Aeromodability of a VW Bug?

[Flipper_1938]

Aircooled vws don't live very long with a lean fuel map. They historically have used excess fuel to help with engine cooling.

If you really want fuel efficency, swap in a small water-cooled motor.

[Pendragon]

It is possible to do some aero work on a stock body. There is a diesel (current production) bug that used to have its own web site with the different things done to it and some rather lengthy economy runs. As I recall it, the owner made a run up to Alaska and got very good mileage compared to an unmodified one.

That said, you can pour a lot of money into trying to make something out of an old Beatle engine that it really is not and you would need to put a bunch of effort into the transmission. My dad had a '61 Beatle and it turned a lot more RPMs at highway speed that any modern car does. And then there is the matter of the rear suspension.

Anyway, why not make it a beach buggy like you were thinking about and have some fun with it.

If you still feel the urge to build an extreme aero car after that why not start with a modern engine and transmission? If you do not have welding skills, take a course at the local community college and build a chassis to suit things or look into a kit car of some sort?

I just think the odds are that you will put a lot of time, effort and money into the old car and the chances of success are not that good.

[moTthediesel]

Well, the Bug body is not very clean from an aero standpoint, and the driveline is not very efficient either, but things can be improved.

Using adapters from Kennedy Engineering would allow almost any kind of modern water cooled engine to be fitted. Also, there are all kinds of gears available for VW Type 1 gearboxes. My diesel powered Porsche 356 uses a Type 1 trany from Rancho that has a 3:44 r&p, and a .7 4th gear. With those cogs, 2000 rpm means 62 mph.

That kind of driveline with a cleaner body (maybe some kind of kit car?) could yield big mpg numbers.

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by gtkid2002

Botsapper - Thanks for the overlay. I didn't realize how close those actually came together. Granted one might be stretched a little more than the other, but they still seem to fit just fine.

The scaling doesn't look correct. I think the Pillbug is much, much larger vs the Bug than portrayed.

Low 40's in a Squareback?!? Our family had several of them and I've no recollection of any of them getting anywhere near that. All were efi.

[Joenavy85]

Originally Posted by Flipper_1938

If you really want fuel efficency, swap in a small water-cooled motor.

swap in a subaru EJ20

[Clev]

How many miles is your commute? If you're going super-aero, maybe an EV conversion is an option?

[euromodder]

This looks like one of those cars that would do better going rearwards

[gtkid2002]

Responding to posts. Always fun.

I think for now I might just stick with the stock VW engine. If I get a FI one, I'll put that in there because I'm slightly more familiar with a FI engine for fuel cutoffs and such than a carb. I still gotta learn how to tune the carb on my '69, as 14mpg is NOT nice. Anyhow though,

Clev - I don't really have a commute. But I do enjoy going to Canada. That's about a 600 mile round trip from where I'm at (southern WA), and having something that would get good gas mileage would be awesome. I think I just need to set up some project goals and see how close I can get to on a stock VW chassis and engine. The body has got to go though.

Is it bad that the only thing that makes me nervous about this -entire- project, is making the doors?

moTthediesel - I'm planning on trying to get the Freeway Flier transmission for the car. (link) Hopefully that way I could get away with lower crusing RPM. That won't come for at least quite a while though.

Pendragon - A beach buggy would be awesome, but I don't have the money to go out and just romp around with one. The truck we has gets 12-14mpg Highway ('97 F-350 XLT), and it's at least an hour's drive to the coast. That and I would rather have something economy. I know the whole time and money thing might not add up to what my goals are, but since I seem to generally have free time, and I'm using craigslist to get 90% of my stuff, I'm not really putting in much cash. That's another reason I want to start out with the stock setup. No point in dropping $$$ if it just won't work right.

Also, do you have a link to that website? A diesel engine (if I could) is the only modern engine I would put in there. Mainly because I could run SVO or Biodiesel. And it would probably get up hills better than with the gas engine in it now. I'm just curious to know if anybody makes a small flat 4 diesel engine that could fit in a VW. Granted it won't be stock, but I don't want to modify the chassis -too- much. Because if it turns out that this is a good idea, I want to be able to work on it easily and run with it.

I'll start working on a goals list and try and get those images uploaded already. They are just idea sketches.

Also, anybody know the mpg difference between a carbed Bug and a FI'ed one?

[gtkid2002]

Okay - wrote up some basic goals I want to hit for now.
Use a stock(ish) VW Bug chassis*
Use an all custom aeromodded body
Have a drag Cd of at least .18
And a lot of you might think this impossible but..
I want to hit 80mpg highway.

I figure if Aerocivic was able to improve his cd by about .14 and get a 45% boost in gas mileage (If I did my math right), then improving my cd by .23ish (VW bug has cd of .41 stock, right?), I should hopefully get a higher than 45% mpg gain. Although it probably won't be close to 80mpg, it's still what I want to shoot for.

* Bug chassis can be modified if needed, but not like chop the whole thing apart and just use parts of it. Although shortening it could be interesting too.

[Clev]

If the 36hp engine could get a Beetle to freeway speeds, maybe one of the Kubota diesels can do the same with your car? I think people have done Honda swaps as well. If so, the Civic VX engine with lean burn might get you to 80 mpg.

Your other diesel option might be the one from the Smart, but you'd have to import it.