This is my moment to dream. I've always envisioned how I could create a 411/412 street car. There are many aspects of the Type 4 that are waiting to be used in one unique and creative street car. Let's look how I would create my street 411/412:

Model:

• Any year 411 or 412 two door sedan. The sedan would be ideal because of it's more racy roofline and engine room for larger carbs or EFI(electronic fuel injection) throttle bodies. The wagon could also be used, but the lack of room for increased breathing would preclude it from having a deserving engine. The wagon would make a great run-about and grocery-getter.

• This will take some creativity. No one manufactures a set of sport lowering coil springs, so cutting and/or heating the coils may have to be done. Another option is to have a set of coil springs custom wound or modify the car to use springs off another car (i.e. Super Beetle for the front and Vanagon for the rear). The other component would be a set of firmer, shorter travel strut inserts and shock absorbers. I would venture you could have a set custom made from Bilstein or Koni. This may cost a lot of money($$$) but it would definitely change the whole feeling of the vehicle. I may have stumbled upon an interesting bit of trivia. It appears that the sturt housing used on the early Super Beetles(1302s) are strikingly similar to the one used on the 411/412 series. It may just be possible to fit an adjustable strut housing, shortened sturt insert, and lowered springs from Topline to the Type 4. I have no confirmation but this may be possible. Can anyone confirm/deny it?

• The car came with 155SR15s or 165SR15s stock, so we're looking at keeping the tire diameter at 25" to 25.5". I would look to a set of VR rated 205/65R15s for the rear and a set of 195/60VR15s for the front. This will give the car a nose down rake and a more aggressive stance. You could go with a set of sixteen inch wheels with 195/50VR16s in the front and 205/55VR16s for the rear. I prefer the way Yokohama and Dunlop tires handle, so I'd be looking at their high performance tire line.

• With wheels we have two options: keep the 4-lug bolt pattern or change to a Porsche 5 bolt pattern. With the 4-lug, we are limited to stock 914 wheels, aftermarket Beetle wheels and stock VW wheels. An interesting choice would be a set of wheels from a 2.0 liter 914 with the forged Mahle wheels(commonly called two-liter alloys). Almost all of the 4-lug wheels available are 15" diameter, so to go to a larger diameter wheel would require changing the bolt pattern. A capable VW-friendly machine shop can drill the brake rotors and drums for the 5x130mm bolt pattern. Once this is done, the market is wide open. Many wheels are available for the Porsche bolt pattern. A good looking, easy to find combination would be a set of Porsche Fuchs forged alloys(commonly called among VW people as "Porsche alloys"), 16"x6" for the front and 16"x7" for the rear. Options from aftermarket tuners like DP, Ruff, Gemballa,etc. are plentiful. Just make sure the wheels have enough backspacing to fit in the fenders without rubbing. With the growing popularity of the "German Look", the use of 17" Porsche Cup wheels may look really nice installed on a modified 411/412.

• Since we are talking an "ideal" situation (no biannual smog inspections), let's put together a pretty hot engine. Luckily here is where a ton of high performance parts are available. We can get stroker cranks from 74mm all the way up to 90mm! Couple that with big bore kits from 96mm to 105mm, we could install a 3119cc engine. I think I would build a 2600cc (103mm bore x 78mm stroke) , with a set of longer Carillo connecting rods. This could be mated to a stock 228mm flywheel, of course lightened to 12 lbs, and sporting a heavy duty Kennedy pressure plate and dual friction disc. The top end of this motor would be a set of 1.8 heads, modified with 50mm x 40mm valves and dual valve springs. For the intake end, we would use a set of IDA manifolds and TWM 55mm IDA throttle bodies. Now for exhausts, we may be looking at a custom merged header with a turbo muffler.

• Due to the lack of transmission parts for the Type 4 transaxles and not knowing how it would hold up to 200hp+, I would adapt a Type 1 IRS transaxle or Type 2 IRS transaxle. Close ratio gears and heavy duty differentials are available for both of these transaxles but some fabrication will be required. The first would be the clutch slave cylinder. A sandrail slave cylinder from Neal, Jamar, or CNC could be used to maintain a hydraulic clutch. The other modification would be in getting the transaxle to bolt in. Once again use your creativity. Looking at an old Type 4 service manual, I noticed that the Type 4 manual transmission hockey stick is at the bottom of the transmission, whereas the Type 1 and Type 2 IRS are located towards the top. This make installing a T1 or T2 IRS transaxle difficult. But going through another book, I noticed that the Porsche 911 trans(901) has the hocky stick in an almost identical location to the stock Type 4 transaxle. Hmmm, 5 speed, Porsche strength, and minimal installation work, this may be the ultimate setup for the Type 4.