Fess up: are you an automotive hoarder? (Eco-cars or not)

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by larrybuck

It is a project '82 Dodge Rampage front wheel drive
mini El Camino w stick. Idea is to put VW 1.6 Diesel in it,
and to build different front ends to look like any cool 60's or '70's
car! First idea: 1970 Cuda truck. $240.00 was the cost.

One of my favorite cars. I'd take it over a VW Rabbit pickup because it has 2-door doors instead of shorter 4-door doors like the Rabbit. I think it's also the same engine except with increased bore spacing. Is it 2.2 liters?

How about a Rampage SRT-4? You could also make a collection of aerocaps and campers for it.

ThermionicScott — That's a nice selection. The last sunroof Beetle I had was a '67. Sold because the only place I had to keep it was in a ditch in front of the house.

I had as many as seven, but I'm down to two; a '71 Superbeetle (two years of production) and a pile of parts — a '58 Canadian Beetle body (semaphore pockets) on a '71 floorpan. Currently unregistered; but the State of Oregon has gold on blue Pacific Wonderland plates for a one time $100 surcharge. I'd like to do that.

The Thing has a lot of possibility. Do you follow EVTV? They have two with electric conversions, with dissimilar motors and chargers (that they sell).

[ThermionicScott]

Originally Posted by freebeard

ThermionicScott — That's a nice selection. The last sunroof Beetle I had was a '67. Sold because the only place I had to keep it was in a ditch in front of the house.

I had as many as seven, but I'm down to two; a '71 Superbeetle (two years of production) and a pile of parts — a '58 Canadian Beetle body (semaphore pockets) on a '71 floorpan. Currently unregistered; but the State of Oregon has gold on blue Pacific Wonderland plates for a one time $100 surcharge. I'd like to do that.

The Thing has a lot of possibility. Do you follow EVTV? They have two with electric conversions, with dissimilar motors and chargers (that they sell).

Boy, those Super Beetles can be surprisingly tough. My brother has a '73, so it has a bunch of one-year-only parts. Not many options for the cracked dash.

I'll have to check out EVTV! The problem with my Thing is that it was a longtime winter car for previous owners, so it needs bodywork like you wouldn't believe. The engine in it is strong, though, and I even had a new 1776cc longblock built for it when I thought I was going to build it into a beefy do-everything vehicle. I have some nice rebuilt 35 PDSITs for it, too.

- Scott

[freebeard]

EVTV Motor Verks Store for pieces and parts.

https://www.youtube.com/user/marionrickard/videos for the videos.

Where just a few years back it was all expensive, make-do parts; now we have OEM-quality motors, inverter, controllers, and heaters littering the junkyards.

EVTV, EV West and Zlectric all use a Siemens or UQM motor adapted to the VW transaxle, which can only use two gears and burns up clutches. There exists a thread on Ecomodder with an IMHO superior solution:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...mgr-29878.html

Here's mine compared to a 36hp engine case:


This is a 98lb 68hp 10,000RPM single-speed unit. With adequately sized wires and components to handle the low end, this would be equivalent to a 36hp engine in a vehicle with little weight change. The unit pictured is from a 2006 Lexus LX400h, but the 2017 Toyota Highlander has a superior unit with twin motors and an electric [limited slip, torque vectoring] differential.

I also hoard a stroker 1776, dual Solex 40s, and a 5-speed swing-axle transaxle.

[ThermionicScott]

Very cool, freebeard! Sounds like we had similar ideas for our cars at one point.

Forgot to mention that my dad converted a VW-based dune buggy to an electric vehicle when he was in college. The thing had racks for car batteries all around it. How far we've come...

[freebeard]

Pictures I drew of dune buggies when I was in college:

[primafish]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Pictures I drew of dune buggies when I was in college:

very impressive, now what? Have you draw?

[freebeard]

Where 'US Kingdom'? I haven't drawn anything in a year, but most recent are 3D renderings. Here is a race car:



Here are aero add-ons for my vehicle of choice:

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by ThermionicScott

1974 VW Thing -- torn apart for resto someday

This model was never officially available in my country, where fiberglass-bodied buggies and the Gurgel mini SUVs had been more popular, but it seems like a resto-modded Thing with some updated in the brakes, steering, engine and suspension could still become a practical daily-driver.

[freebeard]

There are different ways one could go:


http://www.2040-cars.com/Volkswagen/Thing/1974-vw-thing-custom-rat-rod-air-ride-subaru-motor-hot-rod-fast-hid-light-587361/

vs


http://www.vwvortex.com/news/find-of-the-day/find-day-volkswagen-thing-dune-buggy/

vs


http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=308343

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Lowering an off-road capable rig, even though it's 2WD, doesn't make so much sense. I hate lowered cars at all, they're uncomfortable and don't cope so well to the road conditions of my country. Often, there are traffic jams because some random slumdog is showing off in a lowered jalopy that can't go through a speed bump in a normal way...