Engine Horsepower 1.6i

[Foundas]

Hello ppl,


my name is Harry and i come from Cyprus. I am looking into the option of buying the 1.6i mexican beetle from Europe and i would like to know what is the horsepower rating of this car.

It is a must to install an A/C unit to this car as the weather here is very hot and i found a manufacturer in the US.

Also, can you please recommend which new engines (preferrably from VW) can be installed in the classic mexican beetle in case i have to replace it?

Thanks in advance and i look forward to your soonest reply

Best regards

[phade]

Hiya Harry,

Officially, the power of the 1600i engine is 50 PS (47 bhp) but I think it's a bit more than that.

You can get a replacement engine directly from VW (eg.VW Classic Parts Center - http://www.vw-classicparts.de) or from Manfred. The part number for a complete engine (my 1600i is still on it's original engine after nearly 300,000 km) is on Manfred's 1600i website.

Providing the engine is looked after (eg. regular servicing) it should last a very long time. The 1600i suffers more from electrical faults (eg. oil temperature sender and sometimes ignition transformer), which are also very rare.

One thing to really watch out for is the gearbox !!! If the gearbox oil has not been changed then it should be changed at once !!! Do not use the VW recommended gearbox oil (it will destroy the gearbox in a short space of time), use a well known brand EP80/90 GL5 gearbox oil (you can get away with GL4, but GL5 is a bit quieter) instead.

Nearly all parts are easily available for the 1600i since it is on a 1200 chassis with swing axle suspension. If you are getting one from the USA then some parts may be different (eg. the chassis will be older than the rest of the car since importing a brand new mexican beetle into the USA is illegal due to safety regulations). Have a look at my parts cross reference list on the 1600i website for further information.

I hope this helps and welcome to the forum

Cheers,

Phil