Aircooled VW South Africa

Hi people, new here. Been driving o'le faithfull for 16 years. It's a mish-mash of many different models, but still a beetle (for now).

Single port motor and a 411 gearbox fitted with Ford seats (that didn't help with the oil leaks). The body is paste now - rusted and I decided to convert it to a Beach buggy.

I've been researching possible new motors for it and finally decided to try and get a hold of an air-cooled Kombi motor (need more POWER!).

Then I thought to ask you guys - is it possible to replace both motor and gearbox - ie fit the whole Kombi setup to the pan. Has anyone done this or are there fundamental problems with this idea? I'm not to sure if the 411 gearbox can handle the extra power of a 1800 motor.

Does anyone know where I can get a hold of an 1800 or 1900 Kombi motor and gearbox (air-cooled)?

Any info will be much appreciated

Hi! And welcome to the Forum

Well, you are certainly at the right place to get all your answers. 411 Gearbox in a Beetle/Buggy? Haven't heard of that one before, since the 411/412s all had IRS... Tell us more!

If it really is a 411 gearbox, it should be able to handle pretty much any powerful motor on it..

The later air cooled Kombis had either a 1700, 1800 or 2000 motor. The 1900 was a water cooled engine fitted to the Microbus, later replaced with the 2100 fuel-injection motor..

hey Pine

I'm now talking about 1988 - I remember the donor to be a 411 or some model starting with a 41 - My brother and I stripped out the gearbox and motor - we still had to drill new holes for the oil cooler to move it to the top and the fan was infront of the motor so we took that off and fitted the standard beetle fan-housing etc.

My farther helped with the oil cooler since he knew approx. where the oil channels were and if I remember correctly we also had to drill a new hole for the oil pressure switch.

My brother put the motor in his beetle and I ended up with the gearbox - my car's gearbox kept jumping out of 4th gear. The only problem was that the axles were to long - so we fitted a spacer to get the locknut to tighten against the drum and hold everything in place.The rear wheels actually run about 2 inches wider than standard. The gear ratio's feel about the same as a standard beetle (I estimate)

Good old days - yeh. I also ripped out 2 torsion bars out of the front suspension to lower it - this lasted 16 years without a problem - as long as you tighten the lock nuts properly into the v notches on the rest of the bars.

I might be wrong about the model no. of the donor - I'm sure about the 41 ..... last no. could be anything.

Man! Beetles are great.

All the best

Pine

I just noticed your signature (picture) - THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH MY BEETLE! HEE-HA

buggs wrote:Pine

I just noticed your signature (picture) - THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH MY BEETLE! HEE-HA

Not with leaves missing from your torsion bars ...

What you have described is in fact a type three engine and gearbox More than strong enough for a std 1800!
It would not be too difficult to adapt the type four (combi) engine to it but was it from a six volt car? do you have a 215 mm flywheel for the type 4 etc..........
I would need more complete specifications on both the engine and gearbox to be able to guide you in the installation.
Armand

It was from a 12 volt car. At the moment the motor is a standard single port and standard flywheel. I think the clutch/pressure plates would have to be adapted for the 1800- I would probably need to fit the beetle's to the kombi's flywheel somehow? Do you know if the thrust bearing needs to be changed aswell?

It's due to this adaption that I was wondering if it wouldn't be easier to just fit the kombi gearbox and motor together in the beetle?


The torsion bars - yeh, for that reason I'm on my 10nth set of false teeth

Power wise what does a combi 2000 motor put out?

Sorry for rude interuption in your interesting topic.

I am by no means an expert, but I was always told the 2000cc (Type 4) air cooled Kombi motor is a 'donkey' engine. As I understand it, no speed, but enough power to take a load of passengers and their luggage up a steep hill and to reach the top (eventually) The 411 and 412 (Type 4) cars were only fitted with 1700 or 1800 (Type 4) engines, and road tests at the time stated they could reach upwards of 150 km/h, I recall...

my 2000 type III reaches quite far upward from 100mph