DORIGTT - 'D ORIGinal TT

[DORIGTT]

After putting this project on ice, it's time I get started and finish this. I figure the best way is to put it online to be held accountable for it!

That being said...

1970 Karmann Ghia coupe
2.1L turbocharged WBX w/air-to-water intercooler
Kennedy Engineering flywheel for WBX - 915 conversion using 915 clutch assay
Megasquirt
Twin nose mounted radiators for engine and 1 for chargecooler
915 transmission w/ hydraulic clutch release
911 seats and interior trimmed in Interlagos fabric from the new GTI
914/911 gauge package
Empty wallet
Air conditioning
European bumper conversion
GT400 mirrors
Early bullet turn signals
Halogen H4 lights
1.5" narrowed trailing arms - Blind Chicken Racing supplied
Audi 4000 steering rack
CB performance drop spindles
944T brakes front and rear w/968 4 piston calipers
Spax or GAZ shocks

[owdlvr]

Empty wallet

...I know that feeling!

Post up some pics, there's a few things on the list that are quite interesting to me.

-Dave

[DORIGTT]

http://s1306.beta.photobucket.com/user/DORIGTT/media/Ghiartftqtrcopy.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

[DORIGTT]

Well, I'm back on the 'jazz' after delays associated with having...or at least being involved in raising 3 kids and work that had me traveling 3 weeks of the month. Corona virus has had me at home, and I've been able to get a surprising amount of things done on my Ghia.

The pics are re-colored renderings I commissioned to 'see' what my vision of the Raketenhase (translated - Rocket Bunny in German) Ghia.

Stay tuned for regular updates, with the goal of firing this thing up and driving it this year.

Kevin

[DORIGTT]

Part of the challenge with my vision is that no-one makes parts 'small enough' to fit the Ghia - duckbill spoiler-wise. I reached out the the people at Clinchedflares and they set me up with the closest thing to what I'm looking for. It's from the Mitsubishi Evo, but has the profile i wanted. Now to learn 'plastic welding' to get it to fit properly...unless anyone has any better ideas - that still involve me using the spoiler of course.

[ian godfrey]

I have a road race Ghia and was thinking about rear spoiler options, Porsche duck tail etc, so I'm very interested to see how yours works out and what method you use to shape it to suit.

[DORIGTT]

I've got an OBP pedal cluster to replace the rusty original equipment my Ghia came with. I didn't want to replace with 'good' factory equipment due to how I plan to use the car, so I went with the version that mounted the master cylinders facing the driver which allows me to push the pedal cluster as far forward as I can. I still have to figure out the best method for mounting this to the floor / reinforcement so that under hard braking...it won't break free.

Open to ideas / suggestions.

Kevin

[DORIGTT]

Any ideas why my photos get turned sideways?

[ian godfrey]

I don't know about photos, but how about an aluminium doubler under the floor to add stiffness but not much weight?

[owdlvr]

Rally bug has an aluminum plate above the floor, and three steel 'ribs' under the floor pan to stiffen everything up. basically sandwiching the floorpan. Very sturdy, no flexing.

[Steve C]

The pics are re-colored renderings I commissioned to 'see' what my vision of the Raketenhase (translated - Rocket Bunny in German) Ghia.

Kevin
Very JDM.

Nice work btw

[DORIGTT]

Steve,
I've always liked the Rocket Bunny S14's look. I commissioned Rob3rtdesign to take the Rocket Bunny style and apply it to the Ghia to see if I liked the way it looked enough to do it. There are many folks who hate the look, and quite a few who like it. It doesn't matter, I like it, and it allows me to run the wider wheels and tires I want, for the performance I look to get from it. Track events (road racing), roll racing, and fast backroad driving.

[DORIGTT]

OMG!!! If you've ever had cruddy parts that you were trying to wire-wheel to clean up...STOP IT! Find a shop that does vapor honing like Ravenstone Vapor honing near Seattle!!!! Edward there is an alchemist!!!

[DORIGTT]

Thanks Marco at Mansispeed.com for o-ringing and port matching the dry sump pump I purchased to use in my WBX engine! You are THE man!!!

Now no more worrying about losing oil pressure in this power plant.

[DORIGTT]

Corona Virus!!! Been working on an RSR mod where the shifter was moved up and back to be closer to the driver. Here are my sketches and cardboard mockup. Next...fire up my 3D printer and put it to use making a functional model.

[DORIGTT]

Spent the afternoon swapping out the steel Volkswagen IRS trailing arm for the early Porsche 944T semi trailing arms. They moved the wheel/tire outside the body by 50mm, but more is to come once the flares arrive. Only required changing the pivot bushing from the Porsche one to the Volkswagen bushing.

[DORIGTT]

Soooo, I've been wanting to be able to 'sit' in my Ghia and make vroom, vroom sounds for a while. Challenge was...the Porsche seats I had weren't bolted down, and were super heavy. I scored a deal on a set of Corbeau Forza fixed back seats and needed to fabricate some brackets. This was my FIRST time welding up something that wasn't practice coupons.

Let's see how they work with me and headroom now.

