Oettinger Type 4?

412s2 · Post by **412s2** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 2:16 am

I came across this article on the history of Oettinger the other day http://www.artracing.no/article_info.php?articles_id=5

Okrasa/Oettinger must be the most famous European VW Tuner, does anyone have any more details about the modifications they carried out to the 411/412? Did they just modify the engine? Has anyone ever seen an Oettinger 411/412??

Lars S · Post by **Lars S** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 3:35 am

From the book "Die grossen VW" available at Karl Goerner ISBN 3-9803665-0-2
http://www.karl-goerner.de/vw.htm
one can find that:

The Oettinger engine, aimed for both 411/412 and VW-Porsche owners, was made out of the std 1,7L 80hp which got a modified 2,0L crankshaft. The pistons, rods, ports etc were modified and the volume was increased to 1,9L.
This gave 90hp at 4900rpm and a torque of 15mkg at 3000rpm. 0-100 was in a test achieved at 13,3 sec (std VW412 14,8 ) and top speed was clocked to 160km/h (std VW412 156). Fuel consumption was 17,2 L/100kM (std VW412 16,0).

The engine was easier to fit in a 412 than the 2,0L VW-Porsche one and also not as thirsty.

/Lars

412s2 · Post by **412s2** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 4:36 am

Thanks for the information Lars, I'm going to have to get that book...

Does anyone know if they did anything to the chassis when they installed that 2.3 litre 110BHP motor into the Type 4? That's almost a 40% increase in power over a standard 412LE!! The Type 4 is a fine handling car, but you would think the German authorities would want to see at least the brakes uprated before they passed approval for its use on the road?

Lars S · Post by **Lars S** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 6:19 am

I only kow of a 100HP 2,0L (VW-Porsche) engine that 1973 was, by the German motorpress in vain awaiting a similar move from VW, tested in a 412 Variant.
This car was fitted vith 6" ATS rims and 185/70 HR14 tyres. The rear suspension was fitted with the softer coupe springs to lower the back. In front were the spring discs lowered.
Stability vas reported as remarkably better and top speed was noted to 170km/h.

/Lars

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 8:17 am

The interesting thing about the difference in the coupe springs and teh variant springs. The variant springs are different not because they are stiffer....they have a greater load capacity due to the fatter group of coils at the bottom. They are actually softer in temper and have a slower rebound rate. But because they are made for carrying loads...they pump the rear up a bit due to the extra load coil cluster. The best coils are the blue series from the coupe. Ray

Bill K. · Post by **Bill K.** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 7:40 am

raygreenwood wrote:The best coils are the blue series from the coupe. Ray

What year and type (2 door or 4 door) have the blue series rear coils? The '70 parts list shows yellow for all types. Thanks, Bill

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 8:40 am

Yes....the 70 parts list would show all yellow coils. I have found blue coils on some of the very late 411s (late 72) and the 412's. You can see in the green Haynes manual that there are some varying coil wire thicknesses. The flat top coil (ground) and the round wire top (unground) have different shock pads on the top. I will look in my notes...but I "think" most of the round top ones are yellow series. Don't quote me on that yet. Ray

412s2 · Post by **412s2** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 2:14 am

It's really a shame VW didn't put that 2 litre 412 into production

it wouldn't have been much more expensive to produce than a standard 412, but they could have sold it at a slight premium and maybe made the 411/412 series a little more profitable... Maybe at the time they didn't want to take the shine off the new Series 1 Passat, by launching a fast, sharp handling, rear engined car at the same time?

I've sent an e-mail to Oettinger requesting some information on the products they made for the 411/412 back in the late 60s early 70s. I mentioned our little forum to them, so be good!

I will post anything they send back!

Lars S · Post by **Lars S** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 5:55 am

Yes it would have been a really nice car the 412"GTI" if it had been launched. According to my sources the VW factory's reasons for not making it were driving saftey (side wind) and price. The first I can accept to a degree but the second?
Well, maybe the std 412E/LE already was sold to a bad price: small series, not wey easy to put together but an extremely high finish...?
The new generation (Passat etc) must have been well at test stage in 72/73. They were better in many ways and easier to produce, but certainly not better in finish and charm.

/Lars

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 7:29 am

All type 4's were incredibly expensive. For that matter...VW's in general were expensive.
My 412 two door's invoice was about $4,300 in 1973. Thats more than the average Lincoln or Cadillac on this continent at the time (though those were worthless compared to the type 4 in my opinion

).

Getting rid of the sidewind probem is childsplay....so I don't buy that one either. The simple addition of slightly lower profile tires and 3* of castor and its fixed. Ray

Lars S · Post by **Lars S** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 7:41 am

Yes, VW's were expensive to buy here too, but Im still not sure that VW made any (enough) profit on the 412, it was too expensive to produce (thats what I ment with "bad " price).

I believe the main reason for not developing the relatively young 412 further was that the new series, wich was to replace all cars exept the bug, were already there in -72/73 and the 412 had nothing in common with the new ones exept for the emblem in the nose...

/Lars

Wally · Post by **Wally** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 11:51 pm

I have an old 'Gute Fahrt' from 1973 where they test-drove the factory 2,0 914- engined 412 Variant in question

They made a comparison there between 3 tuning options for the 412. One of the other engines was a 1900 engine IIRC.
The 2,0 one had an Oettinger sticker on the side front fender

.

Just for fun I recently bought the same original sticker and put it on my engine lid. I didn't take into account the heat of the engine, not being favourable to the 25-year old glue of the decall/sticker...

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