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Sun Mar 25, 2012 7:43 am

Newbie here with a question to all you hardcore enthusiasts. Coming from a mostly a small/big block chevy backround, does the air cooled power satisfy? I know with the weight under 2000 it must but I guess its just hard for me to believe that anything under 150 hp is good enough. I know that a stock engine wont cut it for me. Currently I. have an 03 Silverado Magnacharged which I've had since new and I think I'm ready for a change. Any feedback on the performance side of these cars would be greatly appreciated. Looking for all around performance. Thanks Mike

Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:16 am

Wow,very broad question. Since you are comparing to your Silverado,how fast is it? Depending on your budget and what plan to use a VW for,the sky is the limit. A fairly mild daily driven 14 second 1776cc to a turbocharged 2275cc mid 9sec @140+ ragged edge street monster.

For your 150hp refererence,a freind of mine had his 2332 '54 oval dynoed at 150hp/148 ft lbs (at the wheels,so more at the crank) a couple years ago. His first trip to the track for him and the car he went 13.38@101 and was getting quicker every pass. This was on cheap street radials and stock gears leaving almost off idle and pedeling thru 1st gear. A set of DOTs or slicks and some seat time on the track and it probably would have a high 12 in it. He drives this car everywhere in the summer including interstate trips on pumpgas and he runs the hell out of it reliably.

Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:55 am

Thanks for the reply Ian. Only time I went to the local track it went 13.01 on 20" street tires. It dyno'd just a little under 450 rwhp. Always been into the lowered truck scene with mini and fullsize but picked up an 87 Corvette a couple of years ago that was going to replace the truck but my mind keeps wandering back to the VW thing.

Sun Mar 25, 2012 3:10 pm

Suggest that you might want to spend time looking at the discussions on either performance engines/racing forum

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewforum.php?f=12

or for the totally crazy the vintage speed forum

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewforum.php?f=12

While strictly a vintage stock guy, I do know that VWs performance can vary greatly and can regularly exceed 150hp.

Sun Mar 25, 2012 4:22 pm

For me personaly if you're worried about HP you don't get it. I have a motorcycle for going fast, my bug is for smelling the roses. Life in the slow lane has a simply joy to it. If it's not for you they made plenty of other cars, better to drive what makes you happy than not enjoy your investment.

Sun Mar 25, 2012 5:32 pm

Speed costs.

Mon Mar 26, 2012 1:46 am

the feeling of speed in a vw is magnified by the lack of having a chevy hood emblem 5 in front of your face. when i set in my bug the hood disappears right about in front of the vw emblem thats right in front of the windshield!

Mon Mar 26, 2012 6:58 am

Yeah I already have a small fortune in the Silverado. I'm not worried about horsepower. I dont want a 9 sec. ride but I do want something that performs good in all areas like handling, breaking, acceleration and even gas mileage. Plus I like the sleeper look of the beetle.

Mon Mar 26, 2012 8:45 am

If you want handling and breaking then a bug isn't for you. Lol

Mon Mar 26, 2012 8:48 am

sixty7bugin wrote: If you want handling and breaking then a bug isn't for you. Lol

and if you're talking performance, you're not going to get good gas mileage although that is relative to a Silverado.

Mon Mar 26, 2012 9:33 am

Here's the deal - the cars were not designed to be rockets - My winter beater is a Subaru WRX, which is a 14 second car with 0-60 under 6 sec. No slouch.

We have a real mix - a buggy with a nice 1776, a 61 with a mild 1600, my woodie with a 1955 stroker and my summer daily driver which is a stock 65 bug with a 1200. Each car has its charm and my 65 is my favorite - Semis pass me on long hills, but that part of the charm. The woodie feels most like a modern car with tons of torque and will boogie along at 80 effortlessly. All depends what you want, but 100 HP in a bug can be a LOT of fun.

Mon Mar 26, 2012 4:38 pm

These cars come from a different time and culture.

It's not better or worse, just different.

