Hypothetical vintage performance question...

Hi Volks,

I have a hypothetical question for you…

You have recently acquired an engine from a friend, which turns out to be a ‘big bore’ 40hp (ie: a 1200 case with 1400 pistons and barrels). The heads are suspect (loose valve guides), but the 1400 kit appears to be almost new. It was supplied with a modified centre mount manifold (without carb), but there is also a set of 1500 Type III carbs and manifolds in the box with the centre mount manifold.

You wouldn’t mind having a little more power in your ’63 Beetle (which is currently running a stock 1200 and is still 6 volt) and the idea of a vintage style performance engine appeals to you – but you are limited in a couple of ways:

1. You don’t want to make any modifications to the body of the vehicle
2. You don’t want to modify the charging system (ie: it must remain 6 volt)
3. You are financially limited 😀

As the issues are reliability, drivability (your ‘63 is a daily driven car), and cost, no major mods can be done, but the engine will be torn down and re-built from scratch…

So, if this is you in this situation, what mods would you do? Why would you do these mods and what benefits or disadvantages are likely from your mods? Everything from the air filters through to the exhaust are changeable. (…and yes, mods just to make it look better are OK too!)

OK, over to you…..

R 🙂

Here's a thread we had earlier where we were talking about 36 hp power up options.

Basically I'd go for a twin carb and exhaust setup. It's simple and bolt on. Will require a little linkage fiddling, but the type 3 linkage is good fun to play around with and adaptable. If I had the $$ I'd buy an Okrasa style exhaust, but seeing as $$ is an issue, I'd opt for one of those dual tip setups that exit through the cutouts.

Craig Torrens has done some nice work on twin carbing a 36hp, with some port and polish work, but I'll wait for him to fill you in on the fun bits without stealing his thunder.

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=53706&page=1#pid505076

RE furbish the 1200 / 1400 engine and use a bigger 32mm carby if your going single or makea twin carby set up.

get an early mechanical dissy or a 009 and a extractor system

thanks for the link Squizzy. Makes for some interesting reading.... what was the end result?

... so you would leave the internals (crank, cam, etc) stock?

R 🙂

[ Edited on 13-9-2006 by ratty 63 ]

The end result is that I'm still gathering bits and pieces. Craig gave me some single port twin manifolds. I'm looking at getting a secondhand econo extractor (as they are adjustable to fit narrow blocks such as the 36 hp) and modifying the exhaust tip to have two twin tips coming through standard cutouts. Linkage will either be Type 3 or kardon based - it will need to be a static linkage as the 28 pic carbs will both open the same way - and will need the central Type 3 style swivel point. Once Craig gets back on board (he's in Melb at the moment) we'll see if he can post some pics of how he did the linkage. I will leave the internals stock as I don't want to split the case, however Craig on the other hand is more adverturous.

[ Edited on 14-9-2006 by squizy ]