1977 VW Beetle diesel conversion on oakland craigslist!

[JQmile]

Somebody should buy this thing.....price seems very reasonable.
1977 VW Diesel Beetle conversion

[Frank Lee]

Sweet ride.

[trikkonceptz]

Thats an awesome little project car .. wish I had the funds and means to bring it to Fl.

[metromizer]

I posted up pictures of that earlier this week on another thread... I'd love to meet up with the guy and take it around the block (he's local) but I respect his ad in so much as he doesn't have time to meet with curious non-buyers, which I respect

Still, the tinkerer in me says that there is plenty of room for improvement in terms of better matching the gearing needs of that Diesel (lots of aftermarket gears available for the Type 1 VW Transaxle) A California late model bug platform is almost bullet-proof, albiet not much creature comforts.

I don't see a turbo or intercooler on it, either. Diesels love to be turbocharged. It's probably a good thing i don't have and extrat $4k laying around, my girlfriend and kids would have to come out to the garage to see me!

[whokilledthejams]

I wonder how that engine compares to the weight of the original boxer. If it's any heavier, that car would handle like a 911 driven by an angry drunk guy.

Too bad Beetles have super-high cD's (wikipedia refers to a source saying it's in the neighborhood of .48), because that 23hp would be able to propel a more slippery car to higher speeds.

[Bearleener]

In the early 1950's Volkswagen built a diesel Beetle prototype: Ein Käfer mit Dieselmotor - Ich rauche gern - Klassik - autobild.de (sorry about the German, just click through the pictures). Air-cooled, it was incredibly loud and never made it to production. A modern diesel should be better. Recently Subaru introduced a diesel boxer engine.

[metromizer]

Originally Posted by Bearleener

In the early 1950's Volkswagen built a diesel Beetle prototype: Air-cooled, it was incredibly loud and never made it to production...

VW built several very interesting protoype and experimentals back in the early years, I once read about a woodburning variant! One day I'll get to the VW Museum

From Baja bugs and sand buggys, to the kit car fad of the 1970's, Cal-looker craze of the late 70's and 80's, the old VW beetle has got to be one of the most retrofitted and modified cars of the last 60 years.

[roflwaffle]

Shame it doesn't have a bigger engine.

[Frank Lee]

[MetroMPG]

This is a great project. JQmile, do you remember where you originally saw it (on another site)? Or were you just browsing CL?