I know it's been done lots of times before. Exactly how hard is it though? Is it expensive? There's a Beetle for sale up the street from me, and it would be a perfect candidate.

 

The best site for info on this can be found here.

 

just curious...people want to swap rotary into a lot of different cars, n basically what is the power/torque/time gains u gonna benefit from swapping in a rotary into a beetle...

 

I put a turboII rotary in my Kelmark GT that has a '74 VW pan. Its been done before, but does take a lot of work and a fair amount of money. Kennedy Engineered made the adapter, made and match balanced a new flywheel, made the clutch & pressure plate(3000lb!), and sold me a great starter. They have a short booklet that talks about the swap (It was around $900 for all of that.) Then you've got to do the exhaust. I used 3" stainless from Burns Stainless, a Racing Beat turvo premuffler and a Supertrapp 3" in, 5" out mufler from Summit Racing.
The engine is controled by a Haltech E6K engine management system and its really great!
You can get away a lot cheaper by using a 12a with a carb n' distributer or 13B with a carb n' 12a distributer instead of the injection and turbo, but there is nothing like the power the turbo rotory makes.although Atkins does have a supercharger for the rotary engine.
BTW, I beefed the running gear up as if I was going to off road race (without jacking up the highth), because of the stress the rotary puts on everything.

 

HI wdwflash
regarding "I put a turboII rotary in my Kelmark GT that has a '74 VW pan"
Do u have any pic's ?
TIA

 

I've got some pictures of the parts I built for the cooler, intercooler etc, but i have to go get them developed.(35mm) What part of the project are you interested in?

Dave W

 

I have a 12a in my bug with a IDA carb and a free flowing exhaust. I was quoted at having around 160hp with my current setup at the flywheel by a reputable mazda shop. I have yet to run in the quarter mile with my setup tuned, but with it running like crap (bogging off of the line) slipping clutch and my wife in the passenger seat, i ran 15 flat. And that was with a 45 dellorto carb. Like I mentioned, I now have an IDA and the car feels much faster.

The bug weighs about 1800lbs (pre 1967) and gets going pretty good. doing the conversion adds about 40lbs to the rear (engine is 40 lbs heavier than a vw engine) and whatever the weight of the cooling system.


By the way, I know that 200hp, geared tranny, and slicks will put a bug in the 12's.


If you are interested in finding out more about this subject, check out the vw engine conversion forum at http://frost.bbboy.net/vwengineconversions
or click on the link in my sig.