odd car

[AndrewG]

Having worked in Ukraine around the end of the Soviet era, I got to love Zaporozhets.  They really are tough and even back then they were becoming the old man's keep-it-forever they-don't-make-them-like-this-anymore car.  And in the flesh they are startlingly pretty, being the car that got that NSU Prinz bathtub styling exactly right - though you could argue that everyone else had had a try before they came along with a better copy.

And don't diss' the ZAZ, 'cos Putin loved his:

[steven mandell]

Was that engine picture one bank of their V 4, or did they make 2 cylinder engines also?
Would love to have details on their V4'S.  Did anyone ever get more respectable power out of them, while maintaining reliability?
Here is a picture of one that I have had my eye on for a little more than a year now.
They are unique in being an air cooled V 4.

[Big Al]

NSU or small Corvair? It handles like a lemon blancmange. With some tweaking you might reach chocolate or raspberry, rather than progression to jelly status. Going fast is probably the last job to undertake on these things, especially as they are generally worn out. They are heavy, yet still highly malleable, as the steel is low quality. I am a great one for underdogs but I struggle to find very much good to say about these things.
As I say they would be very good at trialing with the low gearing, high ground clearance and appalling rearward weight distribution. Otherwise why bother uprating a car so inferior to a Wartburg, possibly even to a Trabbi.

[richard]

Despite it's gallic sounding name I think our American friends might wrestle with blancmange , oo er missus , a type of custardy thing with little stability ( excuse typo's please.  Handheld device and no glasses today 

[AndrewG]

I defer to Big Al's experience, though this cutaway seems too good to pass up:

[steven mandell]

See what I'm talking about?
Reverse the orientation of the powertrain with use of a reverse grind cam, witched polarity starter, inverted ignition advance mechanism, or just flop the ring and pinion if possible, and you could have a stunning mid engine powerplant for a very unique micro.
Of course you'd want to install twin Webers do a little porting and camshaft grinding along with fabricating headers to complete the tweak of your beauty.

Has anyone ever done similar engine mods on these?  If so, I'd love to know the results, as well as their displacement to see if we are still in microland.