Let me introduce myself
 

Well I was looking for a place to introduce myself to everyone and this forum seemed like as good a place as any.

My name is Brandon, I'm 18 and I live in California. I was raised a VW fan by my father who was raised the same way by his father. My great uncle has had a few of his cars featured in Hot VW's some time ago so the VW blood runs through my veins.

My experince with VW's began about 3 years ago when I bought a 1971 baja from my uncle. It was a pile of garbage and I took it upon myslef to turn it into a masterpeice (=it doesn't compare to some fo the rides in here but it's not too bad for my first crack aat things). Along the way I lost motivation a few times and managed to drag the project out until now. I am a few working days away from finishing the car (I live 500 miles away from my parents right now so it's hard to find time to work on it :bawling: ). It should be completed and road worthy within a week of me moving back home.

Once I finish this project I plan to start in on my next one and that is where this forum comes in. I found the German look a few weeks ago when I was reading through some old Hot VW's magazines looking for parts. I fell in love with the look and the high performance nature. I think my next project will be a German look beetle but before I get too far into it I was wondering if someone could answer a few questions:

1) I see type IV engine a ton. I'm assuming that's Porsche type IV (the 914) but I wanted to ask since VW makes a type IV as well.

2) What kind of costs am I looking at to do this up right (big engine, big suspension, big brakes, cool body mods, etc.)?

3) Is there someone who would be willing to be my "mentor" on this project? I'm just looking for someone who has done most of this stuff before that would be willing to have his (or her) brain picked on occasion.

And finally...my vision for my project. I don't know about you guys but I absolutely hate the rice-rocket revolution that has swept through high schools across the US. I have seen the term "Porshe killer" throw around but I want to make am "Acura killer". At this point I can't decide if I want to go with a more stock look or something like that Blue Bomber in the features section (I guess cost will be a limiting factor). One thing I do know is that I want something hot in the trunk with enough suspension/brake upgrades to not kill myself.

Well I guess that's all I have right now. I'm sure I'll be hearing from you soon.

Brandon

Welcome Brandon,
It's good to see some young blood on here not caught up with the current rice trends. I'll try and answer some of your questions.

1) The one and the same. 914-4's are powered by VW Type IV engines, as well as all buses from 72-79, all 411/412's and the first year of the Vanagons.

2) The cost depends on how crazy you decide to go. With this look the sky's the limit, i mean your wallet. If you look hard enough you can find some good deals on used porsche parts, but stuff like 17" twists, Porsche cooling kits, and carbon fiber are going to be big bucks, let alone a big Type IV.

3) We help each other out on here. If you have a question ask it and the answer will come. Also this site has a excellent search function. There is a wealth of knowledge in this forum.

I hate the rice fad too. If you build a car that can take on the real sports cars then the honda's will be childs play. I hope this helps a lil.

Nick

welcome to the forum Brandon :D

1. The Porsche & VW Type 4 are essentially the same engine except for a different head design with differenet valve sizes.

2. Some guys have built quality low budget German Lookers for less then $10000 and others have spent more then $50000. It all depends on a few things (getting good deals on parts vs buying everything brand new, doing things yourself vs paying others to do it & building a clean simple VW vs going radical)

3. For the most part everyone is here to learn and to share what they have learned with others. You are more then welcome to ask all the questoins you need to ask. You can also Private Message memberes if there is something that you would like to ask them privately.

take care & good luck with the new GL project.... :agree:

Joe

We are all our mentors.

Welcome to the forums Brandon.

Ask the questions and the answers will come.

I never sleep and I don't have a social life so I'm always available to answer questions provided I know the answer. :laugh:

Later.
Brendan...

Welcome aboard :agree:

Yes and while it would be nice to build a car that could run with higher end sports cars, I don't think the money will allow me too (I'll probably be using a decent amount of my student loan money....don't tell anybody :D ), so I figure I'll shoot for the next best thing and be content putting ricers in their place

RICE MUST DIE.... :laugh:

Rice is easy to eat. A lil teriyaki sauce...now I'm hungry, ah. I had a 1641cc that spanked v-tech's, so I think a 2.0L Type IV should have no problem. The ones where i live are all show and no go.

Nick

Hey Im 18 too and im currenty building a GL ghia. Give me an email and we can talk projects. If you have aim then im me too @ taketimetoenjoi . Basically the single biggist help in learning how to do all this stuff has been from reading or mistakes. For reading I HIGHLY reccomend you get the "TO WIN" series by caroll smith. Basically he discusses how to build a race car and if you follow what he says you should never have any problems. But yea drop me a message and good luck.

Drop me a PM and we can shoot the bull.

Hey Brandon,

Welcome.

Do you have pics of your Baja ?
Must be fun to boot around the desert.....

My advise would be to build the car up slowly, as budget permits. Try to keep it drivable so that it doesn't end up a garage project. Driving the car is the best motivation.

Oh yeah, and plan, measure, replan and remeasure. You don't want to know how much time and money I lost by rushing things and not taking the time to
think things through.

Have fun !

Rob.

To tell ya the truth I wouldn't really know. I haven't had it road worthy in almost 3 years :bawling: . It should be complete by June but even then I'm not so sure about the desert running thing. It's hard to bring myself to thrash something I spent so much time and money on. We'll see how that all plays out when I get it back on the street. And I'll try to get some pics in the very near future.

Hey Brandon, welcome aboard! I too am 18 and named Brandon. I am about 1 month out of finishing my first project. A 65 Germanlook Beetle, complete with 1.8 liter type 4, 944 brakes and Rancho performance transaxle. It took me 4 years to do it, and about 7k. BUT I did EVERYTHING i could to that car by myself. I also spent alot of time on projects of the car that coul dhave well been skipped and saved myself some money. If you wanna IM shoot me an email at w8t_4_me@hotmail.com.

-Brandon Aune-