Satan's "Lady Bug"

[454bug]

this is an awesome project, can't wait to see updates...

trying to get my buddy to drop his ghia on a full frame, makes me want a VW project



Jerome

Hey Jerome,

Why don't you get your Ghia buddy to check out these pictures...

It might just get him over the hump!!

[454bug]

Ray, how about these, with a semi flat tan color, and blacked out trim? Not all that 'mean' looking, but a subtle 'street fighter' look/vibe to it.

I am sure I will be doing a lot of "chopping" prior to making a purchase... LOL...

[WS6]

wait a minute. Are you actually telling me AME makes VW parts?

This is going to be a cool project. fast bugs are wicked to me.

I do wonder though with as light weight as these cars are, why not ditch the heavy BBC and put in a lighter aluminum block. If handling is your focus now, this will help tremendously.

[Restomod]

Cool project!! Where did the pics of the Giha come from???

[454bug]

Here is my earlier post in my "introduction"...

"Here is the new motor I am building for the car... A Scott Shafiroff 582 cubic inch Big Block Chevy motor. It will have CNC-ported 335cc AFR aluminum heads. It will have a solid roller cam setup with Jesel Sportsman shaft rockers. Since I am aiming for a weight distribution (50% front, 50% rear) I have decided to spend the extra money for an aluminum block as well. I will trading up from 650hp (old motor) to 850hp with this new motor!! At the same time shaving roughly 200# off the front of the car.
It's truly amazing to me that a Big Block Chevy with a single plane intake, a dominator carb, and an air filter will still fit under the stock Bug hood WITHOUT a hood scoop... The ultimate sleeper!!! (Until you crank it up...)"

[454bug]

I did consider an LS motor for this car... My buddy helping me with the chassis work is a small block guy... But I am a firm believer in, "there is NO substitute for cubic inches"... I am older... I am "old school" (nostalgic), etc...

Also, I don't think you will be able to make 850hp on pump gas with an LS motor without a blower, turbo's etc. and spending a LOT more money... And remember, I have a VERY confined work space to deal with as well... There are a lot of small block and LS motors in bugs... Not many big blocks. It does have a certain "wow" factor associated with such a massive looking motor... If you look at the companies building these "hot" naturally aspirated LS motors (Schwartz, Katech, etc.) they are asking anywhere between $22,000-$25,000 for one of their 700-730hp motors... I will be able to build this motor, all aluminum, 840hp, for roughly $17,000-$18,000... I had already purchased the CNC-ported 335cc AFR Aluminum heads, the Jesel "Sportsman-Series" shaft-mounted rockers, the CNC-Ported Edelbrock Super Victor intake, the Big's Stage-7 1050cfm Dominator last year. Therefore, I only needed to purchase the aluminum short block (with it's new solid roller cam) to complete my 582ci bbc.

You can see from the attached chart that with a complete aluminum big block motor (the ZL-1, 427ci)(460#) you are only roughly 20 pounds heavier than a LS-7 (440#). These numbers are published by Chevrolet. I looked at the two motor listings. You don't know if they are exactly "apples to apples" but they appear to be. I am more inclined to believe that my motor setup would be closer to 490-500#. Either way, I'll trade 50# or so for an extra 100-350hp any day!!! (These numbers are for a complete long block, carb/efi, intake, and exhaust manifolds. All the accessories weight would be added to these numbers.)

In our preliminary mock-up the other day we set 550# in the engine bay to mock up the engine/accessory weight and we were still able to have close to a 50% Front/50% Rear weight distribution on our 4-corner scales... The engine in the car is really set back far. The front crank pulleys are actually behind the front crossmember! That should work out just fine...

800 ft-lbs of torque vs. 500-600 for a hot LS motor... PURE JOY...

[novanutcase]

My .02!

AWESOME Project!

Gotta be careful when you road race cuz it's REALLy addictive! LOL!

Ya might wanna consider some Fikse 5 or 5S wheels. I like the Forgelines you have but I think something a little more understated on the wheels will balance it off just right! Heck, just the fact that the bug will be 2 toned and the fenders will be wider than normal will be more than enough to set it apart!

Allkar? Can we see something like that?

