Dare to be different...

[Paul_J]

Ray, have you tried posting a request over on the Germanlook forum to get in touch with Remmele? Volkdent who posted above is a regular on that message board. Maybe he can be some help. I saw that front apron at mid-america too. I think your idea with the splitter would be a big improvement to that idea. I didn't see that apron available for a super beetle. Do you plan to just modify the one you have?

[454bug]

Thanks for the heads-up! I didn't notice it wasn't available for the Super Beetle. Back to the drawing board...

I'll check with them when I am ready.

[Gordz32]

This car is gonna be awsome. Goodwork! And way to step outside the box!

[Roadrunna]

Hey Ray,

I found the site

How about this wing for the bug



Or maybe one like this

[454bug]

Hi Simon,

Those are pretty EXTREME!!

I may go with something a little more subtle like this...

[watahyahknow]

i like that last wing , gives it the right look .
did you ever considered putting the radiator in the rear of the car ?
you could make some ducts in the front of the rearfenders on top of the stepboards drawing the air in and use the low pressure zone under the wing where the louvers sit anyway as the exit when you put ducted fans behind the louvers it should cool ok in traffic .
ive seen a german bug once that had the sheetmetal behind the doors go in to form a duct

[watahyahknow]

The REALLY COOL decision I made was to go to a Master Shift "Paddle Shifter" setup...

As you can see, there are two sets of controls on this setup. I will program the controller to act in this way: The two push-buttons will control only the transmission in a 1-2-3 shifting pattern... The two paddle-shifters will control the transmission and the overdrive in alternating order to create a 6-speed automatic...

how do they operate the non electronic th400 i've checked there website but can't make mush sence out of it

[evsmotors]

Congrats on the very unique and awesome build! We have something extremely unique that we have built too. We understand where you are coming from. Sometimes you need to be that thorn on the rose to get attention. We all can't be that smooth stem! ;)

[454bug]

i like that last wing , gives it the right look .
did you ever considered putting the radiator in the rear of the car ?
you could make some ducts in the front of the rearfenders on top of the stepboards drawing the air in and use the low pressure zone under the wing where the louvers sit anyway as the exit when you put ducted fans behind the louvers it should cool ok in traffic .
ive seen a german bug once that had the sheetmetal behind the doors go in to form a duct

The more I study the effects of "wings" versus "spoilers" the more I realize I need a wing installed away from the body to achieve the downforce I will be looking for... I have learned that the air that moves UNDER the wing in much more important than the wind traveling OVER the wing... That low-pressure area BELOW the wing is what produces the downforce NOT the wind pushing DOWN on the wing...

As far as the idea of routing the cooling lines to the rear of the car... it definitely has its merit... I would like the clean look of not having the venting holes cut in the front hood... I could route air from under the car to the air intake of the engine... I would have to rebuild the 17 gallon gas tank that fills up the old VW engine location right now... The idea of placing ducting on the side of the car in front of the rear fenders is a nice idea...

So many decisions, so little time and money...

Thanks again for the suggestions!

[454bug]

how do they operate the non electronic th400 i've checked there website but can't make mush sence out of it

The Mastershift paddle shifter is somewhat of a manual shifter with a "brain"... In regards to the non-computerized transmissions, like the Turbo 400, the shifting is done by their box by way of a typical shifter cable. The shifting of my Gear Vendors Under/Overdrive is shifted electronically through sending a 12 volt signal to it's shift solenoid.

Some people have made comments like, "why would you want a paddle shifter if it doesn't shift any FASTER than a standard floor shifter"... When they make that comment, they are missing the point entirely!!! I wanted a paddle shifter so I wouldn't have to take my hands off the steering wheel while running around a road course or an autocross track... as well as assisting me in the operation of my Gear Vendors under/overdrive...

Since my transmission has a full-manual reverse valve body in it, the line pressures are turned up really high already. You won't have that much line pressure on an automatically-shifted automatic. Therefore, the shifts are VERY fast, internally. The overdrive's solenoid shifts are instantaneous. Therefore, shifting will be PLENTY fast for road racing. As far as that goes, no one "speed shifts" while road racing anyway. The only real application where "speed shifting" might make sense would be during a drag race.

The other real benefit of the paddle shifter is the ability to "split-shift" between the transmission and my Gear Vendors under/overdrive. If you ever watched a video of someone manually split-shifting their overdrive it is next to impossible to time it just right, EVERY time. Say you have the activation button on your shifter. The sequence would go something like this: You would shift the transmission into first by way of the shifter. At the shift-point you would push the button on the shifter to activate the overdrive. Simple enough, right... Now this is where it gets tricky... When you reach the next shift-point you would have to SIMULTANEOUSLY push the button to de-activate the overdrive at the EXACT time as manually shifting the floor shifter into 2nd gear in the transmission. If you push the button too early (BEFORE the shift into 2nd gear), the engine over-revs... If you push it too late (AFTER the shift into 2nd gear), you would have shifted into 2nd-overdrive and then back down into 2nd-normal... To go into subsequent gears you would have to repeat the process...

