Has anybody built a kitcar before!!!!??????!!!!!?????

I've been interested in building a kit for a few years now. I've been thinking of doing a Ferrari Dino or Porsche kit on a VW Bug chassis.

What do they mean when a kit is built on a VW Bug (Type I) chassis?

My question is would I strip a bug down to it's pan and put the kit on top of that? I assume it would be different than doing a kit on a Fiero where I would strip all of the panels and replace them with the kit panels.

Can you put a V8 in one of these VW based kitcar? If not what is recommended?

I don't think you would want a V8 in a VW kitcar. VW kit cars are usually in the 1500-1800 lb class. Even if you could get through the nightmareish procedure of conversion after about two spirited take-offs I believe things (frame etc) would be quite twisted. A 150 HP VW engine will give you a power/weight ratio right up there with the best of them. On the plus side of VW kits is that they are usually much cheaper to build $12-15K rather than the $20-30+K of others.

i am in the process of looking for a donor vw for a sterling that i plan to build this spring/summer. i chose this partly cause i lost my fiero & it will be MUCH easier & cheaper than a fiero kit. i plan on using this experiance to build on so that in a year or 2 i can build a fiero based kit.
what follows is just my found knowledge, so it may not be 100% accurate as i am still in the learning stage as well. this weekend i plan on going to a vw performance store & learning quite a bit.

check out kit car illustrated as there is a very long series of a custom porcshe build up the column is titles "last chance garage".

bugs, from what ive found so far, work extremely well w/a corvair 6cyl engine & porcshe engines (really cool for your idea). u can get extremely high output vw engines but what ive sourced is over 5k for a 2.?L w/out a supercharger

another cool thing is the glass station (www.prostreetvw.com i think) has plans for & finished versions of a custom tube chassis made to replace the donor chassis.

u pretty much got it right...strip it down, modify components, add new body.

i plan on buying a type 1 bug then doing "weekend" type mods until its warm enough to ride my bikes everyday. then i will begin the major tear down. i expect it to take most of the summer maybe even sooner as i have several friends that are interested in helping. i will probably just get a warmed over vw engine w/a performance clutch. but a v6 would be nice.

the following is an email from an online vw performance store (aircooled.net i think)

>john, thanx for the quick reply. i still >dont know the diff btwn type 1 &
>2 etc.. can u enlighten me?

type 1 is beetle, ghia, and thing.

type 2 is bus, singlecab, crewcab, etc (van family).

type 3 is squareback, notchback, and fastback.

type 4 is 411, 412, and 914 "porsche".

> ok well i decided not to get the tube chassis yet, maybe in a few years
when
> i can afford to build another one & make that one the bad ass street
killing
> car.
>
> so here is what im looking at... there is a 75 type 1 in the paper for a
> grand. i havent seen it but what types of problems should i be looking
for?
> how can i tell the diff btwn a beetle & a super beetle?

Look in the front wheelwells. if you see coil springs, it's a super. Open
the trunk (front). If the spare tire lies flat, it's a super, If it's
upright, it's a std.

I recommend a std beetle. if you get a super, get a 71 or 72. The 73 and
newer is very heavy, and doesn't look very nice.

If you want a handling machine, I recommend a 71 or 72 super, no question.
If you get a standard, make it a 69' or newer.

75' and newer had FI, and will be much more difficult to modify and work on,
and more expensive and impossible to find parts for.

> i decided on doing the suspension & brakes first. then the engine &
tranny.
> then the body kit. priorities from greatest to least....handling,
stopping,
> reliability, excelerating, top speed.
>
> so what should i look for in a coil over swap? what are good
> brands/kits...koni? eibech? like i said handling is most important. so
> how far can this mod go beyond just shocks & springs? new a-arms? sway
> bars? also should i look into an aftermarket steering system?

swaybars, shocks, steering wheel. Discs on the front, and MAYBE the rear
too.

> i will be putting at least 16" rims on it i believe...although the
> recommended is 14's. what size disk breaks would you recommend? 12"?
13"?

you don't have a choice, I'm not sure of the size in inches. It's a ghia sys
tem.

make damn sure the car you buy has no rust on the floor or rocker panels.

John

i hope this helps

Speed,

Thanks for the info. You mentioned a tube chassis. Would this be used in lieu of the VW Type I chassis?

sorry, the address is at home so i guessed at it... but some memory jogging & playing w/it returns the correct site........

www.prostreetbug.com

buy im sure if you look around (check vw magazines) you can find others.

yes, the chassis from them is a replacement for the vw donor. remember that you will now have to buy EVERYTHING you would have got from the donor...susupension, brakes, motor, tranny....most of which you would probably replace anyway.

