Mighty Car Mods builds a Sleeper 360hp VW Beetle?

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Impressive stuff! Turbo Subaru EJ25 into '70's super beetle...

I had a super beetle about 15 years ago with a 1.6 Subaru in the back, no turbo, but with a full Baja body kit... Awesome fun, so I guess I have a soft spot for this video...

Luke.
 
Ha Ha, saw these guys on YouTube before:

They are too funny! :banana:

Yeah, been following them for a while now, been a long wait since the last round of build videos, that one was worth the wait!

Luke.
 
Wow. Took awhile to watch the whole thing, and they actually detuned it so the clutch would survive!
Yeah, detuned to 200kw (270hp) once they get the clutch sorted and turn the wick back up, (someone mentioned the motor was built to handle 300kw (400hp)) maybe some decent shocks and some actual slicks for dragracing, that would be a 10 second car... :eek:

Luke.
 
I was so excited when this came out yesterday, I've been fans of theirs for a long time. Great building, lots of fun, and no drama... so it would never work on TV, but it awesome online. They had a blog post not too long ago about some struggles they've had with "fame" it was pretty eye opening.
 
They had a blog post not too long ago about some struggles they've had with "fame" it was pretty eye opening.
Yeah, they had some pretty rough times there, I can see why they have set themselves up the way they have now, even if I do miss the "working on the parents driveway" aspect of the show...

Luke.
 
Luke, Do you think these guys will try taking the bug out on the street, or is it strictly a drag car?
 
Luke, Do you think these guys will try taking the bug out on the street, or is it strictly a drag car?
Not sure on that HF, I get the feeling that Subway paid for it to be fast, if they want it to be legal, that will be on their own back.

It wouldn't surprise me to see some proper DIY videos in a month or two with them upgrading brakes and suspension in preparation for getting it modification approval.

Or at least that is what I am hoping!

There is no way that it is legal as it sits, no cat in the exhaust, standard brakes and a few other issues according to my copy of the modification rules...

Luke.
 
Not sure on that HF, I get the feeling that Subway paid for it to be fast, if they want it to be legal, that will be on their own back.

It wouldn't surprise me to see some proper DIY videos in a month or two with them upgrading brakes and suspension in preparation for getting it modification approval.

Or at least that is what I am hoping!

There is no way that it is legal as it sits, no cat in the exhaust, standard brakes and a few other issues according to my copy of the modification rules...

Luke.
Luke your comment about brakes jostled loose a few brain cells re: a Gale Banks Turbo Pontiac Trans-Am test driven by Car & Driver in 1982.
Thanks to the interwebs, here it is:
http://www.sportscars.tv/Newfiles/Galefirebird.html


"Even the best of us occasionally drift beyond the limits of driving prudence. The temptation to do so is particularly strong at the thermonuclear end of the potency scale. Our top-speed testing of Gale Banks's twin-turbocharged Pontiac Firebird Trans Am is a case in point.

This car has but a short, 3.42:1 rear axle ratio to harness its 560 horsepower, so we knew our top-speed testing would be just a simple hinge up to the 7000-rpm redline. With this in mind, we selected one of our shorter, but more convenient, California test sites instead of a more suitable, but distant desert venue, After waiting for the mld-afternoon traffic to clear, with Gale Banks as my observer, I put the blown Trans Am's pedal to the floor Sure enough, it attained its 156-mph maximum in barely more than a mile, at which point we were rapidly closing on several cars that, had been mere flyspecks when we started the run.

