Went to a Rat Rod event and among the many cool vehicles, I run across this sweet V-dub speedster that was Wankled with a 1st gen 12A. I hung around awhile and came back several times but never was able to find the owner. Too bad as I would have loved to get a peek under her Lederhosen, and get some better pictures of the engine install. This is one way cool little speedster hot rod!

 

I bet he drives it with earplugs and muffs... holy exhaust batman.


Isaac

 

that's awesome, it must be astoundingly loud.....

 

Beautiful work.

The shift **** (& panel *****) look to be antique Victorian doorknobs, probably dating from the 1900's or so.

 

He posted a bit on stance works in the builds section under the same title as this thread. Might be able to contact him there for more pics.

 

Banzai,sorry I missed you at VTF. I am a Bombers Car Club member and we worked with John Wells to ensuer his show runs smoothly so I didnt have much time on saturday to hangout around the car or to actually get around to talk with people. The exhaust not isnt too bad from the drivers seat but when I was driving through town the exhaust echo off the buildings was very loud,but i loved it.lol. My new engine arrived while we were at VTF and it is a brand new 12a with 3mm carbon seals.bridgeport,gilmer drive and a nice 90 cu in supercharger so I think its about to get louder. I will have it at MidAmerica Funfest and Slamology.

 

Awesome looking ride, I love the styling and the interior is extremely well done. Nice job on the build and good luck with the supercharged 12a, very jealous!

 

That's just absolutely the coolest vw I've ever seen.

 

I saw you on your way in. It didn't sound all that loud but you were idling along and the exaust was facing the oppsite direction. I didn't see what you had for power until later when I saw it parked. There were guys scratching their heads trying to figure out what engine was under there. That must be the number 1 or 2 question you get about the car. Congrauts on the ride and the event. Next year, I may have to spend the night.

 

spending the night at VTF is a must as Friday night is crazy. The school bus races are insane. Thanks for the compliments. It is funny to stand back away from the car and hear people try to figure out what engine is in it. The 2nd most asked question is "Is it a kitcar". It is an all steel 1962 VW Beetle that is sectioned 6",shortened 12",narrowed 4",channelled 4"suicide doors,a 3"widened super beetle hood is now the trunk lid and is reversed opened,but most people dont realize how chopped up it is until its parked next to a stock VW Beetle.

 

genius

 

Maybe even like Wile E. Coyote.......
..........Super Genius!

 

A wankel engine in a german car... I see what you did there! Haha either way looks awesome and I bet you get some weird looks driving it.

 

Actually the man behind the rotary engine, Felix Wankel, is actually German mechanical engineer and German born.
The rotary engine was actually first put into the NSU spider. NSU was later absorbed into what we know as Audi (both German car companies). After the not so great NSU spider the rotary technology was dispersed around the world to many car companies, the only company that stuck with it is Mazda.

So technically a German Designed engine in a German car.

 

I actually want one.

If for no other reason that to see what contortions the DMV, BAR, and CARB would put themselves through trying to classify it for registration.

Where'n'th'hell's the radiator??

 

radiator is in the back under the trunk lid(widened super beetle hood) It is enclosed and is designed to draft cold air from the underneath of the car and exits out the back of the trunk lid as the bottom of the trunk lid is all open so it is impossible for the hot air to recirculate. I have a 2800cfm pusher fan and in traffic it idles perfectly at 175 to 180 degrees so the fan hardly ever comes on. I ran 2, 2" stainless tubes to the back so it is hard lined and it takes 5 gallons of coolant.lol

 

Friggin' artwork, that is.

More bigger pix pls.

 

I have a couple questions?
Why a 12a and not the 13b? was there some sort of clearance issue?
Are you also running off of a Rx7 transmission also?
I can't see this thing putting out a whole lot of power so the intention for the car is to be a cruiser, but how much torque and horsepower does she have?
The reason I ask these questions is because the other day I had a similar vision for a rotary bug, but I wanted to give it a more rat rod look instead of hot rod.

 

I'm going to guess it's 12A because it's carbed so simply wire up a fuel pump and the ignition and it's up and running whereas an FI 13B would require the ECU wiring and extra sensors that aren't necessary.

I'm curious how you mounted the coils to the front iron. Is the bolt that tightens the coil bracket the same size and thread as one of the holes for the AC/PS studs? I was wondering if I could get away with similar mounting. My coils are currently on top of the engine and it's kind of cluttered looking.

 

Considering how light that ride probably is, the 12A with his planned supercharger making anywhere from 150-200hp should be more than adequate for the rubber he's running.

 

Das Speedster weighs a whopping 1098lbs and the engine came from a SCCA RX7 that a buddy of mine raced. He had to retire from racing due to health issues and he gave me a whole stack of 12a parts,engines and a bunch of Racing Beats parts for free. Clearance is not an issue as I can easily squeeze a LS1 in there but thought it would be different to run a rotary exposed in the front. Traction is already an isue with the ford 4:10 posi rear end and 6"wide bias plys.lol. I will find out what it does when we put the new supercharged bridgy12a in. I do have a set of sticky 10" wide tires and rims I am going to run when we hit the Bryon Dragway Meltdown. wiring ecus and modern fuel injection isnt a problem for us as we have done it many times. Here is another crazy roadster we did a few years ago. I know its not rotary powered or a Mazda but it is a fiberglass 1932 Ford with a triton V10. We called it The Roaster because of the crazy torque.

 

 

Awesome....I work on those everyday, except they are in E450 Cutaways instead of 1932 roadsters lol.

 

I think I'm in love.

 

I just took a piece of 1" by 1/8" starp steel and drilled two holes in it and bent it to fit and then simply bolted the stock clamps and coils to one of the hles foe the a/c.