Building A-arms

Front suspension...

... is done. Its a Mcphersonstrut with a lower A-arm made from CromeMoly steel. Brakedisks are mounted directly to the wheels for weight reasons, titan nuts and bolts are used. Weight of knuckle, strut, caliper, disk and wheel less coilspring is about 6900grams (see pic) !!!


machined parts


before welding


joined


finished


caliper mount


disk mount


stopper


upper mount


complete assembly


6903grams


frontsuspension installed

Engine Plate

How it looks right now


How it should look in the end

Materials used ...

during build of the Karmann racer.

CromMoly tubing for chassis, suspension, ...
Aluminum for shocks, calipers, wheels, ...
Composites for roof, body panels, ...
Titanium, stainless for screws, ...

These come from austrian and american suppliers and when you are a lucky like Mexx you can buy titanium stocks at ebay for nuts :-).


titanium stocks

Pix summer 2007

Frame is almost done, kevlar roof is done, suspension is missing.

Shifter

Its a tiny little engine, to move fast forward, you have to shift. To do it fast and in sequence the decision comes down to the Liberty shifter www.libertysgears.com. To make the shifter work with the Porsche Transmission will be a project on its own.


Liberty shifter

Wanna have convenience,

run sub 10s in comfort, then you have to build your own Kirkey seat.


...take some sheets of aluminum


...weld together


...make some cheeseholes


...done


...put into your car


...onemore for the fearless passengers

4 link , ...

wheelhubs, diskhubs, calipermounts and QA1 shockmounts are done on the Karmann tube chassis racer.

New chassis pix

Measurements...

...were taken before the fibermolds are done. You can see the big hump for the rearslicks on top of the quarterpanel ? :-)



... maybe the tuberacer will look similar to this.

Ready again...

...after the nitrous damage. Whats inside the Agent Orange 2595cm3 Type 1 engine ?

• waterboxer case
• 100 barrels nikasil from Porsche 993 GT3
• 100 Mahle pistons from Porsche 993 GT2 Biturbo
• custom Pauter roller cam
• home built Competition Eliminator 51,5x41
• kennedy clutch stage1 (228mm) Quatermaster disc
• lightened 914 flywheel
• 52mm throttlebody EFI
• MSD dizzy+MSD Digital6+Blaster HVC II

Weight is the enemy

A quote from the most famous industrial designer Raymond Loewy . No one should forget when building a racecar. Lightened motorbike brakes for the tubechassis racer.

752g the bigger rear rotor
792g caliper with pads

Nitro afterglow

Last post we have seen what nitro does inside. Now the spectatorside of view. Same car, same engine and some beautiful nitrobackfire.


Mexx

Nikasil vs Nos ...

... and the winner is: NOS. Thanx to Mexx's engine research and developement we know now that Porsche piston and Nikasil cylinders cannot handle 200hp nitrous shots. Peakpressures smashes the ringlands down, blowby and disaster follows.


Mahle piston


Nikasil cylinder

The beauty takes ...

...shape. No name yet for Mexx's chopped Karmann. Suggestions welcome!


CroMo tube heaven

Megasquirt

The last time I visited my friend Mexx we did testdrive his Karmann Ghia with a new engine. Waterboxer block with widened borespacing, Nikasil-cylinders and pistons from Porsche 911, rollercam and the proven selfmachined heads with SBC Valves. A premiere was the Megasquirt DIY EFI which replaced the outdated GEO Storm EFI. The Megasquirt was really amazing and worked flawless over the rpm band. Still things for refinement are coldstart, coldidle at low temperatures, but its not easy to obtain smooth operation with a radical camshaft. For further info and purchase on Megasquirt go to MegaSquirt Electronic Fuel Injection Computer by Bowling & Grippo .

You wonder ...

how a VW Type1 magnesium enginecase designed for 34hp can handle 400hp. It can frequently in Mexx's Agent Orange but not for ever. Sometimes it seperates by its own after 6 to 10 races for the sake of Mexx who is on edge to put a new better engine in.
Quote of the Q-mile: "Renewal & progress from destruction"


Mahle, Scat mix

Agent Orange

My friend and long time dragace companion Mexx thinks about selling his awfully fast Karmann Ghia Convertible to be in favor of building a tube chassis Karmann. Featured in various magazines and articles this is obvisiously one of if not the fastest Type 1 engined Street Karmann Ghia Convertible in Europe. Top restored and modified with uncountable hours of machining and labor. Car runs high 13's with long streetgearing (150mph topspeed) and low 11's with slicks on nitrous. Car is built with lot of Porsche parts (5sp.tranny, drive axles, cooling), lightweight aluminum and carbon fiber parts, big brakes, datalogging and various uncountable details (i.e. carbon throttle blades). Engine is a fuelinjected 2.6litres Type1 with about 250hp naturally aspirated and about 400hp on nitrous. Asking prize is 30k € obo which reflects about 50% of investment. For further details mailto: info@mexxspeed.com


11s strike at airport

Start

Test!