Mid Engine VW Rabbit Mk1 Cabriolet

In reply to Dusterbd13:

A Mk 1 wheelbase is 26mm (touch over an inch) longer. I suspect he lined up the rear rather than splitting the difference for whatever reason. Front fenders are definitely easier to modify.

When I saw the headline, I thought maybe somebody mated the back half of a Fiero with the front half of a Rabbit to make a dual engine car.

Yes, you are correct, the wheelbase difference is just about an inch. I lined up the rear and modified the fronts. You can see what I've done for front flares/arches so far. I plan to put a lip on the ends of the flat arches. I might even use mk1 arches to trim off mine.

Well, since you asked, I have a 2001 L67 sitting on the cherry picker next to the car. That is the supercharged 3.8 that GM threw in just about everything for a few years. This is the series II version, rated at 240hp stock. Apparently guys have gotten into the 10's with these things in a stock body fiero with a stock long block and a turbo. I've seen dyno videos in the 450 whp range, again stock long block with a turbo. I bought a Chinese knock off HX40 for mine, and then later got a genuine HX40. I'll probably run the knock off first, cuz it's prettier. I plan to run the turbo pretty much straight into the gutted blower housing, no IC. I plan to spray it with enough meth/water to keep intake temps low enough to run 20 psi or so. Right now I'm thinking I'll spray it in just after the air cleaner. I plan to pressurize it with boost from the turbo, so the mass delivered will be proportional to boost. Probably do it with a bosch cold start injector that will remain closed below 5 psi or so. If that doesn't work then I'll spray it just in front of the throttle body. Not sure if the MAF sensor can handle the meth spray, so I might put it first, right after the air cleaner. Then again, I've heard guys have run it through the MAF with no trouble. Apparently it atomizes pretty well.

Another tidbit, the fiero is about 5 inches wider than the bunny. Having working, factory AC and a parking brake were priorities to me. To accomplish this, I offset the body to the left by about 3 inches. This preserved the driver's AC vent and the parking brake. May seem like a strange compromise, but it made sense to me. I put 1.5 inch spacers on the driver's side, to reduce the bias some. Low speed drives reveal no problems but I want it to handle well going into turn 10 at Sonoma at 120mph, haha. Widening the suspension on the driver's side is not off the table. The rear should be easy. The time to do it would be when I do the engine swap. I'll see how it goes! The car runs and drives now.

BTW, you guys are awesome! I'll start another thread with pictures of some other builds I've done. I'm in Hawaii with my daughter at the moment so checking in when I can.

Welcome home! berkeleying epic first post.

Do you have access to E85 in your area? If so, it's an easier alternative to water/meth.

Keith Tanner wrote: Do you have access to E85 in your area? If so, it's an easier alternative to water/meth.

Yes, E85 is available here. Do you mean to run it as the primary fuel or as an additive spray?

ugh sometimes you guys make these things look so easy! awesome project!

carwhisperer wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote: Do you have access to E85 in your area? If so, it's an easier alternative to water/meth.

Yes, E85 is available here. Do you mean to run it as the primary fuel or as an additive spray?

Primary fuel. You'll need more volume and have to make sure that your fuel components are rated for ethanol, but it's excellent stuff. The car runs cooler, lower EGTs, more advance and very high octane. No worries about the methanol tank going dry or a clogged nozzle. To be really clever, use an ECU that can adapt to the actual methanol content of the fuel and run an in-line sensor. That's how we do it.

carwhisperer wrote: Another tidbit, the fiero is about 5 inches wider than the bunny. Having working, factory AC and a parking brake were priorities to me. To accomplish this, I offset the body to the left by about 3 inches. This preserved the driver's AC vent and the parking brake. May seem like a strange compromise, but it made sense to me. I put 1.5 inch spacers on the driver's side, to reduce the bias some. Low speed drives reveal no problems but I want it to handle well going into turn 10 at Sonoma at 120mph, haha. Widening the suspension on the driver's side is not off the table. The rear should be easy. The time to do it would be when I do the engine swap. I'll see how it goes! The car runs and drives now.

I may have missed some reasons- but did you think of cutting the body part in half and weld in some space? The only super structural part left looked to be the rear bulkhead- which may have been part of the Fiero as I saw it.

Would have been hard to get a window, sure.

But it would have been similar to the Golf that someone stretched over a 928 back in the 70's.

(FWIW, when I saw the title, I expected just a swap move to the back of a Golf, not a new body on different chassis. I should have known, since we have the Volvo on a Miata project here)

Extending all the suspension pickups on one side shouldn't be too hard, looking at what you've already done.

I wonder how balanced (left/right) the Fiero was, and how the offset effects that.

Wow. Just wow. After the first few pictures I was making silly noises and pointing at the computer. Good thing I wasn't at work.

You have a thing for car grafts...I dig

haha thanks. I probably won't have any updates for another 10 days or so. But it has gone pretty quick so far. I started it in early April. I'm hoping I can get it to DD status by mid to late August.

