WRX RA powered VW 1303 beetle cabrio with a bit of Porsche
Discussion
While the header was off and in pieces I took the opportunity to get the die grinder out and do some match porting, apparently this is good for a fair few bhp!
All painted in high temp paint and mocked up on the engine to check ground clearance. The aim was to make sure the oil filter wasn't going to be the lowest point and this looks about right to me...
The original up-pipe lagging was savable so just painted but the rest will be wrapped and repainted.
Manifolds wrapped. I used the stainless ties that came with the wrap but found stainless MIG wire worked better, fitted every few inches.
8m of 2" wrap went into the manifold and another 10m for the downpipe! The wrap was soaked in water first as it later shrinks to a tighter fit as it dries out. Due to the low temperatures at the moment it was taking forever to dry out so I improvised and left the hot air gun blowing down the inside of the exhaust and it worked great!
Additional support made up to support the muffler end of the exhaust. I managed to scrounge enough stainless bar to make a bracket on the exhaust and made up the support using a mini style exhaust rubber mount.
All fitted up. Note I also painted the wrap to stop it absorbing water, oil etc later on..
Quick check to confirm the muffler is not the lowest part..
All painted in high temp paint and mocked up on the engine to check ground clearance. The aim was to make sure the oil filter wasn't going to be the lowest point and this looks about right to me...
The original up-pipe lagging was savable so just painted but the rest will be wrapped and repainted.
Manifolds wrapped. I used the stainless ties that came with the wrap but found stainless MIG wire worked better, fitted every few inches.
8m of 2" wrap went into the manifold and another 10m for the downpipe! The wrap was soaked in water first as it later shrinks to a tighter fit as it dries out. Due to the low temperatures at the moment it was taking forever to dry out so I improvised and left the hot air gun blowing down the inside of the exhaust and it worked great!
Additional support made up to support the muffler end of the exhaust. I managed to scrounge enough stainless bar to make a bracket on the exhaust and made up the support using a mini style exhaust rubber mount.
All fitted up. Note I also painted the wrap to stop it absorbing water, oil etc later on..
Quick check to confirm the muffler is not the lowest part..
Man after my own heart mate. When I'm not working on my XJ12, my friend and I are building a Ferrari Dino replica for hillclimbing with an Audi v6 and transaxle in the back, with the intention of swapping it for a 4.2 v8 down the line as I believe they will bolt up to the v6 2wd gearbox.
Is that still your plan with the phantom if you still have it?
There has been a Phantom build covered in the pages of PPC magazine with a Volvo T5 fitted - I have a T5 also myself and they are great engines with potential for 500+bhp easy, and being transverse would be a far easier swap into the back of a Phantom without having to loose the de-dion back end. Just a thought.....
Good luck with all your projects anyway mate, inspiring....
Is that still your plan with the phantom if you still have it?
There has been a Phantom build covered in the pages of PPC magazine with a Volvo T5 fitted - I have a T5 also myself and they are great engines with potential for 500+bhp easy, and being transverse would be a far easier swap into the back of a Phantom without having to loose the de-dion back end. Just a thought.....
Good luck with all your projects anyway mate, inspiring....
A while back I realised that the dowel alignment holes in the adapter plate were machined incorrectly and the supplier refused to fix it so I either had to buy a new one or sort it out myself! Previously I had filed out the holes to get the adapter plate to bolt on but it was not concentric to the crank centerline. I decided to cut the old holes out, then weld in new thick sections in the correct place. Here's one of the new sections before cutting into the plate.
There are two alignment holes, one on each side, so I turned up the MIG and welded the new sections after making sure the plate was aligned correctly, this was done by using a depth gauge all around the trans locating ring up to the flywheel diameter and repeatedly tweaking things until it was all perfectly aligned. While I was at it, I also welded on a small plate on the upper left corner to cover up an opening.
All cleaned up and repainted before fitting to the nice and clean engine!
Stock 911 clutch all fitted up, the release arm needs to be attached to the release bearing before you mate the engine and trans, the pivot bar is then slid through it's centre through bosses in the bellhousing.
All together again for the last time before it goes into the car! I also made up a new clutch hose to mate to the slave cylinder.
There are two alignment holes, one on each side, so I turned up the MIG and welded the new sections after making sure the plate was aligned correctly, this was done by using a depth gauge all around the trans locating ring up to the flywheel diameter and repeatedly tweaking things until it was all perfectly aligned. While I was at it, I also welded on a small plate on the upper left corner to cover up an opening.
All cleaned up and repainted before fitting to the nice and clean engine!
Stock 911 clutch all fitted up, the release arm needs to be attached to the release bearing before you mate the engine and trans, the pivot bar is then slid through it's centre through bosses in the bellhousing.
All together again for the last time before it goes into the car! I also made up a new clutch hose to mate to the slave cylinder.
Making up an access panel for the offside rear inner wheel arch
Engine and trans in! You can also see the inspection panel in place..
I welded up an adapter for the clutch slave pipe. It was an M14x1.50 thread and 8mm pipe which I thought was very big, I've decided to use normal brake pipe size so had to adapt down to M10x1.0 and used a spare brake flexi pipe I had.. It is all kinked over a bit to get extra clearance to the exhaust downpipe. If it turns out to be too restrictive I can easily go up a size later on.
New turbo coolant pipe hardline was made up and bolted on to the top of the bulkhead to neaten things up a bit.
The thermostat bypass will be used as the heater supply in my installation so I made up this adapter to go down to the smaller pipe size.
It's just a long list of time consuming little jobs from now on! Gutted to hear that Le Bug Show at Spa Francorchamps isn't going to be on next year as that was going to be the debut, I guess I'll have to find something else...
Engine and trans in! You can also see the inspection panel in place..
I welded up an adapter for the clutch slave pipe. It was an M14x1.50 thread and 8mm pipe which I thought was very big, I've decided to use normal brake pipe size so had to adapt down to M10x1.0 and used a spare brake flexi pipe I had.. It is all kinked over a bit to get extra clearance to the exhaust downpipe. If it turns out to be too restrictive I can easily go up a size later on.
New turbo coolant pipe hardline was made up and bolted on to the top of the bulkhead to neaten things up a bit.
The thermostat bypass will be used as the heater supply in my installation so I made up this adapter to go down to the smaller pipe size.
It's just a long list of time consuming little jobs from now on! Gutted to hear that Le Bug Show at Spa Francorchamps isn't going to be on next year as that was going to be the debut, I guess I'll have to find something else...
Bucket O Frogs said:
Awesome build - and Inspiring.
I'm just about to start a WRX into a VW T25 pickup.
Just wondering - did you do the exhaust? - Fancy making me one
do you know about the brickyard site?I'm just about to start a WRX into a VW T25 pickup.
Just wondering - did you do the exhaust? - Fancy making me one
my brother has a tatty old brick sat doing nothing, that has a boxer engine think it's a VW one though?
http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/
genaccord said:
this is one of the best builds I have ever seen!
and to be able to say "I did all that" is Awesome.
That is one of the things drivign me to do as much as I possibly can myself. The only thing I won't have done is some of the trim work when it's all done..and to be able to say "I did all that" is Awesome.
The stainless is a bit of a pig to work with, it is also much better to do it all on the vehicle to make sure all clearances are good. Get a MIG and do it yourself
much cheaper and satisfying in the end...Yeah, I know the brick yard, subarus are quite popular swaps into those, you can get subaru specific bellhousings so use all stock flywheel, clutch etc on them. The flat 6 subarus are done too..
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