g'day

ive got a '72 Superbug 1600 that im restoring.

im a watercooled guy that also loves his aircooled and i just dont know where to start when it comes to performance with the aircooled engines (eg where to get parts and whats the best stuff to use).

i also have a few questions regarding the '72.

i love the whole super low beetle theme and i want to do it to my bug but because of the front suspension lowering is limited?

i want it to be a good cruiser with a bit of punch in the engine because i enjoy my spirited driving but my budget is not going to be a massive $10g effort for the donk, maybe $2-3g would be more realistic.

how much crap can the 1600 gearbox take?

sorry about the flood of questions, just new to the aircooled game and i like to know my stuff.

cheers!

You will learn all you need to know on here,try reading the technical section even members rides you should find a lot of info there cheers shane.

ok as for most of the questions talk to richard at vforce.
hes doing my new struts for chaos. the gear box will take a fair bit of abuse but doesnt like huge torque from my t4 2L. as for an engine upgrade the 2L is good but if you can find a 1800 t4 you wont need the engineers for rego. you could easily do the conversion if you mechanically minded
ive got the same car if that helps with all the mentioned mods

also look here
http://www.superbeetlesonly.com/forum/index.php? 

thanks for the quick reply fellas.

a 1.8 sounds great, would i use the 1.6 block and stroke it or just get an existing kombi 1800 and build that up.

i'd seen some nice heads in the US that come Ported and polished already for a great price. Im doing a fitting and turning apprenticeship and love doing everything myself

im building up all these ideas so i can get the resto underway in the second half of this year hopefully...

are 1800's hard to find? and how much do they usually go for.

how do the supers go with lowering?

just get the kombi 1800 and convert it to upright. there ha been about half a dozen in the last year so they are easier than when i did the conversion. lowering the rear is the same as any bug but the front is slightly harder as i said talk to richard about struts. he will point you in the right direction.
mine is currently 30mm lower than stock but im changing to a set of adjustable struts from richard. just waiting on them now

convert the cooling system to upright? how would i do that, obviously there'd be aftermarket tins for it?

how strong are the internals in a 1800? enough to handle a nice cam ported heads and higher ratio rockers?

i'd want 100hp from an 1800, that would be easily possible wouldnt it? any higher than that and it'd start costing big biccies and your better off going high capactiy im tipping.

P.S are T-bar bumpers legal?

i used the sharpbuilt kit to do mine an it wasnt a bad way to go but saying that its not a complete kit, it is missing the input shaft bush for the gearbox spigot. as for the 1800 there is no major difference from the 2L apart from crank,cam , pots and pistons.
100hp from a t4 is easier than from a t1 as its already bigger in both size and power. i run the stock 2L with just a mild cam and it cruises at 110 without worrying about hilsl, which since your in melbourne its not really a problem. hell i actually overtake up hills in mine. 100hp from that motor it wouldnt be 1800cc anymore but it still would be a nice engine
as for bumpers you can roll with out them but dont even think about t bars as they are classed as a dangerous protrusion.
btw here is richard's sons racing in a 2.8L t4 powered bug, so he knows what hes talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGlJXHu6YNg 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDfPCT2-ZOQ 

thanks for all that info!

you can get 100hp out of a 1.8 watercooled motor quite easily, even a 1.6.
so the 1800 t4 motor with a nice set of heads, cam, twins, rockers wouldnt break 100hp?

thanks for the tube links too

its possible but not likely to have a huge life expectancy, i know that the 1800 will be a huge power upgrade for a bug. what you need to know is they arent a huge hp motor but a huge torque motor.

that sounds good
1800 it is with the above mods, now all i have to do is to source one!

and do what you did and strip all the paint back and respray, but that will be over summer!

thanks for all your help mate, geez im looking forward to building this baby up!