Air-Cooled GB: '66 Beetle

[Whumbachumba]

That little Volkswagon motor wasn't producing enough power for me, so I had to bump up to something a little more...aggressive. That's where the 911R motor engine come into play. The rear suspension has also been taken from the 911R as will the front set-up. The rear seat is still functional and the transmission case fits fine.




What I had to do in order to fit the engine into the car was remove the stock rear suspension. I also had to cut off the rear support bar where the seat bottom would attach. I will rig up something so that it isn't just floating there.

In order for the rear suspension from the Porsche to be attached, I had to fab up some mounting brackets. I took the idea from Rockabilly's set-up to make mine. I added in a bit more styrene for support and to hold the bar in place correctly. These are still currently drying, but are about ready to be shaped and redrilled so the suspension can be mounted to the car.



With the rear suspension mocked up, I did a little fitting of the engine, rear seat and the body. I came to find that the engine will sit in the just fine and that the rear hatch will actually close fully now. Which doesn't usually happen with a swap like this. So from the exterior, it will just look like a Beetle with nothing special done except for lowering it. The velocity stacks will also fit onto the carburetors without a problem.







As for the paint job, I've decided the basics of how it is going to be. I will start off with a Tamiya's Gray Primer. After that I will lay down Tamiya Matt Black. At this point, you're thinking, "Alright, a rat rod, cool." Which is precisely what is going to happen. HOWEVER, it doesn't stop with the matt black. After that, I will paint it with Tamiya's Dull Red. Again, you're probably thinking, "Sweet, that is going to look awesome!" BUT, it's not done yet. After that, it's going to be sanded down in spots, through the red and into the black, maybe even the gray. There is a possibility of some of the parts being different colors as if they were pulled from a different car. All the exterior chrome pieces will be faded, dull, and maybe dented. The wheels are going to be the Porsche wheels from the 911R, but they also will be ratted out. The polish will be faded, parts will be rusting and they will be really dirty.

As for the interior, well that's going to be pretty nice. Going to swap in the Porsche front seats, one of the four steering wheels that was included in the kit, and other bits and pieces. I will also need to fab up a roll cage due to all of the power that this little beast is going to be putting down.

[dokushoka]

Very nice!

[thadude]

Seems to fit good
Good idea as well!

[Ferrari TR]

Great swap, so far...
kutgw!

[450HP]

Cool! I've always wanted to do one of these myself but never got around to building one!

Scott

[Whumbachumba]

Filled in the door handle holes and laid down some primer. Took these pictures with my new super wide angle lens, so that's why the body looks distorted.




Laid down some Matt Black today.

[ddtham]

Awesome start!

I love the 911R engine on an old school Beetle.

Your description of the planned exterior color reminds me of rats in my hometown in Asia. They are as big as cats and have patchy spots because of God knows what

I am tuned to this one.

[PeterGrave5]

i like where this is going...nice job...what are you planning on using for the orange peel its getting...i don't know if i like scratch x or 3m rubbing compound more.

[Mojo_stevo]

Wow, Necrothread. ^^^ Newb bump ftw though. Did this ever get finished? There's nothing in the completed thread.

[owdlvr]

For the wheel/lugnut issue...just claim that you swapped out the ball-joint front end from a 68+, and did a serious swap to go to the IRS rear tranny from a '69+.

Then they'd be 4-lug, small circle ;-)

-Dave