I'm looking for a replica Speedster with automatic transmission. Please contact me with anything interesting. Thanks, Tony
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Have you checked the Samba? That's where you'll find most VW used parts needed
Originally Posted by Robert McEwen:
I think he's looking for the whole thing. He wants to buy a Speedster replica w/ an automatic transmission.
I've only seen one for sale but I haven't been in the Madness that long.
Yes, I'm looking for a Speedster with auto transmission, not only the transmission. Thanks for your help.
That'll be a tough one; not many people would put an automatic in a Speedster, and there aren't really many choices should one wish to do so.
You would probably have to locate a good one with a 4-speed and then have someone convert it for you. Your choices on one already fitted with an automatic will be extremely limited.
Originally Posted by TonySpeedster:
Originally Posted by Robert McEwen:
I think he's looking for the whole thing. He wants to buy a Speedster replica w/ an automatic transmission.
I've only seen one for sale but I haven't been in the Madness that long.
Yes, I'm looking for a Speedster with auto transmission, not only the transmission. Thanks for your help.
This is the only one I remember ever seeing and you already sent him a message:
Lane probably has the most viable solution. You can buy all the used T1 semi-automatic for probably $400. Install is relatively easy (simple bolt on) - maybe another $600. Keep the removed parts and it can flip-flop back to a manual. The VW T1 semi is a 3 speed forward gears - no clutch pedal - touch shift nob and it pulls in clutch via vacuum so not a true automatic.
Forget that - go with a full 3-speed automatic from a VW 411 or 412
The Good news: They bolt right in with minor frame adjustments.
The BAD news: They are nearly impossible to find. I have personally seen only four in my lifetime, two in junkyards and long gone by now, and two more in local show cars. That's it. There have been two, VW fully-automatic Speedsters on here in over ten years. One was in North Carolina and the other somewhere out West.
The only other alternative I know of is an SAS car built with a Subaru automatic drivetrain. I know of one (here in New England) but there might be one other. That's it.
That give you a total of four in this country that I know of - not good odds.
That's it, so bottom line - I sincerely doubt that you will find an automatic Speedster.
Oh, and if you're thinking, "Well, then....I can just drop a Porsche Automatic in there".....No, you can't. Later Porsche fully automatic 4-speed or 5-speed automatics are HUGE beasts that simply won't fit into the Speedster confines without major surgery.
"The only other alternative I know of is an SAS car built with a Subaru automatic drivetrain."
And we all know how long that will take, so that means there will still only be four that you know of.
I was talking to Mike at Rancho Trans. about an automatic. He said that he doesn't do them but knows someone over in Burbank or there about that does. He said the best one to use is out of a type 3 fastback or squareback. Also you would need to buy a Speedster with IRS in the rear..........Bruce
Originally Posted by Robert McEwen:
"The only other alternative I know of is an SAS car built with a Subaru automatic drivetrain."
And we all know how long that will take, so that means there will still only be four that you know of.
If you really want one sooner than in six years, Henry at Intermeccanica has done automatics. And in pink, too.
Video of Vivian's build:
Bob,did you click on the link that I posted? It is the correct link. None different than the link you posted. All roads...........!
Here's a turbo Cab to take a ride in and it is for sale by owner, Clint Owings.
Originally Posted by alnbobbikay..2005 Intermeccanica "RUBY":
Bob,did you click on the link that I posted? It is the correct link. None different than the link you posted. All roads...........!
Al: It didn't work for me the first couple of times - now it does.
I would think a Speedster with an auto would be gutless wonder unless it had a pretty healthy and well thought out engine build. Am I wrong?
The old semi-auto in T1 was kind of fun to drive (had a '69). It used vacuum to "pull in clutch" as YOU shifted thru gears. The trans fluid pump was off the oil pump. Issue was forget about engine mods that eliminated that vacuum (like dual carbs). And don't rest you hand on the shift knob!
Greg, I think that transmission was in a few Ghia's as well.
Originally Posted by G.R.:
I would think a Speedster with an auto would be gutless wonder unless it had a pretty healthy and well thought out engine build. Am I wrong?
Yeah, it's gonna be a true put-put unless you go over two liters.
Don't consider using the semi-automatic, found in the type one bugs. Almost impossible to find parts for them and they are a nightmare to maintain. Also, you would have to use a small oil pump, as there are special made oil pumps, only made for use with the semi-automatic.
I agree if you can find one, to use the full automatic from the type three. Also, they used the same automatic transmission in some of the buses, same one with the Beetle engines. It's a little bigger, but other than some extra bracing I think it might fit into a speedster.
Do I think this is a good idea ? Well, no, as the car will lose performance, lose market value, get poor gas mileage and there are other reasons I will be quiet about. The semi-automatic was a bad idea from VW, but their fully automatics worked fairly good in the type three and buses ( type two's). --George K. ---
As far4 as I know there is only one Beck that is full-auto, and it is the one linked in the above post. I had the T3 full auto built by Rancho probably 5-6 years ago for a project of mown and never used it. I sold it to the client and he had a shop do the conversion. I saw photos and it looked like nice work, but I never drove or saw the car in person after the conversion...
I have seen one automatic IM (I drove at Carlisle several years ago) but I have no idea how many Henry's done in automatic, my guess would deb a handful, if that many...
Our newest chassis project was designed with the possibility of an automatic in mind, but it (literally) just hit the ground on Friday and is probably 8-12 months from being a viable option...
I don't understand the want or need for an automatic in a speedster or any old Beetle. I have heard people say they don't know how to shift a manual transmission, but I find the Beetle type one transmission with a soft or stock pressure plate very easy to work. Mostly, people need to shift slowly, if they are not able to figure out the long shift rod and old design was never meant to be a fast shifting design.
Much to the surprise of many at the drag strips I had people ask me if I have an automatic in my past VW race car. It only had a nicely built Rancho, which was a pro-street, not all out drag race set up. With good shift rod parts and a Berg Shifter, my shifts were so fast, nobody believed I only had an outdated old Beetle transmission. Now, that said, I have been driving Beetles and using the type one transmission for over 40 years, so one becomes one with the parts on the car.
I have taught many, who said they could not shift a manual, how to do that and in a short instruction time. Again , seems like the key to the problem with anyone learning how to change gears on a manual transmission is just for them to go slow, be sure the clutch pedal is all the way to the floor, make smooth shifts and not pop the clutch pedal UP, for completion. Doing it that slow, one learns how things work. Let them ride the clutch pedal a little bit. Will not hurt anything, when they are learning.
The worse possible combination on any VW I have seen come into my shop was a beautiful looking Karman Ghia Convertible, with the semi-automatic, factory AC, and someone put a single 40mm weber on the engine. What a terrible combination and there was no performance and no gas mileage. I got it running slightly better, but did not charge the customer hardly any money.
If anyone likes technical talk, with the semi-automatic stock transmission you need a lot of vacuum from the engine to work the servo valve and the dry disc clutch set up. With any VW modified engine with overlapping cam specs, you really don't have the vacuum needed to properly work the semi-automatic transmission. So, my point is, with more horsepower one would think you gain back the performance, but the opposite is true. The modified engine with the semi-automatic makes for a bad combination. I already mentioned the oil pump is small and there are no substitutes to run more oil volume with a modified engine and the gears inside the semi-auto are not strong.
I never found VW's idea on the semi-automatic to be very smart and they stopped making them long ago. Did I mention the dry clutch disc is smaller than normally found on the 1600cc engines ? You have to tear apart the transmission to replace the clutch parts. Who wants to pay for that cost ?
Well, teach your friends how to shift the simple VW manual transmission and go slow. That works best with the old design.
If they have to have a car with an automatic, there are any number of new vehicles which will take care of their "needs". I understand the driving schools only use cars with automatic transmissions. I guess that saves time and money on repairs. If you take care of your manual transmission, it will outlast any automatic and need less servicing. ---George K. ---
Much to the surprise of many at the drag strips I had people ask me if I have an automatic in my past VW race car. It only had a nicely built Rancho, which was a pro-street, not all out drag race set up. With good shift rod parts and a Berg Shifter, my shifts were so fast, nobody believed I only had an outdated old Beetle transmission. Now, that said, I have been driving Beetles and using the type one transmission for over 40 years, so one becomes one with the parts on the car.
I have taught many, who said they could not shift a manual, how to do that and in a short instruction time. Again , seems like the key to the problem with anyone learning how to change gears on a manual transmission is just for them to go slow, be sure the clutch pedal is all the way to the floor, make smooth shifts and not pop the clutch pedal UP, for completion. Doing it that slow, one learns how things work. Let them ride the clutch pedal a little bit. Will not hurt anything, when they are learning.
