Hi Carl,
We will probably lose our high "Cadet" grade now, because this has nothing to do with the subject but I had 3 Beetles. With the oldest one (1958) I drove back from Germany with a split cylinder head, the one that is hardly reached by the cooling fan, and it still brought me and my dad home (with a good puff of smoke behind). Brings back old memories. The system was beautiful in its simplicity and worked perfectly, probably the only good thing we can thank the greatest dictator ever for. Ferdinand Porsche must have had a very bad night when he thought of that wonderful idea. It is also possible he just stole it from somebody else. I have made an aircraft engine from an old Subaru EA71 and it goes like a bat out of hell every time one touches the starter button, on only one ignition system that the Japanese stole from the humble Beetle. It is still in my garage and every now and then I let it run a bit, just to enjoy the noise coming out of a good old flat four with a direct coupled two blade propeller. The sound of music, even the neighbors enjoy it! (When they are awake of course). To be honest my Rotax 912UL still runs good, although a bit rougher then before but it has cost me more just to have the carbs done (700 Euro’s) than I ever paid for one of my Beetles.
Best regards
Roger