[DORIGTT]

I love great tips that get the job done and save me money.

I was looking into oil cooling for Raketenhase and Marco from Mansispeed.com made a really cool (pun intended) recommendation. Since the 993 was a much larger air/oil cooled motor that needed an efficient cooler to keep oil temps in check, he recommended I get one.

I looked around at various oil coolers of any 'real capacity' and found that they were a lot of money...not like that's typically an issue for all of us here...but I was able to on eBay score this massive oil cooler for $175!!! I just had to order up some metric to AN fittings for the top and voila...more cooling than I can shake a stick at!

[ian godfrey]

good work, you're are racing ahead. Welding looks good too.
have you settled on bump stops for the rear arms yet?

[DORIGTT]

No I haven’t. Any recommendations?

[effvee]

I love great tips that get the job done and save me money.

I was looking into oil cooling for Raketenhase and Marco from Mansispeed.com made a really cool (pun intended) recommendation. Since the 993 was a much larger air/oil cooled motor that needed an efficient cooler to keep oil temps in check, he recommended I get one.

I looked around at various oil coolers of any 'real capacity' and found that they were a lot of money...not like that's typically an issue for all of us here...but I was able to on eBay score this massive oil cooler for $175!!! I just had to order up some metric to AN fittings for the top and voila...more cooling than I can shake a stick at!

Wonderful to see the oil cooler. I did a search, could not find spec's such as it size,maximum pressure the cooler could hold. What is its size? I was going to buy something from spruce aircraft parts. Their prices are up there, your project is coming along very nice.

[Steve C]

No I haven’t. Any recommendations?

I used a generic bolt on bump stop, I will take a photo, it bolted through the top

[DORIGTT]

Hey effvee,

I would imagine the Porsche 993 would be capable of rather high cold oil pressures that would be similar, if not greater than our 4 pot engines can produce. That being said, here are some photos I just took of the cooler for you with a tape measure for scale.

Let me know if you need anything else.

First photo - width of the core / unit
Second photo, thickness of the core
Third photo - overall height of the core
Fourth photo - overall width including mounting tabs
Fifth photo - total height of the cooler

[effvee]

Wonderful, thank you.

[DORIGTT]

I've always been a huuuuuuge fan of the Germanlook style, one of the biggies has been the use of Porsche wheels, which obviously means Porsche brakes. I decided to run 944T as they've been used quite a bit in various builds I've seen. Frank @franklinsvwerks in Kent, WA took my lowered spindles, mated them with 944T spindles to allow me to 'bolt-on' the 944T brakes up front.

[DORIGTT]

I installed a magnesium cased Porsche 915 gearbox into the Raketenhase, but realized the CV's wouldn't clear the frame horns. Since I 'hate' cutting metal, I figured I'd try to raise the transmission to clear the horns with some 'spacers' I made from some washers to give me close to .25".

Still may cut the horns after my plasma cutter arrives. I like how clean they cut.

Stay tuned.

[ian godfrey]

i was looking at these bump stops, available in different heights and different compressions:
https://superpro.com.au/tradeview/index.php?view=universalparts&SDID=99000313
i thought I could drill and tap the depression in the arm and screw it in with loctite.

[effvee]

Hello again, how do you plan to address the brake biasing of your choice? Since I'm having IRS trouble presently, the only thing I can do is, watch people that dont have IRS troubles getting it done. At a earlier point of chosing brakes; I went with with the single piston fronts. I have somewhere buried in storage a book on the early single piston Porsche, I forget what year. The reason why I had the front calipers fit the rear was due to caliper sizing. I have read other members dealing with their large four piston calipers. But time has moved on, I see others having had success with larger four piston calipers. I am going to re-visit the brakes, At the time the pick-a-parts junk yard had 944, bugs engines still in the cars. I was simply removing keeping up with other members suggestions, and that was for two 1302's ond one 1303. I'm glad I just took suggested parts. Now the new pick-a-parts are very high. Please keep up the good work.

[DORIGTT]

Hey effvee,

Where in Cali are you? That's part of my territory, and once Volkswagen allows regional travel again, I'll be down there (I'm near Portland, Oregon).

My pedal cluster has dual master cylinders with a balance bar between them that allows me to vary the amount of pressure front to rear. IF for some reason that's not enough, I can always switch to different master cylinders to increase / decrease the bias.

Kevin

[effvee]

Hello, I live in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. As stated my project is on hold. Question, the pedal assembly/ balance bar how much pedal area is taken up. I'm going to re-read your posts, don't want to ask the same question twice.

[DORIGTT]

NO KIDDING!!! One of my offices is in Eastvale! I fly into the Ontario Airport!!!

[DORIGTT]

No worries. I'm sure others have the same questions.

I'm not sure the question, or the answer I should give.

When you ask "How much pedal area is taken up.", do you mean how much physical space is taken up by the pedal cluster, or the adjuster's range of motion?

