RE: [tech] engine swap for air-cooled beetle (could be scirocco)

["Aaron Ness" <aaron@makuta.com>]

Geez - I wouldn't touch that swap with a 10-foot pole.  There are folks who
have put waterpumpers in Beetles (which is really what we're talking about
here), but it's not for anyone on a budget.  I think one of the best swaps
to do is a Mazda rotary engine, because it's a tiny package with great
performance.  Van Vuren mentioned Kennedy - they'll sell you hardware to
mount a Pinto engine, among others.  Generally this swap is reserved for
sand rails because you can turn the transaxle around, flip the differential,
and get a mid-engine that will tend to spend more of its time with the front
wheels on the ground.

Remember that a Beetle engine in stock form is 274 lbs, according to one of
my manuals, and it's an opposed 4, not an inline, so its CG is closer to the
car's CG.  Drop a 'roc engine in there, and you've just moved the car's CG
back.  Add to that the weight of the structure you would have to add to get
motor mounts in (the Beetle's motor mount is the 2 bolts and 2 studs holding
it onto the transaxle - nothing else), and you've increased the overall
weight even more, and moved the car's CG back even more.  In the end, you
would end up with a car that would accelerate like a bat out of hell and
wouldn't handle worth a poop.  I think the steering would be very light and
imprecise.  It seems it would understeer like crazy, and then if for some
reason you got enough traction with the front wheels, the back end would
come around on you so fast, it would make an older 911 look tame in terms of
oversteer in a decreasing-radius turn.  (I understand that they've ironed
that out pretty effectively in the newer 911 models.)

Of course, if the dimensions of the Bradley allow (and I doubt they do), you
could turn it into a mid-engine, and basically have the engine right behind
your seat.

Best bet is to build something on the order of a 1776cc engine with some
decent P/P heads, an Engle 110 or similar cam, dual Webers, and a decent
exhaust.  I think that should put you up right around 90-100 hp, and in a
car that light, it would be a blast to drive and would bolt right up with no
modifications at all.

Aaron
'84 Scirocco - Woo-hoo!
'70 Bug - hibernating; yearning for a turbo
'87 Nissan truck - Soon to be for sale
'87 Jeep Cherokee 4.0

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> [mailto:owner-scirocco-l@scirocco.org]On Behalf Of Foxx (in a box)
> Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2000 1:02 AM
> To: scirocco list
> Subject: [tech] engine swap for air-cooled beetle (could be scirocco)
>
>
>   me be thinking that brett might know this, but other than
> that i'm not
> sure of who to ask or where to get information. here's the rundown.
>   i'm looking into buying a bradley gtii kit-car. it doesn't run, but
> the engine and frame are vw (year unknown). i could rebuild these, but
> i'm looking for an engine that has a little more power than
> 63 horses. i
> know of a 16v motor and trans for $650, but an 8v would do
> just fine. my
> question, however, is if anyone know if this would be
> possible. seems to
> me that the older beetles were rear-wheel drive while ours are
> front-wheel, which would cause a problem with the trans. also, i can't
> quite see the motor mounts being the same (unless vw did something
> spectacular). does anyone have any experience or information
> on this? i
> want to say the beetle frame is early to mid 70's. any help would be
> appreciated. thanx.
>
> --
>  /\_/\	  Foxx (in a box)
> < o o >	  http://foxx.tripod.com
>   \ /
>    °
>
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