DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Ok, This may sound a little boring and sensible, but has anyone thought about what might be left if your speedster is hit by a van, or even a large 4x4?

I am in the process of building a T4 engine for a soon to be purchased speedster kit. (haven’t decided which one to buy yet). I have noticed a couple of things about the kits available, one of them being essentially you have a shortened beetle main strut with two flanking flimsy floorpans. Admittedly the structure is made more ridged via the glassfibre bodies, but there does seem to be a distinct lack of box sections in the front, and side impact protection in the doors. Anyone addressed any of these issues in their build?

Good point... i've seen a few 'kitsters' in the US that have full cages fitted. These had side bars across doors, joined at the framehead and ran down from the main hoop to the rear box mount forks. More rigid than the decomposing Tom i found trapped under my uncle's shed. Very flat it was too... :D

Yes that was what I was considering have done. The full roll cage is not that much of an eyesore, as long as the rest of the kit is finished with an outlaw theme. It would provide a lot more protection, and although they are not intended to be daily drivers (or at least mine won’t) they still have to be safe.

I must admit I am slightly shocked that Chesil haven’t looked at this issue in any great depth.

Do they even sell a rollbar/hoop?

I had a stainless four-point rollbar from a coupe a while back, that looked really good in a friends speedster. The race rollbars stand really tall and look a bit ridiculous/scaffoldish :D

No strictly no caps, no trainers, no admission and NO ROLLBARS at Chesil. Although they would probably fabricate you one for a price. From what I have seen from most of the Chesil replicas they have luxury as a priority rather than really the true essence of the speedster…essentially a cheaper version of the cabriolet with less refinements, but with a more sporting feel.

I think roll bar is the way forward…but yes I agree with you on the race ones! Bizarrely large!

The kits do have a steel sub-frame that the GRP body is bonded to.
This is a Pilgrim one but the Chesil one is similar (does seem to have a little more triangulation at the back).

Nothing solid in front of the front beam though.



Some sort of roll bars/cage does seem sensible - Justin at the speedsters club who is building a speedster had this setup made.



Chesil did have one speedster with a boxster roll bar....

Thanks shambly. That box section does make it a bit better. There might be a way of strengthening that front section and then adding a hidden bar in the doors as they do with modern cars. I think that roll bar looks a bit like overkill. Think I would rather a bar go through the doors and weld them shut! Will have to have a think.

Nice website and even nicer car by the way….So I hear you are thinking about upgrading to a T4??? Good idea although the parts can be pricey! Mines a VW T4 with 914 cam and lifters, reworked heads, 914 high compression pistons, 911 cooling etc etc!
:D

Thanks,

The deal for the T4 has been done - ordered from Jake Raby in the states as a turnkey engine with his DTM shroud. Current exchange rates helped the decision.

Its his 2270cc 'C' engine with anhendorp exhaust and 44 IDFs.
Should be good for almost 150 bhp :D :D

Can't wait until it arrives in August. be a bit different to my 1641cc T1 !

Wow...Quite an engine. Yes I guess with the exchange rates it could be quite a good decision. Jake certainly knows what he is doing. The shipping must have been a nightmare though.
DTM shroud though! Hummm. I was unconvinced by that. I know he swears by them, but I think that the 911 fan wont produce overcooling and certainly gives more of a Carrera look.

August is surprising quick too! Glad you will be fitting one first then…you can tell me how to do it!

Ooh, did somebody say type 4???

Bought the second to last bit of my T4 jigsaw at the weekend: bolt-up rocker covers! Nice and clean now and ready to go back into my Trekker again... 98.5mm b+p, 71mm crank, Vanagon sq port heads w/big valves, 298* hi-lift cam etc but need to change the webers from 40's to 48's i think very soon...


XLNT

Yeah i have the vanagon heads too! Not so easy to get the header made for them, although i have found a really good guy if you need one.

98.5mm b&p sound pretty good...Noticable power difference? I considered a larger set, but for now i am saving for the car for it to go in! Did you build it yourself cubist?

Built it up from a collection of bought in parts... it's only run twice but seems to be v.strong... lot's of torque pulling basically a lightweight skip in the Trekker!. Who made up your tube headers? Mine's a bitza at the moment: some Autocraft bits and some scavenged bits... not very pro yet!!!

Sounds like we are in the same boat. Mines a bit of a bitsa as well. Most of the bits are Porsche 914 which is a good start I think. The heads have got bigger valves and I am currently balancing bits and so on and so forth. The header hasn't been made yet as it is going to be purpose built for the engine to fit the car. The guy that I have been speaking to is Thomas at www.turbothomas.com. Amazing hand built custom systems for normal money. As soon as I have the engine in the car (which admittedly will be a while) I will be going there! Have a look.

Hi Cubist.
where did you find those b+p's?
that is an odd size.
Mine should be running 100mm 964 b+p once redrilled.
got a 75mm crank as well.
need to sort out cam and lifters.
vanagon heads stock rods etc.
unsure on cooling at the moment.
mind oyu I still need the body work. chasis lent against garage wall for lasy 8 years.
kit

Yes you are right driving round in a fibreglass tub sitting on a floorpan doesn't make a lot of sense safety-wise. Our regulations in NZ require steel to steel around the occupants. My RSK replica has a steel subframe in the front which also mounts the steeing column which must be collapsible. Steel intrusion bars through the doors with all bolts latches/hinges mounting to steel. I also have a thicker steel bar that runs through the sill and is welded to the front and rear subframes. The car is so stiff with the F/G body fibreglassed to the subframes we could not get any measurable deflection when tested on load cells on a jig. I feel much safer and the weight of the subframe in the front I think will have helped handling. With a 1915cc Type 1, 125hp engine , I don't think the extra 30kg has affected performance too much.