I have had 3 Beetle engines and none of them have had the distinctive chirp. What engine part(s) actually produce the sound?

Our Beetle used to have the chirp until one of the tailpipes (Brazillian) fell out. I put in replacement ones (German) they do not chirp anymore. Therefore my conclusion is it is the tailpipes and the brand, type size or condition?

As I understand it, the tail pipes are an integral part of the system- you only need to cut one open to see that!
I've been listening to beetle exhausts for quite a while & the chirping sound was def. not around in my youth when there were only German exhausts! So I can only agree with Hellbus!

The chirp is apparently related to how far in and out the tail pipes sit.

The pipes are not just shoved in but need to go in a certain length.

What that is i have no idea

I can remember reading somewhere lately about how far the tail pipes have to go inside the muffler... there are different length tail pipes.... maybe some Fweem and others don't.. I also like the sound...
the Noise is called "Fweeming" ... from North america (I think) ... How in the world can You describe a "Fweem" ??
Don't ask Me, I don't know... but it is a nice sound when You hear it....
:bounce:bounce:bounce:bounce:bounce:bounce

The Brazillian tailpipes have a whiste, the german ones dont. The inside of the pipes must be different.

from living on a fairly buisy road and listening to the cars, plus spending too much time hanging out with vw's. i noticed that it was generally the earlier cars (with unmodified 36hp's, 12 & 1300's) that fweemed where as 1600tp didn't seem to do it.
as for if they used to fweem back in the day, i wasn't born back when you could buy anything but a superbug new, but a friends v.origional '58 with 36hp does fweem... (it sounds so so nice) so i assume that some did.
henry.

[Edited on 20-7-2003 by whatnow]

I must confess that I dont like that chirping sound. My 57 does it now that I have changed back to a standard exhaust.
Will be picking up a new set of Taper Tips (larger bore pea shooters) from VVDS later this week so hopefully the chirps will be gone.

innit the tappets? if you change the length of the exhaust system (like by installing extractors, or wrapping it up under the guard) you can de-fweem. modern front engine cars have it running all the length of the vehicle, and thus make less noise (according to a muffler shop I went to) and it seems to make sense. also increasing the diameter of the tailpipe (hopefully not as far as the hatchback bandits do) changes the note. mine hums nicely, due to the extractors and wrapping under the guard trick, with minimal chirp, and much less noise. i've been thru many exhausts. I'm exhausted. also covered in black soot and stuff...
mebbe i'm thinking about a different chirp..
:alien

love the fweemin, just love it. tied a couple of different ways to get it but no luck as yet. ( on my split kombi)