The worse possible combination on any VW I have seen come into my shop was a beautiful looking Karman Ghia Convertible, with the semi-automatic, factory AC, and someone put a single 40mm weber on the engine. What a terrible combination and there was no performance and no gas mileage. I got it running slightly better, but did not charge the customer hardly any money.
If anyone likes technical talk, with the semi-automatic stock transmission you need a lot of vacuum from the engine to work the servo valve and the dry disc clutch set up. With any VW modified engine with overlapping cam specs, you really don't have the vacuum needed to properly work the semi-automatic transmission. So, my point is, with more horsepower one would think you gain back the performance, but the opposite is true. The modified engine with the semi-automatic makes for a bad combination. I already mentioned the oil pump is small and there are no substitutes to run more oil volume with a modified engine and the gears inside the semi-auto are not strong.
I never found VW's idea on the semi-automatic to be very smart and they stopped making them long ago. Did I mention the dry clutch disc is smaller than normally found on the 1600cc engines ? You have to tear apart the transmission to replace the clutch parts. Who wants to pay for that cost ?
Well, teach your friends how to shift the simple VW manual transmission and go slow. That works best with the old design.
If they have to have a car with an automatic, there are any number of new vehicles which will take care of their "needs". I understand the driving schools only use cars with automatic transmissions. I guess that saves time and money on repairs. If you take care of your manual transmission, it will outlast any automatic and need less servicing. ---George K. ---
Not all would be Speedster owners have 4 capable limbs! Could very well be they can't push in clutch pedal but still want the MADNESS.
Hi George.....i understand and agree with everything your saying but now try explaining that to my wife........Bruce
The owners who have had automatics over the years here, have mostly been disabled. They found pushing down a clutch, or shifting with their right hand difficult.
I haven't met one yet who made the choice because they couldn't learn to drive a manual shift, they simply were not able to. One of them was a wounded-in-action police officer. I think he would have loved the "choice" of being able to drive a manual.
-=theron
Only takes one arm, one leg, throttle controls on steering wheel or dash , as I have set up Beetles, Porsche and Corvettes for handicapped customers, with four and five speed manual transmissions. I hope you don't have more handicaps that those two missing limbs. Tell the man who used to wheel chair up to his race car with both bad legs, then drive down the drag strip with a manual transmission, he was handicapped. And, the man beat me often on the track.
People always come up with some excuse. There is a small lady who lives in my city with no limbs and she drives herself to work every day. Pretty amazing to see how she moves around with only two stubs for legs, but she walks on them and of course, in her case, she has a special equipped van, but NO wheelchair.
I practice using only one hand and use both of my hands as much as possible, thinking ---- what if I did lose one hand or arm in a car accident, could I work on VW's and air cooled cars ? The answer is "yes". Reminds me of the one arm, one leg man we had in the Corvette local car club and he had his four speed Corvette set up and it was manual, not automatic. Have you ever pushed in a Corvette heavy duty clutch system, back in the day, when they did not have hydraulics ? I guess not.
You do understand why more automatics are now sold ? Because people are too lazy and it's hard to text on your phone, drink coffee and work a manual transmission for the "new" generation.
All at the same time, while putting on your makeup. Americans are lazy people.
When GM started putting automatics into the Corvettes, I feel like they destroyed the concept of it being anywhere close to being called a "sports car". The speedster is defined as a "sports car".
If you don't want a "sports car", buy anything else. I really enjoyed watching some posted videos or links to videos showing some lucky person driving the real Porsche speedster. One thing they stated in one of the videos was knowing when to go into fourth gear was part of the driving fun and when to down shift.
Put me in a car with automatic transmission and cruise control and I am bored to death. I want something to do while driving and it is not texting. I wish all States would prohibit the use of cell phones while the car is moving. I am not against cell phones but all about safety. I see, locally, they have passed laws against texting and driving and no use of cell phones in a school zone. See, someone is getting smarter to save lives.
Please don't write excuses in a post as you see how this upsets me. I am from a poor family, single mom and worked three jobs to pay for my college education, so I really don't do very good when people use any excuse for being lazy. So, love driving my four speed manual cars. Five speed, six speed, the more shifts, the more fun ! Not automatic shifting for me !
