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1956/-57 VW Oval Window Baja Bug


Chromecop

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  • 3 weeks later...

Unfortunately the Porsche-Engine that i got from my friend Marc doesn't look as good as I'd hoped forin the rear of my Baja Bug, so I'll stick to the VW-Engine this time.

Don't worry though, I have several other VW-Projects where the Porsche-Engine can come in handy..... ;)

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Edited by Chromecop
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You could go the other route and put a Corvair engine in it... :)

While visually interesting, the Corvair engine rotates opposite the VW, which means if you just "bolted it in" you would have 4 speeds in reverse and a super low one forward gear! reverse-rotation cams were available as opposed to flipping the transaxle which put load on the coast side of the gears, leading to early transaxle failures.

Besides, a turbo 2.4 litre beetle engine makes insane power!

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While visually interesting, the Corvair engine rotates opposite the VW, which means if you just "bolted it in" you would have 4 speeds in reverse and a super low one forward gear! reverse-rotation cams were available as opposed to flipping the transaxle which put load on the coast side of the gears, leading to early transaxle failures.

Besides, a turbo 2.4 litre beetle engine makes insane power!

They have adapters y'know ;)
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They have adapters y'know ;)

I know. That's why I said "if you just bolted it in…." :P

The Corvair swap is one of those old "some assembly (and engineering…) required" conversions. The RIGHT way to run that engine is using a reverse-rotation camshaft and get it operating to work with the VW transaxle gearing. But in the modeling world, the Corvair is a more detailed, and easily modified, choice.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Great work so far. Those brake drums look cool, however, that's not something you would ever use on an off-road vehicle. ;)

That's true...at least by today's standard.... This is meant to be a 60's Baja, and as such I think those brake drums would be periodically correct? ;)

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Hi there well this is a great post . I owned a few baja bugs when I was younger its was a lot of fun building them. Me and my cousins use to cruise the junk yards for vw vans and take the front end and trans also engines for spares or parts. The van front end was very useful being the shock towers were longer which made for more shock travel and also added ground clearance and the transmissions had the reduction gear which made the buggy climb anything if you were so brave .But driving down the hwy would be slow going . Then we figured out how to adjust torsion plates to give use more ground clearance on the back but was hell on tire and cv joints because of the negative camber that produced. Then I got a bright idea of using a irs trans and components to fix the camber problem. I could keep going on and on with all the mods we did. So if you need some help and ideas just ask.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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