Here is your inline two seat airplane cock pit car. Good luck finding one.
I’ve been kicking this same can around for some time. I generally keep a long list of fantasy projects in my head but a high MPG air-cooled VW keeps getting pushed closer to the front. I should have chimed in on this discussion a long time ago and some others have mentioned what I will say.
Air-Cooled VW’s are very fun cars to hyper-mile with though I’ve never done it religiously and was just as likely to squeal the tires and chirp 2nd and third gear. For many years I coasted the last .75 mile to my house until they put in speed bumps. VW’s will engine off free wheel for great distances and restarting the engine is very smooth. Rebuild your front end as soon as possible. Fresh ball joints and tie rod ends will help you out a lot with this and make driving a pleasure.
If you have the single port engine the ’69 came with keep it. It is well suited for your project. VW engines have notoriously inefficient air fuel delivery and the later dual port is worse in stock form. Single port tuning has long been forgotten so you will need to find old sources for information and search around for parts.
In an earlier post you mentioned wanting a “Freeway Flier” gear. There is a long standing debate about this being good for mileage or bad for your engine and everywhere in between. I would personally stick to “rubber overdrive” and don’t bother with gear changes but do research and make your own mind on that one.
Volkswagen Transaxle Gear Ratios!These sites will tell you what you have.
Stay away from a “Power Pulley”. It reduces the parasitic drag of your cooling fan/generator but more importantly it reduces your cooling. Don’t do it!
I want to see you pull off something great with this car. You will be surprised how far you can go with this and retain ability to revert back to stock.