Update,

Everything is going well so far. I made a toothed wheel that goes in front of the pulley and sensor to catch the signal for the mega squirt 2 ( will have pics soon). I'm switching to the turbo 2 engine hope fully by spring it will be fully EFI ..... More to come...

Wow, what a great project!

I live in Bakersfield also and would love to see your project. Im not particularly good at fabrication but Id be willing to help turn some wrenches if you need help

hi I am looking to do the same to a bug I am getting but I am not sure what to do as in what engine I was told a 13b with single carb is the good bet but what 13b is best ...and have you put in a heating system running off the engine? ...are you running off a beetle gear box ....please advise thanks taffy

Hello,

Sorry for the late reply, but to answer your questions.... Any rotary you can get your hands on will be great!....if you have the choice to pick the one you want, try getting the FD engine. This engine will produce the most power but it will be the very pricey and installation will be more difficult. On the lower end is the 12a from the 1st gen rx7, not a good choice because it doesn't make as much power but even worse is that it is considered rare and if you find one it will likely be a high milage one. I feel the best of all choices is going to be either the s4 or s5 13B (2nd gen rx7) theses are the best candidate's for the vw swap in my opinion...
Now in reality you must take your determination and skill into account for the swap, the less work you can do your self the more cost you will have to deal with for the fabrication of what ever will be needed...(exhaust, cooling lines, radiator, oil cooler, fuel system, ect...).

I'm not running a heater yet but do have plans and parts coming up just for that. I'm going to have to use a heater core and build a custom box with a blower to duct the air to the stock duct system.

I'm using the stock 6 volt transmission, it has been modified with welded 3rd & 4th gears and a heavy duty differential. The stock diff has 4.11 or so gear ratios the overall gearing is very low, too low for my liking ( but is great for racing) it does around 3500 rpm@70mph in 4th gear with 75 tires in the back ( fairly large diameter).

Over all I've had a lot of fun with the car and engine combo and I believe that it can be done at about 75% cheaper than an equivalent HP aircooled engine....plus its a rotary😀

It's Rotary Cool now!. love it.

any news/updates on the rotary/beetle conversion ?
cheers
glen

im doing a rotary conversion at the moment!
I was thinking it would be good to make up a custom radiator and bolt it and fit it below my fibre glass whale tail may be ?
any other ideas where to bolt a radiator underneath at the back instead of the front ?
cheers glen

Hey Glen,

I have seen many different variations in radiator placement in the rear of the car. Most of the decision making process is based on budget, fabrication capabilities, aesthetic requirements, and function. I think the most important part is total cooling capabilities. So if you are building a heavy race car for long duration track running then you will need to keep that engine cool which means lots of air flow and good surface are heat transfer. But if your doing a quarter mile car than you can get away with much less. I did testing with a stock N/A engine and a honda civic radiator (really small) just above the the engine like a rear wing, and it did pretty good for normal driving.

just keep in mind your worst driving condition. For me that was 120 degree weather, in fourth gear, up a steep hill, at 55 miles and hour, behind a semi truck. Try your best to use the largest radiator you can and also pay close attention to the radiator design. I am currently moving to a smaller radiator but it has much better plate to surface area so less airflow still gives it better heat transfer.

Hope this helps, good luck!!

The exhaust will be the tricky part.

ok guys, this is an intro only section. we have a section for builds. don't know how this has been allowed to go on so long but this has turned into a build thread. no more updates to the build. OP please start a build thread if u wish to continue providing updates.