how do i pass smog with a 2180cc performance engine?

[VWBeetleObsessed67]

i plan to use this as my daily driver and i just want a little more power out of the old bugger. :)

[VWBeetleObsessed67]

that way i can cruise around normally and then if i want to go to a small little track day i can do so and have fun doing it hopefully without the car going up in flames... :/

[Michael Ambrozik]

The auto-stick was never meant for racing and will be the weak link.

[VWBeetleObsessed67]

and besides i don't mind doing everything it takes to recreate that nostalgic sound!

[VWBeetleObsessed67]

i know that it isn't made for racing but then again most old beetles were never made for racing yet people tend to still do it. :D

[VWBeetleObsessed67]

besides i don't plan to go full racing. i plan to just do like maybe 2 or 3 laps around a small course and call it a day.

[VWBeetleObsessed67]

like racing go karts but on a larger scale! :D

[VWBeetleObsessed67]

also sorry if i'm overwhelming people with my rambling. i'm just very talkative...

[VWBeetleObsessed67]

i have autism which makes it really hard to control my talking and i tend to talk or in this case type something immediately when it pops in my head...

[Michael Ambrozik]

That's fine. Just remember, going fast cost money, and if you do it in a bug with auto-stick, well just be pre-warned you will need a spare auto-stick trans. as you will blow it up, and not with any grand fashion, but just go and then high revs from motor and then no go at all. It sounds like it would better if you got yourself a manual transmission bug and then build it to match the engine. More money up front but less down the road.

[VWBeetleObsessed67]

Ok! Thanks :)

[VWBeetleObsessed67]

i'm mostly just gonna be using it to just do basic stuff like driving to my job once i get one, going to the store, and occasional stops for food. just basic things. i plan to go to a track day only if i am okay with most likely blowing the trans. which if so, i will just do it once and then not again. :)

[VWBeetleObsessed67]

i'm most likely not gonna push it that hard.

[unclewede]

I had visions of building a 1776 for my son. We are in Cali. Like you, I had no experience. I bought my son a 1977, thinking I could order a new engine and drop it in. They are all pretty much the same, why can't I find something listed past 1975???

FUEL
INJECTION
That's why.

Even with a bone-stock FI, it's a hassle to pass smog every 2 years. I had a guy who would take 2-3 days of magical maintenance to get the bug to pass. Apparently nothing illegal, but it wasn't easy.
THEN, I found a smog-specific guy, who learned to work on a bug when he was your age. He went thru the whole engine for me, found a bunch of funky things that got it to pass smog, but really detracted from the bug running very well. He fixed that all up for me, and now I love driving this thing.

I still would like, at some distant point, to bore out the engine a bit and bump it up near a 1776.

BUT, you don't need that to get on the freeway in Cali. Heck, if you are in LB/LA area, merging occurs at about 6 MPH anyway. . .

I bought some speaker boxes for the front footwell. Decent, not great speakers. We put that roofing material as a sound-deadener all across the back, in the doors, behind all the panels. Still can't hear much over engine, road, and wind noises.

[ashman40]

Your new target of a 1776cc engine is much more reasonable. Installing it in a pre-'75 Beetle seems like the best option for living in Cali... unless you want to (illegally) keep the car registered in another state.


I would caution you on seeking much more power than the 1776 will offer. Remember that VW designed these cars to work optimally with a ~60HP engine. Everything in the car (suspension, transmission, brakes) was designed around the engine making only that much power. Kick the power level up above 120HP and you have doubled the engine output. That would be the same as taking a 500HP Corvette and swapping the engine for a 1000HP engine. With no other changes you should expect suspension, transmission or braking problems. These systems were never designed to manage 2x the engine HP, let alone more. The same applies to the Beetle but on a much smaller scale. Can you create a 200HP engine? Sure. Will the transmission and suspension handle that much power... not for long. Will you be able to stop quickly from 80MPH using drum brakes at all four corners... no way.

I agree with the suggestion that you start close to stock and work your way up. This will give you time to get to know your Beetle and also make complementary upgrades to suspension, transmission and brakes to match (or exceed) the power level of your engine.
_________________
AshMan40
---------------------------
'67 Beetle #1 {project car that never made it to the road }
'75 Beetle 1200LS (RHD Japan model) {junked due to frame rot}
'67 Beetle #2 {2019 project car - Wish me luck!}

[Paul Windisch]

To piggy back off of what Ashman said, these cars weren't designed to go that fast. My engine is fairly well built, above stock. The engine will definitely propel the car beyond 100 mph. But after doing that ONCE, never again. The rest of my car is pretty much stock. Original suspension, manually adjusted drums at all four corners, etc. It gets pretty scary when you start going too fast in it. The other thing to consider is, unless you do some oiling system upgrades, the engine is going to starve for oil on track day. There are times I can accelerate out of a corner hard enough that the oil light will come on because all the oil in the sump has sloshed away from the pickup tube. But, I've owned this thing for 26 years, so I know not to do that.