I applied the brakes hard but without serious concern, since there seemed to be plenty of room to slow down before we would be into the traffic. Unfortunately, the Trans Am's brakes absorbed only about 50 mph of our speed before fading into futility. :eek:
By then we were virtually on top of the traffic, which had artfully arrayed itself to block both lanes of the freeway. We took the left shoulder (an exit ramp clogged with more slow-moving traffic occupied the right), since. it was the only uncontested pavement remaining. But this was only a brief respite, since the shoulder ended abruptly as the road funneled into an overpass. Fortunately, since we were still at a three-digit speed, we were quickly past the blockers and back on the road with room to spare.:grin:"

See also from 1984:
http://www.sportscars.tv/Newfiles/galefirbird2.html
"Here's the deal. Sometime long ago Mr. And Mrs. Orcutt settled in the Southern California high desert about 25 miles east of Barstow, where they made and sold adobe bricks. Using their own product, they built a nice small home, very much by itself, but only about a mile off old Route 66. But when the U.S. government built I-40 in the '60s, it ran right between the old highway and the Orcutt's house. The closest overpass, to get over the freeway, was more than four miles away. So the government's solution was to build a new, 2-lane, asphalt road from the overpass to the Orcutt's house. That's the only place it went. Still does (to its remains, anyway). The best part is that, for most of its length, it was built on a dry lake. So not only is it straight and relatively wide (for a driveway), but it is also very flat. The perfect place to make high speed runs in a street vehicle at crazy high speeds.
The tester knew about Mrs. Orcutt's driveway and drove the Trans Am to this remote site, along with a support crew including Gale, a photographer, and someone to operate a radar gun to measure speeds. This time they decided to meet Mrs. Orcutt. They reported that she was in her '70s and "sweet enough to be your grandmother." They told her they were doing fuel economy testing.

Power was no problem, and now the temperature was acceptable. This is when the Highway Patrol showed up, unexpectedly.;)
Fortunately he was more interested in seeing the car run than he was in stopping the program. He and his radio kept any other officers from nosing around. After a 187 mph pass, the tester decided to go for it, and the radar gun read 196 mph. Everyone considered this a success, but Gale wouldn't settle for anything less than 200-plus. He took the car back to the shop, made a gear change, turned up the turbos a tick, and mounted up a couple different sizes of rear tires.

Back out on Mrs. Orcutt's driveway once more, the taller tires they hoped to use proved unstable at speed. After swapping to the smaller rear tires, starting near Mrs. Orcutt's gate and heading west toward the overpass, the tester nailed it on a banzai pass. For some reason there is no mention of a radar gun reading on this pass, but the tester watched the tach needle climb to 6100 rpm in high gear—204 mph!

This satisfied everybody, including Gale. But the tester wasn't celebrating at that moment. He was sitting in the car near the end of the road, with his windows sealed with racer's tape (he couldn't get out), when suddenly "a grizzled elderly lady, brandishing a sawed-off twenty-gauge shotgun, emerges from the desert to express her displeasure with their activities." Gale vividly remembers arriving at the scene to see this old bag pointing the shotgun directly at the tester window. Perfect ending!":giggle:
 
Luke your comment about brakes jostled loose a few brain cells re: a Gale Banks Turbo Pontiac Trans-Am test driven by Car & Driver in 1982.
Thanks to the interwebs, here it is:
http://www.sportscars.tv/Newfiles/Galefirebird.html


"Even the best of us occasionally drift beyond the limits of driving prudence. The temptation to do so is particularly strong at the thermonuclear end of the potency scale. Our top-speed testing of Gale Banks's twin-turbocharged Pontiac Firebird Trans Am is a case in point.

This car has but a short, 3.42:1 rear axle ratio to harness its 560 horsepower, so we knew our top-speed testing would be just a simple hinge up to the 7000-rpm redline. With this in mind, we selected one of our shorter, but more convenient, California test sites instead of a more suitable, but distant desert venue, After waiting for the mld-afternoon traffic to clear, with Gale Banks as my observer, I put the blown Trans Am's pedal to the floor Sure enough, it attained its 156-mph maximum in barely more than a mile, at which point we were rapidly closing on several cars that, had been mere flyspecks when we started the run.

