Re: Turbo Scirocco and more history

[VW Nut <scirocco@speed-racer.com>]

Brett VanSprewenburg wrote:
> 
> Some people were talking about 'what if VW ever turbocharged a
> Scirocco like Isuzu did to the impulse?'  I happen to mention 
> that VW DID authorized a Scirocco Turbo as per the VW&P
> September/October issue of 1988. 
> ..
> Blah Blah Blah..."It all started when Adam purchased a 1985 Scirocco,
> which had been modified after it's arrival in the U.S. with 
> a factory-authorized Legend turbo system.  A little known, limited
> edition model, the Turbo Scirocco sold for a very short time, and
> Legend, itself, went out of business soon after production was
> discontinued..

Can anyone verify the truth of that VW&P article..Was a Turbo
Scirocco actually ever sold in limited numbers?? 
I knew that VW had fooled around with Turbo before the Mk2 was
launched. In 1981 when they launched the car in Europe, they knew 
the 1.6 was too puny for the heavier Mk2 and they were looking 
for alternatives. Turbo was investigated. They used the 1.7 litre 
and got 178bhp with the Turbo and managed 138 mph with body styling 
a mix of the Kamei GTX kit but they used the 16v style (zender) 
front spoiler as its flatter front allowed a cut-out for the
intercooler. Of course, they decided to go the 16v route, but it 
took them a few years to work out probs with reliability. 
Cracked 16v heads plagued them for quite a while. 

On another note, the most radical of Factory experiments was
the Twin-engined (front and rear) Scirocco Mk2 in the Early 80's 
as many of you must have heard about. The first prototype used Two
modified 1.8s with 10.9:1 compression each, hotter cams,etc. and 
180bhp each. Pair of 5 speed gearboxes with short final drive 
giving it 0-60 time of 4.5 seconds! Best of all the car had a 
52/48 F/R weight distribution (Nice!) 
Ian Kuah's book talks a bit about it. My favourite picture is a 
small one showing the centre console in the car..It has 9 VDO 
guages stuffed in it to monitor the vital functions of both engines.

The second car was a different beast and I remember seeing a 
printed ad by VW bragging about it. This car was brought to
a state of finish where it could have been put into production
in, of course very limited numbers. Fitting in the standard 
instrument cluster were a pair of VDO tachometers with and an LCD
readout of the speed. 2 1.8s again but coupled to a 16V Oettinger
head this time. The engines were mildly tuned for the street 
with 141 bhp each using K-Jetronic and 10.2:1 compression each.
Sacrilege, but VW used a pair of three-speed AUTOMATIC trannies 
here as it avoided the complex gear linkages needed to connect 
the two 5 speeds in the previous car...Haha...imagine all those 
shifter bushing kits you'd have to go through after a few years ;)

O.k., enough 'how many VR6s can you stuff into a Scirocco' kinda
talk and back to reality..'scuse my Day dreaming.
---
scirocco@speed-racer.com
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