1642cc motor

i am about to receive my first vs speedster which i bought from a "partner" of kirks new on cape cod mass. he told me to go with the 1642 engine because of the ease of maintenance and extra power. i have not seen anyone talk about this engine on any site. is this a new factory engine from vw. any info would be appreciated.-alex

A 1641cc VW engine is obtained by using 'slip in' 87mm cylinders rather than the stock 85.5mm cylinders. (Slip in means the case does not have to be modified.) Thus, the cylinder walls are 1.5mm thinner than the stock cylinder walls. Thinner cylinder walls do not make for a more reliable engine. Many engine builders will not build a 1641cc or an 1835cc engine, because of the thin cylinder wall problem.

I would suggest that you talk with Jake Raby at Aircooled Technologies or CB Performance about a reliable, long lasting VW engine. A large percentage of Speedster owners who have opted for stock/smaller engines have come to the conclusion that they should have gotten more power at the start.

Just my $.02 worth.
AJ Bima

Let us know how your experience is, buying from ClassicSpeedsters.com.

so far i have to say that the customer service from kirks "partner"(classic speedster) has left something to be desired. it is really not been an issue since the only important thing is the final product.

since i already own the 1641cc motor is there anything i can do to improve upon it short of buying a whole new engine?

There are some bolt on performance things that will give you moderate hp increases that later you may find you want to do. Small set of dual carbs, merged exhaust, a compufire points module for your dist, etc, but unless you want to sell your eng. and get a 2110 cc or the like, enjoy what you got.
Victor

Al,
Is there a reason that you did not deal with Kirk directly? Assuming that "Classic Speedsters" is the company I am thinking of, I understand that one or more members of this board have been most unhappy with this organization. If you look at the other message board, which will remain nameless, you will see a scathing post by someone who ordered a car from what you refer to as "kirk's partner."
I can give you specifics if you want to e-mail me off site. Hopefully, your situation will be better, but you eluded to already having had some problems.
John H
2000 VS

I agree, enjoy your car & engine combo.

Dual Kadrons will help with its performance, as will 1.4 ratio rockers and a lightened flywheel. All are bolt-on performance upgrades for modest engines. I added them to my first engine and they perked it up. There are tons of these second-hand parts for sell, cheap.