Aircooled VW South Africa

This is my selfbuilt Speedster replica which I've owned for the past 16 years. Its built on a shortened Beetle floorpan, has Kombi IRS at the rear, beetle front suspension with disc brake conversion done. I fancied the classic look and feel and
therefore stuck to an aircooled boxer engine as a powersource instead of a modern Golf or Subaru engine. The engine is a standard type 4 aircooled 2L which gives you that true classic feel but with good enough power to mass ratio to really enjoy your "bugs in the teeth driving".

Late last year only I've gathered enough courage ($$$$$$$) to import a Soft top from USA. It is sand coloured which goes well with the dark brown interior. I did not fit the soft top yet as I was working on the cars brakes etc and was afraid that it might get damaged... Will post photos soon once the top has been fitted.

The white wall inserts and carrier on the rear decklid are just for show purposes and is removed when just cruising around in general - heard bad stories about those white wall inserts chewing sidewalls

Stunning!

do you have any pics of the engine?

Good stuff..........she looks neat.

Anymore information on the IRS set-up? That's something that I'd like to do in the next few years to mine. We really have to make a plan to meet up.

The engine is a bit of a thight squeeze in terms of access to the oil filler and fan belt.

The IRS is from Kombi with normal drum brakes and CV joints - still utilizes the torsion bars, but I've added coil overs over the shocks as added counter measure for the increased weight of the engine.

Still to do is to change rear drums to disc brakes.

ahhhh...........gotcha..........my plan is to pull out the torsion bars and go full IRS.

She's a beaut! Are your tyres catching inside the body when loaded?

Thanks MS,

Yes it does catch slightly under load when the road is seriously bumpy - but only when I drive with a passenger, and carry the sparewheel (infront). Normally when I travel alone it does not catch.

The wheel adapters for front wheels (4 hole to wide 5) that are fitted to the car are the culprits - they are very very thick/wide compared to the ones you buy nowadays- I want to machine them down a bit and can at least score about 7 to 10 mm's without weakening them. The front tyres are also quite wide - 205; 235 at the rear.

The rear is totally fine ... no issues there.

dude, ever considered rather having the hubs drilled for wide 5 and then doing away with the adapters altogether?

flatfourfan wrote:dude, ever considered rather having the hubs drilled for wide 5 and then doing away with the adapters altogether?

There is not enouge "meat" on the 4x100 hub for discs to do that

new hubs?

Yes , as Splitfan correctly said - not enough meat to convert.

The other reason also being the fact that the hub and brake disc is a unit (kombi/variant stock is assume) and cannot be separated, so the conversion would be much wider that just changing hub and to be honest I have been kept busy with doing other stuff on the car and have not paid much attention to that.

but I agree it is somethng worth investigating/researching.

I've also done the disc conversion with the adapter plate for the 5 hole rims. Great improvement in braking and handling but front tyres catching when loaded. I'm only running 195's in front and am thinking to even go down to 185. Any other ideas?

It's a Beaut, but I am a wee bit lost with the title

My problem child that keeps me awake at night...

"- not sure that it looks like a "Problem Child?" - rather more than Miss Universe... I must say that the bumpers just gives the car a refined look, mine does not have it and I am considering to fit some...

Yes MS...I've also considered going narrower with tyres.

I've also read on the Internet, a while ago, about a guy that actually cut the front beams (torsion bars etc) on his VW Ratrod and made them narrower/shorter, but I have little knowledge about getting all the other components aligned again so that your front wheels run straight so will not attempt that task myself

Thanks Bossie - Yes "Problem child" LOL - you know how it is with these "old" cars, there is always something that you want to change or have to repair. I've been struggling a while now to get my brakes sorted after changing the callipers and Master Cylinder ... damn what a mission...

Anyway when I look at the pics of the car, it makes all the battling worthwhile ... lol