VW Beetle 1967 STi AWD

[knopis]

Hello. What kind of car do you use the front wheel hub (pitman front wheel) for AWD on VW Beetle ? I have now a classic with torsion bars, non McPherson type with hubs and brakes from Porsche 944T with RWD.
Thank you for your response. Sorry for my English. Tom

[Steve Arndt]

Easiest is a VW Type 87. Bolts right up.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=488085

[knopis]

Heh, good idea but not realistic.. ..when it will be necessary to revise the front part of the chassis on 1302 Beetle and use another solution. But I still do not know which to use the pitman.

[Steve Arndt]

The rally beetle from Oregon has a BWM rear diff mounted up front as I remember, and saab trailing arms and axles. Something like that.

He ran the power take off from back to front like a syncro vanagon.

[Jadewombat]

The rally beetle used a Datsun 280ZX diff. flipped. He had the mainshaft extended through the nosecone of a 002 or 091 bus trans., but it was a custom 1-off thing.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... ?p=5050982

I agree though, Vanagon Synchro would be the best way to go with the driveshaft and front diff. although the Vanagon track width is a little more than a beetle so the axles might need to be shortened. Turbo AWD rally bug I believe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr02YM9l4Ak

[ttriebler]

The most compact is the R160 rear differential from a Subaru (or Nissan).
Easy to install in the front and the whole body can be flipped if needed (depending on your transaxle setup).
The aluminium housing cover plate can be unbolted and then bolted back on upside down so that your diff breather faces the correct way again.
http://www.subarugears.com also make output flanges for these differentials that allow 100mm VW cv joints to bolt on so your axle and cv setup is simple.

For the front hub setup on a torsion bar/beam type beetle, we used cut down Subaru WRX front struts adapted to the VW upper and lower balljoints. The trailing arm spacing is increased somewhat so a by-product is it will change caster on acceleration and braking. Interestingly, formula vee's also have increased trailing arm spacing on the front hubs.

[SamJM]

I'm currently building an AWD beetle using a Subaru pan. The picture is of the beetle before I mess with the front end of it.

Link to the first video in the series:
https://youtu.be/kyFWBrkgfPg