The fellow who taught me the trade used to drag race a '59 bug with a
rather hopped up S90 motor with dual Weber 48s in it during the 1970s.
He was so quick, that they placed him in the Hi-Gas class with the hot
GTOs, Camaros, and the like of the time. Before he stopped racing he was
turning 1/4 miles in under 13 seconds and held the track record for the
class for the better part of the year. When the car was retired, the
frame was tweaked measurably with the right side lagging behind the
driver's as a result of the motor being held in with solid mounts.
Fast forward about 10+ years, while I was apprenticing, he dusted off
that special S90 motor and installed it into a '72 Superbeetle
convertible. Like you say, it was a silly fast machine. I fondly recall
being taken for a ride in it. In short order the speedo was pegged at
100 and we were still accelerating. Once he lifted off the throttle, it
took a measurable bit of time before the the speedo needle lifted off of
the peg. That truly was one of the best rides I ever have been privy to.
The sound of that wound out S90 motor was to die for, but it was running
straight pipes too.
Mathieu Cama
Dan Weeks wrote:
I've also seen a couple of 356 engines in VWs.
My brother was given a 1954 356 that had driven into a toll both and
totalled. It was so rusty that the entire car basically
disintegrated. My brother bolted the Porsche 1500 dual carb engine
and aluminum close-ratio trans into a 1960 beetle that was 15 years
old at the time and looked totally beat. He used to amaze
302/4V/duals-equipped modified Mustang IIs by winning drag races with
them. Low-speed handling was astounding. It would take 90-degree
turns at 45 mph with a flick of the wrist and a tap of the toe and
never leave the lane. It basically pivoted around the front wheels.
The g-forces would separate flesh from bone. The stock VW would have
rolled trying such a maneuver, but the lighter engine--and the
ability to power-steer the rear end--made it possible. I've ridden in
professionally driven Vipers and 911Ss on race tracks at triple digit
speeds, but nothing I've sat in defied the laws of physics like that
Porschwagon. Eventually the bug disintegrated too, and my brother
sold the engine in Hemmings to a Porsche restorer.
