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Beetles....love 'em or hate 'em, they are a
hotrodder's dream. There are only thirteen or so small bolts holding the
whole body onto the floorpan. Within about half an hour, the body can be
removed, and slid onto a
decent
chassis and drive train!
There are hundreds of manufacturers of aftermarket panels and other goodies
for the humble Beetle too.
So, I ask you, why wouldn't you do this to a Beetle? Actually, I've done it
to five.
SPECIFICATIONS:
ENGINE:
Rover 3.5 litre aluminium V8, bored and stroked to 5.1 litres, with all the
trick bits.
TRANSAXLE:
R30 type 369 with ZF limited slip diff.
STEERING:
Holden rack and pinion, Nissan steering column.
BRAKES:
Alfa Romeo pedals and servo, Holden front ventilated discs
and alloy callipers, BMW rear discs and callipers with
integral handbrake.
The
comprehensive manual
consists of the following:
Check out Hugo's mid-engined build
Purchase the Rorty VW Beetle Chassis Manual on CD now.
Because I had enquiries about this
chassis from just about every tangent of the globe, I was faced with a huge
problem: Which steering rack, front uprights and rear hubs should I base the
design on so it would be universally applicable. it was virtually impossible
to choose just one donor vehicle as no one car is available world wide.
So, I have had to
design several variants of the chassis. The choices for the rack and
uprights so far are the Mk III/IV/V Ford Cortina/Taunus and the Holden
Torana.
I originally built the rear hubs on BMW bearings and CVs etc, but have lost
all the bearing data for them so I can only specify the model of BMW and the
builder will have to source the parts and then fabricate the actual bearing
housing for the rear upright to suit the bearings and stub axles.
Another readily available donor for rear hubs, bearings, axles and CVs etc.
would be a VW Camper Van, though I'm sure there are many more solutions. The
plans will reflect the position of the bearings and hubs, it's only a case
of making up a suitable bearing carrier then and welding it in place in the
upright. The donor parts (especially the CVs) would obviously need to be
rated for the same horsepower and torque as the engine in the new chassis.
If anyone has any
ideas of other widely available and suitable parts, preferably with
dimensions, please let me know and I'll make the necessary additions to the
drawings.
I'm frequently asked if the front suspension is Ford Pinto. The Pinto (or
aftermarket equivalent) front suspension continues to be a favourite for
hotrodders in the US, and there are many custom and trick parts around for
them. In my opinion, they are too heavy for this little car, but if someone
wants to supply the dimensions, I'll add them to the list too.
Engine and
transaxle choice is much wider and there are just too many options to list
here. A brief choice of transaxles would be such items as the VW Type 2, ZF,
Renault 369/UN1, Audi
100/200/9000 and
Audi 01E 5 and 6 Speed Quattro,
Hewland and any of the custom sand car transaxles.
Note:
This
chassis and suspension was designed as a performance replacement for the
pressed steel VW Type 1 floorpan and torsion bar suspension. The purpose was
to uprate the suspension, brakes and driveline to match the increase in
output of the transplanted V8 engine.
Although the chassis is many
times stronger than the original, it is still designed to work in unison
with the incredible strength of the Beetle body as a whole. If this chassis
were to be used as a replacement for the VW floorpan with just a fibreglass
beach buggy or kit car, it would almost certainly require additional bracing
(especially along the sides) as the inherent strength and support of the
egg-shaped steel body would be lost. In any case, consider the single roll
bar
as a minimum requirement. The rigidity and performance of the car would be
further enhanced if a full roll cage were constructed over the chassis.
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