The DUNGBTL Build

[DUNGBTL]

Thank you for the kind words!

Engineering is always a compromise…strength/durability, and for commercial products, cost (labor and materials). The SB frame head and strut tower structure as designed is obviously robust enough for the loads created by a 50 hp SB shod with skinny bias ply tires. The fact that the structure is still intact w/no fatigue cracks 51 years later is testimony to a robust design. I think the VW engineers did a great job given the design/production/profit envelope they had to work within. Sure it could have been stiffer/stronger but it most likely would cost more in materials and labor to produce (less profit).

DUNGBTL will likely have 4x the hp of the original design and far stickier tires. The ‘new’ loads when “driven like I stole it” may likely exceed the original design envelope. So my aim is not only to strengthen the existing structure but stiffen the suspension attachments so the suspension can work its magic!

The 911 RSR race cars had far different design parameters and the engineers had much bigger check books available to them! Hence all the structural enhancements (amongst the many other ‘enhancements’)!

Cheers,
J.

[DUNGBTL]

Radiator install:

Wait…WHAT? Purist may want to opt out of viewing this post…

For reasons I mentioned in my first post, I’m doing a ‘99-2004 (or thereabouts) Subaru EJ25 SOHC engine swap. A water pumper…but still a FLAT FOUR!
Needs a radiator. SB’s are perfect candidates for this swap because of the front lower Air Conditioning grill and larger frunk…which is perfect for these swap shenanigans!

Have to cut out the frunk floor for radiator air exit…PURISTS AVERT YOUR EYES NOW!

Based on other EJ swaps found on the interwebs, I chose a ‘82-‘92 VW MkII Golf radiator (for those 1 or 2 people taking notes, Worley P/N AS045A). Sorry I don’t have any glamour shots of it…I covered the fins w/cardboard cause I’m anal like that Here it is taped in place:

Fits like it belongs there! “LIKE A GLOVE!”

Made some simple top retention clips and used M5 nutserts in the latch panel to secure topside…

…HEY! Better than some zip ties!

Made some brackets from rect tube for the bottom radiator posts (bracket ties into the frame head flange where the crumple pan attaches).

Next up, doing hrs of research on Amazon I found an off the shelf rad shroud AND fan kit that, per the always precise and accurate Amazon dimensions listed in their ads, promised to be a close fit (for those of you still awake…Rareelectrical P/N RFM0009*1). It’s actually for a Yamaha UTV Rino 700 YXR700F…should be fine! Here what I got (fan out of pic for now)…actually fits as I calculated from the Amazon dimensions:

I made some aluminum brackets that interfaced w/the bosses on the rad (another reason I selected this particular rad). And added a couple of 3/4” wide filler strips to better encourage all the air to flow thru said rad.

Here’s all the mess insitu…

You can see here my “envisioning tape” (love me some Ian Roussel!) to check that the radiator & fan would play nice w/the strut tower truss to come (at this point of the build, the STT was just a paper design!). That’s the hose from my mini shop vac standing in for a proper radiator hose.

Next up: DUNGBTL gets hosed!

Cheers,
J.

[Rome]

Very clean fabrication for the radiator. Do you think there'll be enough louvers/air intake for it, since the current louvers only have direct airflow for the lower ~ 40%? You'd only have room above the current louvers to fit more if needed (or a straight row of maybe 2 dozen round holes), which would mostly be in direct view and partly give away the "surprise" of the Subaru conversion. Even when visually partially blocked by a stock front bumper.

[H2OSB]

Often, with these swaps, some kind of air dam is used to force are into and through the grill, however I'm not certain it's necessary. I AM certain J knows how to sort the air flow out.

H2OSB
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(o\_i_/o) I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals, I'm a vegetarian because I hate plants.

[DUNGBTL]

Ah ha! Very good question Rome!

So I did a little research and some calcs (as I’m prone to do )…and here’s what I came up with…

I came across a ‘rule of thumb’ (can’t remember where…I didn’t write the source in my notes, but seemed reasonable at the time)…that to promote efficient airflow thru the opening into a cavity, such as this, to promote the pressure differential required to flow the air, the exit air opening needs to be around 70% of the intake opening. So I measured the combined open area of the AC grill…I’ll just show you my notes…

You can see I calc’d an open area of the grill of approx 43.875 in^2 (3 sig digs… approx my a** )…anyway…I then calc’d what 70% of that needed to be ==> 75 in^2…and I found that I have ~86 (actually probably more, however I tried to keep my estimate conservative). So, I found that I have about 96% more air exit area than intake. So, probably OK to generate decent flow.

That is if the intake isn’t blocked as you point out. I thought of that too…
I have a repo Kamei spoiler that will be mounted under the bumper as they do…this exact one:

…and you can see from my scribblings above that I plan to cut out a slot to expose the SB’s grill behind (which I will black-out using, my favorite, SEM Trim black!). And keeping with the Porsche theme, I’m planning to cut said slot in Kamei similar to one of my all time favorite 911’s…wait for it…THE RUF YELLOW BIRD! (No, not doing the fog lights…)

That’s the plan anyway…we’ll (you’ll) see how it goes (eventually ).