This is just my opinion, but you might want to start out with a stock engine for awhile, until you get the feel for what makes these cars tick. They are definitely idiosyncratic compared to modern cars. Wrap your mind around what is required to keep one of these cars running and properly (and safely) maintained. Throwing 100 hp at one of these without knowing what they're about is a recipe for getting hurt. I know it sounds crazy in a time when you can buy a 1000 hp vehicle off the showroom floor right now, but 100 hp in a Bug is more than you think. A properly running stock engine, while not fast, is not as terrible as most people think.

The last thing has to do with money. You aren't going to want to buy a car and throw all of your money into the engine right away, especially if you intend on driving it soon. You are going to want to fully inspect the whole car and replace any other safety related components before you drive it. Think brakes, suspension, tires, alignment, lighting systems. That all needs to be sorted before you even drive it. The newest US spec Beetle (or Super Beetle) is now 42 years old. Unless you find one that someone just restored (which will be a higher initial investment), you are likely going to need to do some work to it to make it drivable.

I am not trying to discourage you; I am offering the wisdom I have gained over my ownership. My Beetle is my first car, too. I made mistakes along the way, as I'm sure you will. But, just trying to offer experienced perspective and approach.

Just my two cents.
_________________
*ASE Recertified Master Automotive Tech*

1984 Mexican Beetle
-1914cc
-L3 Heads 35x32 valves 52cc chambers
-0.040" deck for about 9.1:1 Compression
-Engle W110 cam
-CB Super Stock 1.1:1 Rockers
-Stock Heat Exchangers w/ Tri-Mil Muffler
-Dual Weber IDF 40s w/ 26mm venturis
-034 SVDA Distributor

2013 Chevrolet Volt DD
2005 Pontiac Montana SV6

MAHLE Service Solutions
Applications Engineer

[Tim Donahoe]

I like Paul’s advice: buy a stock Bug with a 1600 motor. Hopefully, it’ll have the proper distributor/carburetor combination that’ll pass smog in your state. Drive it for a while. See how you like it. If the motor is fairly newly rebuilt, even a 1600 will get you easily going 70 mph on the freeway, and close to 80 mph to pass trucks.

A well-tuned 1600 might surprise you.

Once you get into the Beetle life enough to start doing your own maintenance, you’ll enjoy that car more than you can imagine, even with the stock—legal— motor.

Tim
_________________
Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[bomberbob]

I had my 72 up to 100 mph a couple of times. Adrenaline rush, as at that speed it starts to want to fly like an airplane, but its not quite fast enough to leave the ground. Would need some spoilers or something to try and make it stick. OP is probably not interested in top speed though, its that zero to 70 run. Same 72 had a warmed over power plant, 88 mm cylinders, dual solex carbs. I had no problem whatsoever with merging with traffic, or taking evasive manuevers to avoid idiot drivers. It was reliable, drove back and forth from Edwards AFB to Kansas time after time after time, never had a breakdown. Thats a good drive, through Needles, through New Mexico, that car never failed me and I wish I never sold it. I would not jump into a big CC motor first. Over rated.
_________________
1968 Beetle (storage)
1990 Jetta GLI megasquirted, burning E85 (currently in heavy maintenance)
2004 Jetta turbo GLI
Marion, Iowa

[johneliot]

If you’re willing to spend 14 grand on a bug, there will be many options to get a fantastic car in California. My advice would be to walk away from an auto stick only because the parts are hard to come by and you have to be willing to learn about how to trouble shoot/fix them because there aren’t many who know how to work on them anymore.
_________________
John

There is no distinctly American criminal class - except Congress.
Mark Twain

69 bug - "The Grey Ghost"

[VWBeetleObsessed67]

yeah. the car i found is located in bellevue washington. i want to have a bug as my first car. i grew up with the herbie films. i've watched herbie fully loaded more times than i can count. probably thousands of times... i was born in 2004 and i grew up with all the films bc my parents introduced me to them at a very young age. they are actually my most favorite films of all time.