I finally got my VW engine for my model 4, and boy is it a doozy. A real Cadillac of VW engines, it’s the coveted direct drive Great Plains 2400 cc Type-4 VW engine (as seen on barnstormers), also known as the Poormans Porche engine, used on the Porche 914. It boast more power, greater cooling capacity and is race-track strong (or so I hear).

It’s one of 20 special type-4s produced by great plains VW and features a high dollar custom forged crank, Force-one main bearing and Dual ignition. And the best part, it was a lousy $1,800 bucks !!! Of course, the cheap guy I am, I bought it stripoed down, so it still needs a few accessories (most of them actually), but I figure I can have it rebuilt and decked out with dual ignition for about 5K total investment (not counting a prop), set with a compression to run 87 octaine car gas and still produce around 80 HP max.

And yes, it does weight more, but there are a few tricks to dropping he weight (plus I have adjustable counter weights in my tail, if need). I will get some pics for you, but mostly it looks like a type 1, except the exhaust does not exit the sides of the head, they exit the bottom with both spark plugs on top of the engine.

Pics to follow, but first I need to order up a Kitfox-4 vw engine mount. Anyone got a spare model-4 firewall for sale?

Roger