I thought that SuperBeetle's had a McPherson Strut front end instead of the "WhatEverYouCallThat" other front end. I never thought about the curved windshield thing. Also, MOST superbeetles will have a grill in the front apron- the area just below the front hood, behind the bumper.

i own a bug and so im special.
Anyway, there is a special chassis you can buy similar to the original vw bug but you can put a v8 mounted on the front. I seen this in two show cars, one was put in kit car magazine so i have info on it. The chassis is 1845 dollars with adjustable coilover shocks in the rear, the car had a 327 chevy engine and a 81 chevy turbo hydro 350 auto tranny. The source is the glass station 619 460 2079
gstation@flash.net
i seen another chassis very close to stock but with coil suspension in the rear for 1800, but you have to use the original engine, you can also upgrade to a 2.3l ford engine and add a turbo if you want.
VW engines when you blueprint and put in bigger bores, you can make 200hp, they have fuel injection kits, turbo and superchargers for them. Nearly 300hp and more depending on how much you want to spend.

The vw chassis is very easy to remove. There are about 20 bolts underneath and on top that have to be removed, gas lines, and you can lift the body off the floor pan.
Its suppose to weigh about 300lbs if you remove the windows and fenders.
I think it was after 1968 when the rear suspension became IRS but all of them had torsion bars front and back with shock absorbers.
The superbeetles were the only ones that had struts in the front and the spare tire laying flat, horizontaly.

Sterling are very nice looking. I'm torn between 3 kit cars, the Porsche 356 Speedster w/the flared wheel wells, Ferrari Dino, and the Mania (http://www.dalhems.com/vw%20typ%201/mania.html).

I love the Mania because it requires the builder to customize the car thus creating a unique vehicle. Take a look at the website and you will know what I mean. I would probably build a removeable hard top like the Miata This kit will require lots of work. This will be my first kit car and I'm not sure if I am up to the challenge. I need to find a kitcar club in the area.

BTW, who sells the Dino kit?

JHogans,

I'm getting return emails from my server telling me it's unable to send you email because your mailbox is full. Apparantly, your mailserver does not accept new emails anymore because of "Quota violation". This means that right now, nobody is able to send you email anymore. If you are using Netscape, click Edit, then Preferences, then click on the + next to Mail & Groups, then Mail Servers, then search for a check box with the text "Leave messages on server after retreival" or something like that. Make sure that it's unchecked. This will mean you'll get tons of email the nxt time you check for your email (because it will retreive all the email ever left on the server), so maybe it's wiser to give your ISP a call and ask them to clear the file manually for you...

Thanks cliff. I figured out the problem this morning. It should be fixed now.

One point to consider before undertaking making a kitcar on a tube frame, check your states registration laws. I believe MA just enacted a deal that if your kitcar is built on a tube frame it is considered new manfacture and is subject to all the safety and smog requirements on a new car. I'm using an '85GT donor for my Lambo and I'm going to register it as an '85 Fiero even though I'm supposed to have it checked by my state(RI) and be issued a new VIN for a specicality passenger vehicle

SpeedPhreak,

I sent email to the company at, http://www.prostreetbug.com about their chassis and this is the reply I got:

quote Sorry, James .... we no longer offer a 4 cylinder chassis. Good luck with your project. James Hogans wrote: > I am planning to build a kit car based on the Type I chassis. Would I > be able to use your chassis as the basis for my application?

Phil,

that is a good thing to think about.

I'm working on An F40 project right now. The V8 is back in place and I worked on the exhaust today. I bought a Flowmaster for a Camaro/Firebird. Anyone have a Flowmaster on their Fiero? I was curious as to the noise level.
Dan-O

I helped build a '34 Frasier and a Gazzelle on type 1 chassis. I bought a unassembled knock off of a Type 35 Bugatti and put it on a 73 chassis. I sold it before I finished when my second daughter was born.

I also helped a guy build a Aztec GT on a TR-4 chassis back in the mid-60s.

I don't believe the Super Beetle is suitable for most VW based kits because of the McPherson Strut frond suspension. When you remove the body you have nothing to attach the top of the strut to. Most of the kits utilize the torsion beam front suspension of the regular beetle.

I built a 328 and now working on a f355 spyder.

that really blows about the chassis not being avail ne more. but i am sure there has to be another source for 1 somewhere... there are just to many sand rails, vw drag cars, custom/cali style, etc... not to have at least 1 other company producing a replacement for the type 1 chassis.

dont ya tink?

i didnt mean to sound like u could use a sand rail chassis in place of the bug or that it is the right choice for a kit car. i just wanted to illustrate the fact that there are several companies that make tube chassis for vw components so there has to someone else that makes a type 1 chassis.