Hello to all, I have a 1966 VW Beetle with a 1500 engine and I am looking to modify it to get better performance out of it, will twin port heads from a 1600 fit? Does anyone have suggestions on what I can do? What cam to use? What exhaust to fit? What carbies to use? Any help and or advice would be greatly appreciated. The car will be used for daily driver when finished.

1600 barrels and heads will slip right on without a worry.

Make sure it's a 1500 though as '66 didn't have a 1500.... an engine number would be handy

http://www.aircooled.net/vw-technical-articles/

check these out it will give you at least something to consider

Yes it's 1500, took he original 1300 out and got a 1500 to put back in when the car is painted. Does anything else need doing, do i have to change pistons ? As you can probably tell I don't know much about VW's yet but want to learn

Check this article out before you ditch the sp heads... All depends what you are after.

http://kaddieshack.com/1600ccsp.html 

I am looking at twin carb set up, changing the cam, and a decent exhaust. Any ideas on what I should use. What do you all use on yours?

If you want to go 1600 the 1500 SP heads will slip right onto the 1600 barrels. You can buy 1600 barrels and pistons from most VW shops for a reasonable price.
If you want a decent set of twin carbs for a daily driven 1600 it is hard to beat the Kadrons.
For the exhaust a simple 1 3/8" extractor or even better a vintage speed muffler would be ideal and just as quiet as stock without the drawbacks.
Regarding cam well that comes down to ALOT but if your keeping SP heads I'd look at getting a Engle 100 or a Tighe 356C; also you'd want to sneak the compression ratio up a tad

http://www.tighecams.com.au/cars.htm  - Click on VW and then 1600
http://store.vintagespeed.com.tw/  - order through Matt Berry or Vintage Vee Dub
https://www.classicveedub.com.au/cvd_new/part_detail.aspx?parts_id=16643 

1. Exhaust.
2. 1.4:1 rockers.
3. Carb set-up (either CB Performance centrebranch and new Solex34 or twin ICTs).
4. Dizzy - try to get a SVDA to suit.

I wouldn't worry about the 1600 big-bore, only 5% in it really.

It's the usual and well-trodden path to making a stocker good fun, with heaps of stick.

I wouldnt go putting a cam in there

If you are going to split the case then you may as well do a propper rebuild
If you are going to do that you may as well get a sick 1600 and rebuild that and keep the 1500 as back up

How healthy is the 1500

No point hotting it up if it is shagged

I would go as modnrod suggest - but hold back on the 1.4's for the time being

Have a read here

http://www.aircooled.net/vw-performance-easy-mods-bolt-on/ 

The 1500 is sweet, but bog stock. I like the look of the twin carbs. Might look at electronic ignition too so a dizzy swap is on the cards as well. I am interested in this. 214100-212162-KIT
ENGLE W100 CAM AND 1.25 ROCHER ARM SET. W100 ENGLE CAM
EMPI ADJUSTABLE ALUMINUM CAM GEAR
EMPI 1.25 ROCKER ARMS
ORIGINAL ENGLE CAM LIFTERS
EMPI HI REV SINGLE VALVE SPRINGS
EMPI CROMOLY VALVE SPRING RETAINERS
EMPI VALVE LOCKS
Is it worth the effort?

NO.

How mechanical are you and what is your budget ?

Pretty handy with a spanner and a hammer, budgets not huge but can talk the wife into anything.lol

The cam is in the centre of the motor, so to change that you're looking at a complete engine tear down and rebuilt...........this becomes costly.

If the 1500 is running ok, then the best "bang for buck" is to replace the piston and barrels with a 1600 or 1640cc kit, put on a good set of extractors and muffler, and rejet the standard carb (if you're keeping the Single port heads). Kadrons would be a better option, but its hard trying to find 2nd hand Kaddies with single port manifolds......I guess you could buy new. You will be surprised at how well this will go.

The other option is doing the above and also putting on some twin port heads, this will enable the use of twin carbs like Kadrons. You can source used carbs and heads cheaply if you want to keep the budget under control.

You can do this conversion in a day or over a weekend (easily), its cost affective, and it will give you a more responsive car.

Part No
VW8700T1
Part Description
Beetle 87MM X 69MM 1641CC TYPE 1 PISTON CYLINDER KIT AA PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS.
Will this fit without changing crankshafts or conrods? Can I still use the single port heads with this setup

Yes, but I'm not sure on the quality of the AA stuff as I have never used it...........some say its good, some say its rubbish.

It's pretty good value, this set cost $245. Not bad ? So I might go with this, a set of twin carbs and twin carbs, a decent set of exhaust pipes.

Adam debiasi has the AA brand barrels on his hill climb car, that gets hammered pretty solidly....

If you keep the single port heads, the Kaddie shack in the us can still supply single port manifolds. I believe they are no longer being made new however.

Ok cool will make a few enquiries then cheers everyone.

Even if you bought a set of Kadrons and single port manifolds and an exhaust and just bolted it up to your 1500 for starters............then change to 1600 after that.

yeah.... kaddies dont *quite* give you the same induction noise as webers at 6000rpm.... but you can definitely hear them

I have the motor out at the moment while I do the body work so I think it would be easier to do all the work on the bench before I put it back in.

I think if I make it look good and sound good I might as well make it go good too.

Great thread. I am going through the same thought process. I have a 64 and have a 1500cc engine sitting in the garage, contemplating similar mods. Any more info would be great.

I am going to remove the heater boxes because it won't be driven in winter anyway. What exhaust are people using to get a better sound and performance

Hi i am in the middle of fitting the rockers and i need to assemble the chromoly pushrods any idea how to do this, do they need to be pressed in ?

Did you run a motor like this how did it go?

Quote:

Originally posted by modnrod 1. Exhaust. 2. 1.4:1 rockers. 3. Carb set-up (either CB Performance centrebranch and new Solex34 or twin ICTs). 4. Dizzy - try to get a SVDA to suit. I wouldn't worry about the 1600 big-bore, only 5% in it really. It's the usual and well-trodden path to making a stocker good fun, with heaps of stick.

Hello all. Can I fit 1600 twin port heads to a 1500? Without major hassle and would this improve performance? Cheers Gary

Yes you can; you'll need to change the middle studs though to shorter ones because your single port at the moment.

Ok. Thanks for that sander288. Will this make a big change or a little change to the performance ? Cheers Gary