John

[454bug]

For the guys that haven't read my "intro" thread,

The old setup weighed a total of 3,000# with a full tank of gas (17 gallons). The weight savings goals are as follows:

AREA OF PROPOSED WEIGHT SAVINGS (pounds)
Engine-----200 (80# - Heads, 120# - Engine Block)
Radiator----20 (Aluminum 2-core)
Brakes------20 (Wilwood 4-wheel disc vs. 4-wheel drums)
Front End--150 (Art Morrison IFS vs. '57 Chevy gearbox, leaf springs, SOLID dropped axle, etc.)
Rear Setup--130 ("Super Stock" cut 9-leaf springs, heavy brackets, etc.)
Seats-------20 (Removal of Bench seat and replace with two lightweight racing seats)
__________________________________________________ _______________________________
Sub-Total---(540) pounds savings

Additional
Weight------+40 (Additional Roll Cage Material weight)
__________________________________________________ _____
TOTAL------(500) POUNDS-TARGETED WEIGHT SAVINGS

[454bug]

With the old setup weighing 3,000# that would get the car to 2,500#.
Add my weight (200#) to the car weight and the total should roughly be around 2,700#.
2,700# and 850 hp...
It should be interesting...

[454bug]

My .02!

AWESOME Project!

Gotta be careful when you road race cuz it's REALLy addictive! LOL!

Ya might wanna consider some Fikse 5 or 5S wheels. I like the Forgelines you have but I think something a little more understated on the wheels will balance it off just right! Heck, just the fact that the bug will be 2 toned and the fenders will be wider than normal will be more than enough to set it apart!

Allkar? Can we see something like that?

John

Hey John,

I am open to any suggestions on wheels! I was having a hard time finding companies that offered a 18"x12" wheel and then finding one that appealed to me... I would like to see what the Fiske wheels look like...

I hope ALLKAR can help us out.

[454bug]

Cool project!! Where did the pics of the Giha come from???

Hey Restomod,

I pulled those pictures from a guy on the volksrods.com site.

Here is his profile. You can click from there to see his threads, etc.

http://www.volksrods.com/forum/member.php?u=867

[Johnny Blaze]

awsome! just freaking awsome!

[motorheadmike]

Ray,

Glad to help. ;)

Subscribed!

[novanutcase]

Hey John,

I am open to any suggestions on wheels! I was having a hard time find companies that offered a 18"x12" wheel and then finding one that appealed to me... I would like to see what the Fiske wheels look like...

I hope ALLKAR can help us out.

http://www.fikse.com/index.html

Profil 5S



Profil 5



Check out their website for finishes!

John

[454bug]

Sounds great! I'll check 'em out.

[ALLKAR]

My .02!
AWESOME Project!
Gotta be careful when you road race cuz it's REALLy addictive! LOL!
Ya might wanna consider some Fikse 5 or 5S wheels. I like the Forgelines you have but I think something a little more understated on the wheels will balance it off just right! Heck, just the fact that the bug will be 2 toned and the fenders will be wider than normal will be more than enough to set it apart!
Allkar? Can we see something like that?
John

I don't know what is overstated about the wheels. I'm not a fan of all black wheels but, they really work on this car. Being a VW I think they have a EURO feel. The Fiske 5S are nice and look great on Jr's Camaro. Don't like the Fiske 5.

BTW John, I'm still voting for Orange.

[novanutcase]

I don't know what is overstated about the wheels. I'm not a fan of all black wheels but, they really work on this car. Being a VW I think they have a EURO feel. The Fiske 5S are nice and look great on Jr's Camaro. Don't like the Fiske 5.

BTW John, I'm still voting for Orange.

I don't think they are overstated as much as I think giving the car a more "muscley" look would be kind of interesting rather than a "sporty" look!

John

P.S. Color vote duly noted and cataloged! LOL!

[454bug]

Well, I don't have all that "layering" down since I just bought the program yesterday but it gets the basic idea... I haven't figured out the layering yet (along with a million other things...)

Original:



Diamond cut:



and the Fiske 5S:



It's getting hard for me to get away from my original pick...

I agree with ALLKAR... they kinda work because of the European body style...

[ALLKAR]

Damn! Wish I was that good after one day!!

[blown9746]

That is awesome. Go the two tone with the black forgelines