ditchdigger wrote: There are only around 24 sedans left in the US and maybe 100 coupes. These are rare cars that will be worth something soon.
Isn't that the truth. I remember looking HARD for a sport coupe.. and coming up completely dry. Seems the only Vintage Fiat you can find in quantity are the X's and 124 spiders.. even 131s are rare anymore
In reply to Travis_K: I built a 2000 850 conversion.it is heavy in the rear.I used a 1438 fly wheel, pbs bellhousing vw starter.the 1438 factory clutch is weak .you have to make the engine run backwards.I also built a turbo system for it using a 2.3 ford turbo.all of it fits under the hood.also you have to shorten the pan.
Holy two-year-old-thread, Batman!
You may quetion my sanity, but i'm getting close to finishing up a subaru ej20 twin turbo+ porsche 915 transaxle into the back of an 850.
The one I started with had already ditched the nutty transverse leaf in front for an abarth twin a arm with coil overs set up. The amount of work it took to get the subi and porsche in the rear, where the original engine already was located was significant. i can't even fathom trying to do something more extreme.
icaneat50eggs wrote: You may quetion my sanity, but i'm getting close to finishing up a subaru ej20 twin turbo+ porsche 915 transaxle into the back of an 850. The one I started with had already ditched the nutty transverse leaf in front for an abarth twin a arm with coil overs set up. The amount of work it took to get the subi and porsche in the rear, where the original engine already was located was significant. i can't even fathom trying to do something more extreme.
How hard was it to install the porsche transaxle? What kind of work did you do to make it work? I want to install a vw transaxle with a carburated 13B RX7 engine in my sedan
When I got it the po had a vw trans in it. He had done some trimming to get it to fit in the car, and also swapped out the rear hubs brakes etc to vw drums at the same time, that was probably he most work for him.
The Porsche took quite a bit more chopping and some funky length cv shafts
Ill try to dig up some pics with the vw in it
icaneat50eggs wrote: When I got it the po had a vw trans in it. He had done some trimming to get it to fit in the car, and also swapped out the rear hubs brakes etc to vw drums at the same time, that was probably he most work for him. The Porsche took quite a bit more chopping and some funky length cv shafts Ill try to dig up some pics with the vw in it
Was there a lot of triming done to the car in order to fit the VW transmission? There are so many engine options once the VW tranny is installed using the Kennedy engineering adapters
This is the only pic I have that shows the vw trans
Can't get the pic to work from my phone here is the link
http://s170.photobucket.com/user/icaneat50eggs/media/race%20car/100_1958.jpg.html?sort=3&o=3
There was minor trimming getting it to fit. The lower 1/2 inch of the rear brace was cut out
Damn it, its threads like this that make me want to not get rid of mine...
My problem with the VW trans was by the time you built it to take real power, they were no longer cheap, and I really needed the 5th gear, since the 850 runs such tiny tires
icaneat50eggs wrote: This is the only pic I have that shows the vw trans Can't get the pic to work from my phone here is the link http://s170.photobucket.com/user/icaneat50eggs/media/race%20car/100_1958.jpg.html?sort=3&o=3
That looks pretty good, This will be my winter proyect this year. 850 sedan with VW tranny and Streetported rx7 13B engine or RX8 engine. Its going to be fun to drive
Jimmyac28 wrote: That looks pretty good, This will be my winter proyect this year. 850 sedan with VW tranny and Streetported rx7 13B engine or RX8 engine. Its going to be *scary as all hell* to drive
Fixed.
icaneat50eggs wrote: My problem with the VW trans was by the time you built it to take real power, they were no longer cheap, and I really needed the 5th gear, since the 850 runs such tiny tires
Define "real power" There's this odd misconception that a stock VW trans is weak. When I was looking to build up one for the Wartburg for switching to the EJ20T from the EJ22 I talked to the local VW guru who raced and built drag bugs all his life. My question to him was simple, what do I need to do to the transaxle to handle 230hp....his answer, nothing.
The CV joints are another story entirely, they definitely need the upgrade.
Most of the "weak transaxle" lore comes from offroad and dune use where the transaxles take a whole different kind of beating.
But yeah, getting you that 5th gear in a VW box would cost a fortune. At least one company is now offering a reversed ring gear setup for the subie box so it can be mounted rear engine in bugs and buggies, not cheap, but a nice modern option if you have the $$
Yeah, the shock loading on the offroad stuff is a totally different beast, usually running much taller tires.
I'm lost on the reverse ring setup you are talking about. They were rear engined already in a bug, are you talking about running it mid engine?
No, he's talking about using the Subaru gearbox. With the engine mounted behind the transmission, you'd have to reverse the ring gears in the Subaru transmission to get multiple forward gears instead of multiple reverse gears.
Oh man how did I miss that? I'm getting old I guess.
JohnInKansas wrote: No, he's talking about using the Subaru gearbox. With the engine mounted behind the transmission, you'd have to reverse the ring gears in the Subaru transmission to get multiple forward gears instead of multiple reverse gears.
Yep, that's it, sorry I might have been less than clear. I believe its about a $4000 option, you have to send them your transmission and a large check and they sent it back fully reversed.
wow, do you know who it is?
While 4000 sounds expensive, it's cheap compared to the mendeola's all my friends run in there buggies. I wonder how the CV's work in buggy applications with extreme travel, huge tires and shock loads?
icaneat50eggs wrote: wow, do you know who it is? While 4000 sounds expensive, it's cheap compared to the mendeola's all my friends run in there buggies. I wonder how the CV's work in buggy applications with extreme travel, huge tires and shock loads?
Well I haven't looked them up in awhile but it seems they are selling just the parts now for DIY, used to be they only would sell remanned transaxles.
This makes the pricing rather attractive, especially when compared to something like a Mendeola. They also offer axle flanges to fit the subie axles with VW/Porsche CVs
The downside....shipping costs, they are an Aussie company.
http://www.subarugears.com/Products.html
This looks like a good GRM project! I for one wouldn't mind seeing it in the magazine. Hmmm....I know just the interesting car for the article too, I could loan them the Wartburg ;)
Wow 2300 bucks American, you can't touch a mendeola for that much more than double that
Does Berg still do 5 speeds?
Looks like it. $1650 for a DIY kit.
icaneat50eggs wrote: Wow 2300 bucks American, you can't touch a mendeola for that much more than double that
Yeah, and you can get parts easier and a gear ratio that's much more suited to the Subie motor, if I ever upgrade this may be the ticket.
Wow there goes my huge reason to not build a bad ass dune buggy
Swmbo will not be pleased
Keep in mind that the prices on the SubaruGears site includes shipping.
I've been eyeballing this stuff for sometime now. It's a big part of my plans for the 850 Coupe I have tucked away in a buddies loft. A hot NA 2.0l Subaru built for XP would have to weigh in at a spry 1640lbs. It might not be nationally competitive, but it certainly would be a hoot. And the idea of a 5 speed with modern synchros and turn key reliability doesn't make the idea any worse in my mind. 
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