I have been considering a project car for me and my father, and we both like the old school bugs. I then thought about a nasty little 1.6 TD to fit in the orignal location of the air cooled motor.
The idea of creating such a monster drives me farther into the diesel syndrome, and possibly into a nice 24 v cummins turbo diesel.
do it!
it would be a nice power upgrade and give you warm toes to boot!
If I still had my old street buggy, I would yank the 1600DP engine and tranny and put at TD + FWD 5 speed in the rear.
I am planning on doing a Dune Buggy (Berrien Buggies) next year and had planned on trying to fit a diesel motor. I am not looking for a bullet train though so I may just use a 1.5 converted to a turbo for about 60 hp.
Bernie
It'll fly with 60 hp.
My buggy had custom body based on a Meyers, 6 point cage with side bars, minimal bumpers to get licensed, fiberglass seats....nothing extra and it weighed in at under 1100 lbs. I had wide, 50 series slightly smaller than stock diameter tires. With the stock 1600DP (50 ish HP), it wouldnt spin the tires on dry, but it would come close to lifting the front with an empty tank. And not much could stay with me between lights. But it ran out of RPM and hit some serious wind drag after about 110 kmph. But boy, was it fun a lower speeds! like a go cart.
I think swapping a TD motor and tranny would be be relativly simple, give more power, more speed and probably pretty impressive around town mileage. A cable shift tranny would be simpler. The motor and tranny would be a bit heavier, but would sit further forward. Radiator behind it, save some weight with just a straight pipe for exhaust after the turbo.
Need to weld up some custom axles with type 1 CV outer, Mk2 CV inner.
I'm not sure how the water cooled tranny would like offroading, but that wasnt what my car was about, sat way too low.
I'm not looking for offroading either, I just want something I can tow behind my RV for summer cruising. Reliability, light weight and efficiency are what I am looking for. Plus something I can get cheap fuel for (biodiesel) and that matches my diesel RV, tractor and generator.
Bernie
You may know this already, but for towing buggies, dont use one of those type 1 towbars that bolts to the front beam and leaves the front tires on the ground. Buggies dont weigh enough to make the front tires track properly under tow, so after a sharp turn, the wheels stay locked over after the tow has straightened out. We used to weld tabs onto the shock towers so we could bolt a towbar on that lifted the front wheels. Hitch weight was only a couple hundred, if that.
Myself, I'd rather have the 1951 Porsche diesel that was meant for the job.
25 horsepower. 1290cc. Aircooled. Loud as can be. But, it was the first veedub diesel.
:lol:
Of course, where's moTthediesel? He's putting a diesel into a Porsche 356...
I just put a diesel engine on EBay! Username Bigbadwolf1