People always come up with some excuse. There is a small lady who lives in my city with no limbs and she drives herself to work every day. Pretty amazing to see how she moves around with only two stubs for legs, but she walks on them and of course, in her case, she has a special equipped van, but NO wheelchair.
I practice using only one hand and use both of my hands as much as possible, thinking ---- what if I did lose one hand or arm in a car accident, could I work on VW's and air cooled cars ? The answer is "yes". Reminds me of the one arm, one leg man we had in the Corvette local car club and he had his four speed Corvette set up and it was manual, not automatic. Have you ever pushed in a Corvette heavy duty clutch system, back in the day, when they did not have hydraulics ? I guess not.
You do understand why more automatics are now sold ? Because people are too lazy and it's hard to text on your phone, drink coffee and work a manual transmission for the "new" generation.
All at the same time, while putting on your makeup. Americans are lazy people.
When GM started putting automatics into the Corvettes, I feel like they destroyed the concept of it being anywhere close to being called a "sports car". The speedster is defined as a "sports car".
If you don't want a "sports car", buy anything else. I really enjoyed watching some posted videos or links to videos showing some lucky person driving the real Porsche speedster. One thing they stated in one of the videos was knowing when to go into fourth gear was part of the driving fun and when to down shift.
Put me in a car with automatic transmission and cruise control and I am bored to death. I want something to do while driving and it is not texting. I wish all States would prohibit the use of cell phones while the car is moving. I am not against cell phones but all about safety. I see, locally, they have passed laws against texting and driving and no use of cell phones in a school zone. See, someone is getting smarter to save lives.
Please don't write excuses in a post as you see how this upsets me. I am from a poor family, single mom and worked three jobs to pay for my college education, so I really don't do very good when people use any excuse for being lazy. So, love driving my four speed manual cars. Five speed, six speed, the more shifts, the more fun ! Not automatic shifting for me !
Sorry Buddy. I am not in your relationship with your wife. Also, want to live longer, so not going there and suggesting anything to her. I am sure she is a wonderful person and you are the lucky dog who she found to take care of. Have a wonderful day !
On a technical note, gasoline prices where I live dropped to $1.92/gallon for either credit or cash sales. Just amazing ! I am in Texas and the oil industry is laying off many who work in the oil patch, as the price of crude oil goes down. And, we are getting too much rain here, already about 15 inches over the average amount for the year. No forest fires, but always wondered about anyone living close to the forest or next to the ocean or on the side of some mountain ? I know, the view is worth a million dollars, as long as your home does not wash away, burn up or fall into some sink hole. Worth that million dollar view ?
I am too darn practical. Love the simple built speedsters.
On a technical note, gasoline prices where I live dropped to $1.92/gallon for either credit or cash sales. Just amazing ! I am in Texas and the oil industry is laying off many who work in the oil patch, as the price of crude oil goes down. And, we are getting too much rain here, already about 15 inches over the average amount for the year. No forest fires, but always wondered about anyone living close to the forest or next to the ocean or on the side of some mountain ? I know, the view is worth a million dollars, as long as your home does not wash away, burn up or fall into some sink hole. Worth that million dollar view ?
I am too darn practical. Love the simple built speedsters.
So, build the speedster with right hand drive . Legal in the USA. We do that on Beetles, same chassis. I have good friends who were injured in the military and/or police persons. I respect all of them and would never want the police job, so happy they went into that career. Past military guy, myself, but got lucky and was stationed in paradise, the PI, but saw some time in DaNang, Vietnam. But, in Navy, so people were not shooting at me.
My son-in-law has a full time job of repairing electric wheel chairs and those "scooter" things. I am very tuned to helping the handicapped persons and phone the police anytime I see someone, who is NOT handicapped, parking it the handicapped parking areas. The police do not have time to drive by and ticket them, but I try. Also, tell some rather big people they need to move out of those spaces and am lucky one of the rather big guys have not kicked my "you know what". I am only 5 ft. 6 inches and forget this fact, sometimes.
I don't know if anyone has done this, but with fiberglass dash, it would not be hard to set up the speedster for right hand drive. The right hand parts are available for the conversion. Just cut the dash area out and move it to the right, re-fiberglass it and Wow, you have one set up for England and all those other strange places. Long live the Queen ! I read she is turning over her ruling to a younger relative ? Did I read that ?