I applied the brakes hard but without serious concern, since there seemed to be plenty of room to slow down before we would be into the traffic. Unfortunately, the Trans Am's brakes absorbed only about 50 mph of our speed before fading into futility. :eek:
By then we were virtually on top of the traffic, which had artfully arrayed itself to block both lanes of the freeway. We took the left shoulder (an exit ramp clogged with more slow-moving traffic occupied the right), since. it was the only uncontested pavement remaining. But this was only a brief respite, since the shoulder ended abruptly as the road funneled into an overpass. Fortunately, since we were still at a three-digit speed, we were quickly past the blockers and back on the road with room to spare.:grin:"

See also from 1984:
http://www.sportscars.tv/Newfiles/galefirbird2.html
"Here's the deal. Sometime long ago Mr. And Mrs. Orcutt settled in the Southern California high desert about 25 miles east of Barstow, where they made and sold adobe bricks. Using their own product, they built a nice small home, very much by itself, but only about a mile off old Route 66. But when the U.S. government built I-40 in the '60s, it ran right between the old highway and the Orcutt's house. The closest overpass, to get over the freeway, was more than four miles away. So the government's solution was to build a new, 2-lane, asphalt road from the overpass to the Orcutt's house. That's the only place it went. Still does (to its remains, anyway). The best part is that, for most of its length, it was built on a dry lake. So not only is it straight and relatively wide (for a driveway), but it is also very flat. The perfect place to make high speed runs in a street vehicle at crazy high speeds.
The tester knew about Mrs. Orcutt's driveway and drove the Trans Am to this remote site, along with a support crew including Gale, a photographer, and someone to operate a radar gun to measure speeds. This time they decided to meet Mrs. Orcutt. They reported that she was in her '70s and "sweet enough to be your grandmother." They told her they were doing fuel economy testing.

Power was no problem, and now the temperature was acceptable. This is when the Highway Patrol showed up, unexpectedly.;)
Fortunately he was more interested in seeing the car run than he was in stopping the program. He and his radio kept any other officers from nosing around. After a 187 mph pass, the tester decided to go for it, and the radar gun read 196 mph. Everyone considered this a success, but Gale wouldn't settle for anything less than 200-plus. He took the car back to the shop, made a gear change, turned up the turbos a tick, and mounted up a couple different sizes of rear tires.

Back out on Mrs. Orcutt's driveway once more, the taller tires they hoped to use proved unstable at speed. After swapping to the smaller rear tires, starting near Mrs. Orcutt's gate and heading west toward the overpass, the tester nailed it on a banzai pass. For some reason there is no mention of a radar gun reading on this pass, but the tester watched the tach needle climb to 6100 rpm in high gear—204 mph!

This satisfied everybody, including Gale. But the tester wasn't celebrating at that moment. He was sitting in the car near the end of the road, with his windows sealed with racer's tape (he couldn't get out), when suddenly "a grizzled elderly lady, brandishing a sawed-off twenty-gauge shotgun, emerges from the desert to express her displeasure with their activities." Gale vividly remembers arriving at the scene to see this old bag pointing the shotgun directly at the tester window. Perfect ending!":giggle:
What a story!

Luke.
 
Marty and moog are a riot, so many cool episodes too, the budget street cred, kei to the city, super gramps, now the beetle. Awesome stuff.
 
All the questions answered:



Looks like it will not be returning to the street, I get the suspicion it is a drag car only now...

Turns out they were running the electronic throttle at around 50-60% for all those drag races just trying to get the clutch to survive...
12 second passes on half throttle? That thing is bananas...

Luke.
 
Luke,
Thanks for posting! :thumbsup:
No worries! I love to share interesting stuff, and I know this site has many VW lovers...

Just finished watching this short video from the guys who did the engine management set up, helps to explain a little more about the car...



Luke.
 
I have a Ford Fiesta mk4 1.3 litre encore there is a weird rallying noise coming from under the hood I was just wondering would any of you's no what that would be much appreciated


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