John Elnef's Type 4

"Yes it is a driveable race car. It has 40,000+ km on the engine and now ready for upgrade." - John Elnef, builder and owner

Ever since I created this web site, I've received many emails asking me about the engine on the homepage. That orange beast attracted a lot of attention. People have asked me what displacement it was or what particular parts did it use.

First a little background. I was given the picture from one of my contributors, who's friends with John Elnef. John agreed that I could use the picture on my site, only if I put his name on the picture for credit. Of course I agreed and you all have seen the picture there ever since.

After having received many emails from my visitors, I decided that I needed to get more information from John about the engine and more details about it. This page is a result of the details that John shared with me.

John is a Danish VW enthusiast who's been wrenching on VWs for many years. His current project is this fiberglass buggy. It is currently propelled by a 2366cc (103mm x 71mm) Type 4. As it is currently set up, this 2366cc outputs 201hp at 6000rpm and 187 ft-lbs at 4700rpm. You'll find the current specs of the engine, John's planned updates for 2005, and the specs of the transaxle in the table below.

1/4 mile 12.36 @169km/h 1/8 mile 7.66 @144km/h 60ft@1.63sec

I've been told that John drives this buggy everywhere, including camping trips. He drives it around town and scares the local hot rodders and import drivers. John has driven it to many different VW events to show and to compete in drag racing events, joining the other members of MIB.

"Some people say that I drive it hard but when I open the crankcase, there is no wear to see. Every thing in a Type 4 engine is better than the Type 1. " - John Elnef

John's buggy is a prime example of the possibilities of the Type 4 engine. In spite of being pushed to the limits on the drag strip and being used as a test bed for new parts it still was driven over 40,000 km on the street. The only reason he's redoing the engine is for his inquentable thrist for more power and quicker acceleration. His engine continues to provide reliable power around the streets of Denmark. If you are from Denmark and see John on the street, say "Hi" but I wouldn't challenge him to a race!

I'd like to thank John Elnef and Rolf Christensen for sharing with all of us the things that they are doing with the Type 4 engine in Denmark.