I did consider stretching the body, but not for long. I did that once before. I widened a first gen Civic body and put it on a Del Sol Chassis. It pretty much looked stupid. I think that sort of thing takes more artistic ability than I posses.

Finished the roll bar bracing with one more Civic strut brace. I had to cut this one down and rethread the hole in the end. I didn't have the right metric tap so I "made" one out of a bolt by cutting grooves in it with the angle grinder. It actually cut threads pretty well but I got it in crooked so I didn't thread it as deep as I would have liked. I ended up with perhaps 3/4" thread engagement. I JB welded the rod end in place. I think it's pretty strong. Also, I installed the button head fasteners on the rest of the roll cage bracing. [URL=http://s140.photobucket.com/user/914turboford/media/IMG_4508_zpstivyqdcl.jpg.html][/URL] [URL=http://s140.photobucket.com/user/914turboford/media/IMG_4509_zpscbobursw.jpg.html][/URL]

CarWhisperer,

Regarding the water methanol injection, I've been looking into it for my L67 engine also and everything I've found says to tap a hole in the intake just below the S/C and inject it there.

If you inject the water methanol before the S/C, i've read that it will strip the coating off the S/C blades. Additionally, there is a lot more cooling potential with injecting water/methanol after the S/C since it wont be re-heated before going into the cylinders.

I was looking into adding an intercooler between the S/C and intake, but I decided to keep it stock for now and just tap a hole for water methanol injection later. But then again, my motor has a lot of miles on it so I wont be abusing it as much. For now...

Very cool. I agree about injecting the meth after the air is pressurized. I was going to inject it before the turbo but I think it will do a lot more good after. Then again, I guess I should look into the thermodynamics of it more. I know with refrigeration, you run the coolant through the evaporator after it is compressed. Then after it expands, the working fluid goes below ambient. It seems like post compressor is better, but I'm not sure.

BTW, I'm going turbo on my motor. I have a Holset HX40 for it. I don't ever plan to run it supercharged. Incidentally, I have a supercharger that has been modified professionally. It has had some housing work done on it for better flow. It also has a modular pulley, so you can change pulley sizes without pulling the blower. PM me if you're interested in buying it.

Rear flares are done. Got to work on the lights today. All rear lights are working except for one. Headlights and a couple blinkers are working in front. I'm kinda running out of stuff to do before the engine swap.

I also lightened the rear bumper structure (by about half), as I had done to the front, and trimmed the plastic so it would fit with the rear flares.

Interior is kinda done. I made a new cover for the center console, got both seats mounted, put in the carpet and reassembled the dash. The car is kinda done, except for the engine swap. I started doing the turbo install on the supercharged 3.8 Buick yesterday. I am gutting a blower to use for a turbo intake. I took out the rotors and made a block off plate out of the intermediate plate. I welded a couple of pipe fittings to the bearings and JB welded and pressed them back in. I plan to use one for a boost gage. So, here are some pictures. Is anybody reading this any more?

carwhisperer wrote: I Is anybody reading this any more?

Ummmm, YEP! On the edge of my seat over here. Please continue.

Cool project, should be a blast to drive.

You should slap a vw emblem over the fiero logo on the steering wheel.

YUP...Still reading. It is a shame that this board does not have a views counter. You would probably be surprised how many visitors you have that don't post anything.

If you run into a problem and need a second opinion, posting it here will show you how many are reading along.

I follow this build and several others, it is a shame that the OPs can start feeling like they may be posting only to themselves but without a view counter it is only up to viewers comments to give the OP an idea if they should keep posting.

Keep going carwhisperer!

I used the stock fiero mount for the accessory side of the engine. Bolted right up to the L67 and the Fiero subrame with no modifications. Then I used the back mount from the L67. I used the bolt on pedastal from the Buick frame. With some cutting and trimming it fit. Then I plan to use two dog bones to keep it from rocking. Also, I removed the back member of the subframe and replaced it with a piece of steel tube with gussets. Engine sits nice in the car. I might have to adjust the angle of the turbo to get the exhaust to sit right. [URL=http://s140.photobucket.com/user/914turboford/media/IMG_4836_zpshusg5yb8.jpg.html][/URL] [URL=http://s140.photobucket.com/user/914turboford/media/IMG_4837_zpswgcfwdex.jpg.html][/URL] [URL=http://s140.photobucket.com/user/914turboford/media/IMG_4832_zpsrqmkb0mb.jpg.html][/URL] [URL=http://s140.photobucket.com/user/914turboford/media/IMG_4831_zpsp5dbce3s.jpg.html][/URL] [URL=http://s140.photobucket.com/user/914turboford/media/IMG_4830_zps18er9iop.jpg.html][/URL] [URL=http://s140.photobucket.com/user/914turboford/media/IMG_4829_zpssywppzck.jpg.html][/URL]