I have lost of high powered go fast race cars, but I also like tooling around in my 36 horse VW. It's not about going fast.

On the other hand there is the sensation of speed. Back in the day my 60 had 4 retread unbalanced snow tires on it. The fenders were each held on by about 2 bolts.

I could give you a ride and once we got rolling and the fenders started flapping in the breaze, you would swear we were doing 100mph.

Tue Mar 27, 2012 5:24 am

Appreciate the answers guy's. If it happens I guess it happens. Thanks Mike

Tue Mar 27, 2012 8:54 am

It's a completely different world and mindset.

But like any other car, if you throw enough time, effort and money at it the right way, you can blow the doors off almost anything.

One problem most guys coming from the American V8 world have is understanding the simplicity of these cars. For example, the fan belt turns the generator, but it also runs the fan which is the cooling system and the heater.

I was never into drag racing, but I did take my autocross beetle to the track for a test and tune day. We had a lot of fun running against the big V8 cars.

12 seconds in the quarter with a top speed of 99mph. Just couldn't go any faster because it ran out of gears. 99mph at the 1/8 mile mark and 99mph at the traps. Not bad for something built of complete junk and started life with 36 horse power.

If you want to get real power out of one of these cars, it needs to be a complete rebuild from stem to stern. The brakes and transmission were built to handle around 40 to 50 horse power, so you run into some problems if you try to put 10 hp or more through the tranny.

Then once you get it rolling, the old drum brakes aren't going to get you stopped very quickly.

But here's some inspiration for you from the gallery;

Tue Mar 27, 2012 8:58 am

It is a different ride than a comfy car/truck. If you feel like you go fast in a go cart-close to the ground and feeling every bump--then you can feel like you are going fast in a bug. The body does react to the torque (ha!), braking (ha! again) and in turns and you can feel it in the seat so the illusion is there --I enjoy it very much. And you can adjust the vent windows to blow directly in your face if you need it :lol:

Thu Mar 29, 2012 5:39 am

Thanks again.There was a good thread in readers rides about a 58 that was autox'd. That is the way I was looking to go with this. Does anybody know any good suspension upgrades or swap websites that I can check out? Thanks Mike P.S.... Love those drag photo's

Thu Mar 29, 2012 7:43 am

First question would be what is the intended purpose for the car when it's ready to roll?

The answer to that question can take your build to intirely different areas.

Autocrossing a bug is a much different set up then going for straight line stuff.

If you are just building a good handling street machine, that is one thing. But if you plan to do any competition at all, you first need to start with the rule book and decide which class or catagory you want to fit into.

As a long time autocrosser I can tell you, if you don't follow the rule book from day one, it's really easy to end up in a class you have no hope of ever being competitive in. And that really goes for any sort of competition.

Sat Mar 31, 2012 9:50 am

I think the main thing would be driveability. I would be looking for something that would get decent gas mileage and be quick, not necessarily the fastest. Definitely not for any kind of competition. More like a sleeper. I have a 123 mi. round trip to work so it would have to make that. I really don't mind putting some work into it to get it reliable. The Silverado does that awesome. It's lowered so the handling is great but at 14 - 16 mpg on premium it limits how much I can use it so It's basically become my weekend cruiser. I probably will off the vette so with the way that the economy is going I'm thinking the bug will be better not to mention more unique. Hey... thanks for the reply's Mike

Sun Apr 01, 2012 10:20 am

OK - then my wife's 61 would be perfect - mild 1600, late geared tranny - Cal look with a bit of a drop in the front and decent tire width. Has plenty of zip - no issues at highway speeds. The modest lowering, suspension rebuild, good shocks and tire wheel combo make it very stable and it does twisties very well. Gets 30 MPG consistently. And a relatively low cost build - Thinking with the purchase price of a 90% finished car and the upgrades, we have less than $10K in it.

Mon Apr 02, 2012 5:54 am

Hey andk5591, any chance for some pic's? That sounds like the combo I'm looking for. Sounds really reliable.