The 40 hp "Bastard Motor"
by Clara Williams
The motor is officially called the "modified 36hp" by VW. However, it is often called the "bastard" 40hp. A couple explanations come to mind:
It is sort of like a bottom end of a 36hp with the top end of a 40hp. A "bastardization," if you will.
Due to the problems this combination caused, often resulting in broken cranks, VW actually recalled the damn things, and you could get it replaced at your local dealership and get a 40hp installed. Though there was great hope for the new big engine, it was an embarrassing mistake, spoken of derrogatorily, pushed under the allegorical rug and VW doesn't like to admit it was born. (Not to cast aspersions upon the sons of unmarried mothers.) The bottom end of the 40hp engine was strengthened, and the crank breaking problem was eliminated.
Many of the different bastard parts will fit the
later motors, such as the fuel pump. The heads are different, and
take a different valve cover gasket.
