Thread: VW rat rods? whats up?

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well, the pink car i have will run very well, pin you back in the seat in all 4 gears, eat 5.slows for dinner and if i happen to be doing a long distance run, it gets 31mpg with 48mm dual dellorto carbs!!! best of all worlds. my old 84 Hurst/Olds was a bit faster in the 1/4 mile but was a heavy/thirsty pig. they are all good, this is just a different way of getting there... just like a good street rod should be

Hey Dr. Freakinstein, 1slo3 & RatRodVW & Krautwagen ~ Did I miss anyone? How funny...have you guys all been lurking an just decided to join the party cause of the VW Rat Rod thread? I know there are a few other newbies on this thread that didn't come back when it first started...but if ya come back...We promise not to give you a hard time about your toys RIGHT PEOPLE???? lol

Welcome to the boards guys...Post some pics of your cars when ya get a chance! By the way, VW's & "hot rods" are a frequent topic in our house...My kids own 2 VW's & I own a Trans Am...LOL...

So what do you want, low cost fun and pretty good mileage or the thrill of being pushed back in the seat? It depends on what you want, but my present quest is to build my 350SBC with a 700R4 in a light '29 Ford roadster body to get 20+ mpg AND acceleration more like a fast Camaro. VWs can be neat and make use of cheap parts, but the raw power is definitely lacking. Just comments, I could have fun again with a VW but overall I like the style of a Model-A roadster.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder [/B]

This motor could be built for a fraction of what you have into your car, and it will yank the front tires in three gears...

I've been around fast VWs and fast hot rods, and in my opinion, the only thing lacking with the VW is the noise...That T-bucket is easily a low 13 sec car, docile enough to be driven daily, and idles like a stocker. You actually forget that the Holley 650 is like 3" from your head...Oh and it nails down well over 20 mpg too.

My first car was a '54 Chevy, and my second a '69 Camaro, so I know the attraction to V-8's, lumpy cams, and smoking tires, but technology for VWs has gotten so advanced that you can easily make a sedan run high 12s for very little cash outlay...to each his own though...

Originally posted by Jerilynne1965
Hey Dr. Freakinstein, 1slo3 & RatRodVW & Krautwagen ~ Did I miss anyone? How funny...have you guys all been lurking an just decided to join the party cause of the VW Rat Rod thread? I know there are a few other newbies on this thread that didn't come back when it first started...but if ya come back...We promise not to give you a hard time about your toys RIGHT PEOPLE???? lol

Welcome to the boards guys...Post some pics of your cars when ya get a chance! By the way, VW's & "hot rods" are a frequent topic in our house...My kids own 2 VW's & I own a Trans Am...LOL...

LOL...I'll stick around...I really don't care what sombody else thinks of my car. I'm the one who gets in it and drives it, and nobody else has to ride in it if they don't want. My car makes me smile, and that's all that matters to me. But I'll hang around and post when I have something useful to say (Don't worry, it's not too often... )...

Hi, my name is Rob and I am a volksrodder!

I was also one of the builders on the Rat Patrol project, and I am glad to hear that you liked it.

This seems like it is a really cool site.

Here is my personal ride!



Rob

Hey, no offense intended here, VWs are nostalgic for me and it might be fun to build a really big engine with the latest available parts, but I wonder if anybody out there has a VW with a Corvair engine? My younger brother had a '60 Porsche coupe with the smaller 110 H.P. Corvair engine and the engine cover would just barely close over it. It had the bad property of suddenly throwing the contents of the glove compartment into the back seat upon acceleration in low gear! Now that was a sleeper and perhaps a precursor to the Porsche flat-six models. Of course the engine rotation is reversed and the "right" way is to buy expensive rear gears, but the easy way was to merely flip the ring gear over and it worked pretty well. Another way is to buy a reverse-camshaft and run the engine backwards but I do not recall if the there were piston pin offsets that had to be changed, so it was easiest to flip the ring gear in the transaxle and let the engine run as it was designed. I guess Corvair engines are scarce today, but If I were building a VW today I would look hard for a Corvair engine. It was an interesting play on words in the movie "The Thomas Crown Affair" (the first one with Steve McQueen) because in that movie there was a dune buggy based on a VW pan with a Corvair engine and no doubt using a "Crown Adapter". What this thread needs is a picture of a VW with a Corvair engine! Maybe someone on this Forum has a picture of the Thomas Crown Dune Buggy (some folks on this Forum have some amazing pictures!)? Still no offense intended, at one time or another I rebuilt or replaced every part on a pre-SuperBug ('60-'66) except to rebuild the magical wunderbox transaxle so I have about 20 years of VW memories. Just reminiscing.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

the corvair engine is fun, but with modern parts, getting 170+hp from a VW engine originally designed for 25hp is very cool and not nearly as $$$$ as the corvair. i can tell you my 170hp VW engine idles smoother than my stock 65hp engine, gets better mpg cruising, runs cooler and requires much less shifting! i can literally role through a community at 35mph in top gear, roll through the throttle and be at 70 in the blink of an eye.

