Superbeetle on 4wd Chassis

Hey Guys,

With a fair bit of time coming up, I've been seriously contemplating a rather interesting (in my eyes and brain) conversion.

I've got a 71 Superbeetle sitting at home, which was going to get a full resto, however, being the 4wd nut that I am with a GU Patrol that I'm slowly modifying, I've been having other thoughts...

I'm thinking of taking the superbeetle body and pan, and porting that across to a 4wd chassis, like a Suzuki Sierra coily, or a BJ73 landcruiser, or something of similar wheelbase, width and so forth. The engine will most likely be front mounted, with a radiator setup in the back, with a proper low range gearbox and so forth.

I'm looking at having solid axle diffs with coil springs, due to the flex that I can get.

So my question is...has this been done in Australia before? I've found an insane pic that's given me motivation.





I know it'll be hard, I know there's engineering involved, but just wanted to know whether anyone has gone down this path, and has any knowledge to impart?

I look forward to hearing from you all

Kind Regards

Zako

good luck, i always wanted to do it, but dont have the time or the fun tickets

matt

yanks would be able to give ya some advice! They done and luv this stuff.

I assume, because ur putting a differnt body onto a different chassis, it would be a rebodied vehicle.
Don't quote me, ask an engineer, but!
It would mean the body would have ot comply to today's adr standards just like as if u were replacing a vw body with a fibreglass lwb buggy body. As to what changes to the body that would entail, i'm not sure....


would be a beast none the less... rock on!

Not a super.
But this one was at the VW Nationals in sydney this year.

If you are after flex I wouldn't use a coily sierra as the donor, even modded coil sierra's dont flex well, leaf sierras are better but the ride isn't great. Coil setup from a Toyota Bundera might be worth a look.

awsome i am going down this road (so to speak)

i am using a 92 sierra moving the rear axle right to the rear of the chassis so that the wheel base is correct then use a long wheel base rear tail shaft and a tailshaft spacer that they use when they raise them and coil overs i am gooing this way as i dont want the rear of the leaf springs hanging out the back will look ugly.
i have cut the sierra down so all i have left is a floor and firewall.
will start a post and add pics when i get back into it at the mo im building a suby powered Baja.

Gday just a quick note before you move diff to the rear check with transport or engineer as you are changing the wheel base of the existing chassis I had problems years back on 1 tonner tow trucks we used to reverse the rear springs to give a longer wheel base for weight over front @ they stopped the practice so asked before you go to far
Ernie

yeah i have talked to my local engineer about this and no problems.
have been strecching chassis since i did my apprenticeship as a motor vehicle builder in the early 80's
i have started the fitt up of the body just have to trim til it sits right
easier said than done tho
rod

I would shorten the body instead of lengthening the chassis. I've seen a SWB Baja and it looked very cool. It had the section between the door and the rear wheel arch removed.

You can stretch the wheelbase on a sierra without too much drama ( I got 11 extra inches out my shorty)
To move the rear axle back, CJ5 jeep front springs will let you push the rear mount back 3 to 4 inches or YJ jeep fronts for 4 to 5 inches.
To push the front axle forward ( lengthening the wheelbase you can use the rear sierra springs in the front for an aditional 2 inches.
If your engineer doesnt want to let you move the shackle mounts then 'missing link" style hinged shackles layed over will get the same result and get you great wheel travel.
Both front and rear main leafs can get redrilled to push the axles out a little more ( leave the other leafs stock so the packs' camber stays useful )
Lastly the locating holes on the diff's spring perches are drilled on the axle centre line- you can redrill them a full inch back and still use the same u-bolts. If you do this, you'll need to reverse the non main leafs to keep the pinion angle.
Let me know if you want some how to pics on suspension mods.
Looks like a great project.