RE: You Know You Want To: Subaru'd Karmann Ghia

[405dogvan]

So long as they're done the exhaust so it doesn't "thwup" (e.g. equal length wotsits) I'll take it

If it SOUNDS like a Subaru tho - erm...

[Hellbound]

Completely different but I've seen nice classic 911's go for this much. But then I do love a 911 so I'm biased.

Doesn't help that a girl down the road owns a very ropey Karmann Ghia that sounds awful.

[Agent Orange]

Mate of mine used to restore Splits a few years back. Subaru engines in the Type 1 and 2's are fairly common place and bang for buck with reliability you can't really fault them.

A personal thing but engine swaps have to be sympathetic to me. So a Subaru engine in a air cooled VW sits fine with me. Even a turbo'd one is ok. It's when people hack the car to force something that doesn't look right I don't like. Seen plenty of Subaru engines in Splits that look awful due to the installers poor placement.

A quick scan of The Samba http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/cat.php?id=... and it looks like bar the odd show quality car Ghia's haven't moved much in price the last 5-10 years. The classic market doesn't appear to have an appetite for them so I guess it's solely due to air cooled VW fans they find a market. I've never understood that. Personally I love them and the coupe more than the convertible.

A Ghia or a Type 34 with a Jake Raby 2.4l Type 4 engine would suit me very nicely Santa.
http://www.aircooledtechnology.com/



"235HP 3 litre daily driver engine. Running on pump gas, the engine provided excellent drive-ability while attaining better than 25 MPG for it's 14,000 mile stint in our test vehicle."

http://www.aircooledtechnology.com/index.php/compo...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFFZVjptUv8

Edited by Agent Orange on Tuesday 18th December 14:21

[Baked_bean]

Looks lovely, you mention the modern engine being reliable. But i have a friend with t25 panel van with that engine and it is forever broken! I think it is more the coversion and vw gearbox that are the issues though, the engine has proved largely faultless.

[320touring]

based on the coolant system fun I've had with my BMW recently, I'd stick to aircooled- cant get much above 50 on the m8 anyways!


That conversion does look well dona, and its a fairly decnet price for a lovely shape of car, that you can use every day. sensible, and pretty..

[only1ian]

Think these are over looked classics when you compare them to other vw products of the era and Volvo p1800. I think it's a tasteful modification in line with the original spirit!

[Pistonwot]

Brilliant.
A reliable engine and ancilliarys with all the right supporting mods make this a superb machine.
Its beautiful and reliable with bucketloads of style and class.

The original VW engine gave 50-60bhp (IIRC) with acceleration that could barely be noticed let alone measured. The lack of performance has the original car verging on dangerous to drive because of it.

[Dr Interceptor]

Nope... I'll take mine with the original wheezy, asthmatic air cooled unit please

[thirsty]

Who gives a rat's arse who does what to a car? There is nothing sacred about keeping anything original. Stick a V8 in it for all I care. If you are going to go to the trouble to put a different engine in it, then you may as well go all the way and upgrade everything else in the drive train. If you are going to drive it, you may as well upgrade the brakes while you are at it.

[ricola]

There was a boxster re-shelled as a Karmann Ghia at this year's SEMA show to get all the mechanicals. Did look a bit odd as it had the boxster's windscreen..

[Bucketeer]

The wheels are foul.

[chrisw1991]

Dr Interceptor said:

Nope... I'll take mine with the original wheezy, asthmatic air cooled unit please

[Munich]

I like the idea of a classic design of car with modern mechanicals. As old cars tend to be lighter, you can get away with a good down-sized engine saving a lot of fuel but maintaining the orinigal balance of power and handling. As long as you don't crash into anything hard at speed, I can't think of anything better.

[Gorbyrev]

ricola said:

Here's my classic VW with subaru swap:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

I take it the author thinks 400+bhp will be over the top then!

Lovely piece of work and a great example of the Dub Scoob heavenly marriage. Great work! Flat four Scoob Karmann Ghia - yes please.

[chrisemersons]

hora said:

Front or rear wheel drive?

Classic !!! pml

[tuffer]

Always loved the Karmann Ghia, such a pretty car. Rather than stretch the rear end to get that Subaru lump in they should have used Cayman running gear.....Would be a damn site better looking than a Cayman as well.

[Agent Orange]

chrisemersons said:

hora said:

Front or rear wheel drive?

Classic !!! pml

Now, now it is nearly Christmas. Be nice.

[Hatchoo]

This looks like a great conversion. I once drove a Karmann Ghia from London to Bristol along the M4 and the only parts of the journey I enjoyed were driving along the mews road where I picked the car up and then getting out of it in Bristol. The bit in between was miserable and the clattering 50ish bhp engine was responsible for much of the misery.

[eldar]

Dr Interceptor said:

Nope... I'll take mine with the original wheezy, asthmatic air cooled unit please

I wouldn't. The original engine was dismal, as you say. The character of the car was the looks, not the puny engine. This has a decent enough engine swap, given the eccentric weight distribution. Looks good.

[Renn Sport]

The VW Air-cooled engine need not be rattling mess of noise. A sweet VW engine is a pleasure to drive and I have driven a fair few of them. They sound sweet and go well.

Even the Porsche 356 engine is esentially a VW air-cooled flat four evolution. If you have ever driven about in a Porsche 356-A, you'll agree that its a sweet motor.

Those who have had bad expiriences have probably been driving a poorly maintained sickly engine. This is true of any vehicle 'if ain't running right, it wont be nice to drive'