My son-in-law has a full time job of repairing electric wheel chairs and those "scooter" things. I am very tuned to helping the handicapped persons and phone the police anytime I see someone, who is NOT handicapped, parking it the handicapped parking areas. The police do not have time to drive by and ticket them, but I try. Also, tell some rather big people they need to move out of those spaces and am lucky one of the rather big guys have not kicked my "you know what". I am only 5 ft. 6 inches and forget this fact, sometimes.
I don't know if anyone has done this, but with fiberglass dash, it would not be hard to set up the speedster for right hand drive. The right hand parts are available for the conversion. Just cut the dash area out and move it to the right, re-fiberglass it and Wow, you have one set up for England and all those other strange places. Long live the Queen ! I read she is turning over her ruling to a younger relative ? Did I read that ?
Hi, I hope you are really serious as I have one for sale. Only problem is that it is in the UK. A Chesil Speedster which I had to have converted as I can no longer drive using my left foot. Standard VW auto shift box, reconditioned in the US and sent over then fitted by a specialist garage near us. Engine is 1800 tuned with twin Webers, electronic ignition. A lovely vehicle. pm me if interested. Pat
Originally Posted by TonySpeedster:
I'm looking for a replica Speedster with automatic transmission. Please contact me with anything interesting. Thanks, Tony
Hi
I've replied about the one I have for sale. Should obviously mention it is right hand drive, but you could convert it if bothered Pat
Originally Posted by WOLFGANG - '89 CMC FWB, FL:
Lane probably has the most viable solution. You can buy all the used T1 semi-automatic for probably $400. Install is relatively easy (simple bolt on) - maybe another $600. Keep the removed parts and it can flip-flop back to a manual. The VW T1 semi is a 3 speed forward gears - no clutch pedal - touch shift nob and it pulls in clutch via vacuum so not a true automatic.
yep, ours drives like that. you can, if you wish just leave it in "top" (3rd) gear and let the torque converter do the biz, or you can change gear between 1st, 2nd and third by just moving the gear lever. As soon as you touch it a micro switch engages the clutch, yes it does have a clutch as well as a torque converter. Top speed is no different and acceleration is little different. But I would not say it is an easy swop, being in a shorter floor pan, it was a bit of a shoe-horn job! But we got it done!
Originally Posted by Pat Hammond:
Hi, I hope you are really serious as I have one for sale. Only problem is that it is in the UK. A Chesil Speedster which I had to have converted as I can no longer drive using my left foot. Standard VW auto shift box, reconditioned in the US and sent over then fitted by a specialist garage near us. Engine is 1800 tuned with twin Webers, electronic ignition. A lovely vehicle. pm me if interested. Pat
Why would anyone buy a car in France that has the steering wheel on the wrong side and then send it to California? Way cheaper to do a conversion of the transmission to a local speedster...
The semi-automatic, used by the German VW factory was never a good idea. From the start, the dealerships had problems with them shifting smoothly and gas mileage suffered as well as performance. I am talking here about that transmission used with the stock 1600cc engine.
Friends of mine, with suggestions from Rancho Performance Transmission tried the semi-automatic Beetle transmission in their mild engine race cars with no success. Parts were not strong enough to hold up to anything other than the 60hp stock engine.
The total semi-automatic system of parts needed will add at least one hundred pounds to the car. The vacuum tank was mounted under the rear driver's side fender and I don't see much room for this under the speedster body. The reserve auto transmission fluid tank was mounted under the passenger side fender. The oil pump needed , I know of no new replacement pumps. On the clutch it was only 180mm , smaller than what one wants for even the most mild 1600cc engine. No heavy duty clutch pressure plates were made for use with the semi-automatic. Also, the vacuum set up will not allow the use of any high performance pressure plate, if you find one which fits.
Putting in the shifter requires the correct shift rod, as that also is different than the stock manual transmission shift rod, which goes from the gear shifter to the transmission. Of course, if you don't know this, the semi-auto is only available in the IRS arrangement.
More stuff, is needed, like a good working micro-switch in the rare semi-automatic shifter. And, the pedal assembly is also different as there is no clutch pedal.
I used to work on these semi-automatic transmissions and have heard, that even Rancho rarely rebuilds them. The seals for the converter and bell housing are also unique, besides the oil pump. You cannot plumb the oil system to be full flow through an external filter or added oil cooler, often needed on the speedster. And, finally, it will not work with any camshaft other than the stock one due to needed vacuum requirements of the semi-automatic system.
