What's This?

[DADODIRT]

Looks better than Hondas new NT.

Just sayin.

[r60us]

Roger Willis of California manufactured the "Willis conversion" kit for /2's. The kit included among other things an engine adapter, exhaust manifolds, and most important, a modified /2 gearbox. A stock /2 gearbox has an overall ratio of 1.54:1 in top gear - the modified /2 gearbox had a ratio of 1:1 (IIRC). The stock gearbox limited the top speed since a stock VW engine operates at a lower rpm than the BMW boxer.

The gearbox modification was quite involved. The countershaft (between input and output shafts) was relocated slightly to the right to permit use of a larger gear on the input shaft. The process involved welding up and reboring the countershaft bearing holes.

There were a couple other conversion versions, one I believe was a Webler. Former BMW dealer Duane Ausherman built a Needler conversion 1 of 3. Pics and comments on his website here:

http://w6rec.com/duane/bmw/BMW-VW/index.htm

A pic of Duane's bike:


Duane comments:

It has so much torque that one can feather the clutch in fourth gear, at an idle, and walk away. The top speed is limited by the rpm, as it still has BMW gearing and the low rpm of the Volkswagen motor. I doubt that my bike ever went over 95-100 mph

With the modified gearbox the bikes would easily exceed 100 mph. Scary!

There is a Yahoo group dedicated to VW conversion bikes called vwmotorcycles

FYI

[GIMMESHELTER]

Old VW hand here.

A quick ID for Porsche engines is that they used a three piece case, two halves and a 'nose' cover (when installed in the automobile it was of course backwards and the nose piece became a tail cover). Another ID aid is that the exhaust header studs were located vertically over each other. On the Vdub the studs are staggered.

While VW parts availability is of course nice, I think a big advantage is the difference in prices, Vdub being cheaper. And then there are so many modern modified parts for Vdubs that you can really "build" one to do quite well, if that is a criteria for you.

[GIMMESHELTER]

In my book the builders get an A+ for creativity. The true mark of someone who has taken technology to the level of pure Art.