Miura, a lightweight aerodynamic body over a Volkswagen frame

[Xist]

One of the benefits of boxer engines is the low center of gravity, but working on them is difficult. I needed to remove a few other parts to change my spark plugs.

There is a definite mileage hit with all-wheel drive, although the 2,014 Forester is rated 32 highway.

[freebeard]

It was made in my hometown from '77 to '85, using the Volkswagen platform, as usual with many artesanal Brazilian fiberglass-bodied cars from the 70s and 80s when imports were extremely restricted.

That was then, this is now.
Subarugears

Welcome!

We make a reverse-cut ring & pinion to suit Subaru transmissions and fully remanufactured reverse drive transmissions.

These transmissions can be used with rear-mounted Subaru, VW / Porsche boxer engines for 5 forward gears.

· Add a Subaru engine and 2WD 5 speed transmission to a Beetle, Kombi or Vanagon without cutting the torsion bar.

· Add a Subaru 2WD 5 speed transmission to your aircooled VW motor using an adaptor plate and flywheel (coming soon)

· Add a complete Subaru engine and 4WD transmission / drivetrain to a vehicle.

· Replace your older/broken VW / Porsche 4/5 speed with a Subaru 5 speed.

We do NOT manufacture ring and pinions for the 6 speed STi transmissions or Automatic transmissions.

kach22i -- The Type III cooling is superior to the Beetle, but mine always ran hot with those big honkin' Webers.

You could incrementally improve the boxer with MSD ignition and Claude's Buggies fuel injectors; but IMHO the big returns would be as a base for a Scuderi Split-cycle conversion. Compressed air hybrid, here we come!



Those Miura (Lamborghini knock-off?) vents are innies, like the Vanagon.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

That Subaru tranny setup would be perfect for me to fit 4WD into a Kombi

Regarding the VW air-cooled engine, altough it's old tech I still like it, mostly for being boxer, air-cooled and featuring a gear-driven valvetrain with no timing chain or belt to fail, no wonder there are still some light aircraft engines with a similar layout. And there is still room for improvement while keeping its basic concept.

[elhigh]

I've mentioned this before elsewhere but it bears repeating here:

http://www.cbperformance.com/Articles.asp?ID=312

That's pretty far along in a series of articles from Hot VWs Magazine on how to squeeze good mileage out of a Beetle.

The first thing they did was give the whole car a good chassis tune. That picked up about 7mpg right there, jumped from 22 to 29mpg if I recall.

In the referred article they were averaging over 36mpg in busy, high-speed California traffic. 70-year-old design or not, that's pretty good no matter how you slice it. Add in the fact that they enjoyed a big jump in power and torque for a significant improvement in driveability and I don't see a downside.

The stated goal was to achieve 40mpg in traffic, which they never did though they were getting close. And ultimately the articles just sort of stopped, like everybody lost interest. I don't remember there being a final wrap-up, which is too bad. That could have included a final What Works vs. What Sucks chart, which would have been really great for people in the VW community.

[freebeard]

Right, it's CB Performance nowadays. It was a great series, built on John Karcey's specs, but HVW is driven by their advertisers. And they never touched the aerodynamics of the test car.

Here's a discussion on theSamba.com on the Karcey specs, cam timing & etc. It discusses the Mankato 2-cylinder car, and includes this tidbit:

Another important modification for both fuel economy AND longevity is the use of aluminum cylinders (necessarily coated). The coating adds a little to the simple efficiency, and the extra heat shedding ability (this is the debatable part) may lose more heat energy from the cylinder, but also allows lower RPM without overheating. Charles Navarro claims a 7% reduction in BSFC (Brake Specific Fuel Consumption; lower is better) with his Nickies cylinders. The best part about these cylinders is how they work with the aluminum case and the aluminum heads: There is as much as a 14% difference in thermal expansion between the magnesium, cast iron, and aluminum alloys used in the main engine parts. Over time, these minor expansions and contractions fatigue the metals and you end up with cracked parts and bad sealing surfaces. All aluminum (think Porsche) makes for a much more durable engine.

[Copy]cRiPpLe_rOoStEr[Paste] -- Agreed. How about Subaru AWD in this?

[darcane]

Weird. When I hear Miura, I think of this:

Which first came about in the 60's...

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

It's not really impossible to set a Beetle to achieve 50MPG in highway just with engine mods and the higher differential gears of the SP2 (another Brazilian sports car assembled with the Volkswagen platform, but with a steel body and made by Volkswagen itself), but it would be too optimistic to expect that in city traffic without a major aerodynamic job.

[elhigh]

I can't find it.

I would swear on a stack of Bibles that I read the builders had found a NOS "highway helper" wing - no, I'm not confused with the "freeway flyer" tranny - that improved cooling and aero. I keep looking back through the articles, I just can't find it.

And I was wrong about the initial mileage, too. The original Type 3 whistled up 28, it got 29.9 with a chassis tune.

Hey, CR: my favorite VW-based sports car: the Puma.


Not the convertible, though. The proportions get weird in a hurry.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by elhigh

my favorite VW-based sports car: the Puma.

I got to see one in person a few years ago at the Ypsilanti Orphan Car Show in Michigan a couple of years ago. A very satisfying design.

[some_other_dave]

Originally Posted by elhigh

... I read the builders had found a NOS "highway helper" wing - no, I'm not confused with the "freeway flyer" tranny - that improved cooling and aero.

Look for "Herrod helper". I'm pretty sure there is at least one post about it here on this forum.

-soD