Value of the car would decrease and you can find market values on the Beetles, which have the semi-automatic selling for very low prices, due to the hard to find parts and hard to maintain transmission. My opinion is this is the worse transmission VW ever built and while NEW, it might have worked somewhat okay, but in a speedster, this would be a seriously mistake .
One last comment: Most of the time, the shifting seemed violent and noisy and in the heavy Beetle, it was not as noticeable, but you put the semi-automatic transmission into a light weight speedster and the changes from one gear to another will be most noticeable. I would find this very annoying.
---George K. ----
Friends of mine, with suggestions from Rancho Performance Transmission tried the semi-automatic Beetle transmission in their mild engine race cars with no success. Parts were not strong enough to hold up to anything other than the 60hp stock engine.
The total semi-automatic system of parts needed will add at least one hundred pounds to the car. The vacuum tank was mounted under the rear driver's side fender and I don't see much room for this under the speedster body. The reserve auto transmission fluid tank was mounted under the passenger side fender. The oil pump needed , I know of no new replacement pumps. On the clutch it was only 180mm , smaller than what one wants for even the most mild 1600cc engine. No heavy duty clutch pressure plates were made for use with the semi-automatic. Also, the vacuum set up will not allow the use of any high performance pressure plate, if you find one which fits.
Putting in the shifter requires the correct shift rod, as that also is different than the stock manual transmission shift rod, which goes from the gear shifter to the transmission. Of course, if you don't know this, the semi-auto is only available in the IRS arrangement.
More stuff, is needed, like a good working micro-switch in the rare semi-automatic shifter. And, the pedal assembly is also different as there is no clutch pedal.
I used to work on these semi-automatic transmissions and have heard, that even Rancho rarely rebuilds them. The seals for the converter and bell housing are also unique, besides the oil pump. You cannot plumb the oil system to be full flow through an external filter or added oil cooler, often needed on the speedster. And, finally, it will not work with any camshaft other than the stock one due to needed vacuum requirements of the semi-automatic system.
Value of the car would decrease and you can find market values on the Beetles, which have the semi-automatic selling for very low prices, due to the hard to find parts and hard to maintain transmission. My opinion is this is the worse transmission VW ever built and while NEW, it might have worked somewhat okay, but in a speedster, this would be a seriously mistake .
One last comment: Most of the time, the shifting seemed violent and noisy and in the heavy Beetle, it was not as noticeable, but you put the semi-automatic transmission into a light weight speedster and the changes from one gear to another will be most noticeable. I would find this very annoying.
---George K. ----
Originally Posted by crhemi (Bill):
Originally Posted by Pat Hammond:
Hi, I hope you are really serious as I have one for sale. Only problem is that it is in the UK. A Chesil Speedster which I had to have converted as I can no longer drive using my left foot. Standard VW auto shift box, reconditioned in the US and sent over then fitted by a specialist garage near us. Engine is 1800 tuned with twin Webers, electronic ignition. A lovely vehicle. pm me if interested. Pat
Why would anyone buy a car in France that has the steering wheel on the wrong side and then send it to California? Way cheaper to do a conversion of the transmission to a local speedster...
Er we are British, we have a house in the UK and one in France as well. Until this year I was working full time in the UK, and only going to France when I had a holiday. Now I am retired we spend half the year there. So, of course, we bought the car in the UK, quite a few years ago now, and drove it mostly in that country. Why on earth did you think we had bought it in France? As I said in an earlier post, it is hugely difficult to import a kit car into France, otherwise we might have done just that. I only mentioned France to underline the fact that the car can be used driving on the same side of the road as you drive on in America and you can go long distances in it reliably, economically and at reasonable speed. (80 mph is the speed limit on Autoroutes (Freeways?) in France. (God, wish I hadn't mentioned France!) Funny how you suddenly find yourself defending yourself after about 2 minutes on a forum. By the way, I expect our friend has already tried to find a conversion in the States. The bits are really hard to come by and when we got ours the chap in America said "do you want a spare (X - cannot remember which part now) as there are only 10 of these bits left in the world?!" In fact far easier to convert the car to left hand drive.
Originally Posted by G.R.:
I would think a Speedster with an auto would be gutless wonder unless it had a pretty healthy and well thought out engine build. Am I wrong?
