Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/05/28

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Subject: [Leica] VW engine
From: lrzeitlin at aol.com (Lawrence Zeitlin)
Date: Sat May 28 06:41:26 2005

Marc Small writes:

<<(The VW motor
remained essentially unchanged from its origin until 1960, an engine
designed to last, with routine service, for 200,000km (125,000 miles or so)
and, after a minor rebuild, for that length of service again.  The later
40hp engines were capable of far greater pwoer and led to the curent
excursus into the nitro powered ones we witness occasionally today.  But,
in the end, the basic VW engine was a winner and I still have a single such
engine in my basement>>

============

I used to race a Porsche Speedster around the hay bales in Ann Arbor in 
SCCA races during the late '50s. When the engine blew, we simply bolted 
in a stock VW engine. My lap times were only slightly slower. The early 
Porsche engines were simply hotted up VW engines using the same block 
castings. My Speedster had a roller bearing crank, increased cylinder 
capacity, different valve timing and a bigger carb. VW parts could be 
substituted for everything but the crank.

I still have a Judson VW supercharger in my garage. Maybe we could 
combine it with your old engine and have a really hot VW van.

Larry Z


Replies: Reply from jbcollier at shaw.ca (John Collier) ([Leica] VW engine)