Mario Markakis stopped by Jay Leno’s Garage recently to show off his 1966 Volkswagen Beetle. Mario originally purchased the Beetle with a 1600 cc flat-four that he later turbocharged. After getting only 125 horsepower out of the combo he decided to go a different route. He settled on a 1.3 L Mazda 13B from a 1990 RX-7 that now produces 250-280 horsepower with a turbo and some upgrades. The engine is connected to the factory VW four-speed transmission through an adapter plate. Watch as Jay and Mario show the fun you can have in $15K build.
Source: Jay Leno’s Garage
If I would have a lot of cash I’d build myself mid engined Viper V10 powered Beetle. Unfortunately I’m poor. 🙁 Anyway, pretty nice, clean car. Wheels fit it well.
I wish you did because that would be an amazing project.
Does mario do custom work? Would like him to build me something like this for my bug!
I have a 1964 VW with a sunroof that I bought for $150 when I was 15…. I love my bug but it needs work. I would love to have the exact same set up as Mario and enjoy my baby as a daily driver…. how can someone like myself get connected with Mr. Markakis.
that’s a pretty decent car, good job, i ll like to know how much it cost you to build it, and how will it cost you to build one this time
Wondering what type of engine plate kit did he use. How did you set up your cooling for your engine. And are you running off MegaSquirt stand alone. What type of axels and tranny are you running. Thank you have a goo day
It’s a Kennedy Engineering adapter plate. He also has a youtube channel here is the link to one of his videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b82nosm2ZSo