Question for the aircooled VeeDub nuts

I know someone who build a Ghia with a 360BHP Cosworth motor in, plus used all the 4x4 suspension to make it 4wd. I've also seen a couple of examples using Scooby engines. However all these have come in at around the £25-30K mark.

Being honest, and speaking as a Ghia owner, unless you're willing to pay mega bucks I don't particularly think it's worth going for an engine out of something different. Best option would be to buy a Ghia, buy a decent built engine (e.g 2109-2332cc can be picked up for under 5K), get a box built and go out and start pulling 12-13 second quarters! w00t!

Subaru power is the way forward imho - TSR run a bug in the AE (alternate-engine) class of the VWDRC and offer conversion kits and fitting for these engines. Going rate is less than the cost to build a comparable output aircooled engine and you don't need to go for top spec to get pleasantly surprising performance

Alfa boxers go in with a conversion plate, and some bodywork - give plenty of performance

Another less common but effective swap is a Mazda rotary. There's a guy on VZi who sells the conversion kits.

I'd steer clear of anything inline as i think you'll struggle to keep it under the decklid (bonnet/boot thing).

Finally, KG's arent cheap, later ones are a bit uglier (and cheaper) IMHO and coupe's look 1.36 million times better than the convertibles (IMHO again). T34 razoredges even nicer but much rarer.

Oh, and for goodness sake, don't put fuchs on it, if you get one.
'Lowlight' (earliest):

Early:

Late (70's - note 'europa' bumpers and indicators)

Razoredge:

big cc type 4 stroker motors are the way forward.

with a buggy though, you can have the engine hanging quite a way out the back (and i'd assuume some extra mounts, as hanging a V8 from four gearbox bolts seems a bit risky) - with a KG or beetle you've gotta get it under the decklid. KG's have a squarer area to get engines in so a small inline might be possible, but beetles really need a boxer engine due to the shape of the engine bay.

never seen a rotary in a vw, sounds interesting and a little bit different to the subaru way.

120 to 140bhp per tonne would be what I'm after.

so from google I've managed to work out that a KG is around 70bhp per tonne (@ 907kg)

therefore I'd need an engine (assuming it weighed the same) knocking out around 110 to 130bhp.

Thats obviously well under scooby figures, but I'm a complete novice when it comes to bigg cc VW engines. What sort of money to be paid for lumps that knock out xcess of 110bhp ?

16v Alfa boxer engine might be cool - easy electrrics, revvy as hell & about 137bhp.

if you are happy to buy a second hand motor you can find a bargain giving you that p/w ratio easily. anything from a 1776 upwards would be there or there abouts for you.
i remember a porsche powered one in volksworld a few years back, silver on 17 or 18 bbs rims if i remember right.
the cheapest way would be to stick the cb performance bolt on turbo kit on a 1600. i think thats about £2400/2500.
it depends upon what you are after, but its very easily achieveable in a number of ways.

Wouldn't surprice me in the least. Most cars running 48IDA's are gonna be around the 200bhp mark.

thats an old pic of my turbo set up

At the end of the day it would also come down to what you want to use the car for as well. That aircooled engine I linked to will pretty much beat any engine down the strip, unless you're gonna blow loads of money. I appreciate for that price you could easily pick up a cheap 276 brake turbo scooby lump and plumb it in, but it wouldn't even come close to pulling mid 12 quarters. 200bhp from a Beetle engine will have much better acceleration than 300+ bhp engines from other cars. It's not all just about final power output, you've got to look at the whole set up.

However, if you want a car to have a bit of fun in, scare the chavs, and also sit at 80-90mph on the motorway, reliably, day in day out, the Subaru would probably be the best option.