b series in a vw based buggy.

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99sidude

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my boss and owner of the company i work at has a vw based street buggy. It is basically a fiberglass body on a modified beetle chassis with a beetle engine. Its open top, seats 2, and weighs 1300lbs. Last week i pulled my gsr swap for a build, and now ive been thinking about what that motor would be like in the buggy. My company used to manufacture body's for these cars and there are plently laying around. I basically have the body and chassis bits and pieces at my disposal in addition to my entire gsr swap. I wonder if theres any way I could get my engine/tranny in that car and running?
 
Well certainly. You just have to get the wiring harness/ecu and all of the front suspension pieces from the GSR and do a custom tube frame the rear for motor mount and suspension bits to bolt up to.

Lots of fab, but entirely possible.
 
Wait, you have Dune buggy bodies....


Lying around ?

Wanna make some dough ?

Also, this Honda swap is very common in the dune buggy world. It's not a great motor - the WRX and Porsche motor swaps are favored. Dune buggies have great power to weight ratios, but the VW based suspension design make that power flat-out dangerous. They SUCK at handling, with the gas tank up front sloshing around, all the weight in the back and the crappy suspension components all around.

For proper power in a dune buggy, you have to build the pan from the ground up. Custom front suspension and wishbones on all corners. Then you'll have something CLOSE to manageable for the power.
 
I am a jr engineer at a composites shop. We do alot of really custom jobs with fiberglass and carbon fiber. The company started as a manufacturer of dune buggy glass bodies. There are a few bodies around the plant that have been sitting for years and need some TLC. There are alse 3 or 4 different molds for different models laying around. In my free time Im thinking about maybe building an entire body out of carbon fiber...
I know how shitty the handling is on thoes cars. The steering rack is a modified one from some other VW, and it doesn't return to center after a turn and you let off the wheel. The weight distribution simply sucks ass. My bosses ran like a 14 flat in the 1320 and it can easily lift the front end off the ground. He also always talks about how scary it is on the highway with a near empty gas tank.
I still think that with a carefully thought out suspension it could be made into an awesome weekend car.
 
Well certainly. You just have to get the wiring harness/ecu and all of the front suspension pieces from the GSR and do a custom tube frame the rear for motor mount and suspension bits to bolt up to.

Lots of fab, but entirely possible.

Actually... no. There are bolt-in kits to adapt TONS of different engines to VW rear-engine transmissions, including the B series. I've thought about building a B20 Beetle for quite some time.
 
make some dough? what do you have in mind?


Easy: I need a body for my project. I'm not ready to move on it this month, I need to lighten my load of another project ... But yeah.. That's what I want.

Mine will have a crash cage / space frame (If I can EVER figure out how to truly space frame the VW pan) and the tub will need to come apart to fit around the tubes.

I am looking at Vegas Buggies for a pan as well.. but I need to register it for the roads.
 
well if you decide on anything, pm me or something and I can get you some pics. I know for a fact that these bodies will need considerable work before they can be painted. They just have sat outside for like 2 decades lol. the company is in cincinatti by the way.
 
I'll take em off your hands. :)

Yes, pics please.

Also, Carbon fiber is a wonderful material... But the use of it on a dunebuggy is kinda stupid. Carbon Fiber, in an accident, .. Holy shit.. You ever read the MSDS on that ?

a 7 ply fiberglass (For track only, because you get hit in that and it's over) is just as light. And you're not standing on it, sheeit.
 
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