There are some cool links in here...thanks guys! I love VW's, especially the old-school "Cal-Look" stuff. I used to own a 1970 Bug . It was my first car...man did I sink some cash into it.

Here's my old Bug...


Thanks again for the cool links. Makes me wanna get another bug to do up!

Funny you should mentio putting a Corvair Motor in a VW...That's how we were going to get by the "Must be American powered" at Goodguys events...

Originally posted by Jerilynne1965
Hey Dr. Freakinstein, 1slo3 & RatRodVW & Krautwagen ~ Did I miss anyone? How funny...have you guys all been lurking an just decided to join the party cause of the VW Rat Rod thread? I know there are a few other newbies on this thread that didn't come back when it first started...but if ya come back...We promise not to give you a hard time about your toys RIGHT PEOPLE???? lol

Welcome to the boards guys...Post some pics of your cars when ya get a chance! By the way, VW's & "hot rods" are a frequent topic in our house...My kids own 2 VW's & I own a Trans Am...LOL...

Not lurking just had an intro from our site(Steve's) to yours and liked what I saw.Warning from the Doc ,be prepared to get it as good if not better than you give it if you talkin' 'bout my ride.lol.We don't need no stinkin' 8.lol. I like things with wheels,I love it when my wife puts on roller blades.lol....kinda adds a new meaning to the term "double pumper!"lol.What model T/A?bandit or other?oh I see 81.YNOT,..dig the bug dude,gotta get a nuthern.

ratrodvw, I'd like to see a picture of that setup when you get a chance. I am sorry to say I did quite a few foolish things with VWs in my 30s, most of which I won't tell here, but alas I had to sell the gold metalflake Sand Rover with the black top and big/little whitewalls (8.50x15 rear, 5.50x15 front) when my wife kind of disapproved of putting the baby seat wedged into the rear between the aluminum top frame and the naugahyde seat. Looking back it was not a good idea to put my 2 year old daughter in that situation, although we did make one vacation trip to Va Beach with that setup! Amazingly my family lived through my foibles and the kids all grew up OK, but you don't need to do all that risky, foolish stuff, so keep the shiny (primered) side up and be sensible when the kids are involved. I wish my brother would have sold that Porsche coupe to me, I'd still have it! That daughter married a guy who has a restored Corvair convertible with the 140 H.P. engine; it is dark blue with a perfect interior so I guess there are still folks out there with Corvair parts laying around, although the prices have gone up. I don't see why your American-powered rod wouldn't be welcome at a run, but there are a lot of folks who have special ideas about rules; I guess I will run into that too with a fiberglass body. When you get a chance, take a picture of that Corvair engine, it might help blend in the gap in this Forum.

Islo3, that pink car must have one great engine to get 170 H.P.

Best Wishes,
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

don, this same engine, with a bit more CR and taller cam can make over 200hp at the flywheel. but, i wanted a car i could drive all over the place, so i went with a more mild cam and lower compression. the result was an insanely driveable engine that smokes most everything it meets. 170hp + 1700lb car make for quick stuff!

It's a Dick Landy blower...See even the hardcore Hot Rod guys got into VWs...It's in a Kent Fuller V-rod, too...

Originally posted by Hotrodheb
Here is my personal ride!



Rob

Man, the VW rods are pretty badass in my eyes..I may have found a new project. I am searching through the "Too lazy to search" thread right now trying to find information on the front suspension. If you know of a thread that has a lot of how-to information along with what to buy I would be a happy man! I don't know what it is about the vw rods but I fell in love with the look about 5 minutes ago. Too bad its 12am and I have work tomorrow or I'd surf the boards longer. Awesome rides!

Glad to have infected you. Some of your antidote can be found at VWLab.com,......yes ,... a shameless self promotion.