I can't express how good it is...

[cfg83]

Frank -

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I like your idea stingy!

As far as flat air-cooled VWs; I love 'em but they have some inherent disadvantages for max fe, the biggie being the relatively loose and constantly changing piston-to-cylinder tolerances vs the more stable, tight environment of water pumpers. Were I to do a max effort VW I think I'd go for a water cooled engine swap of some sort.

Sooooooo, maybe I could convince *you* to spend *your* money on a Porsche transplant?!?! Hrmmmmm, or maybe we could get bgd73 to transplant a Subaru boxer engine into an ol' bug chassis, sans the 4WD. Has anyone done that?

CarloSW2

[Old Tele man]

...I eventually got my '72 Pinto with 1.6L Ford-of-Britian (Kent) engine from 24 mpg up to 36 mpg...unfortunately, it needed LEADED regular gasoline, which is outlawed now.

[cfg83]

oldtimer97 -

Originally Posted by oldtimer97

...

@cfg83: I was planning on keeping the stock engine, since cost is a factor. It’s pretty efficient compared to the lot of them on the market

@Frank Lee: Yeah. Air cooling has its disadvantages. That may change eventually; who knows.

Thank you all for the welcome. I’m impressed by your sense of community, as well.

Ok. Frank will correct me on the details, but he told us how students disabled and/or removed two cylinders of a VW engine to increase MPG. I think a key point is that a boxer engine is "balanced by design", so disabling/removing 2 of the four cylinders won't cause the engine to shake itself apart.

CarloSW2

[Clev]

Forget efficiency; build a Caddywagen. :-)

Caddywagen

[Frank Lee]

Carlos: If, someday, I take action on a long-time dream of mine, I'll get a Speedster replica going. Thing about that is, it's purpose probably wouldn't be a max fe effort thus it'd probably be air-cooled. That's not to say, however, that it couldn't be modded. There are several proven air-cooled VW fe mods; in fact I think I referenced some of them here at EM.

Also referenced/discussed was the "50/50" VW project (50 mph/50 mpg) built by Mankato State University students back in the '80s; I saw the car at a local car show and ended up going through the MSU program. They removed a pair of cylinders. Twin VW conversions have been popular in aviation as well.

[wildfire8]

I have also been looking in to getting an old beetle to fix up myself. But have had many ideas so far. First I was thinking to swap engines with a used Toyota engine sitting in my dads garage to give it more power and speed. Then was thinking about just keeping the stock flat 4. Then just recently thought what about an engine from a smart car cuz they both are rear engine rear wheel drive. Maybe the turbo diesel (70mpg US) or just the gas (41mpg). The diesel would have almost the same amount of power as the stock engine (they only make they for Europe), and the gas would have just a pit more power.

I really just want a project car. Something I can drive daily if I want. I would like to have the extra power of the bigger engine. Just for all around peppy performance and some good FE.