After 55 years no one would dispute that the Volkswagen Beetle has enjoyed a full and eventful life. Throughout its lifetime the Beetle set records and made achievements, however these days the 'green' revolution is gearing up. Not only will environmental issues affect modern motoring in general - it's set to upset the time honoured tradition of hot rodding older model cars. There is a positive side to this however, just as World War 1 and 2 brought about big technological advances, so will environmental impact and increasingly stringent smog laws enable exciting new engine technologies. The horsepower, efficiency and smoothness of modem cars are all constantly increasing, especially due to the advent of high-tech programmable fuel injection and ignition timing systems..
Embracing contemporary environmental agendas, the Volkswagen parent company has taken things to the extreme, offering to take back older cars for recycling and making the new cars from recyclable materials. All this in addition to winning the race to be the first auto manufacturing plant with zero pollution - yes, no environmental impact!
This is all nice to know but how does it relate to a dedicated band of Aussie high performance VW enthusiasts? Electronic fuel injection has already been developed and used successfully on air-cooled VW engines, however the cost by the time such systems are landed in Oz can get expensive. A system of high enough quality combined with moderately priced throttle bodies and air cleaner, manifold and linkage set-up is still required.
The search for such a system began when I sold my faithful 48 IDA Webers, mainly because they weren't big enough for a new VW engine development project. This project will attempt to bring down the cost of big cube air-cooled VW motors, coupled with a sensibly priced injection and ignition system. The horsepower race is well and truly on. Rotaries, hot fours and V8's are all getting much quicker, thanks in part to new technologies and ongoing development.
Having had good success with a 2330cc Beetle engine on the street, around the circuit and at drag race meetings - I was still left wanting. What? More power of course! I figure if a little is good, then more must be better - it's an ancient hot rodding ethic.
With this resolve, Volkswagen's Type 4 engine looked like a good
place to start and my 2 litre Microbus reinforced the point, as it just keeps going year
after year. When you check the inside of a Type 4 Kombi engine it becomes obvious it's a
heavy duty VW engine. Conrods that make V8 units look frail, a crankshaft with big main
journals and bearings, five flywheel bolts and an aluminium crankcase with massive webbing
and through-bolts for strength.
Affordability is what's required and to get it some relatively new products have made it easy to build a two litre Type 4 engine to 2.5, 2.7 and 2.8 litre capacity. Les Martin in the United States created a 105mm piston cylinder kit for the Type IV. Counterweighted stroker cranks of 78mm, 80mm and 82mm are available to make a Type 4 engine project a grunter. This all seemed too good to be true until the "ins & outs" of fitting it all into a cramped Beetle engine bay.
The first hurdle to overcome was the flywheel. A simple solution witnessed a combination of factory flywheels modified to use a Type 4 centre in a Beetle outer. This enables the use of super duty 200mm clutches up to 2500 lbs. and the use of either manual or automatic Beetle starter motors. Using this technique a Type 4 engine can be fitted to a Beetle, Kombi or even a Porsche five speed gearbox.
Cylinder heads were the next big stumbling block. Several things were difficult about the Type IV head. The exhaust ports dump directly down toward the ground, making the exhaust difficult to fabricate while retaining some semblance of ground clearance. The Type 4 head is also weak in this area and the proximity of the exhaust to the pushrod tubes limits primary exhaust pipe diameter. There also exists the potential for heat transfer via the pushrod tubes to engine oil.
All these factors conspired to get me dreaming of a hybrid design head which was a cross between a Type 1 and Type 4. A crossbreed head was the perfect solution. Imagine big, straight-through exhaust ports, gigantic valve sizes and heads that would accept existing Type 1 merged headers which are available from Gene Berg in up to 56mm diameter.
As fate would have it my hybrid head dreams were happening about the time I met Peter Haines and Richard Bradley, two very helpful guys at Induction Technology Pty. Ltd. They have a four cam V8 head of their own design, not to mention a 9-inch Ford based independent rear end and EIectromotive's combined fuel injection and solid state ignition system. This ignition system is the 'direct fire' type similar to the type used by V6 Commodores and many motorcycles.
The opportunity has arrived, through Peter Haines' help, to develop the hybrid Type 1 /Type 4 head in Australia. By the time you read this the throttle bodies will be in production at a competitive price and the new head should be ready by Jan-Feb. '94. No porting will be necessary and valve sizes ranging from 48mm x 38mm to 51 mm x 41 mm will be standard. My intention is to make available an affordable big cube VW engine kit. And provide a complete induction and ignition system to suit.
The purpose for this type of engine in my case is to power an "L" (1303) model Beetle sports sedan/drag car as a means of developing the concept and proving it's possible.
In the future it may be hard to enjoy a wicked car on the street and having had a taste of the racetrack I can guarantee you will never have as much fun in a car without the fear of losing your licence. Disbeliever’s be warned, the Beetle is going to be around for a lot longer yet!
It is hoped that the tube chassis that's been mould for the Beetle
by Tom Brickley of BAE Racing will be available complete or as a kit for circuit or drag
racing. The strength and lightness is necessary now for the truly competitive VW. Loyalty
still remains for the Beetle body, the rear-engined configuration and the flat, air-cooled
engine. All of these features are peculiar to the Beetle and its big brother, Porsche 911.
The ideas and concepts for the tube framed Beetle are from the Porsche which has always
been so many years ahead, "A" arm suspension, engine and gearbox moved forward
and 911 cooling fan are just a few.
I guess the Beetle will never "out-tech" the Porsche but it's fun trying and once you have a quick Beetle your dreams of owning a 911 fade away. It will feel good to be driving a Beetle in the year 2000! Somewhat ironically, production of the Beetle is resuming in Brazil too, and a smog-equipped version is now made in Mexico.
Even at this early stage of the project special thanks are due to the many and varied people who have offered help and assistance in the design and development of an adventurous project which I hope will take the Beetle toward 2000. Thanks go to Peter Haines, Richard Bradley, Tom Brickley, Henry Spicak, Boris Orazen, Jim Randle, Dave Nicol, Dennis Soulos, Ian Baker, Dave Wilson, Gene Berg, Rod Wagner and Hans Klaack.