1977 VW Beetle diesel conversion on oakland craigslist!

[roflwaffle]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I wouldn't want to screw around w/ an engine that doesn't have replacements available for cheap, and I doubt I can just scrounge around j-yards and other gear heads to find the parts I may need for a Lombardini diesel. I'd go w/ something like this instead.

[Frank Lee]

Yes, the scrounging aspect of it is important for some of us. There's nothing cheap about the VWs though is there?

[guudasitgets]

yes rof but you could find a lot of Kubota motors, they put them in everything from floor sweepers to lawnmowers

[metromizer]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

I'm no aircooled VW expert, but wouldn't this be a direct swap into a Karmann Ghia? Lower Cd & A, no?

Yes, Ghias have the same running gear (trans). Definately lower Cd and A

[roflwaffle]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Yes, the scrounging aspect of it is important for some of us. There's nothing cheap about the VWs though is there?

Nothing cheap? Are you serious or kidding?

[roflwaffle]

Originally Posted by guudasitgets

yes rof but you could find a lot of Kubota motors, they put them in everything from floor sweepers to lawnmowers

Sheesh, I've yet to find even a free Kubota core, but I've nabbed two VW diesel short blocks, two long blocks, a head, an IP, and misc bits (alts/etc...) for ~$100 in gas. IME common=cheap/free and relatively rare=not so cheap/never free.

[DrediKnight]

Hello, first post here. I came across this site while google'n about the car I just purchased. I am the new happy owner of the 77 bug posted above. It's slow and loud but a lot of fun! A very nice job was done on this car and it is fully restored. The guy that built this is from Los Altos and I got all his build records with the car, workshop manuals, parts lists, expense lists even the hand drawn plans for fabbing the flywheel and housing adaptors.

The engine is under-powered and it takes a while to get up to speed and is slow up hills (about 30-40mph). I have not had time to verify MPG yet but. It's great for aroung town and I am using it to run the kids to school and go to the store etc.

The big issue I have with the car (besides the low speed and noise) is the charging system. I drove it home at night (about 1 hour) and by the time I got home the headlights had drained the battery so much I could only see about 15 ft in front of the car. It's fine in the day cruises nicely. I'm looking into upgrading the engines internal alternator or adding an external one but ther is not much space in the engine bay to do much. Maybe a second battery? I was wondering if I could install some sort of LED headlights to take some of the drain off. Do such things exist?

I am a VW fan for years and have owned many old split window buses and a few Ghias. My Brothers first thought was to swap out this engine into a bus but it would be so underpowered it would not get above 40 unless some major tranny work was also done.

We also have a 87 300td we run on WVO so somewhere down the road I would like to look into converting this. But right now the electrical system is so weak that I don't want to add any load at all. I'm going to try a WVO/Dino mix to start with but am worried about messing with the engine at all. It is real clean and fresh and like some have already stated it might be best to leave it alone (it would be nice to have a turbo on it though). I know some foks are running WVO in other small generator engines but those are in fixed installs and produce lots of excess power to run heaters pumps etc. I have a few calls in to the Lombardini folks here in the US to see about upgrades they might suggest but am not hoping for much from them.

Anyway I am enjoying the car and I think I'll go for a ride now....

[trikkonceptz]

Welcome to the site, as an ole V-dubber myself I love what they did with this one. Can you get some pics of the engine bay up and also tell us a bit more about the current charging system?

I am sure myself or others in here can put our heads together to resolve your charging problems.

[metromizer]

Originally Posted by trikkonceptz

Welcome to the site, as an ole V-dubber myself I love what they did with this one...

Me too.

If it were me, and the Diesel had a place to drive a belt, I might fit a 55amp alternator from and air-cooled VW to that 2 cylinder Diesel. The bug chassis should still be wired for it.

edit: Where in the Bay Area do you live?

[MetroMPG]

DrediKnight: that's so cool that you signed up here to post about your new ride.

I've been in touch with the seller trying to get contact info for the guy who did the conversion - I thought it would make a good story for the blog. Really unique. Any chance you have that info?

Darin