All speedsters with standard Beetle engines are gutless wonders! Tuned 1800s are a big improvement, anything over that is even better but then the fuel consumption goes through the roof which is a big consideration in the UK where fuel cost much more than it does in the States! You can of course fit a Porsche engine and box in if you really want it hairy! So we have a tuned 1800, but we want to respect the original Speedster design, hence what we have done. Of course it is not fast compared to modern cars, but then cars built back in the fifties would not be, would they! But it is not in the slightest shabby and certainly does not embarrass anyone. People love it and have even offered money for it at shows.
Originally Posted by Pat Hammond:
Originally Posted by G.R.:
I would think a Speedster with an auto would be gutless wonder unless it had a pretty healthy and well thought out engine build. Am I wrong?
All speedsters with standard Beetle engines are gutless wonders! Tuned 1800s are a big improvement, anything over that is even better but then the fuel consumption goes through the roof which is a big consideration in the UK where fuel cost much more than it does in the States! You can of course fit a Porsche engine and box in if you really want it hairy! So we have a tuned 1800, but we want to respect the original Speedster design, hence what we have done. Of course it is not fast compared to modern cars, but then cars built back in the fifties would not be, would they! But it is not in the slightest shabby and certainly does not embarrass anyone. People love it and have even offered money for it at shows.
also, it is a SEMI -auto, there is a huge difference between that and an auto.
Originally Posted by WOLFGANG - '89 CMC FWB, FL:
The old semi-auto in T1 was kind of fun to drive (had a '69). It used vacuum to "pull in clutch" as YOU shifted thru gears. The trans fluid pump was off the oil pump. Issue was forget about engine mods that eliminated that vacuum (like dual carbs). And don't rest you hand on the shift knob!
not true, ours has twin Webers and we get the vacuum needed for the clutch no problem. We also have changed the distributor back from a 009 to one with a vacuum control. All you have to do is think about where you are going to pull the vacuum from then do it!
Originally Posted by George4888:
I don't understand the want or need for an automatic in a speedster or any old Beetle. I have heard people say they don't know how to shift a manual transmission, but I find the Beetle type one transmission with a soft or stock pressure plate very easy to work. Mostly, people need to shift slowly, if they are not able to figure out the long shift rod and old design was never meant to be a fast shifting design.
Much to the surprise of many at the drag strips I had people ask me if I have an automatic in my past VW race car. It only had a nicely built Rancho, which was a pro-street, not all out drag race set up. With good shift rod parts and a Berg Shifter, my shifts were so fast, nobody believed I only had an outdated old Beetle transmission. Now, that said, I have been driving Beetles and using the type one transmission for over 40 years, so one becomes one with the parts on the car.
I have taught many, who said they could not shift a manual, how to do that and in a short instruction time. Again , seems like the key to the problem with anyone learning how to change gears on a manual transmission is just for them to go slow, be sure the clutch pedal is all the way to the floor, make smooth shifts and not pop the clutch pedal UP, for completion. Doing it that slow, one learns how things work. Let them ride the clutch pedal a little bit. Will not hurt anything, when they are learning.
The worse possible combination on any VW I have seen come into my shop was a beautiful looking Karman Ghia Convertible, with the semi-automatic, factory AC, and someone put a single 40mm weber on the engine. What a terrible combination and there was no performance and no gas mileage. I got it running slightly better, but did not charge the customer hardly any money.
If anyone likes technical talk, with the semi-automatic stock transmission you need a lot of vacuum from the engine to work the servo valve and the dry disc clutch set up. With any VW modified engine with overlapping cam specs, you really don't have the vacuum needed to properly work the semi-automatic transmission. So, my point is, with more horsepower one would think you gain back the performance, but the opposite is true. The modified engine with the semi-automatic makes for a bad combination. I already mentioned the oil pump is small and there are no substitutes to run more oil volume with a modified engine and the gears inside the semi-auto are not strong.
I never found VW's idea on the semi-automatic to be very smart and they stopped making them long ago. Did I mention the dry clutch disc is smaller than normally found on the 1600cc engines ? You have to tear apart the transmission to replace the clutch parts. Who wants to pay for that cost ?
Well, teach your friends how to shift the simple VW manual transmission and go slow. That works best with the old design.
