Putting a beetle engine in a camper.Good idea?

[VWAIRCOOLED]

I'm thinking of putting an F1 code engine in my early Dormy,it was originally a 1300 beetle engine single port.I've got some 1600 barrells and either single or twin port heads to go on,I haven't decided yet.

But the engine adaptor that you can buy from VW Heritage and Cool Air,are they up to the job of supporting a mildly tuned 1600 with twin carbs? I understand it bolts onto the oil pump bolts.Any problems with this? Cheers.

 

[Harlequin]

The only problem I had was getting the adaptor plate to seal
There was a high spot...filed it flat, cured....used motor in van
for six months . now been in buggy for 2 years still OK

 

[VWAIRCOOLED]

So do you have to remove the old oil pump cover and fit it stright on then? I'll give it a go then,cheers.

 

[james_stan]

My beetle engine has two out of the three cast 'bosses' on the crankcase.
I drilled and tapped these so I have two thirds of the support of the camper crankcase. Both now have M10 thread holes. The mag alloy is really easy to TAP BTW. However not all beetle cases have these extra bosses you will have to check.

Part of the reason for this was to make it easier for full-flow filtering, also heard stories that the adapters caused strain on the pump studs (typical thesamba.com paranoia perhaps...). The support 'kit' does come with an additional pump cover as well as the galvanised support bracket. The cover is 'flat' with no raised edge like the OEM version..

Hope this helps

James

 

[VWAIRCOOLED]

Cheers James,I don't have any raised lugs on my case so it looks like it will have to have the oil pump cover bracket fitted.I would have rebuilt my camper engine but the end float was too excesive.Whilst the beetle engine is in,I'll get the camper engine align-bored and the barrell holes bored for bigger barrells .Then slowly get all the parts together to rebuild that one.