Page 1 of 18

56' Vdub-aru...VW,Mendeola,Subaru,Porsche,BMW..the works!

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 12:42 am
by 56SemaRag
First off like to say thank all the folks on this site that got me motivated to do my build, without pictures and details of yours I probably wouldn't have started mine for a while. A special thanks to the Subaru conversion peeps that made the decision to "cut up" my car an easy one. Doc along with some others requested me to start a build thread so here it goes. If I am slowing down or getting discouraged with this build, just kick me in the a$$. I'll get moving again. I so look forward to the progress in the builds of others, I would like to reciprocate the effort and motivation.

You read the topic right I am converting the very first car I owned. I bought it back in the late 80's just out of high school. My interest in VW's came from a neighbor by the name of Bob Koch, he introduced me to the community and drug me around to tons of events around SoCal where became hooked. Once I knew I wanted a VW, I had to have an oval...with those cool flip out turn signals. He called em Sema-something-or-others, I just knew they were unique. He helped me pick my car out, which happened to be in our neighborhood hadn't run in years. It was an original semaphore car, but not a ragtop. Being a kid in SoCal, I had to have the slider 8). I guess that's when I knew i was going to step over the purist defining line. Sorry man hardtop and 36HP wasn't going to cut it then or now for me, I respect the purist and their efforts...but it just isn't my thing. We drug it back, cut in the roof (Bob said it wasn't that big a deal because after all it wasn't a pre 55' :shock: )slapped some OG Fuchs, rebuilt the engine myself and I was rolling a quick resto looker.

It was my daily driver until 2003 when deployments and permanent changes of station orders made it a pain to lug around. It was stored at a family members house until 2011. While organizing our household in preparation of leaving the service, we systematically purged things that had served little or no utility in the past couple of years. I mentioned to my wife about my car in that it had been sitting for over 7 years and I either needed to sell it or redo it...the way I want. To my surprise she said "go for it". I explained that it was a slippery slope if I got started. Brilliantly she asked "If you couldn't have your VW...what would you want?" I replied "Dunno probably one of the new muscle cars". "Can you build yours for around the price of one of them" she asked.... :shock: "Uh, yeah I think so...It might be doable" :D

So it starts, I finally bring my car back home and begin the assessment. I wanted it to do these things:
-Fast in the quarter mile
-Stop awesome
-Handle awesome (Autocross)
-Be reasonably comfortable all around (heat, A/C, heated seats, tunes..etc)
-Cruise on the freeway (5 Speeds!)
-Still look like a classic modded VW at first glance

The original suspension is outdated and there was no way I was keeping swing axle and the king/link pin, I was already going IRS but what about the front :idea: . Heard about what Mendeola was doing with suspension setups and given their reputation all it took was a phone call to Kevin and my suspension was a done deal.

Transmission was the next thing. I knew I wanted five speeds, the Berg-Bug 5 speed was an option but it seemed HP limited to under 200HP. The Berg-Bus 5 speed seemed like a great option but I hadn't solidified my engine selection yet.

Engine selection had a bit of a hitch in the giddy-up because it was mutually inclusive with the trans selection. I am at a point now where the novelty of the Type 1 especially with respect to 200+ HP has worn off. I wanted reliability without constant tinkering. The Type IV seemed like a great option, but to get large gains and reliability came at a cost factor in a diminishing economy of scale. By the time I added up nikkies, brand new T4 heads, upright conversion cost...it all seemed a bit much for what I would be getting. I also briefly considered doing an WBX or OBX, but that had the same factors as the T-IV. Since I was willing to go water cooled I again was willing to step across another line of semi-purist departure. One of my Suby friends suggested I look at one of his engines.

He had several EJ22T's and gave me the full run down on the strengths and weaknesses of the Suby design. Once I looked at the block and head design I was sold. I figured that a modded EJ-25 Turbo would compliment the Mendeola suspension and Porsche 944T brakes on my build. Since I was going Suby and not looking back, the transmission choice would obviously be Subaru. Thanks to Todd at Subarugears for actually making a great porduct that allows it to happen. If not we would all have a very weak single forward gear and 5 speeds in reverse :evil: . The Subaru trans is awesome as well. With the release of the newer six speeds, many Suby guys are dumping their five speeds for six speed conversions. Score for us! These transmissions can hold nearly 300HP stock with aftermarket gearsets and LSD/TBD priced very reasonably.

Who said something about pictures?

Back Home
Image
Image

The decklid deal was still holding water after years of sitting
Image

Image

Breaking down the drivetrain
Image
Image

Fabricating the carriage assembly, later I will convert this to a full rotisserie
Image
Image
Image
Image
Now the body sits over the chassis easy to move it all around now
Image
Stabilizing feet that are quick on/off type
Image

Throwing in a Mendeola so all the VW suspension stuff can go!, made a pivot wheel for the rear. Measured once, used trigonometry once. No double measuring or test fitting...see if it works.
Image
Image
Image
Image
The front beam gets narrowed!
Image

I was going to hold off on the body work until I was basically finished with the chassis, but for some reason I never liked the hole the PO put in the dash for an ammeter of all things.
Image
Image
Image
Image

Another thing I never liked, the universal bumper bracket. The best I can figure is they used a air chisel to remove the original one on the left back in the day instead of removing the spot welds like I did on the right. Speed vs quality. It looks like they brazed it on when I started to removed the POS. With a little hammer and dolly action, along with some great repro brackets from WolfParts they were back in shape.
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image


I am a bit further along and will gradually add some more pictures and get it all caught up to date. Stay tuned!

