Thread: Thinking of a project....

I'm planning on selling my 04 GP once I fix the horn and HUD... but as I was spelunking in the junkyard I found some old VW bugs, mostly gone but there's at least one full rolling chassis worth of parts, minus an engine. Since I've had a little more experience with the 3800 than any other engine, I'm thinking about tossing an engine, or if I'm feeling particularly ambitious, the whole powertrain into the bug. Ideas?

If you are up for tons and tons of fab work, sure go ahead but it might not even fit.

I've seen a subaru engine stuffed in the back of a bug on youtube and it's no simple task.

Five minutes with a tape measure will tell you whether you ought to try it. Just remember 3800s need a radiator and grille. I don't think anyone would insure it for road use but I could be wrong.

I'm not afraid of fabricating frame rails or engine mounts, but I did find an adapter kit for this exact application
http://www.kennedyenginc.com/Pages/default.aspx
a bit pricey, but it comes with everything needed to marry the engine to the VW tranny... The insurance is something to think about though, because with the radiator i would either have to run it up front (seems unfeasible, but I've done the improbable with pop cans and duct tape) or it wouldn't have a rear decklid, potentially eliminating the possibility of insuring it.

i have a buddy here that put a 3.1l into a bug. pretty neat little deal. radiator is where the back seat used to be. he fabricated aluminum ducts to direct air into the rear of the car to cool it.

well i just heard rumor of what might be an old Fiero, or at least something similar... it's short, mid-engine and mid eighties, so whatever it is I'm gonna take a look at lunch, do some googling and see if it's more plausible, because almost any rear-engine 3800 swap project car will be a disconcerting amount of custom fabrication just to get it rolling... unless I can find one that the frame rails are the same size, shape, and distance apart as the regular w-body, in which case i would just need to make mounts for the aluminum front half of the 3800 powertrain... I've got too much time on my hands. lol