Porsche Speedster with Auto Transmission Wanted --Serious Buyer

Hi George, we found violent shifting, from reverse to first or vice versa was down to a hole in the servo diaphragm.  Once fixed the adjuster on the valve thingy worked and now it is smooth as butter. But it proves that, even leaking vacuum, the clutch servo still worked, which amazed us!  So the need for vacuum was still not a problem.  And you CAN still get the servo diaphragms!  regards Pat and John

Hi George!

 

The Queen ain't retiring no time yet!  she is still banging on, as is her husband, but she'll die in harness, I reckon!  They are in their nineties now.

 

As for where to stick the tranny fluid and vacuum tank, there is room under the rear quarters, once the car comes out from under its winter blankets i'll take some pictures to show you how it went in! 

 

As you are an expert on these things, do you mind giving me an idea as to how you would reduce the well known time lag/hesitation when accelerating away from a standing start with twin Webers?  We do find the odd moment when it would be nice to get off the mark a bit more promptly.  with a semi-auto, you cannot just slip the clutch and rev it a bit.  I have fitted a vacuum advance equipped distributor but still cannot get it exactly right.  ta John

I enjoyed driving my '69 robin's egg blue semi-auto VW for about a year (10+ years ago).  It had original tired single port engine - other than having to replace high pressure hoses on vacuum system it was trouble free.  I did have to fix frayed wire to gear shifter too.  Mileage was about same as a 4 speed - but I only used in DC traffic. Car finally got so rusty that I pieced it out.  Semi-trans was sold to guy that was putting it in a VW powered trike.  I really didn't see it as being heavier - there was no heavy flywheel for one (just a flex plate and torque converter).  My understanding that gears are same as 4 speed with 1st not used.

 

If you can't push in a clutch - and want a speedster, there just aren't many choices.  You just aren't going to find a 7 speed paddle shifter PDK setup! It won't win a drag race but the semi-auto was fun to drive in the city.

 

Some here are opinionated (Argy-bargy).  Not me, of course - and suffer from Trump-itis i.e. think it, spit it out. Like I said in another thread, very easy to convert it back to a manual 4 speed. Trans, clutch, flywheel, pedal cluster, clutch cable, new oil pump, shifter - $300 in used parts.

 

Tuning dual Webers is a true hobby by itself - takes lots of jet fiddling.  Getting increasingly hard to find someone who can get them set right.

 

p.s. My mom was a Wellington.  My grandfather a London Bobbie - they called him The Duke.  

When anyone suggests that the modified Beetle engine is gutless, that really gets me going on comments. Ask the hundreds ( not kidding) of drag racers I had to give them a "head" start when they raced my drag race VW Beetle ?

In the light weight speedster it does not take much in the way of Horsepower to make the car faster than the majority of so-called "modern" cars, as the man wrote the Beetle engine cannot stand up to the power or performance of the modern day car. Again, my 1970 VW Rat Rod, which looks like a Beetle without fenders, otherwise complete, only has 120hp from a small 1776cc VW air cooled engine. With dual Weber carbs I can blow the doors off the majority of the "modern" cars from a start , up to 90mph. Now, I don't know how fast one needs to go to think they are moving fast enough, but nobody with a $40,000 plus cost car can beat my junk looking old Beetle on the street.

It runs street legal in the low 13's at about 90mph in the 1/4 mile and you might want to check the performance figures of any car which sells for less than $15,000 to compare my money spent on this Rat Rod to the "modern" cars. Also, building the same size and same horsepower engine for my speedster and expect "better" performance, due to less weight of the vehicle.

My 2014 Hyundai has a redline of 6800 and that is impressive for a dual overhead camshaft four cylinder engine, but my VW engine can run up to 8000 on shifts. On old technology and old engine design. I think the problem is people are not getting their money's worth, when they buy any modified VW engines or they pay little for their engine and expect too much. You get what you paid for and while the size might be bigger than my 1776cc, quality is the key factor.

Just look at the ads on the samba web site and you can see for yourself how low any Beetle sells for, which has the poor semi-automatic transmission. But, on the positive side, if you are buying a semi-auto Bug, they usually have few miles on them and are good , solid bodies. The conversion to the manual transmission makes for a good low cost Beetle.

Wow, nice to know, in Europe my speedster can attain the posted top speed limits, so no need for that $40,000 "modern" car. You know, if you remove all the added options, people never needed for 80 years on cars, you have good transportation at half that price. But, someone likes heated and AC cooled driver's seats, I guess. What they really want is their car to drive them to their location desired and the person becomes a passenger, as the car does all the work. You do have to add gasoline or plug it into the electrical outlet, but I read they are working on some way to charge up the batteries on the electric cars by driving it over some PAD, like one can do with the smart phone. Then, you only have to sit in the vehicle and do nothing.

The machines will replace you at your work place soon. You better worry more about that, than how gutless you think the VW engine is. Also, horsepower compared to money spent, I would never consider using a Porsche engine, due to cost of the parts. I can get the same horsepower from my 2110cc engines, Porsche got from their 1977 2.7L Porsche engine, so why go in that direction ? Again, someone does not know what they are doing when it comes to building up an old Beetle engine.

--George K. ----

I don't think of myself as an "expert" on any subject. But, good acceleration on these dual carb engines depends on the cam specs. I have found over the years I get better low and mid range acceleration using a smaller size cam. Meaning, less lift and less duration.

On the East Coast of America, someone told me the VW guys like building 2.0L and bigger engine , using the stock camshaft. I have never build one that big with a stock cam, but for street use, I am guessing they have excellent low end torque and power and good acceleration.

The problem with the dual Weber set up on the semi-automatic is not the storage tank for vacuum, but that is only the same as thinking about the initial surge you need from your car's battery for the starter operation. Once you tap into the vacuum tank's reserve you need a fast enough system to build up the vacuum numbers, inside the reserve vacuum tank. I cannot think of how one plumbs the dual carb engine to have the needed 3/8 ID vacuum hose from the engine to the vacuum reserve tank. That requires a lot of vacuum from the engine and with more overlap on any modified camshaft, you don't get that needed vacuum.

I really cannot see how your engine runs that good, except for once you are underway and no vacuum is needed for shifting. In town and going through the gears on the semi-auto , with the 1800cc and dual weber set up, I really cannot figure out how your mechanic got it working good. Well, good enough might be the answer.

There is a small adjustment screw on the vacuum solenoid control device, mounted usually on the left side in the Beetles, for the adjustment of how slow or fast the transmission reacts for shifts. That controls how fast the reserve tank builds up the vacuum needed for shifts and how fast the vacuum tank is relieved of it's supply of vacuum. There are always leaks in the vacuum system and so the engine suffers from any vacuum leaks and that will cause the carbs to not respond as good as they should.

---George K. ---

The complete semi-auto system adds at least 100 pounds to the car. Consider the converter is bigger and heavier than the stock flywheel, vacuum tank and automatic fluid tank and other devices for the complete system. I said, when NEW, they worked okay. VW published technical data showing less performance, less gas mileage with the semi-automatic transmission. I am just referring to what the factory engineers wrote in the owner's manuals and in technical reports. Not my opinion, but fact.

---George K. ---

Yikes.