Fred's 1954 Oval VW Beetle - NO laughing! :-p

[Fred]

Many years ago there was a cream oval on the side of the road near where I lived...

I drove past it and stared every single day...

Eventually it was for sale...

I took the bait...

Fail...

My first and worst car purchase! But I still love her dearly.

It didn't have a WOF (MOT for the POHMs, safety inspection for the yanks) at the time, and I knew why: rust. What I didn't know was the extent...

With typical Fred optimism I arranged a bunch of mates to come over one weekend while my father was away fishing to strip it and fix it and get it legal.

We stripped it alright. And the more we stripped, the worse it got. On the Sunday everyone left, and I was alone in the garage still working but with a LOT less optimism.

Over the following years it lived in the garage, I did various things to it like spray parts of it blue and cut "spark plug inspection ports" in the sides of the engine bay. I still get mocked about this 15 years later.

Eventually I conceded defeat and sold various parts of the 54 intending to replace them with bits of a 57 that I picked up cheap. That's still the plan.

Obligatory old photos, 10-13 years ago, or so:





Comments, nice ones, here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2250

Fred.

[Fred]

It's still not a priority (the ute must be resurrected first), however this is next, for sure.

The plan:

1. Get it out, fix any rust, attach panels/etc where necessary, install a stock carby engine, get it running, get it road legal
2. Get the ignition under FreeEMS control in a low-budget way throwing the dizzy away into the spares box
3. Get an EFI setup onto it, using GXSR ITBs to control air and mount injectors in
4. Add a small second hand turbo from something and up the power from ~40 to ~70
5. Use it! Haven't done too much of that with this car...

ITBs:













In order, RX7 550cc, FE3 280cc, GSXR ~200cc injectors:







2000 Subaru OEM blow off valves for eventual turbo setup and experimentation:











Jaguar likely the EMS hardware of choice.

Turbo yet to be decided.

Fred.

[Fred]

Both of the engines that I have are single port heads, Siamese heads.

http://www.starchak.ca/efi/siamese.htm

I had previously though that wouldn't be an issue, however I did some digging and firing order and cylinder pairing appears to suggest it WILL be an issue:

Which cylinder is what:

Code: Select all

front of car
3          1
4          2
rear of car

Firing order:

1-4-3-2

Note, 3 and 4 are together in both order and pairing, same for 1 and 2, correct me if wrong, but this engine will need some cunning tuning and multiple widebands to run well.

Source: http://www.vw-resource.com/misfiring.html

Fred.

[Fred]

Once all of the above is complete, I'll probably:

• pull the engine
• whip off the heads
• whip out the cylinders
• hone the bores
• new rings
• ratio rockers
• stiffer valve springs
• mild porting to ex/intake
• polish of chambers and piston tops

That should up the revs from max of 4500 stock to 5k or a bit more, and flow much better and run much smoother. I'm pretty sure the engine that I intend to use has low compression on number 3 as is, but that won't matter as much with good ignition and EFI.

Fred.

[Fred]

85WHP from this 1600 on 7psi, exactly my goal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGeEDvNWx64

[Fred]

I'll have no dizzy, no heater pipes, no diaphragm fuel pump, so on the left of the pulley will be plenty of space to route exhaust up and down again and house the turbo, all while keeping it clear of the body line and above the sump (so as to not require a pump).









http://stuff.fredcooke.com/VWType1ExRouting3.jpg < big image

Then there is the CB perf hideaway kit which puts it even lower. But the plumbing would be obvious enough anyway, and I'd like to see it, and more drain height is better. See CB setup below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3V-2mt9APE

[Fred]

The first thing that I think about when I think about making more power or driving like a maniac is the drive line. If it's not up to it, you either can't have any fun, or if you try, you're rewarded with lots of pain. No fun, either way. Ask any 4wd Mazda hatch back owner and they'll tell you.

So if you have a poke around, it's pretty obvious that the gearbox of choice for a VW application is the 091 bus box, which is IRS. This looks and likely is strong enough to handle me. I doubt most are.

<info on 091 here>

Another thing that I can tell you is that Torsen-style diffs are not ideal for drag racing. They tend to explode from the inside out. Clutch diffs are better for shock loading like that. It turns out that there are OEM VW Clutch LSD units made by ZF! Here's an advert, and the cached images and text:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/ ... id=1397127

091 ZF Limited Slip Diff LSD 002 3 rib Price: 1100

This Bus 091 ZF Limited Slip Diff is ready to install in your gearbox. It has been gone through and everything inside is in great shape. I have upgraded it by drilling extra oil holes like the Type 1 ZF has.

This differential is a direct swap into any Bus 091 and Vanagon 094 gearbox. You can also install this in any 68-75 Bus 002 'box by upgrading the screw-in bearing supports and flanges (bearings, seals, clips etc).

If you have a Vanagon Syncro and thought you might want dual ZFs, contact me, I can set you up with a pair.

Shipping extra.

I want one. If not, I will engineer my own, somehow using parts from something Japanese.

Fred.

[Fred]

Rancho do the '76 - 79 091 IRS Bus Transaxle for $799.00 US + a core charge (unsure what that'd be, but may ask and update this, done, $695), so total of $1500 US:

http://ranchotransaxles.com/vw-transaxles.html

Seems like a good option from a reputable house for a fresh rebuild. With the core included there are a few other places that do them for similar prices. It'd be interesting to compare what they *actually* do to them.

Another one is these guys: http://www.donsbusbox.com/street_pro.html and http://www.donsbusbox.com/flyer.html etc. Some are more, some are less, depending on which option.

Some more info on 091 boxes: http://www.transworks.biz/TWP.html

And another option, more pricey, but possibly more inside: http://www.kcrtrans.com/strip.html

And another, with a HUGE price: http://www.weddleindustries.com/transax ... ransaxle-0

Another great resource here: http://www.longenterprises.com/

This post, though, is for this exploded view of the stock VW LSD, which doesn't look particularly robust in terms of clutch longevity, TBH:



But is a nice reference all the same.

Fred.

[Fred]

I was looking into "5 wide" brake kits last night, and what I realised is that buying a kit is silly and building a setup myself would be easy for a beetle. Beetle weighing < 800kg (at most, possibly much less later) means that pretty normal brakes off of almost anything will work fine even on a track. All I have to do is choose something with a pad shape that I can get off the shelf race pads for, and I'm set. A few brackets and a few parts spun up on a lathe, and we're done. Too easy.

My truck will be much more of a challenge, as I really need dinner-plate sized fronts to handle the power and weight.

Fred.

[Fred]

A nice way to route exhaust gasses and retain equal length in a 421 style.