You can see where this "timing" would be VERY difficult to duplicate EVERY time you wanted to split-shift through the gears!! If you wanted to see this exact "problem" go to the Gear Vendors website and watch one of their videos...

With the Mastershift paddle shifter you just keep pulling the "1/2 shift" paddles and it will automatically AND simultaneously shift the transmission MANUALLY and also activate or de-activate the under/overdrive. As another testimony to the product, both the owner of Gear Vendors and also the owner's son have a Mastershift paddle shifter in their personal vehicles.

As a sidebar... If you were just tooling around and didn't want to go through so many shifts of both the transmission and the O/D you would just push the red buttons on each side of the steering wheel. The buttons work in "full" shifts instead of "half" shifts... That way it would just go through 1-2-3 in the transmission. You would then just pull once on the right paddle to shift into 3rd Overdrive...

I hope I was clear with my thumbnail sketch of it's operation... It would be so much easier to demonstrate instead of describe... When I get it all hooked up I will make a Youtube video of its operation with explanations...

Thanks again for your interest.

[watahyahknow]

i actually been looking around again i needed a real high hp automatic for my project and i hope i found it now , they had some links on there site and this one http://www.retrotekspeed.com/product...th-f1-paddles/ seems to work the same way , they did had the instalationmanual online and it made sence to me now .
they mount a electric stepmotor/servo to the lever next to the automatic and operate it through that .
they allso have the gearvendor option . the price is a lot better but i guess the paddles themselves are of a lesser quallitie

i do feel that there might be a little delay in the shifting since the servo kan only move so fast

ever tried shifting a big truck with high low and a stacker (10 gears high low 15 with a double stacker ) you dont have the problem with those the way you explained you turn the switch for either one on the gearlever before you make the shift and it will select after you pressed the clutch the life of a trucker is a lot eazier i guess

as for the radiator i've seen the hole in the rearfloor you might allso lay it flat on the bottom ........ did i mention it bringing more weight to the rear of the car

as a whink to the past you might put a sparetire on the spot where the radiator was before

[454bug]

Congrats on the very unique and awesome build! We have something extremely unique that we have built too. We understand where you are coming from. Sometimes you need to be that thorn on the rose to get attention. We all can't be that smooth stem! ;)

Thanks a lot man!! It's definitely not the easy road... I don't have much help in the "R&D" department... I make decisions and take directions based on doing my homework as well as having a good friend that REALLY understands chassis work and suspensions... He builds circle track race cars, is a master builder of Penske shocks, and has many friends to use as resources for my suspension setup...

The rest I am trying to develop as I go... That's why I am flying down one path and then get convinced, persuaded, or educated to go down a different path... It sure keeps the mind sharp and creative working on one of these projects... designing, re-designing, trial-and-error, studying, calculating, etc., etc...

Every project has a certain amount of creativity and ingenuity in it (especially all the one-off turbo installations!). A project like this just has somewhat more of it since there aren't many products "on the shelf" waiting to be ordered and installed...

DARE TO BE DIFFERENT...

[1971CHEVELLE]

Here are some "before" pictures of the interior...





and the "after" picture...



I built the dash extension and console out of aluminum. This picture was taken during the construction. The top area is now covered in the simulated leather like the rest of the dash and console.

This car is awsome. Goodwork

[ed1le]

What a far out build, lovin' it!

[454bug]

What a far out build, lovin' it!

Thanks a lot Ed!

Make sure you jump over to the "Project Updates" section to catch up with the latest activities...

https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...-Lady-Bug-quot

[jwyche]

I

I started making changes as I could afford them to make the car closer to my liking...

Now that's the way they should have been shipped from Germany in the first place. As I recall, my Dad's new 1960 Bug was super safe stopping or going around corners either. And it was stock!

Very cool car!
Jim

[mc84_zz4]

Absolutely cool. I had seen an older build using the Toronado engine and tranny driving the rear, but not a front engined RWD setup yet.
Very cool.

[454bug]

Now that's the way they should have been shipped from Germany in the first place. As I recall, my Dad's new 1960 Bug was super safe stopping or going around corners either. And it was stock!

Very cool car!
Jim

Thanks a lot Jim!

Make sure you jump over to the "Project Updates" section to catch up with the latest activities...

https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...-Lady-Bug-quot

A lot has happened over the last 10 months!

ENJOY!

[454bug]

Absolutely cool. I had seen an older build using the Toronado engine and tranny driving the rear, but not a front engined RWD setup yet.
Very cool.

Thanks a LOT!

It has been a really fun project!

Make sure you jump over to the "Project Updates" section to catch up with the latest activities...

https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...-Lady-Bug-quot

It has been a blast!

[manny z]

I think this is going to be the baddest bug that I have seen in a very long time. I have a certain like for bugs, ever since one of my army buddies smoked another freinds camaro with his bug. I even bought one for my wife in 2001, that she still has.

you should look on the NASA racing web site. They have this new series for SPEC bugs, in road racing. I know yours is going to be wild as hell but, you might like what you see.