whats a good setup?

i want to rebuild but i don't want a 5000cc motor. i don't want to spend a ton of $ either. i want to keep a good highway speed, 80-100 mph..so i have plenty of passing power given the opportunity that is. i don't want to strain the motor, but i want to have a good strong reserve. i don't really want a sleeper, but something formidable. i have a 1600cc stock 74 super. i'm going to do a rebuild with a fellow in town who's really well respected in the area for vw motors. but i want to give input on the project. i was thinking about an 87 mm bore. will that be enough or should i maybe go a touch larger for the reserv power? all in all i plan on spending about 500 for the entire rebuild. thats for the kit and all and i'll tackle the trans next. the motor already runs, so i don't need to dump a lot in it. any advice?

I would go with 90.5mm p&c's. With a stock 69mm crank your motor would be 1775cc. That would give you plenty of power for what you want to do. And if you want to cruise at a higher speed get a freeway flyer tranny. You may have to cut the case up a little and flycut the heads but you may not have to. Check the info on the p&c's when you purchase them. I may have given you this link before but this will tell you what combos make the size that your after

Is your motor fuel injected or carb? If you have carbs, I would go with a larger 2 bbl or a dual carb setup. Will also give you an increase in power. Get a bigger cam, but dont over do it, itll run like crap and get horrible gas mileage if you go to big. If you can do a slight polish on the intake side of head and a heavy polish on the exhaust side. You dont want to get too smooth on the intake as this will cause the air/fuel to fall out of suspension and loose power. Look at some rocker arms too, this will open your valves more. Have fun and if you have anymore questions just ask.

The most popular (in my experience) is the 1776cc. If you choose this size, I would also use a 69mm (stock size) counterweighted crank, 041 or 042 heads w/single high-performance springs, a 110 or 115 cam, stock rocker ratios, chromoly pushrods, case savers with 10mm head studs, and one (single, not dual) 40mm Weber carburetor. I would also suggest a Bosch 009 distributor with a Pertronix electronic ignition module. Since you have a '74 Super tranny, I don't believe you will need a "freeway flyer" unless you're looking to cruise at higher than about 85 mph. You can use your stock one. My stock late model tranny in my '63 beetle (yes it is not the original) allowed me to top out at 115 mph at about 5000 rpm. I wouldn't suggest doing that for a prolonged period ;). At 85-90 mph it ran smoothly and easily. Anyway, this setup will make you very happy if you want some extra horses and a dependable engine for not too much moola. I wish you luck and hope you have fun with it.

ok, thanks. that sounds pretty reasonable. i'll run that past my vw guy and see what kind of $$ it'll take. i've promised my wife i wouldn't dump a load into it..but i don't think you guys will tell on me!!

forgot to post the link for the website for engine sizes, sorry here it is. www.acvw.com/article.asp?DetailID=51

got it..thanks guys,,huge help.