Now here’s some anecdotal evidence that the stock SB AC grill is an adequate with the stock bumper (assuming proper exit air area of course). This is John Reynolds’ 550 HP, Subaru powered ‘73 SB in Marina Blue (DO IT H2OSB! )

John is a master fabricator/car builder and his Subaru powered SB is the Gold Standard for these builds imo, bar none! I subscribe to his channel and am constantly watching and rewatching his videos gleaning all the tricks and tips I can. Anyway, although his radiator choice is probably far superior to mine (has to be to support 550 HP of turbo’d Subie power), he takes the air in at the stock SB AC grill.

So, great question Rome! Thanks for asking!

Cheers,
J.

[DUNGBTL]

Hoses:

To connect the front radiator to the rear Subaru engine requires conduit capable of flowing hot fluid. In my research for this project I found that people use all manner of fluid conveyance. Steel tubes/pipe/electrical conduit, exhaust tubing, aluminum tubes, stainless, rubber hoses and combinations of all the above! H Haven’t seen PVC pipe used yet.

There’s a myriad number of ways to achieve the same thing. I chose to do what renegadehybrids (famous for V8 swaps in 914/911/etc…out of Nevada) does and has been since the ‘80’s. I purchased from them 40’ of Gates Greenstripe 1 1/4” dia heater hose. I bought the hose kit they currently use on their 914 LS swaps.

I went to a local auto parts store (O’Reily’s) where the parts guys were kind enough to let me peruse their radiator hose ‘warehouse’ (back room). I had a pretty good idea of the general shapes and diameters I needed. The goal was to get the inlet and outlet hoses out of the frunk and under the car. After a hour or so…I came up with these part no.s:

Purchased some billet aluminum connectors from a S10 LS swap web site:

Used those and a straight connector from Summit to join the bends together and created a couple snakes that exited the frunk, wrapped around the Top Line 7/8” caster correcting (for lowered SBs) stabar and out to the back!

Used M5 nutserts to attach stainless P-clamps to the pan. Rubber shims are under the hose anywhere they press against hard edge.

And that’s where I left it as I don’t yet have the EJ25 engine to make the specific runs to the engine side. I know where the hot and cold sides go. Left is hot side to rad; right side is cold side to thermostat. I made the hose runs accordingly and then just left them dangling in the rear. Took all this clap-trap out and boxed it up for final fit up when I get the engine.

Next up The Shroud of DUNGBTL wait, WHAT?



Cheers,
J.

[TDCTDI]

Interesting way of protecting the pan from getting scraped by speed bumps & driveway transitions.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[Buggeee]

[DUNGBTL]

[DUNGBTL]

[MajorPIle]

[DUNGBTL]

^
It was a single layer of rubberized undercoating, most likely factory applied by the looks of it. I used a plastic scrapper, plastic bristled ‘tooth-brushes’, and copious amounts of WD40 to remove. Took several hours. Used Meguaires Cleaner Wax to polish out residue.

J.

[DUNGBTL]

Here’s some interior stuff I did this past summer…

The ‘theme’ of the DUNGBTL build is in the Outlaw Porsche style. I figured why not apply the much used Outlaw moniker to a bug…esp the much loved Super Beetle …and esp a SB w/a Subaru eng swap. I’m quite familiar with the vintage Porsche scene having been in PCA, restoring a ‘69 912, and owning an ‘84 Carrera. I was a kid that had a poster of a ‘73 RS Carrera in my bedroom while in HS. Always loved them…still do. So I’m building the DUNGBTL in a vintage Porsche, ‘Outlaw-esq’, theme.

To that end I removed the padded dash (which was hacked up by PO for a ‘stereo’ install) and welded closed all the extraneous switch and vent holes. I designed a ‘new’ dash using 914 gauges. I sourced some German ‘vintage’ basketweave vinyl…exact same as used in 911/912/914’s back in the day…and covered the ‘new’ dash. I also covered the glove box door. When you remove the padded dash, you end up with a larger gap btwn the door and cutout. The vinyl reduces the gap…looks factory! The plan is to have a black covered dash and glovebox door and the dash surround to be the Gentian blue color of the car.

I’ve since replaced the newer style speedo shown above w/a ‘silver dot’, 120 mph version so that the three gauges are ‘silver-dots’.

Cheers,
J.

[Rome]

This dash treatment looks great! I also admired the look of the vinyl on 911 and also IIRC 914 dashes.

You might regret not having windshield air + defrost outlets... though you could somehow still fit the air nozzles under the dash in their original locations, and drill many 3/8" holes into the dash at the nozzle locations for letting the air through.

