Projects Hot Rod VW Beetle

For all the fab work involved it would probably be easier - and cheaper, and faster - to start with a car that already has a front engine in it, drop a V8 in and go.

 

Here you go..

A step by step process..

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/v8-1973-vw-beetle-project-help-needed-130845.html

Lots of luck with it..sure would like to see how you do with it.

 

I think your difficulty levels are reversed.

 

I have a 2110cc in my 61' bug that puts out 180hp and weighs under 300lbs.
You might want to check out the HP/weight ratio of putting a V8 lump into a bug. Not to mention all the fab work.
There are a few of them out there, but the VW people frown on them as much as the Hot Rod guys ;oP
basically it ends up being a bug body sitting on a shortened frame.
But it's your choice, enjoy yourself.

 

Scans off a Article in Sports Car Illustrated, Feb 1958.

This was a Sleeper Bug with a '57 Fuelie Vette SBC, Gearbox & Halibrand QS Rearend ( converted to IRS) under a stock looking body

 

2 pages... and no Jesse James? LOL!

What's this world coming to?

~Jason

 

damn it! my popcorn went stale waiting for you guys to live up to all the hype at the start of this post.

 

T bucket chassis, bug body, traditional ALTERED, not gasser, easy job.
A Crosley isn't traditional either, neither is a Bantam, but yet they are a traditional piece of hot rodding history, from the late '50's early '60's; which I think makes them fit this board. Same for the bug.

 

Hi, I can't really offer much insight into your project but, I'd like to offer a load of encouragement. I love the idea of a Bug Gasser. I saw a Bug with a SBC in it run at the Drag Bash last weekend and it could really haul! It was built more in a sleeper style, (unassuming with few noticeable outward mods) but when he dropped the hammer, Hold On! I have also seen a local Bug convertible built in more of a street rod style. No way it could ever sneak up on any one. Both cars had full frames fabricated for them and independent front suspension's.

You are getting dangerously close to one of my top secret cracked pot ideas. I got ahold of a 62 Ghia a while back with no windshield so the floors are gone and the front end is pretty Swiss cheesy. I meant to get rid of it pronto but the more I look at it the more I keep thinking about a glass tilt front end and a T-Bucket type frame and straight axle with a nose high stance and a healthy small block and a Powerglide to supply the fun. But I'm not going to tell anybody here on the HAMB about it, DOH!!!!!! Hey, if your floors are good, separate the body from the pan and put it up to build a Dune Buggy later, no reason you can't have both someday. If you're going to junk the pan, as you're separating the two, try to cut out the part of the hump that has the VIN stamped on it so it stays with the body. It might come in handy later when it comes time to register the car.

I never really understood the prejudice against VW's here on the board. They are neat little cars with lots of potential. And as other's have stated, there were plenty of them running the on drag strips back in the day.

Oh yeah, welcome to the board.


Also, what he said:

 

You know, I HAVE seen transverse-mounted Rover aluminum BOP V8s in Bugs... before Rover bought 'em, or course. The adapters are out there.

~Jason

 

Hrm 1961:

 

I was at Laguna (IIRC)or ?...maybe Mid Ohio.. in the pits in the early seventies...Paul Newman's. It had a stock looking body with V8 that was just wicked...built on a Indy car chasiss with Mid engined SBC under the rear glass. He lit it up and did a 360 burn out..but that thing would corner also..

I saw it again years later at Elkhart..Road America. Someone else owned it..but still a nasty bug

 

This is a cool car and it would seem to fit, stylewise at least, within the parameters of of this genre. It could have been built in 1948 (when rodders didn't have parameters).

 

Amen to that.

 

I built one back in 1987ish.....put a SBC up front with a tunnel ram and still could close the hood w/ no problems....and drove it to North Carolina from Ohio to report to my military duty station for the first time.......later traded the SBC long block for a big block 427 chevy and ran that in it.......It ran low 12's at the Fayettville DragStrip with a basic stock 427.....You can do anything...you just have to start the project.......hell, I could fit a 392 Hemi in a Yugo if I wanted..you just have to want to do it......Littleman

 

The parameters in hot rodding WERE based on performance.

Power to weight ratio,acceleration,traction,top speed.

How you achieved these was entirely open.


That was then,things have changed.
Unfortunately.

 

This is a custom VW Bug. It isn't a hot rod. Gary

 

Looks like a hot rod to me, but I'm weird.

 

Seems the "retro" revival..is in apperance solely.. The spirit..the entire point seems lost in the lock step to reproduce.. quite sad at times..

 

Yes you should listen to these guys and build a 72 chevelle, a 69 camaro, a 55 chevy, or a 32 ford. Why on earth would anyone want to build something else?

 

This car was already posted, but here's another shot. Sure looks like a hot rod to me.....

 

I didn't know someone had written a rule book about hot rods, or what the qualifications are to judge the various opinions of fellow hot rodders.

 

i dont think its so much whats a hotrod(any car modified to go faster) as whats a TRADITIONAL hotrod( any car modified to go faster using pre-muscle car parts, and materials). modern technology(post muscle car) is not traditional in the sense of the word, as we use it here. that said, i see no reason why a vw cant be a traditional hotrod. quite a few guys have done it in the past, and have done it recently, and i hope this girls vw hotrod turns out like some of those ive seen.

 

that is unreal. being able to lift up half a bug and have that in there,how much more traditional can you get? it's a dam funny car.

 

Sooooo....one of these is not Traditional? Too bad these pics are all from the sixties and from the same track. Build a bug, it's a far better choice than a cosley or a 72 nova. I'd even help ya. That's my 2 cents.

Besides, it would be hilarious to see a chick pull up in a little bug and totally blow the doors off of some tuner or muscle car.

 

Just don't screw up another oval or split window. Far too many of those gave their lives for Baja bugs in the 70's. Big window, do what you want with it.

FYI: Big Jim Dunn's first race car was a split window bug with V8 power.

 

I would call BULLSHIT on the 427 in a bug post
UNTILL I saw WHO posted it.
WAY COOL ,would love to had seen that!
SHOULD have know that Littleman would do it!

 

Seems to me hotrod buy deffinition is taking a body of your choice and stuffing a fast engine in it. So if the bug was lets say a ford would it be alright then?Is there not already to much bullshit prejudices on the planet? I say gasser bug hell yeah, blown hemi shopping cart holly shit.Build what you wanna build and live like you wanna live.Right arm and power to the peehole and all that hockey shit

 

I don't know why all the hate on the bugs,they've been around just as long,been modified,raced,hot rodded,everything you can imagine has been done to them. just as much as a traditional rod. look at the heritage they've got.