Re: 56' Vdub-aru...VW,Mendeola,Subaru,Porsche,BMW..the works

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 8:51 pm
by 56SemaRag
Pulled the backing plates off an early 944
Image
Image

Rented the IRS jig from a Sambanista
Image
Image

Way off and needed trimming
Image
Image
Image

Done
Image

Re: 56' Vdub-aru...VW,Mendeola,Subaru,Porsche,BMW..the works

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 2:02 pm
by slow steve
Cool project. I also have a 56 I have up for sale. If it doesn't sell I might be doing the same to it.

Re: 56' Vdub-aru...VW,Mendeola,Subaru,Porsche,BMW..the works

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:56 pm
by 56SemaRag
slow steve wrote:Cool project. I also have a 56 I have up for sale. If it doesn't sell I might be doing the same to it.
I've heard so many say "Man I wish I never would have sold my car..." Probably one of the reasons I kept mine. If it isn't costing you anything to hold, then hold it until a better deal comes around.

Re: 56' Vdub-aru...VW,Mendeola,Subaru,Porsche,BMW..the works

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 9:03 pm
by 56SemaRag
Some of the gear I have accumulated so far

Picked these up off of Craigslist for $350, not stolen either judging by the neighborhood. The guy I bought them off of put new rims on his 911 then sold the car years later and had these left over. They are 18x8's and 18x10's, even if I don't run them they are decent trading material for other size Porsche rims
Image

The all black Mendeola
Image
Image
Image

Re: 56' Vdub-aru...VW,Mendeola,Subaru,Porsche,BMW..the works

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 10:11 pm
by 55superbeetle
Very cool

Re: 56' Vdub-aru...VW,Mendeola,Subaru,Porsche,BMW..the works

Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 8:48 pm
by 56SemaRag
Finishing the fuel and coolant lines in the tunnel
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

Re: 56' Vdub-aru...VW,Mendeola,Subaru,Porsche,BMW..the works

Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 9:54 pm
by SuperRSi
Very interesting fuel fabrications. Nice build. Will be watching for new ideas!

Re: 56' Vdub-aru...VW,Mendeola,Subaru,Porsche,BMW..the works

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 4:58 pm
by slow steve
56SemaRag wrote:
slow steve wrote:Cool project. I also have a 56 I have up for sale. If it doesn't sell I might be doing the same to it.
I've heard so many say "Man I wish I never would have sold my car..." Probably one of the reasons I kept mine. If it isn't costing you anything to hold, then hold it until a better deal comes around.

That's funny you say that. You're the third person to tell me that they wish they kept theirs in two days. One even said he cries everytime an oval passes by. :lol: But yeah, it's isn't costing me a dime to have around, so I might keep it; to tell you the truth I'm leaning towards keep it. It's complete and has all the hard to find parts with very little rust. The issue with it is that it's a numbers matching car.... Guess I could just do the bolt on conversions engine.. etc., so I could change it back if I ever wanted to.

I like the running or coolant/fuel lines through the tunnel.. very clean and top notch work. What size coolant lines are those? I don't even need mention the suspension :shock: Great build!

Re: 56' Vdub-aru...VW,Mendeola,Subaru,Porsche,BMW..the works

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 5:27 pm
by doc
This is gonna be great! 8) I'm waiting for the next set of pics like a kid waiting for the next Lone Ranger episode.

doc

Re: 56' Vdub-aru...VW,Mendeola,Subaru,Porsche,BMW..the works

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 6:22 pm
by 56SemaRag
slow steve wrote:I like the running or coolant/fuel lines through the tunnel.. very clean and top notch work. What size coolant lines are those?
Thanks for the kind comments.

The coolant tubes are aluminum 5/8" tubing with 5/8" heater hose slipped on for insulation. It's hand bendable tubing that has great stress and corrosion resistance. Figured since it is used with chemical equipment and heat exchangers it would do fine for this low pressure application

Re: 56' Vdub-aru...VW,Mendeola,Subaru,Porsche,BMW..the works

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 6:28 pm
by Steve Arndt
Nice. I've seen your posts on TOS. Going to watch.

Re: 56' Vdub-aru...VW,Mendeola,Subaru,Porsche,BMW..the works

Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 11:06 am
by slow steve
updates??

Re: 56' Vdub-aru...VW,Mendeola,Subaru,Porsche,BMW..the works

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 8:23 pm
by 56SemaRag
Didn't have a whole lot of time this weekend, but I was able to finish the hinged CamLoc panels. Metal work always seems to take the longest

Image

Image

Re: 56' Vdub-aru...VW,Mendeola,Subaru,Porsche,BMW..the works

Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 5:49 am
by slow steve
Nice panels, top notch work. Metal work is my favorite part of the build, It's where you see the most progress I think. What's the saying .. the first 90% takes 10% of the time, and the last 10% takes 90%... or something like that.