AH Engine – Rebuilding – Engine Tins – Part 1

For those who have no experience with air-cooled engines, the initial exposure to the workings of the engine, as well as all of the metal tin pieces wrapped around the engine components may seem baffling at first. But the importance of engine tins isn’t just a nice thing… it is a crucial design element to the engine itself.

Originally, the plan for the AH engine rebuild was to clean and restore all the existing tins since they were complete. Unfortunately, after the tear down began, I ended up having to damage some of the main tins just to remove them from the case. Others I discovered to be basically unusable, especially those under the engine. So basically, I had to seek out and source replacements for some, and try and clean and repair others. I had also purchased what I was told was a 1600 DP engine back in autumn 2017 that was going to be my first rebuild. I ended up changing plans but had disassembled all of the tins off that engine and stored them. When I finally did dig them out I discovered that the tins were a hodge-podge, with FI cylinder tins on a 1300cc block, with a 71-74 fan shroud, and then other missing parts.

The plan for the rebuild also changed when I decided to put basic dual carburetors on it, which changed the tin type yet again since there would no longer be any need for heater pipe intakes. And then I did some reading and research I decided I’d see what it was like to use Type 3 cylinder deflectors instead of the small ones normally one a Type 1.

And thus was born, my own hodge-podge of tins for the AH rebuild.