VW based kit car web resources
Discussion
Does anyone know of any web resources for VW based kit cars, or, for that matter VW beetle performance mods.
I'm thinking about the Nova that's on eBay and as such am looking at the sort of effort and cost involved in fitting a flat six, air cooled Porsche engine and whether to fit that to the standard Type 1 4 speed VW box, or the Porsche 901/911 5 speed box.
Any info about suspension and braking mods would also be of interest.
Cheers all.
I'm thinking about the Nova that's on eBay and as such am looking at the sort of effort and cost involved in fitting a flat six, air cooled Porsche engine and whether to fit that to the standard Type 1 4 speed VW box, or the Porsche 901/911 5 speed box.
Any info about suspension and braking mods would also be of interest.
Cheers all.
IMHO the kit is too crap to warrant that
IIRC a conversion plate for the bell housing will cost you ITRO £200 and you could then bolt an Alfa 1700 straight to it (I pick this as I suspect space will be limited therfore replacing one flat 4 with another (althoughthe only kit like this I've seen in the flesh had a 1300 ford engine in it))
Dont forget the beetle as standard doesnt have ANY engine mounts apart from those on the bell housing
IIRC a conversion plate for the bell housing will cost you ITRO £200 and you could then bolt an Alfa 1700 straight to it (I pick this as I suspect space will be limited therfore replacing one flat 4 with another (althoughthe only kit like this I've seen in the flesh had a 1300 ford engine in it))
Dont forget the beetle as standard doesnt have ANY engine mounts apart from those on the bell housing
Try Rich at www.ricola.co.uk/
He's building a Libra now, but has a history of VW fun!
He's a PH member too.
He's building a Libra now, but has a history of VW fun!
He's a PH member too.
Thanks for all the help guys.
To be completely honest, I'm not all that worried as to how good the kit is.
I'm still planning on building a Libra, but am starting to wonder whether spending around £15k on my first kit might not be the best of ideas just in case I bodge it.
So, if I can get something like this for pocket money and play around with it for a month or two, even if I end up scrapping it at the end it'll be worth it for the learning experience.
As a result, even fitting a bog standard beetle engine with a 4 speeder will be worth a go. If I can (easily) fit a more powerful air cooled (to avoid messing about with plumbing) block at reasonable cost then so much the better.
So far, I've come across people talking about using the 1600 or 2.0 beetle engines, type 4 engine (water cooled I think), the Alfa boxer suggested by Incorrigible, the Porsche unit or even a Subaru flat four! But, other than the link Ferg gave, I've found nothing on the web that goes into detail about any of them.
Thanks again, I'll let you guys know what happens when the auction ends tomorrow.
To be completely honest, I'm not all that worried as to how good the kit is.
I'm still planning on building a Libra, but am starting to wonder whether spending around £15k on my first kit might not be the best of ideas just in case I bodge it.
So, if I can get something like this for pocket money and play around with it for a month or two, even if I end up scrapping it at the end it'll be worth it for the learning experience.
As a result, even fitting a bog standard beetle engine with a 4 speeder will be worth a go. If I can (easily) fit a more powerful air cooled (to avoid messing about with plumbing) block at reasonable cost then so much the better.
So far, I've come across people talking about using the 1600 or 2.0 beetle engines, type 4 engine (water cooled I think), the Alfa boxer suggested by Incorrigible, the Porsche unit or even a Subaru flat four! But, other than the link Ferg gave, I've found nothing on the web that goes into detail about any of them.
Thanks again, I'll let you guys know what happens when the auction ends tomorrow.
IMHO, the Impreza lump is the way to go for cheap easy power - Rich's Speedster was reportedly quick.
If you want to go for a well-built T1 engine (with the right bits) that's putting out a reliable 120 BHP+ look on figuring on at least £2.5-3.5K in your build budget!
Darren,
The T4 is basically a heavy (sic) duty version of the aircooled T1.
You may find a secondhand performance T1/T4 for a bargain price but be very, very wary (you rarely get something for nothing with these engines) If you see what appears to be a steal, make sure an experienced VW tuner checks it over first!
>> Edited by cinqster on Tuesday 3rd February 23:14
If you want to go for a well-built T1 engine (with the right bits) that's putting out a reliable 120 BHP+ look on figuring on at least £2.5-3.5K in your build budget!
Darren,
The T4 is basically a heavy (sic) duty version of the aircooled T1.
You may find a secondhand performance T1/T4 for a bargain price but be very, very wary (you rarely get something for nothing with these engines) If you see what appears to be a steal, make sure an experienced VW tuner checks it over first!
>> Edited by cinqster on Tuesday 3rd February 23:14
Thanks for all the help guys.
I said I'd let you know what happened.
I did bid in the end, and put in a maximum quite a bit above the highest bid at the time. Someone then spent the last 1/2 hour of the auction putting in successively higher bids until it went above what I was happy with.
So, I'm now on the look out for something else part built...
I said I'd let you know what happened.
I did bid in the end, and put in a maximum quite a bit above the highest bid at the time. Someone then spent the last 1/2 hour of the auction putting in successively higher bids until it went above what I was happy with.
So, I'm now on the look out for something else part built...
I can certainly say that a Scooby turbo lump in a lightweight speedster makes for a very rapid car. But then there are the insane, the guy that bought it off me is tuning it up more!
The Alfa is a good compromise. Don't knock the VW base too much, with sucha light body and low C of G they can be made to handle far better than you would expect...
Rich
The Alfa is a good compromise. Don't knock the VW base too much, with sucha light body and low C of G they can be made to handle far better than you would expect...
Rich
T4 a great engine don't knock it when you don't know anything about it.
After a little bit of performance razzle-dazzle, the T4 can be brought up to a max of over 3L, make over 200 hp NA without too much difficulty. There are some performance heads coming out in the next few months that are supposed to be able to bring this engine up to 375hp@8000rpm, NATURALLY ASPIRATED
May be that a bit too much power for you boys to handle
After a little bit of performance razzle-dazzle, the T4 can be brought up to a max of over 3L, make over 200 hp NA without too much difficulty. There are some performance heads coming out in the next few months that are supposed to be able to bring this engine up to 375hp@8000rpm, NATURALLY ASPIRATED
May be that a bit too much power for you boys to handle
hjba said:
T4 a great engine don't knock it when you don't know anything about it.
After a little bit of performance razzle-dazzle, the T4 can be brought up to a max of over 3L, make over 200 hp NA without too much difficulty. There are some performance heads coming out in the next few months that are supposed to be able to bring this engine up to 375hp@8000rpm, NATURALLY ASPIRATED
May be that a bit too much power for you boys to handle
Do tell which master of engineering is going to produce a T4 that makes 375bhp and will last for more than one dyno pull
(Or do you mean a new engine, loosly based on the T4 ? )Gassing Station | Kit Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff