'Common' transplants on old Beetles?!?!?!?

[Owen]

was just wondering what transplants can be done on the old VW beetles - yes i i know with enough money anything can be done, but i'm talking things that are a fairly straight swap.

anyone??

[Dan¹]

Nothing really a straight swap - Most people prefer to stick with the aircooled lump, it's VERY tuneable. There's more parts available for those engines than the most common of smallblock V8's in Yankland. And parts are CHEAP, under £200 for a set of forged Mahle barrels and pistons, same again for some forged H-Beam rods etc and £300 or so for a forged stroker crank. Beauty is, get a decent crank case and you can basically choose your own engine displacement, anything from 1.2 right up to 2.9 if you get a crank and barrels/pistons to suit.

If you're dead set on doing a swap, the flat six's from a Corvair go in with a bit of work, the same to be said about Porsche engines. Alfa boxer lumps have been known to be done, but they're not all that common. Mazda rotary engines are getting more common now too. Problem being, Beetles are aircooled and 99% of swaps are watercooled, the Beetle has a closed front so it's a bitch to get a radiator in direct airflow.

I'm looking in to converting mine to a Legacy 2.2 flat four, buy a Legacy off eBay for a couple oh hundred quid, get a conversion kit (Bellhousing adaptor, parts to convert clutch etc) and sort the wiring out and you've got yourself 140bhp for under £2k. That in the back of a 700kg or so Beetle will see you getting the wheels nicely in the air. If you're mad enough, spend a little extra on a Scooby turbo lump, Darryn Coleman has a 2.0 turbo lump in his, lightly tweaked to 320bhp and it's running deep 10's/High 9's with a little bit of nitrous.

Few links to keep you busy:

http://www.geocities.com/zenjoe/vw.html
http://www.vwkd.co.uk/bb
http://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewfo...37437096c4042e
http://frost.bbboy.net/vwengineconversions
http://www.tsrdragracers.co.uk/index2.html

[Owen]

Nothing really a straight swap - Most people prefer to stick with the aircooled lump, it's VERY tuneable. There's more parts available for those engines than the most common of smallblock V8's in Yankland. And parts are CHEAP, under £200 for a set of forged Mahle barrels and pistons, same again for some forged H-Beam rods etc and £300 or so for a forged stroker crank. Beauty is, get a decent crank case and you can basically choose your own engine displacement, anything from 1.2 right up to 2.9 if you get a crank and barrels/pistons to suit.

If you're dead set on doing a swap, the flat six's from a Corvair go in with a bit of work, the same to be said about Porsche engines. Alfa boxer lumps have been known to be done, but they're not all that common. Mazda rotary engines are getting more common now too. Problem being, Beetles are aircooled and 99% of swaps are watercooled, the Beetle has a closed front so it's a bitch to get a radiator in direct airflow.

I'm looking in to converting mine to a Legacy 2.2 flat four, buy a Legacy off eBay for a couple oh hundred quid, get a conversion kit (Bellhousing adaptor, parts to convert clutch etc) and sort the wiring out and you've got yourself 140bhp for under £2k. That in the back of a 700kg or so Beetle will see you getting the wheels nicely in the air. If you're mad enough, spend a little extra on a Scooby turbo lump, Darryn Coleman has a 2.0 turbo lump in his, lightly tweaked to 320bhp and it's running deep 10's/High 9's with a little bit of nitrous.

Few links to keep you busy:

http://www.geocities.com/zenjoe/vw.html
http://www.vwkd.co.uk/bb
http://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewfo...37437096c4042e
http://frost.bbboy.net/vwengineconversions
http://www.tsrdragracers.co.uk/index2.html

[**BigDave**]

the easiest transplant would be an early Porsche 911

just remember to do the brakes at the same time coz u aint gonna be stopping very quike

[Nemesis]

Good info there Dan! T'was a quality read.

[Owen]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...37619&q=beetle

ok, i'm convinced cheers dan

[BlackIce]

I've seen 1.6 Escort RS Turbo lumps in beetles before

[Dexy]

Good info there Dan! T'was a quality read.

[Adam]

a companys doing scooby transplants into bugs now 1500 iirc

[Adam]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...37619&q=beetle

ok, i'm convinced cheers dan

lmao lmao lmao

[Mark T]

Flat 4 Boxer engines are quite popular, Nissan Cherry Europe, Imprezzas etc.

[Steve!]

the easiest transplant would be an early Porsche 911

just remember to do the brakes at the same time coz u aint gonna be stopping very quike

Try finding a good old 911 engine!