Tried a BBC in the straight axle Bug today... and it FIT!

Don't need a radiator for racing. Just run the block empty, and get the heads real hot for the alcohol. The alcohol will keep it cool for a 1/4 mile drive.

 

THAT is a hot rod......!!

 

That'll do just fine on a race only car. The only real advantage to a bigger radiator is more weight behind the wheels, and less cool down time between runs.

 

This is going to be steet driven as well guys, so we'll have to keep it cool. With the sbc we could have sqeezed the rad in the front but not with the bbc. That hood curves down quick! We still need pulleys...

As for the huffer, it would be cool, but a tunnel ram and a couple of 4brls poking out should do ok in the aesthetics department. We were considering a 4-71 sbc as well but the big block just looks so masive in there it would be a shame not to do it. It just seems right, you know?

 

In that case, slant the rad in the old engine compartment, seal the bottom from the top, put 2 big puller fans on it, louver and standoff the decklid, run some ducting blowing towards the hot side. I can draw you a pic if you want

 

This reminds me of a car a guy I know is working on
http://www.room512.com/lm/cars/paneltruck/index.htm

Bug body on a heavily modified '64 Chevelle frame. Currently waiting for time to swap in a supercharged 355.

 

If you want to draw a picture I'll take it. We haven't ever tried to put a radiator in the back of anything before. Any ideas are welcome.

 

Yeah, I've seen that car before. When I was growing up there was a local parts store that had one of those van kits on thier company car. It was done really well, I always liked that car.

I remember my Dad had a catalogue with the kit in it too, I always thought I'd "build one when I grew up". Good memories.

 

A tunnel ram would be cool and all, but do you think you could fit a cross ram under the hood? Personally, I think it would be more badass if you didnt have to modify the hood.

Do you have any plans for the engine? Or are you gonna get it up and running ASAP and cruise?

 

I'd go with a small block then. The big block will be squirrely for handling. The center of gravity will make driving it a full time job, being that far forward and up in the air.

Gassers and Altereds spent most of their times going sideways. It was the advent of the guardrails on tracks that destroyed most of them. Before that, they could shoot off the track and not hit anything as the drivers tried to get them slowed-down enough for the rear wheels to re-connect.

They ran an Altered at the CHRR last year, and it did what they all did, bounced-off the guard-rails and sat out there upside-down like a dead-duck, and basically ruined a good evening. Must have taken two hours to clean it up. Even the Winged Express finally ran out of luck and is now history.

 

heh!!! cool like ihose bugs but think your killing the gas mileage heh heh!!!!

 

that car is gunna be one powerful car, with any luck you'll have to put wheelie bars on it. wicked ride man

 

never really cared much for vw s but i would drive one like that. you'll be doin alot of laundry whe it's done, it scares the shit me just lookin at it , but thats the only reason to do this shit right

 

there's a guy running around here with a yellow bug that has a hemi in it! I saw it two weeks ago at a cruise night with it's hood down and walked right by it thinking it was just a slightly pimped out stocker, I went to the same cruise night last night and the hood was up. I almost tripped over myself going to check it out. talk about a sleeper. looked like it might have had a mustang II IFS in it. but it was still neat to see a hemi in a bug.

 

That thing is SUPER COOL! I have a customer with a big block in his bug, and he races it at Eddyville. If you were at GoodGuys in Des Moines, you probably saw it. I forget how fast it was, but it had a 468 (or something like that) and he said it was CRAZY fast! Keep it up, and to hell with the people who don't think this qualifies as a hot rod! As I remember, Model T's didn't come with big blocks, either.

 

Been hashed and rehashed I guess it all comes down to if you weren't there and haven't seen it in a book you just don't get it.

Now onto bigger n better things.

52 Gimmy
Glad to see you're keepin' it bug lookin man. You see a tone of aem around anymore that they've used the bug tub and some sort of a grill shell theying to make 'em look like an old coupe of some sort.

I'd leave the big block in it and still drive it on the street, just remember it ain't no porsch 911 and you'll be alright.

I don't recall who wrote it but it is absolute truth about altereds and short wheel base gassers, they were always totally out of control. That is the nature of the beast. Learn to drive it the best you can pull out all the stops and hang onto your ass. I'll be damned if that aint the way it was intended, life is good.

 

what could be more "HAMB" than making a big block gasser out of a BUG?

KEEP US POSTED.

-DANNY

 

of course it fit.. why wouldn't it fit? the bug body is like a big block coozy.. hahaha. Are you going to put fenders back on it? I hope you do, that'd give it a nice sneer.

 

Whether it fits or not, the idea is nothing short of heroic. I commend you.

 

no such thing.

 

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Yeah the big block is staying for sure. And yes it will be full fendered. We might even put the trim back on, I don't know yet. No body mods on the outside at all. Unless you count cutting a whole in the hood anyway...

We did think about a crossram but I don't think anything but a stock type manifold would fit under the hood. Not only that but I had an X-c8 crossram on my 52'. It ran well but the damn pedal always pushed too hard.

 

Go hydraulic.

 

A guy in New Zealand built a VW with a big block Chevy years ago.
I went for a ride with him one night. Fast doesn't even begin to describe it!!

 

I'm diggin' it!

 

Yeah, we could always go that route too...

 

There used to be a guy in town that had a oval window bug on a tube frame that had a big block ,7-71 blower and pro street.It was crazy!!!!

 

That's funny. The guy where I load my work truck said he wants a ride when it's finished. I just grinned and said "are you sure?" I think he's thinking about it now

 

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...