Have you considered installing a thin chromed strip above the dash following its curve, right on the crown of the bump-out, such as cut-down body side moldings or the hood molding from a later Beetle? The strips would be in 3 pieces: long one from left edge of dash to the left edge of the assist handle, short one under the assist handle, and the final one from the right edge of the assist handle to the right edge of the dash? Or a similarly thin strip of wood, such as on a 912 dash which had this tall strip? Attach either style to the dash with double-stick 3M molding tape to avoid drilling holes into the dash. I realize that would probably not fit with your "outlaw" style non-chrome interior... but just an idea. Especially the latter choice if you fit a classic wood-rimmed steering wheel.

[DUNGBTL]

[H2OSB]

I'm totally jealous of you excellent dash treatment. I'm seriously considering using this dash so I can get some gauges.

H2OSB
_________________
(o\_i_/o) I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals, I'm a vegetarian because I hate plants.

[DUNGBTL]

^
Hard to go wrong with a 911 dash imo! Do it!

[DUNGBTL]

Here’s some more interior stuff I did this summer…

When you remove the padded dash from a ‘71-‘72 SB, you’ll find that the grab handle no longer fits flush up against the steel dash underneath. It’ll still bolt up, however without the thick padded dash, the ends are exposed and the trim pieces are not mitered to fit the ‘bull nose’ profile of the dash. My OCD just would not allow this to stand.

You’re probably asking, “why not just delete the grab handle and weld the holes shut like you did on the rest of the dash?” Well…the wife loves the old school grab handle and wanted me to keep it…and as you probably know, what the wife wants…”yes dear”

I tried using a contour copier to capture the dash ‘brow’ and then trimming the end covers. Not bad, not great…gaps, end trim was cock-eyed and the threaded studs were semi exposed. OCD was still buzzing. No bueno.

I stewed on this for a few days before a solution came to mind. How do you capture the contour of a 3D shape? Fancy DIY’ers probably take their 3D scanner and scan the dash bullnose, download to SolidWorks (or similar), draw up the trim pieces to fit the shape, fire up their 3D printer and print them out. A little sanding, some filler…DONE! Nice…nothing wrong w/that. However, my shop is a bit simpler. The fanciest tool I own is probably my ‘digital’ MIG welder.

I had used the standard multi-leaf profile copier to capture the profile of the dash when I tried carving the original ends to fit. Apparently, my brain during its downtime had expounded on this concept. The light bulb went off and this happened…

I used bamboo cooking skewers to make a pin-profiler on the ends! I had to hand sand each one of the ‘pin’ ends to make it fit flush against dash. I used ‘rubber bands’ made from cut up butyl bicycle inner tubes (btw, they make the best rubber bands…super tough!) to hold them in place, slipping each pin in place, one after another. I applied a drop of super glue to stick each subsequent pin to the previous. It did take a fair amount of time. After all the pins were in place, I trimmed the ends and covered the whole mess w/epoxy resin. A lot of hand sanding, body filler, priming, sanding…rinse and repeat…ensued. RESULT!

After letting the super-glued, epoxied, bondo’d, primed end caps cure for a couple weeks, I shot them w/SEM Trim Black. To freshen up the 51 yr old handle, I covered it w/shrink tubing.

Apparently I didn’t take any pictures of the finished product but trust me, the ends and handle install looks factory! OCD satisfied!

Cheers,
J.

[agramer1966]

Me blown away 🤯
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1966 VW1300
1973 VW1302
1974 VW Trike
1984 924
Bunch of old Jap motorbikes
Instagram & YT: #agrameroldoctane

[DUNGBTL]

Here’s some recycling…

When I bought the DUNGBTL it came with a UHaul full of Super Beetle spares…

…amongst which included a spare fuel tank.

I had previously removed the one that was in the car, cleaned it out, and repainted…

This tank was relatively rust free and had baffles inside to mitigate fuel slosh. Unfortunately the fuel level sender was mangled beyond repair by ‘somebody’ that didn’t know how to remove it from the tank! I looked at my spare tank and it appeared to have an OEM German VDO fuel level sender unit. I carefully removed this one. This tank must of been from an earlier 1302 (the DUNGBTL is a Feb ‘72 build) as it had no baffles whatsoever. Tank was pretty rusty inside and so was the sending unit…

I carefully disassembled the unit…

I soaked all the parts in ‘Rust 911’ for 24 hours. Scrubbed clean w/old toothbrush. I smeared a little dielectric grease on the linear potentiometer’s wires and reassembled.

After reassembly I looked up the resistance (ohms) values for different fuel levels in the factory manual and bench tested it…

To my surprise, the damn thing worked! The last pic above shows my units readings vs. factory spec in ‘()’.

I’m pretty impressed with the German made oem VDO sender being able to be restored and still function within spec. I doubt that the plastic bodied, visibly cheaply made, Mexican unit I pulled out the DUNGBTL’s tank could be.

I have in my notes somewhere that I’ll have to run a resistor, or ‘vibrator’ ( ) of some sort…something to that effect…to use this fuel level sender with the Porsche 914 fuel gauge I plan on running. Not sure…will cross that hurdle down the road.

Cheers,
J.