[effvee]

Hey, I'm in Rancho, 6 min from Ontario Airport. I believe I asked you questions on the pedal assembly; however its pricing, was out of my range. I'm good about accepting my limits. Why not go 6 cylinders turbos? Even now I see were if I did a convert from 1303 chopped and mixed with a bus back half. With that setup, a Subie 6 will fit. I don't race, but I want speed and assurance against possible failures. I almost found someone that sells how to convert drawings. Call me weird but I can see that setup with the Aero fenders. Differents is good. The Harley and VW were never supposed to turn out to what they have become.

[DORIGTT]

More goodies for my motor from Marco at Mansispeed.com

I sent my intake in to get modified to accept higher flow injectors as this turbocharged engine will definitely need them.

"A little something that I’ve done in the passed but never really shown anyone, I increase the runner diameter of the stock waterboxer by 4.5mm in diameter to allow more flow and hp more than 150hp, this is a large bottle neck, I have gone bigger than 4.5mm but low end torque suffers and its only done for big power turbo motors."

[DORIGTT]

effvee,
I had considered the Scooby route as the EZ30's sound delicious. Challenge is, it's a heavy lump and I didn't want to go to a Subaru transmission to get the clearance needed for safe road use in my Ghia.

As I work for Volkswagen, it's also sacrilege to swap something else in around HQ. I mentioned it once to one of my friends in PR, and he jumped from the 4th floor office we were in.

I'm already a rebel with running a WBX in this thing.

[DORIGTT]

I sent my case to Mansispeed to have the lifter bores properly sleeved to allow me to run Type 1 lifters in my WBX engine. As usual, excellent work by them.

[DORIGTT]

One more addition to the stockpile...WBX heads in 44 x 38, and I get the first set produced!

A little update on the new Mansispeed.com big valve 44x38 Hp heads.
Almost ready for flow testing.
New stainless valves,
hardened oversize valve seats with a 7thou press fit,
Pocket ported/blended to the new seat, so keeping air velocity at a maximum but with much greater air flow.
There will be limited availability so if your interested please let me know.
Pics are at Various stages of port work and also a stock head for comparison.

[Steve C]

Hi

This is what I did for a bump stop

[DORIGTT]

Thanks Steve!

[Wally]

More goodies for my motor from Marco at Mansispeed.com

I sent my intake in to get modified to accept higher flow injectors as this turbocharged engine will definitely need them.

"A little something that I’ve done in the passed but never really shown anyone, I increase the runner diameter of the stock waterboxer by 4.5mm in diameter to allow more flow and hp more than 150hp, this is a large bottle neck, I have gone bigger than 4.5mm but low end torque suffers and its only done for big power turbo motors."
Very subtle, like it!

[DORIGTT]

WBX motors are typical Volkswagen. It almost s the same - exhaust port wise - as the Type 1, which means I can use a Type 1 header with a few minor modifications. Namely, #1 and #4 exhaust flanges needed to be rotated slightly and it all bolts up.

Thanks to my buddy Jesse who did the welding for me as I JUST got a TIG setup and have started practicing.

[DORIGTT]

On my side of 'The Pond', if you're into drag racing, there are a gazillion shops with expertise and components to set you up in a blink. Open your mouth about HPDE, road racing or fast road use for a non-1302/1303 over here?:mad: All the great shock suppliers make everything in 2.5" body or 2.25" which won't fit the front of my balljoint beam equipped Ghia.

Dealing with some of the suppliers in Germany and such has been a challenge, and pricing was RIDICULOUS (no ill-will towards any one shop/person) for what should've been simple.

Fortunately I was turned on to ProTech in the UK who did an amazing job with their response time, and from what I can tell build quality of the 1.9" and 2.25" multi-way adjustable shocks for the Raketenhase Ghia.

Loooots of parts to start putting on!

[DORIGTT]

Ran out of space on the floor...actually, I'm always trying to be efficient with the use of space in my 'shop', so I purchased a tire rack from eBay to stash my extra set of Boxster S wheels.

Additionally, Volkswagen has a cool accessory of wheel/tire covers with handles for easy storage/manipulation of said extra wheels. I think they're cool looking!

[DORIGTT]

Needed to get some 'space' in the wheel wells, so found a great deal on a couple sets to see if they'll work before any other widening of suspension components / purchasing later 944T arms.

[DORIGTT]

Soooo, no-one really 'makes' a spoiler for the Raketenhase Ghia, so in keeping with the theme of 'factory parts' whenever possible, I saw a photo of a MKI GTI and thought "that might work".

If I had a dollar for all the parts I've purchased "that might work"...

[DORIGTT]

Parts from Uk...4 days shipping. Parts from Estonia (1,100 miles further) 75 days!!!

It's all well and good though, because I got my Killer Tiller for the Raketenhase Ghia! I've had the doggone Momo adapter for this car on the shelf for over 20 years!

[Steve C]

Nice. Is that a Prototipo?

[DORIGTT]

Yes Steve, it is. I'd been searching for one at a reasonable price, and when I found it I had no idea it would take 2.5 months to get!!!

[Steve C]

I've been looking on https://mrsteeringwheel.com/ but $ is so poor at the moment I will have to wait

[Clatter]

Great looking build. looking forward to seeing more progress..