If they have to have a car with an automatic, there are any number of new vehicles which will take care of their "needs". I understand the driving schools only use cars with automatic transmissions. I guess that saves time and money on repairs. If you take care of your manual transmission, it will outlast any automatic and need less servicing. ---George K. ---
Much to the surprise of many at the drag strips I had people ask me if I have an automatic in my past VW race car. It only had a nicely built Rancho, which was a pro-street, not all out drag race set up. With good shift rod parts and a Berg Shifter, my shifts were so fast, nobody believed I only had an outdated old Beetle transmission. Now, that said, I have been driving Beetles and using the type one transmission for over 40 years, so one becomes one with the parts on the car.
I have taught many, who said they could not shift a manual, how to do that and in a short instruction time. Again , seems like the key to the problem with anyone learning how to change gears on a manual transmission is just for them to go slow, be sure the clutch pedal is all the way to the floor, make smooth shifts and not pop the clutch pedal UP, for completion. Doing it that slow, one learns how things work. Let them ride the clutch pedal a little bit. Will not hurt anything, when they are learning.
The worse possible combination on any VW I have seen come into my shop was a beautiful looking Karman Ghia Convertible, with the semi-automatic, factory AC, and someone put a single 40mm weber on the engine. What a terrible combination and there was no performance and no gas mileage. I got it running slightly better, but did not charge the customer hardly any money.
If anyone likes technical talk, with the semi-automatic stock transmission you need a lot of vacuum from the engine to work the servo valve and the dry disc clutch set up. With any VW modified engine with overlapping cam specs, you really don't have the vacuum needed to properly work the semi-automatic transmission. So, my point is, with more horsepower one would think you gain back the performance, but the opposite is true. The modified engine with the semi-automatic makes for a bad combination. I already mentioned the oil pump is small and there are no substitutes to run more oil volume with a modified engine and the gears inside the semi-auto are not strong.
I never found VW's idea on the semi-automatic to be very smart and they stopped making them long ago. Did I mention the dry clutch disc is smaller than normally found on the 1600cc engines ? You have to tear apart the transmission to replace the clutch parts. Who wants to pay for that cost ?
Well, teach your friends how to shift the simple VW manual transmission and go slow. That works best with the old design.
If they have to have a car with an automatic, there are any number of new vehicles which will take care of their "needs". I understand the driving schools only use cars with automatic transmissions. I guess that saves time and money on repairs. If you take care of your manual transmission, it will outlast any automatic and need less servicing. ---George K. ---
Much of what you say is interesting and quite correct. But, as you know, there is a vacuum chamber on the car that stores vacuum so even if there was an issue about getting vacuum it is not an issue, even driving in town. The vacuum tank is plenty big enough. And we do have a high lift cam, but there may well not be much overlap. We also have high lift rockers, as far as we know. (The car came with its modified engine so I am not absolutely sure what went into it.) You are correct about the oil pump and it is a great shame we can no longer have the oil filter we had before, we just stay right on top of the oil changes.
As for the clutch and gearbox. I didn't know the clutch plate was so small, it has not been a problem yet, but when it goes we will just have to get it relined by one of the experts we fortunately still have, as the driven plate will be impossible to source. As for having to take it all out to change the clutch, well you have to do that with many cars anyway. To change the clutch on a modern Land/Range Rover, you have to take the body off!! At least we will have an easier job of it!
If the gears are weaker, and I find that an interesting idea, then we are fortunate to be driving a car that is much lighter than the original, so the strain on the gears is that much less, and it is harder to be so rough on the box when driving a semi-auto. True, a more powerful engine will strain the gears a bit more but I drive the car sensibly, rather than "balls out" as we say!
As for the need to drive an auto or semi-auto, yes, we enjoyed it with its 4 speed box until my left foot became paralysed. Now I have to have an auto or semi-auto of some kind. In the UK almost everyone learns to drive a stick shift. If you only pass an auto licence then you cannot drive a stick shift legally. Many cars are auto, but they are usually on expensive/powerful cars. Everyone is very aware of the power loss and increase in fuel consumption. And fuel is hair-raisingly expensive in the UK compared to the States. At the moment the price has flown down recently so is, for us, much cheaper than usual, at £1:07 per litre. But this still works out at about three times what you pay!!!!! How I would LOVE to be able to drive cars with engines three times the size and only pay the same for fuel!
Nice to read a sensible and well-informed reply, thanks! More power to you!
Pat and John