I want to do drifting in my 1971 vw bug?

Question 1
I want to do drifting in my 1971 vw bug?...  I have a vw bug and want to go drifting. Around how many horses do i need to break the tires lose? Ive thought about doing a Subaru engine swap. not sure to go with the older 100hp carburetor engine or the newer more electronically complex 200hp engine. Id prefer the older engine just because its more simple.
I will do this, no shooting down unless a solution is proposed.

As for tranny, I might buy a beefed up tranny or if possible put in a different one.

As for the radiator. I will just let is hang off of the back. ; )

As for my answer, have not got one yet.

Answers
1)   Very Likely Doubt if you will be able to do Drifting. Never heard of being able to Drift in a Car with a Rear Engine. - Danieltba

2)   Doubt you could do that in your bug with out damaging trans. . Rear transaxles are independent and most likely break a spider gear if you try it. You could chirp it straight but not advised on turns. - 1960vw

3)   Rather difficult chief. As for the Suby transplant, that is only good for Vanagons. It is watercooled, not air cooled, where are you going to put the radiator? - djaca70

4)   If you take out the stock engine and transaxle, put a small block chevy in the back seat with a 4 speed and a 411 rear end in, you can make a mean drifter out of it! - Bob S

5)   you would ruin your transmission. - Manders :)

6)   No matter what you do, it will reduce the value of the car, which is now a 29 year old classic.

If you just want the back end to break out more easily, just increase the rear tire pressure.

The subaru engine kit is for the bus transmission because it has a removable bell housing. The only way to put a subaru in a bug is with the subaru tranny, with the engine in the back seat.

If you want to play around with a car, get a crummy one that is not worth as much. - Motorhead

7)   Please, PLEASE, P L E A S E do not ruin that old Bug!!!!
Rear engined vehicles are poorly suited to drifting simply due to the amount of weight and grip in the rear. They also tend to snap into oversteer which can be hard to control - not what you want out of a drifter. I have had a number of Bugs and find that 130hp is generally enough to break the rear tyres loose. One thing to consider with engine swaps in the Bug is the width of the proposed motor from rocker cover to rocker cover. You might find that the Subie motor is too wide. Being water-cooled, it's also heavier which would make your handling woes even worse. Water cooled conversions have been done on Bugs before - the radiator is mounted up front with an air duct under the bumper and a couple of electric thermo fans.

If you must destroy that little car, may I suggest a 13B rotary? I've seen it done and the results are awesome! Great power, light weight and plenty of parts available. To keep it strictly VW, call CB PERFORMANCE. They have a reputation for building some pretty awesome turbo/injected VW motors. - bugmatic

8)   drdracingheads.com has the most powerful motors i've ever seen meant for the vw. Another, cheaper, possibility is the use a flat 4 subaru motor so you can have the water cooling and more horsepower, but it's kind of a pain to run the electronics and the cooling setup. you'll definitely need a beefier transmission, i'd say go with rancho prostreet... and tires meant to last a long time are generally harder material so they break traction easier so check out maybe jbugs.com for some tires. best of luck! - Travis

9)   I like your style......drift your bug!
The more hp you have, the easier it will be to drift.
The suby is a good engine choice, but you will want at least 200hp to the rear wheels to really be abe to light them up.
I am running an Eco Tech 2.0 supercharged engine in my buggy and will soon be running one in my Thing. My buggy has 220 hp to the ground and will light up the tires all day long on the street. It had a fully built 002 bus box, but I blew up second drag racing. Now it has a fully built 6 rib that I hope lasts. I am running a mendeola in my Thing cuz it is heavier,
Toyota 22R is also a great choice for bugs.
We put a 4.3 Chevy V6 in a friends baja bug. It was hard to handle on the streets when he got on the gas. It loved to pull torque wheelies!

Don't let others here discourage you. I had built a Manx many years ago with a 1915 in it. That little car would break loose in any coner, but was only 1300lbs

KEP makes adapters for almost any engine to bolt into a bug!

You can hang the radiator off the rear engine cage if it is a Baja style bug or mount it up front under the hood with an air scoop and under the car forcing the air up through the radiator with vents (louvers) in the fenders for the air to escape.

GOOD LUCK and have fun! - Rod Knocker

10)   Unlikely you can do it because the rear engine puts some great traction on the rear tires.

If you swap the engine, then you must also swap out the transaxle which means you need to re-engineer the frame.

The simple solution is to get a small Subaru and (somehow) simply bolt on a VW body. Yeah.. thats sort of cheating but it will give you what you want to do and it will LOOK like a vw.

You will save yourself more then a few grand in the process also.

. - ca_surveyor


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Question 2
If sum1 offered u an old L reg vw golf thats done 60,000 miles only, for 50 pounds, would you drive it?...  i have just passed my theory and hopefully soon will pass my practical, i was looking for a cheap car round about 1000 pounds when one of my friends said i can take her mums for 50 pounds as her mum is very old and no longer needs the car. Is it too risky as a first car or should i buy it and do it up?

