Why has nobody tried a air cooled VW flat4 used in a conventional front engine rear drive racecar?
Just imagine a VW mid engine sand rail, only with engine & trans up front and rear wheel drive like a normal car.
Seems stupid enough to be perfect for Lemons in several ways.
Why indeed? Lemons is the place to answer questions that nobody has ever tested. Get yourself a Subaru and do the reverse swap with a RWD setup. Voila!
Or better yet: Import yourself a Volkswagen Gol from Brazil, which had this setup.
The formula Vee uses a engine in front of trans-axle layout. I believe it requires swapping out a gear from the VW bus transmission to get the wheels spinning in the the other direction. You could make a driveshaft / lack-of-torque tube set up to connect the two items in a front engine setup.
if you used a porsche/VW 901 trans, it is designed to be behind the engine (914 is mid engine). So then you could drive shaft torque tube the engine up from and the trans axle in the back.
Additionally the 944 had a torque tube, and a trans axle and it rotates the same direction as a 914 engine and axle.
And that means a 924 turns in the same direction... I know a guy with some parts.
The formula Vee uses a engine in front of trans-axle layout. I believe it requires swapping out a gear from the VW bus transmission to get the wheels spinning in the the other direction. You could make a driveshaft / lack-of-torque tube set up to connect the two items in a front engine setup.
Greg and his dad from Team Skid Steer used to race Formula Vees. I think they sold all their stuff, but they would be able to talk through building this exact setup.
And that means a 924 turns in the same direction... I know a guy with some parts.
Sounds like the OP is ready to answer their own question.
I'm only a flapping mouth guys, as I don't have the resources to afford Lemons racing. But I am a old school scrounger and have always loved doing retarded things to innocent machinery.
I have owned a bunch of beetles over the decades and always loved the reliability of those wheezy engines. I figure it would be easy to cheat too since who really cares if the VW flat four is hot rodded or not?
Someone out there needs to build this, then I'll ride my motorized bicycle to the track to do a stint as a driver.
I have literally never turned a wrench on a Porsche unless you count the beetle's common ancestry.
I have literally never turned a wrench on a Porsche unless you count the beetle's common ancestry.
There's way more common ancestry than the porches like to admit. A rear disc conversion from Apple tree fits a 924 just fine if you don't mind the funky bolt pattern or can change it to meet the wheels you have.
Jetta in the front, super beetle in the rear.
Maniac wrote:I have literally never turned a wrench on a Porsche unless you count the beetle's common ancestry.
There's way more common ancestry than the porches like to admit. A rear disc conversion from Apple tree fits a 924 just fine if you don't mind the funky bolt pattern or can change it to meet the wheels you have.
Jetta in the front, super beetle in the rear.
I grew up with a buddy who's dad was a Porsche fanatic, and he would get quite offended whenever I mentioned my beetle being the same basic thing as his dads bathtub speedster.
It's funny when those types get irate since they really have no clue how to verbally abuse someone.
The formula Vee uses a engine in front of trans-axle layout. I believe it requires swapping out a gear from the VW bus transmission to get the wheels spinning in the the other direction. You could make a driveshaft / lack-of-torque tube set up to connect the two items in a front engine setup.
All you have to do is flip the ring and pinion in the case to the other side and you have four forward gears again. Very simple affair. I've always wanted to get an old Beetle or Type 4, flip the ring and pinion, add a trans adapter to accept a 2.3 SOHC and race it. It would be mid-engine so quite balanced and power to weight would be much better than stock.