Top RPM range

What is the the normal top RPM range you should go up to? I have a 05 VS with the 1.9 Ltr Engine with a 3.88 Tranny. I have topped out speed wise at about 70 MPH with 3300 RPM. Can I push the revs higher than that? I read somewhere in one of the message boards someone is pushing their revs up to as high at 5000 RPM.

I would also like to know is the car safe at speeds above 70 MPH?? What is the fastest speeds done in a "stock" VS (meaning no modifications done to the car) besides what Kirk builds the cars with. For my own safety I want to know from experienced speedster owners what the limits are !

Thanks!
Andres D.

Andres, let me say right up front that I'm not an "experienced" Speedster owner. I've only ever had my P.O.S., so my frame of reference is limited to what my mechanic friend has imparted to me or what I've seen with my jalopy.
My old 1641 VeeDub engine probably wasn't taken care of properly before I got it, either. That didn't help. Then I drove it hard like it owed me money.
That said, assuming you take better care of your toys than I do, I'd still try to stay significantly south of 5K rpm with anything other than a race-prepped engine. I don't have any experience at all with VS, but my engine got really, really hot if I went faster than 70 and revved more than 4,500 rpm.
I'm defining really hot as more than two-thirds of the way up the meter; roughly 220 degrees after twenty minutes on the Interstate at 4K, in fourth, at 70 or so mph on a 65-degree day.
That transmission was a later-period, bone stock four-speed, and it wasn't really capable of sustaining even that. I pushed it too hard and wound up having to scrap both the engine and tranny after two years.
Jim Sartwell, who's putting my new running gear together, says I can go to about 6,500 rpm with the new 2366 engine and a 3:88 fourth. He advises shifting at 5,200 under race driving conditions, and significantly lower than that (3-4K) for normal driving. He expects to see a top speed of about 110-120 mph, but he wants to test that under safe conditions and measure his findings.
He has also insisted on a rev limiter to prevent running it up past 6,200 rpm, even though he provided a 10K tach as my only dash-mounted instrumentation.
The new engine was a drag engine until now, but the gear selections are all chosen from specific years of stock, split-case VW trannies.
As far as safety goes, I think that's relative to a lot of variables. Last year, my car would have been snapped off the chassis like a dandelion head off the stem if I had been hit broadside by anything. VS almost certainly has to be better-built than my car was. I'm paranoid, so I now have a cage and a helmet.

IMHO a stock motor 3750 to 3900 rpm, mild build 4000-4600 fuly balanced motor will easily crank out in the 6000 6500 range.
I just finished a 1835 install on AL Shapiro's soon to be completed and delivered at Carlisle Street Beasts speedster. However this motor is not the "normal" frail 1835 there are many extra's incorporated into it inclusive of being a full rotational balance etc.
It cracks off idle and cracks right up to 6000 rpm, I expect a bit more once we have in fully broken in.

Acccording to VW's Without Guesswork (their technical data for workshop use), performance data lists maximum and cruising speed and RPM for Type 1's (Beetle) at:
71 mph @ 2870 rpm for a 1200 CC (40 hp)
74 mph @ 4010 rpm for a 1300 CC (1966 USA model)
77 mph @ 3950 rpm for a 1500 CC (1967 up)
74 mph @ 4150 rpm for a 1500 CC Autom. Stick Shift (introduced around '68)
84 mph @ 4250 rpm for a 1600 CC
81 mph @ 4450 rpm for a 1600 CC Autom. Stick Shift
and similar performance listed up to 1970 (thats as far as this Without Guesswork goes)
There are more Auto Stick Shift data, noting that all the Auto Sticks are listed @ above 4000 rpm.

Type 2's (bus) are have lower max cruising speeds but all the 1500 and 1600 CC buses have around 4000 to 4250 rpm as max cruising rpm.

So... the larger better breathing, better balanced motors, better everything we now run shouldn't have a problem with cruising at high rpm as long as the temps are controlled.

Greg B

From what I've read 5,500 is considered red line for stock engines. Higher than that takes you into racing territory and you'll need high end components. With a 3.88 ratio transaxle and 1915 (my drivetrain combo also); you should be fine at highway speeds. I find that my VS (which is not highly modified) will reach 80 mph effortlessly and without any loss of control. I haven't had the chance to really check out its top speed. I do have a heavy duty front sway bar and a camber compensator in the back. Engine-wise the only deviation from VS supplied stuff would be the addition of OEM VW doghouse fan shroud and thermostat/shutter system, 1.25 OEM VW ratio rockers, the Gene Berg 1-1/2 qt. oil sump and Gene Berg oil filler/breather system.