OK, this will sound stupid to a lot of people, impossible to others, and a waste of money to others still, but basically... I want to take a classic VW beetle chassis, drop in a V6, paint it black, and take it to VW shows and dragstrip days. I want it to be seriously fast, and it doesn't need to be road legal as I can get a trailer. What are my options? Where would I find the chassis and engine for not-very-much-money? I want a serious hot-rod here. Basically something that's completely pointless but also very beautiful.
i think its a good idea. the VW chassis is very versatile, and has alot of mods done ot it. look at kit car forums as thew Beetle chassis is used in most. the gearbox can also be kept as there are off the shelf kits that allow you to fit nearly any engine to it from a ford pinto, to a RX7 W a n k e l including a porsche 911 and scobby engines. obviously it will need to be beefed up a tad. the chassis will need alot of weling and streangtiing, as will the drive shafts, suspension, brakes etc. but its do-able. i'd also look for a fibre glass body shell as this will save loads of weight (power to weight ratio rules) the hardest thing is cooling, as the VW engine is rear mounted and air cooled, so no rads, this is a lot of pipe work to run to the front personally i'd keep the flat 4 air cooled and drop in 2 turbos(T3's) (1for left hand pistons 1 for right hand pistons) beef up the internals it will sound awsome and go like stink. i would also look into NoS if its going to be track only and you can afford to rebuild it every couple of 1000 miles or so. http://www.aircooledtechnology.com/type1/dtm/ http://www.aircooled.net/gnrlsite/resource/articles/t1hpeng.htm http://www.cwgsy.net/private/ramva/tech.htm http://www.johnmaherracing.co.uk/enginecalc.htm http://www.openroad.ca/volkswebbin/ Kit cars based on the VW beetle Chassis http://www.nova-international.net/ http://www.dunebuggy.co.uk/
My first thought was the Impreza engine- in keeping with the flat 4 of the original, also plenty of tuning potential but perhaps not the best for all out performace. For that you need to be looking at a v8 but LOTS more work involved.
my friend restores them (vw anticks) his name is steve, he does beetle project logs, maybe you should give him a phone call (xXXX) Ben
If you were in the US you could have a 5.7L v8 for less than 800bux new. those are 300hp barebone that all they need is headers and a carb. On your side of the pond you need to look at older pickups or something of the sort. IF I were doing something similar to you, I would buy an old pontiac fiero and canibalise the engine/trany/suspension/chasi. The first part is to strip out the old fiero. Then lay the bettle body over it. Rebuild trany and sell the engine. Swap it to a 350 and make a buggy style rear end. Add slicks and an interior and your set for one hell of a fast car. 11second 1/4mile isnt far off with a good set of slicks.
