1962 VW ragtop engine rebuild thoughts

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1st time building with an experienced friend fall 2025 , thoughts on the most power but keeping the engine look to org. as possible ? car is 100% org. but id like to increase the power a bit , what would be the must haves but when you open the lid its looks org. ( minus electronic ignition )
TIA , Mike

[mukluk]

For a nice bump in power while quite literally still looking completely stock, install a set of 83mm "Big Bore" pistons and cylinders in your 40 horse. Set the deck height as close to .040" as you can for an 8:1 compression ratio, maybe toss on some 1300-1600 1.1:1 rocker arms on the intakes.

For a pretty close to stock look, you can instead swap in any of the single ports in the 1300/1500/1600 family. Swap fresh air the fan housing and appropriate breast tin out for the stale air variety, and most people wouldn't even notice it's not a 1200.
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1960 Ragtop w/Semaphores "Inga"

[tasb]

Include a dog house fan shroud with the larger displacement?
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Roads Scholar
1957 Kombi low mileage 36 hp governor equipped M 178 Slow Drag Winner 2014, 2015, 2018

1965 hardtop Deluxe Microbus owned since 1990 M 620 factory 12 v 1500cc

1961 (October)Single Cab- Road Trip Workhorse

Member# 2059

[Bobs67vwagen]

I think the suggestions you have received so far are the best and easiest to do and look very much like the original 40 hp to most people. Starting in 1966 vw introduced the 1300 in the bug in the US. This had a larger crank than the 40 hp with similar size pistons and it felt to me quite a bit more powerful than the 40 hp. In 67 they upped the piston and valve sizes with the same size crank which became the 1500 yielding more power, then in 1970 they put larger pistons which became the 1600 still with single port heads, and this combination worked real well. I had a 1970 brand new and the motor ran real good with plenty of power. If you add the dog house cooling set up to this motor I think it will give you the best bang for your buck and be the simplest to build with more power, better cooling, and a stock look under the deck lid. Best of luck-Bob

[zerotofifty]

Do a big bore piston set, That is a nice bump up in power and it will work with your stock manifold, carb, distributor, sheet metal, etc... It is a nice stealth upgrade.

If original looks dont matter, then a big stock 1600 dual port is really nice, with the bigger fan and dog house cooler, BUT with the bigger fan of the dog house system, you NEED either decklid louvers or deck lid stand offs, else at high speeds and high loads, the fan will rob air from the carb and you will loose power, run rich. I done that in me 61 Bug, and found I needed to stand off the bottom of the deck lid an inch of so to prevent power loose on the freeway when climbing a high. difference of the stand off or not was very very noticeable in drivability at high speeds under load
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Sorry About That Chief.

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[tasb]

Electronic ignition isn’t the bees knees, in my opinion. Either you will use a 009 clone, or a 034 clone and either of those will rob from the stock look significantly. You could install a points replacement into a stock distributor but that will have an extra wire going from distributor to coil which I suppose could be cleverly hidden.
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Roads Scholar
1957 Kombi low mileage 36 hp governor equipped M 178 Slow Drag Winner 2014, 2015, 2018

1965 hardtop Deluxe Microbus owned since 1990 M 620 factory 12 v 1500cc

1961 (October)Single Cab- Road Trip Workhorse

Member# 2059