TheSamba.com :: View topic - 66 bug rotary or subaru swap? frontend ideas? kinda long

Tue Aug 02, 2005 5:48 am

I'm starting a project with a co-worker on his old 1966 bug he's owned since god knows when...he's older than dirt as it is :roll:

anyway, he did a sort of baja buggy conversion on it back in the 70's and is wanting to finally go custom on it now since it's been sitting for the past 22 years.

We've already gutted it and I've started on the bodywork doing a 3" chop on it for him. We're in the process of converting it over to 12v using an 18 circuit painless wiring harness kit as well.
question #1
We've been looking over on http://bb.bbboy.net/vwengineconversions at the various engine swaps that can be done and are trying to decide on either a rotary swap or a subaru swap.

Out of those two it will likely be the early EA82T or the earlier 13B since we can get both types locally from the u-pull as-is for around $150 with everything we need including any wiring, etc. which would be better?? he wants to make it as driveable as possible with NO worries really of maintainence other than oil changes, etc. He also wants as much power as possible without modifying the engine radically.

I hear of problems with carbon locking on the rotary engines and I'm sure people will say about used turbo engines with their turbos...but I've been doing the turbo thing a while and know what to look at.

He was looking at the rotary due to pics he sees where he can use this engine and still retain the hood over it (which he wants out of paranoia sake). I think the EA28T will still be able to use the hood right??

question #2
what transmissions can be used with either of these that have overdrive and can be sourced from the junkyard??

question #3
He has been telling me the reason the car has sat for the past 22 years is because he kept eating up balljoints and actually had a front wheel fall off twice on the thing in the past. He reasons now...and I agree with him...if we're doing all of this other work to the car (bodywork, electrical, engine swap) why not go ahead and put a newer safer, more stable front end up under the car.

what other front suspensions are a popular swap into the bug?? obviously there would be some fabrication needed but that's not a big problem. I've been searching around but all I hear is stuff about 944 REAR conversions...nothing about front end conversions?? is there anything or are we going to have to go to the junkyard and measure racks ourselves and pioneer something??

Tue Aug 02, 2005 8:29 am

question 1

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=96201

question 2

nothing easy unless you swap over an entire drivetrain. no VW based transaxle for sure.

question 3

the only common swap is to go from a balljoint trailing arm suspension to a linkpin trailing arm suspension for off-road purposes

Tue Aug 02, 2005 9:47 am

Question 2: ummm... VW transaxle already is overdriven in 4th gear - thought we covered this before?? :shock:

Kennedy Engineering for adaptors -

Bryan in NC

Tue Aug 02, 2005 3:11 pm

didget69 wrote:

Kennedy Engineering for adaptors -

Bryan in NC

Or I have the Rotary adapter, flywheel and counterweight for sale. PM me if you go that route.

Wed Aug 03, 2005 6:53 am

didget69 wrote: Question 2: ummm... VW transaxle already is overdriven in 4th gear - thought we covered this before?? :shock:

Kennedy Engineering for adaptors -

Bryan in NC

yeah, sorry about that. he actually corrected my later on in the day on that. I have no clue on the transmissions since I'm not really a vw guy. it's his car after all.

So there really isnt an upgrade path for the front suspension on these things other than just using a later model type suspension?? what about those bugs that were made still in mexico up until a few years ago?? dont those have a modern rack/pinion style suspension up front?? how hard would it be to get hold of one of those and toss up under the 66??

I think we've settled on using an EA28T and getting the kennedy adapter to mount it to the stock transmission.

Wed Aug 03, 2005 8:13 am

stock transmission probably won't hold up for too long. you may want to look into having a new one built to handle the extra stress.

as far as i know, the only beetles to come with rack and pinion were the super beetles. and that suspension swap would be a major headache. there are racks you can buy that were intended for use with smaller sandrails that could be adapted without too much work.

Wed Aug 03, 2005 11:02 pm

And just to clue you in a little regarding the VW trailing arm front suspension. First, countless racers still use them on cars ranging from stockish to flat out radical. The design allows the tires to swing away from ubstuctions causing less stress on the suspension components. Plus, the whole system is pretty stout by design, and it works very well offroad. The EARLIER Link Pin beams are the ones most off roaders use. The reason is with a little modification you can just about double the factory wheel travel. If you really modify things you can easily triple the factory travel. Parts are available to make every component almost bulletproof as well.

SHMO