im thinking of turning the inlet manifold round in my drag beetle so i can increase airflow more easily .by losing the alternator is there much of an increase in bhp and any disadvantages.also could i machine the bottom pulley down to lose weight or is a certain amount of throw weight needed

Alloy crank and alt pulleys are available aftermarket, so you could machine one down I would say. Better off doing the flywheel if you havent already.

Be little carefull with playing with flywheel could loose some torque power.JVLRacing

the obvious disadvantage of no alternator is you have to run the car off the battery. Some fuel injection is sensitive to supply voltage and may not operate at peak performance without a constant supply of power at the right voltage. Just use a good battery.

With no alternator you probably don't need the bottom pulley at all, unless it has crank trigger ignition on the back of the pulley (my V6 does).

Like pete said, lighten the flywheel. Since it's mass is at a larger radius it will make a much bigger difference (more rotational inertia) than taking the same weight off the pulley.

Doppelganger,

off topic abit but,
are you using special ratios for ya drag bug?
what's ya ring and pinion ratio?

a dragracer mate has just had a box built that we are trying out .getting gears right etc.at the moment im using a stock 1200 swingaxle box with stock clutch plate and stage 3 kennedy pressure plate on road tyres ,times are 98mph in 15secs ,i cant get the power down at the start at the moment (ive broke 3 boxes this year )so just playing til the season over here finishes.