Aircooled VW South Africa

Hi
Next year I want to begin a project. I don't have a beetle yet. I'm busy saving money because all my money went into my bike that is now stolen. My brother have a 1600 beetle with a 1700 engine that came out of a vw 411. It is kinda powerful but not enough. So I was thinking of a 2.0 golf engine in a beetle. Can this be done? If so, I have a lot of questions. So advice will be appreciated

Anything is do-able. Search the forum. Lots of info. Feel free to ask questions. I have done a few conversions and it works like magic.

I know there may be cutting needed. Can I go fuel injected or is this too hard because I know you have to change the fuel tank of a golf to fuel injection tank if you want to switch from carb to fuel injection.

Also I'm in the cape town area so where can I buy or engineer a adaptor to fit this conversion. Also wil the stock 1600 gearbox be strong enough.

have you ever considered upgrading the 1600?
With a decent exhaust, carbs and a bit of headwork you can get to around 75hp. 100hp is possible with a bit more effort.
Going up to 1776cc, 1835cc or 1915cc opens up another world of possibility.
Then increasing engine size even further adds even more, but also drains your pocket quickly....

1st thing to spend your money on will be suspension and brakes. Upgrade those to handle your ultimate dream power, then save-up for an FI engine. Not that tough a conversion, but like Tony said, an ac motor can give you omph!

Won't an ac motor thats modded to give 70-80hp be thursty on fuel? And whats the reliability on such an motor.

I have got an 1800 golf carb motor in my bug. plenty of power and average of 15km/l.

Hey ricky.
I have a lot of questions for you.
The 1.8 and 2.0 golf engine use the same adapter plate rite?
Where can I find such a adapter plate in the cape town area?

dhjmarais wrote:Won't an ac motor thats modded to give 70-80hp be thursty on fuel? And whats the reliability on such an motor.

70hp is 70hp, doesnt matter what type of engine produces it. The beetle engine might not be as efficient as a newer engine so it will loose out there. But if you only use the 70hp occasionally and use the stock power the rest of the time, it wont be more fuel thirsty.
Besides, if you do it right the engine will be more fuel efficient and you will see that driving the same will actually use less fuel (until you put your foot down).

Most of the engine would remain stock, so reliability will be good

How much will it cost to get 70+hp out of a ac engine.

depends how much you have already. If your engine is in decent shape and you dont need a rebuild, then you need decent carbs (36IDFs) and manifolds and linkage (guess at 3K or just under), a decent exhaust (no idea). And an R800 dyno session. That will already bring you some more power. You might end up with 60 to 65hp
A little port work, valve work (and new valves) and cutting for higher compression will give you good rewards and better fuel economy (maybe R1k to 1.5k? depending on price of cutting for compression and amount of work done). Should be around 75hp after that.

There is a lot of things to consider when planning a conversion like this. First of all,your mechanical skills. Availability of parts ect. I fabricate my own adaptor plates. Not to hard to do when you got welding skills. Main problem is finding an engineering shop that can mod a beetle flywheel to fit on the golf engine. Here up North, most guys use Gilo engineering adaptor kits. It consists of adaptorplate, flywheel and pilot bearing. Cost around R3k. I am sure you can courier it down or posted. Google them. You must just remember,this is not a cheap alternative for more power. If you do everything yourself you are still looking at around R15k to do this. And you will install and take out the motor a couple of times. I don't want to talk you out of it,but if you spend that kind of money on an a/c motor you will have decent power. Reliability? Might be good for around 40 000 km!

Do you use the standard 1600 gearbox ricky? Also how long do you have your 1800 conversion?

Standard 1300 box. Beetle is running for almost a year now. Did not have any major issues yet!