Afternoon all.
The time I feared was coming, has come, After a nice trip up the freeway here in Adelaide, through the tunnels, all OK, gather some speed heading back down the hill and then the engine lets go, (what do you expect when the whole car cost $500 ) We get a good run out of it and now the time has come to replace the motor. My question is,

What will fit, out beetle is a 1964, 12V, with a (now broken) 1200cc engine in it, and when sourcing a new engine through the trading post, I need to know what to be on the lookout for?

Will ANY beetle engine fit in any other beetle, or are the different horses for different courses?

Any info you could provide would be great.

Thanks
- Adam

What is actually wrong with the existing engine? did you drop a valve or throw a con rod or something? It might be worth the time to see why the engine isnt working. it might be something simple and cheap to fix?

You can fit any standard beetle engine in, from a 1200 to a 1600 - the later engines just need a bit of work to fit.

need to know these things

- 1200s had small flywheels which had small clutches which can only work with a 6v starter

- late engines have larger ones which only work with 12v starters and will not fit in an early transmission

- 1200 parts are difficult and more expensive to source than 1600 parts

-1300/1500/1600 engines are more or less identical except for different sized cylinders. 1200 engines have smaller strokes and different heads.

To fit a later engine you have to grind away some of the transmission bellhousing and change the starter bushing and probably a few small things.

Overall its an easy job.

Almost any beetle engine will fit up to the beetle gearbox. The things that require modifying are the clutch throw-out bearing, the centre of the clutch pressure plate (where the throw-out bearing engages), and maybe the bellhousing in some situations (6V to 12V).

A straight swap with another 1200 would be easier, but a 1600 will go in with maybe a few parts changed.

Fill out your profile so we can head you off to a reputable workshop or other forum members (I assume you live in Adelaide?).

[Edited on 3-6-2004 by 56astro]

Thanks for the tips.

I am in Adelaide, but it wont let me update my profile, it keeps telling me my avatar is to big, even though its there at the moment?

From what I can gather, to fit a bigger engine up to the existing gearbox I would need to grind the bellhousing and change the pressure plates etc on the existing one.

That said, the current gearbox is as old as the engine, and was not sounding to good either, I'm fairly new to the whole. rear-engined phenomena but am reading the Muir book atm. Would be be easier/possibe to just change the engine and gearbox as a complete unit?

as in get a 1500 Engine and Gearbox out of a running, but rusty beetle, and bolt it into ours?

Thanks
- Adam

sourcing a motor form another car is the cheap alternative, however you can never be sure of what you are replacing it with. For peace of mind I would look at a reco motor that will give you hastle free driving.
That is if you can afford the $$$.

Yeah ive been through getting an engine at the wreckers, and it was a gamble, the engine was literally on its last legs.

A year later after i had replaced it with a rebuilt engine, i tore down the wrecker engine and found that the crank was on its 4th cut

Either rebuild the engine yourself or just get a used one from someone trustworthy that has a knowledge of the miles done on it.

Ahh I remember your from ocau Mentat


yes I have a 1200 I would love to replace sometime

Yeah, Thats Me. .

I've been checking the trader every week now. Hopefully someone can give me some clarification.

I need to find an engine/transaxle which only has 2 rubber boots on it, at the trans, rather than one with has 4, 2 at the trans, and 1 on each wheel? Is this correct?

ie. The later beetle engine/gearbox combo's wont fit in our 64 Swing Axle?

So if that does turn out to be the case, The best option swings back to getting a bigger engine rebuilt, keeping the current trans, and machining the bellhousing?

Thanks
- Adam

Correct - ish

The 4 thing 2 thing is IRS (4) and swing axle (2)

The old original gear box will be geared differently than a later one.
it wll accelerate faster but cruise slower

The old 1200 need all the help it can get.


To me the best answer is a 1600 and box out of a 68 - 70.
That will be a later swing axle and a 1600. All you should need to do is change nose cones??? (i think)

Anyone else???

Thanks for the replies.

I'm not to fussed about acceleration/cruising speeds as it is only a weekend car (which Is why I dont want to go the new/rebuild route).

I'll start narrowing down my choices then, the 70'ish bugs with Swing Axle Rears.

Thanks
- Adam