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A mate of mine has a 181 and has the chance to buy a porche 914 (type4?) engine cheapy cheap, will it fit without to much swearing at it?

cheers guys
adam

From what I have seen others talk about, it will fit but will require an upright conversion.

I suggest you check over on the type IV forum as they talk about this stuff regularly.

By the way, I visited the UK recently and really had a good time. Very nice, warm people.

I put a 914 engine in my thing after uprighting. Now I`m doing it again without uprighting. Depends on how much you like to swear I guess but I do know the result is worth it. The T-4 is what the Thing should have come with considering its weight. The bug is under powered with the T-1 engine and the thing even more so. Souping up a T-1 engine to the bursting poing is not my idea of fun driving waiting for the thing to explode and running loud and hot. Everyone has their own ideas about whats hot and whats not but as someone who has done both I can tell you there is no camparison between the two.
The saying is if you like to work on your car get a T-1 engine. If you like to drive your car get a T-4. I have to agree. Its just a bigger stronger engine from the drawing board on. The engine features full flow oiling ,aluminum case, factory rear seal ,through case main bolts ,big valves and exhaust ,2000cc before touching anything. Built to take a heavy van 150,000 mi. All the yrs of what not to do in a bug engine were changed when they designed the T-4. Good luck. Bob Ingman

Bob, Have you made any progress on your Type IV swap? Are you still attempting to swap it without uprighting it? If you have any pics or information it would be nice to hear about your project.

LB Yes I have made good progress on this swap. It is complicated by yhr fact that a lot of other changes are taking place at the same time. The body has been removed, beam widened by 6", rear arms swapped for 2X3" units and bus trans installed.Without getting into the body work needed I`ll just talk about the engine swap.
Naturally the swap was a little easier by having the bus trans and not needing to have the flywheel bushed. I mention this just because it has to be considered if going with the Thing(T-1 trans). When the body was off the lift was installed(most critical aspect of swap). At this time engine and trans were installed also. Then the body was lowered back onto the pan. The amount of trimming required was very minimal. Just a little below the engine cover. The carbs fit nicely and the front(F ia F) tin conforms to the contour of the body and rubber there. The oil filler was sticking out a bit so I swapped it for a 914 unit(left over from my upright conversion last yr). It is now filled from the breather tower. The bus air cleaner unit looks very much at home there. Kinda reminds me of the old 411 fastback engine compartment. The muffler looks quite at home but again I chose to swap it in favor of the Bursch 914 unit.
All in all it is an easy swap providing the lift is in place. Without that I would not have attempted to do it unless i was willing to Baja the body.
Let me know if you have more questions. There are no photos yet but hope to have them eventually. Good luck. Bob Ingman

Bob, your swap seems to be going very well. I finally started my new job and now things have settled down a little bit so I am finally getting started on reviving my Thing. The wife wants it ready for summer driving. Right now I am just running a type I engine I rebuilt and fixing all of the odds and ends as it had not ran in three years. I still have my Bus engine that I know would be an awesome swap later. Not really sure how I am going to do it yet as I wanted to see if yours fit ok with the pancake cooling. I would have to baja mine to do it that way as I already have a roll cage welded in so a body lift is out of the question. Its something to think about because if I could figure out a way to do it well, it would be pretty sweet to have an open engine bay like the bugs. Next on the agenda is welding in a new floor halve to fix rust under the battery tray, tubular bumpers, beard seats, and cut and turn the front end. Keep me informed on your project. Hopefully I will be offroading again in the next few weeks.

LB see my post on the chopped and lowered thread. Good luck. Bob Ingman

Hey Bob, do you have any pics of how that went in? I'm considering a pancake config in my Thing, have a bus trans already and the body lift. did it go in pretty easy? Thanks.

Jordan

Jordan, sorry no photos yet but working on that.
Like I said it is a pretty easy swap if you have a lift in place. Also be sure to mount the trans as low as you can get it. It all helped to keep the engine cover on and have the latch inside also.
There is a lot of side to side clearance but not a lot of front to rear room.
I lifted a full 3" and the rear apron just came to rest on the fan shroud. There was a little trimming on it too but like I said it takes a little from here and a little from there to get it to fit in there.
Also you will need to fab up a rear mount for the engine. The T-4 engine produces enough torque to twist T-1 frame horns if not rear mounted.
Good luck. Bob Ingman