The maligned and misunderstood 1835; an important part of VW hot rod history

[Germanlkmanx]

One of the guys from our club, Half A Brain Vee Dub Club, ran an 1835. I joined in spring 1995 as a 17 year old with my first Beetle, and the club had been active for a couple of years already, with most of the members in their early 20's, and hardly any of them had any responsibilities other than turn up for work on the Monday after a show - remember that in the UK VW events tend to start on Friday and go on all weekend. One couple in the club decided to go without their summer holiday and go to a VW event every weekend from April until the end of September.
Keith was a little quieter than some of the other members, although he still knew how to let his hair down. He had a '71 1302, polished Empi 8 spoke copies, lowered in the front but not at the back, one of those stripe paint jobs that went along the doors, rising up the sides and across the roof, in a metallic grey, silver and red. Not as in your face as it sounds, but certainly noticeable. Then there was the engine. A chromed out engine bay, with a wedge shaped fan shroud, a pair of twin carbs (44IDF's,  I believe) and an oil filter hanging under the rear wing, next to to the aftermarket header, which I seem to remember was a merged system with a Bugpack tuck away muffler. I don't remember Keith ever taking the car down the strip - I think he worked weekends so didn't get to as many shows as the others - but he made it to most club nights, and I always thought that the car sounded amazing. An urgency about it that was somehow different to the other engines in the club. I'd heard that 1835's weren't to be trusted, but Keith had this one dialled!
I moved away to university at the end of 1996, came back during holiday times but it wasn't quite the same. Keith had apparently decided to build a bigger engine - somewhere around 2.1 litres but I don't remember it getting finished, and I don't think I've seen the car or Keith in about 17 years.

Hi Neil! Keith still lives in K'ford, a few doors down from the pub the HAB meets were held at. The engine was rebuilt as a 2074cc if memory serves me, it was sold a while later to a friend who cut the parcel tray out and span it around to fit a Suburu engine. That never got finished as a project and then my brother (James) bought it not long after. It ran a few different engines over the years but has spent the last ten years or so in a lockup in Wolverhampton waiting a much needed resto. It'll see the light of day at some point I'm sure after all the other projects in front of it are completed and time stops turning for a while!

Tom.

[Neil Davies]

Tom, good to hear from you! I've lived in Kingswinford for the last 11 years so I'm just a couple of streets away from Keith and didn't even know! How strange that James ended up with the car though - small world really. I wonder if the 2074 suffered from the same flat cams that the Westwood brothers both had in the mid to late 90s? What projects have you and James got on at the moment? You'd got the 62 and the notch last time we spoke, and I lose track of James' cars!

[181]

I built an 1835 for my friend with Engle 120, 42x37 second hand Fumio heads, 44 Dells running over 100 WHP pretty well in a bug.
I´m building a thickwall 1835 with CW crankshaft, heavy flywheel, Engle 100 and singleport heads + Kadrons for my bus at the moment.

[181]

Hello, I have a question! In my post above I stated I´m building thickwall cylinder 1835 for my early bay. Well the engine is finished since autumn and I put 1500 miles on it with smile.

Quick specs are: DRD crank, full weight flywheel, Engle 100, stock rockers on solid shafts. Stock singleport heads (35x32) with a quick cleanup of the ports, stainless valves with single HD springs, SVDA distributor with Pertronix (Ignire the EDIS bracket on the pic) , Kadrons. Good quality free flowing and incredibly expensive german Ahnendorp exhaust.

My question is if I will move anywhere noticeable by changing from 1.1 to 1.25 rockers? The engine runs nice, now I´m just looking to get the most of it.

Thanks!

[andrewlandon67]

Hello, I have a question! In my post above I stated I´m building thickwall cylinder 1835 for my early bay. Well the engine is finished since autumn and I put 1500 miles on it with smile.

Quick specs are: DRD crank, full weight flywheel, Engle 100, stock rockers on solid shafts. Stock singleport heads (35x32) with a quick cleanup of the ports, stainless valves with single HD springs, SVDA distributor with Pertronix (Ignire the EDIS bracket on the pic) , Kadrons. Good quality free flowing and incredibly expensive german Ahnendorp exhaust.

My question is if I will move anywhere noticeable by changing from 1.1 to 1.25 rockers? The engine runs nice, now I´m just looking to get the most of it.

Thanks!

181, that sounds quite a lot like my old 1641's big brother! An older clean-up job on the s.p. heads, balanced bottom end with some kind of mild cam, Kads, 1.25 rockers, and a cheap Empi header with a $20 glasspack on the end. A great motor, with tons of personality and some great noises. I usually averaged about 27-32 mpg, depending on my driving, and it ran a best of 18.4 in a full weight '67 up here in Denver. I used to take it on various 300+ mile cruises around the Colorado front range, and it never failed me, even running quite happily up to 2 miles high in the mountains once! I added the rockers first when I just had the stock manifold/carb on it and it immediately perked up, with that mild of a cam you shouldn't have to worry too much about valve springs and the like, but make sure you're running good pushrods.