Answers
1)   BUY BUY BUY BUY
ITS WORTH MORE THAN THAT IN SCRAP AND PARTS BUT GOLF ARE PRETTY BULLET PROOF EVEN THE OLDER ONES - jules

2)   No. dont buy it. it may have failed its MOT, it may be uninsurable it may have been in a serious crash and it has affected the normal drive there will be faults with it.
DONT BUY IT. - Nic Antoniou

3)   please buy it.. even with or with out a mot its worth more in scrap, - suparuss

4)   yes i would buy it and drive it and say thank you very much as well, and be proud that you managed to get a good car for £50 even if you have to spend a little bit on it you have still got a real bargain, and a good car you can use the rest of the money to go on your tax and insurance as your insurance will probably be quite high as you are young and insurance companies like to rip off young drivers and you would have to pay that regardless of how much you spend on a car. - simmonsmrk

5)   absolutely, its a volkswagen one of most reliable cars and safest on the roads today - nufcjo53ph

6)   I would look at it as £950.00 towards insurance and the odd part which may be required.
I doubt her mum has thrashed it either.
You don't get a chance like that every day so take it. - Black Panther

7)   Firstly £50 is about half what the scrapman will pay for it. If it needs a bit of work say £300 you will still have a very cheap and probably reliable car. - Mark B

8)   Buy it as fast as you can, buying it so cheap means you can put a few dollars into it the way you want. I would have the oil changed, and 4 new plugs put in it, an air and a fuel filter, make sure the tires are good, replace them if necessary and this little car will go a long ways without putting any more money in it! You will get tired of the car before it wears out, so just drive the heck out of it! - Bob S


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Question 3
I have 205/55/R16s on a VW Passat that calls for 195/66/15s! What harm does this casue?...  I just realized that my tires are oversized!

What does having bigger tires do to your vehicle?

Answers
1)   Speedometer will be inaccurate. Other than that it won't make much difference. - mustanger

2)   They are actually pretty close in height but they are wider, would have more rolling resistance, so you might lose a mile or two to the gallon! If they don't rub, they should be ok. Check with a tire manufacturer or someone like tirerack.com to check out the diameters of the two tires, but they should be pretty close! So your speedo isn't going to be off by much, if any! - Bob S

3)   How could you possibly fit 16" tires on 15" rims? That doesnt even make sense. Are they the stock rims that came with the car? If not then you need to see what the rim manufacturer suggests for tire size. - Mike

4)   The only issue is rub... but that is a good plus size. - djaca70

5)   Apparently Mike is the only person on the board who can read.

205/55/16 and 195/65/15 are pretty close to the same diameter, and should be just fine. In fact, the 16"s that you have on the car were a factory option for the Passat. - Richard R

6)   the 205 should be just fine i run a 235 on my jetta and they don't rub, its a very fine line though. i think the car is a little more stable with the wider tire due to it having a wider stance. but even the 195 to 205 width shouldn't cause a huge amount of loss in mpg's. the wheels with the tires on the other hand most likely will hav a bit more weight though. - vr5 power!

7)   No harm at all on your car.

195/65r15, 205/55r16, & 225/45r17 are the primary tire sizes from the factory. - cant_think_of_1


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Question 4
how much do Volkswagens sell for?...  I have a 2001 VW passat and i'm thinking of selling it i'm wondering how much I can get for it.

Answers
1)   $ 800-1,100 - bulldog755

2)   Depending on the country you are in, but go online on autotrader.com and look around, miles, condition,tires just compare with yours :)
the VW usually have a good resale value there is a link fo the states :http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/searchresults.jsp?lastStartYear=1981&num_records=25&search_lang=en&page_location=findacar%3A%3Aispsearchform&search_type=both&distance=0&address=55604&marketZipError=false&style_flag=1&make=VOLKS&model=PASS&make2=&start_year=2001&end_year=2001&min_price=&max_price=&seller_type=b&transmission=&engine=&drive=&doors=&fuel=&max_mileage=&color=&keywordsrep=&keywordsfyc=&keywords_display=&sort_type=priceDESC&body_code=0&certified=&advanced=&highlightFirstMakeModel=&showZipError=y&default_sort=priceDESC&awsp=false&systime=&rdm=1263820831231 - georgi m

3)   Depending on the mileage and options, $5-7K - Bob S

4)   Go to KBB.com and look it up. - Vad

5)   kelly blue book

kbb.com - Jiao


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Question 5
1955 Volkswagen Beetle?...  Ive been searching for hours on the internet for specs of this car and i could not find anything useful, im looking for:
frame/body
suspension
steering
wheels/tires
brakes
powertrain/engine/trans/fuel
occupant safety- ABS, Airbags, traction control..

Im looking for all this for a school project so can someone give me some info.

Answers
1)   You can forget about occupant safety in the car. In 1955, you'd be lucky if it had seat belts. ABS, airbags, and traction control were not even a pipe dream at 55 years ago.

Edit: How badly do you want it? Check the link below. - Ralfcoder

2)   In original form, it was definately old school. It had 36 hp at the best, 4 speed, swing arm rear suspension, drum brakes you had to adjust, tall skinny bias ply tires, no seat belts, it even had small flags(semaphores) that popped out the sides that were used for turn signals. Adolf Hitler had Ferdinand Porshe design and build these simply, and cheaply, so every working German could have one! Nowadays they are very sought after and collectible, but not too many of them left, for sure. Volkswagen roughly translates into "The Peoples Car" - Bob S

3)   Check out the 'Bob S' answer. It's perfect. Give him a thumbs up. I did. I think the only way that you will obtain that info is ifyou had a 'parts and service manual. The manual for VW's from 1955 to 1960 were practically the same. And you could probably obtain one from VW, International. They're on the internet. Good Luck. - Joseph

4)   BobS all good apart fro engine size. 1955 Beetle had a 1192cc 30hp, 36hp engine was introduced in 1960. - Owen

5)   here is a link to the original owners manual for a 1956. the specs are exactly the same. click on the small pics for a larger one. it has all the specs and tons more. start looking around page 65 for tranny, motor, power, and dimensions specs.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/9_55bug.php - Air-Cooled ACVW


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