running a 6v starter in my 13b bug and it works great. But for a while I did have a slow turning starter it ended up being a short in one of the windings. You can't keep cranking the engine on one of these starters they overheat and short out quickly. My solution was to fist fix my ignition problem so it starts on the first crank then I bought a lifetime warently starter so if it happens again it's not that big of a deal. Oh and new battery cables helped too.
Old 07-21-08, 07:13 PM
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I'm 90 percent sure that you are right and it is shorting out. Is there a way to test this with a meter or do you test this with a credit card? Get a new one and if it works that was your problem. What about the high performance starters? \

Kevin
Old 07-22-08, 01:11 AM
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Yes you can test the starter. First you will have to take the rear cover off the starter two long screws. Then with an ohm meter you will test for an open or shorted winding. By placing one test lead on the coper part the brushes run and the other on the starter shaft. Make sense?

As far an I know they don't make a hi performance 6v starter.
Old 08-25-08, 08:25 PM
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It took a while to get interested again in it but it was the starter giving me problems. I Swapped it out tonight and it starts and runs fine. Thanks for all the help. I need to get a sticker on it and hope the local tuner kids are still hangin in Sheetz's.

Kevin
Old 08-28-08, 03:34 AM
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Hi Guys!

The last few months have been slow ,with being ill half of the time,and being short on money.

I spent more time on the wiring,and i finally got sick of it.I mean come on,i spent so many hours,and allmost nothing works!

What will i be doing now? Iam going to pull out all of the old wiring,and putting in a brand new wiring harness!

In the days to come,i will post pics of the progress on the wiring.(I allso made a neat little ali scoop for the radiator)I`am allso going to try and get the water pipes finished.

Karis
Old 08-28-08, 07:54 PM
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Watson Streetworks has GM style harnesses built for VW with the wiring longer to the back. It worked great.
Old 08-30-08, 11:55 AM
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someadabeach!!!!
I had the car running a couple times, it idles nice , so I take it to get inspected and they fry the starter I put in on Monday night.

Did I see away to wire this better? Somethng about using a 12volt solenoid on the 6 volt starter?? Anybody have any ideas???
Kevin
Old 08-30-08, 06:07 PM
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Yup solenoid swaps right over. I have a complete 86 NA harness if you are interested. Sounds like you have it sorted though.
Old 08-30-08, 08:42 PM
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Does wiring it thru a 12 volt solenoid make it easier on the 6 volt starter?

Kevin
Old 09-02-08, 03:28 AM
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Hi,

The problem isnt the solenoid generally.Its the starter itself.Giving the primary winding double the current it is made for,is very hard on the starter.

Sometimes only the solenoid dies,but mostly the primary windings burn.

There isnt really a "fix" for it,except maybe use the starter for shorter bursts at a time.

<One of the reasons i installed a VW bus 12v starter>It wasnt fun,but i think it will be worth it in the end!

Karis
Old 09-02-08, 04:25 PM
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So I be looking at changing the flywheel to match the gears?

Kevin
Old 09-02-08, 10:30 PM
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I use my 6v starter all the time with no problems. It only takes a quick turn of the key to start by bug though?
Old 09-03-08, 04:56 AM
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I didnt change my flywheel.I changed the drive gear on the starter,so that it matched the old one.

Took some machining of the gear and so,but i hope it will be worth it!

Karis
Old 09-03-08, 11:18 AM
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I used a long body starter from an automatic something. It was making a partial grinding noise on the old flywheel but doesn't seem to on the modded (for rotary) flywheel. The gear teeth on the starter are a little worn but make good contact on the modded flywheel.
Old 09-04-08, 02:18 PM
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All auto starters are self supported and are rated for higher torque and are a lot better starters. Kennedy adaptors makes makes a flywheel for both 6v and 12v starter but they recomend the 6v to spin the rotary motor faster? This is somthing I don't quite understand why is this needed? Do rotary's realy need to be spun faster than a regular piston engine?

Also how did you machine the the starter gear? Did you make a whole new gear? Isn't the 6v shaft larger than the 12v? Thanks for all the help.
Old 09-05-08, 01:26 AM
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Yeah a healthy rotary doesn't need to be spun fast. Basically if your engine needs to be spun fast in order to start, you really have more than just a starter issue. You have an engine in need of a serious rebuild issue.
Old 09-09-08, 03:15 AM
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Originally Posted by 13b,ug
All auto starters are self supported and are rated for higher torque and are a lot better starters. Kennedy adaptors makes makes a flywheel for both 6v and 12v starter but they recomend the 6v to spin the rotary motor faster? This is something I don't quite understand why is this needed? Do rotary's realy need to be spun faster than a regular piston engine?

Also how did you machine the the starter gear? Did you make a whole new gear? Isn't the 6v shaft larger than the 12v? Thanks for all the help.
The gear that came with the Kombi starter was too long,allthough the amount of teeth was correct. I removed the gear,and installed it in a lathe,machining of the the excess lenght.I had to refinish the ends of the teeth at an angle,so that they will mesh. (I hope it will mesh,i havent tried it yet!)

Jeff is right with the compression.If the motor has to be spinned for a long time, there is other things to be worried about concerning the engine.

(I see that you are running a holley.Is it tuned properly??)

Karis
Old 09-15-08, 02:45 AM
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I have been meaning to give an update!









This was done a few weeks ago.Shows some of the fabrication work.It is the air deflector for the radiator,to direct the incoming air to the radiator.

What do you think?Think it came out ok ?

Did work the weekend on the water pipes.

In the end the rear seat was removed,and wont be returning.Make life to difficult getting the pipes ruited with it in.







Yeah,i know the photos are shitty,but with hands this dirty,there is no way iam comming close to the digicam.hahaha

Karis

*Edit* Spelling & Grammar is not high on my list today

Last edited by karism; 09-15-08 at 02:50 AM. Reason: Spelling is crap!
Old 09-15-08, 10:23 AM
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Be careful with thoughts lines running threw the car. When I put mine together I over pressurized the system more than once trying to get all the air out of it, resulting in a huge cloud of boiling hot water and steam. kinda scary.
Old 09-15-08, 01:11 PM
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Will do.thanks for the heads up!
Old 09-23-08, 01:18 AM
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anything new? i just read this entire thread, great build
Old 09-23-08, 03:28 AM
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Are all vw starter motors the 6v ones or are there some 12v ones??


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