Interesting speedster for sale

I did not know US of A legal Volkswagens were produced anywhere in 1988.....  The Mexican and Brazilian Bugs were not allowed to be imported to my knowledge....  Just a point to ponder....   

says it's a 1575cc watercooled turbo engine?

huh what?

I don't think any Beetle's were water cooled in 1988.

That's my old Speedster that I sold almost a year ago. The same guy bought a couple of cars in the same month he bought the Speedster from me. It's a '73 pan and the build was titled in '88. The engine is a 2276 fuel injected and turbocharged setup with a water to air intercooler. Obviously a little information in the wrong hands is dangerous....

It's on eBay as well and it looks like it's had about 600 miles put on it since I sold it. I'd have to say he's a little steep on the price. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Porsch...Trucks#ht_105wt_1215

Can anyone tell me any more good/bad about this one?  (and/or Jimmy, if you have any more information on it and are willing to enlighten me to it, I'd be greatly appreciative!)

I quite like it, and think it'd serve the purpose I'm after.

(which is to buy one driveable, drive it for a while to find out what I want to tailor, and then perform the changes - if any)

That said, I plan to drive it a bit (some highway driving at around 100kmh/60mph for a few hours, since I live a bit outside of Toronto, but travel there quite often), and I'll have to bring it across the border/import it.

Thanks all!

It's a solid car and doesn't appear to have any modifications that I can see after it was purchased from me almost a year ago. It's great on the highway. My wife and I used to drive it to a mountain resort about 75 miles away and it never skipped a beat. I owned it for close to 11 years and personally built the engine and turbo system and repainted the car myself. The fuel injection system came from The Dub Shop as did the Megasquirt controller. It's an easy system to use but can be left untouched unless you're the type of person that likes to tune or retune fuel and ignition curves.

I'd be happy to answer any questions you have but of course cannot take any responsibility for the cars actual condition today. Here's a rundown of most of the specifics on the car: (copied and pasted from my original ad)

This particular Speedster is solid and runs just as well as most modern day factory built cars with a little surprise - a 2276 fuel injected turbocharged engine capable of leaving most modern day V8 muscle in the rear view mirror.

The body of this Speedster is fiberglass and has a beautiful clear-coated black finish. Take a good look at the pictures and then picture yourself cruising behind the wheel of this beauty. I've included LOTS of pictures of this Speedster in both shade and sunlight so you can see just how beautiful the finish is. The reflections in the clear coat finish are deep and clear and provide a mirror like finish but don't take my word for it - let the pictures do the talking.

Powered by a fuel injected, turbocharged 2276, this Speedster is capable of keeping up with the big boys without a sweat. Tuned at a conservative 10psi, this setup puts out an easy 200hp. Want more power - no problem - Turn the Hallman boost controller up to 15, 16, 17 or even 18psi and watch the white stripes on the asphalt turn into a solid stripe. This setup runs on straight 91 octane pump gas.

Engine, Turbo System, Fuel System, Ignition System and Transaxle Specifications:

(All engine parts have less than 3000 miles on them and the trans has less than 1000 miles)

82mm stroke x 94mm bore

NEW Aluminum Bubble Top Super Case

Forged Counterweighted 82mm Crankshaft w/ VW journals(8 Dowel)

H-Beam Rods

Mahle 94mm Cylinders and Forged Pistons

XR302 Camshaft (.529 lift with 1.4:1 Ratio Rockers)

CB Ultralight Racing Lifters

CB 044 CNC Round Port Heads with 42 x 37.5mm valves and VW 650 High Rev Dual Springs

26mm oil pump (Full Flow oil system with remote mounted filter and 72 plate oil cooler with 180 degree temp switch for electric fan control)

3.5 Quart Sump

Jaycee Pushrod Tubes

Chromoly Pushrods

1.5" Turbo Header

T3/T04e Hybrid Turbocharger built by Shag Leone Racing

Water-to-Air Intercooler with Radiator, Reservoir and High Volume Pump

Tial 38mm Wastegate

Type-S Blow Off Valve

Hallman Manual Boost Controller

RC Engineering 550cc Fuel Injectors

CB Performance End Castings

VW 48mm Throttle Body

Automotive Fuel Pressure Regulator

225lph Fuel Pump

Labonte Motorsports 250psi Methanol Injection System (Currently set up to run water from the reservoir for the water-to-air intercooler)

FORD Edis Electronic Ignition System (Crank Triggered for accuracy)

IRS Transaxle built by BENCO

AT code Single Side Cover (SSC) case

3.88 R/P (3.78 1st, 2.06 2nd, 1.21 3rd and .89 4th)

Super Diff

Heavy Duty Aluminum Side Cover

Welded Coarse Tooth 3rd and 4th Gears

To duplicate this powertrain including engine, trans, turbo, fuel and ignition system would cost well over $8,000 for the parts alone not including all of the installation accessories like tubing, hoses, clamps, etc!

Fuel and Ignition systems are controlled by a MegaSquirt 1 V2.2 ECU controller that is tuned through a USB cable connected to your laptop. As mentioned above, this setup is currently running 10psi boost but the current tune is capable of running up to 18psi of boost simply by turning the Hallman boost controller up. Fuel and ignition tables are mapped out past 20psi.

There are many aftermarket ECU's available for those wanting to convert their carbureted vehicles into fuel injected vehicles and I have had really good success for the past 3+ years with the MegaSquirt system. It is very user-friendly and has lots of continuing support through the developer and enthusiasts forums.

While cruising through town, the exhaust tone through the downpipe and Magnaflow muffler purrs like a kitten but once you press the throttle to the floor, you'll awaken a sleeping giant with the roar of a lion with LOTS of acceleration.

No matter what type of driver you are, this car will put an ear-to-ear grin on your face every time you drive it.

The interior is nice and finished in tan and brown vinyl. All of the gauges work however the tachometer does bounce around. There are additional gauges including a boost gauge, Engine Oil Pressure gauge (in addition to the idiot light in the tachometer) and an Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT) gauge.

Unlike most Speedsters that have a driver's seat that slides forward and backwards only, this Speedster has a power driver's seat that moves, forward, backward, up, down and tilts fore and aft so you'll be able to find that perfect driving position behind the Nardi steering wheel. Cocoa mats add a nice touch to the floor of the car and the driving lights mounted behind the front grills really help to light up the road ahead of you.

As I mentioned before, this Speedster has quite a bit more power than your typical Speedster and when you add more power to a car, it is just as important to add better brakes because 60 to 0mph is just as important if not more important than 0 to 60mph. This Speedster comes to a stop with the assistance of front disc and rear drum brakes and rides on oil-filled front shocks and adjustable rear air shocks. The Falken Ziex 512 tires have less than 2000 miles on them and should last for many years of trouble-free driving.

This Speedster comes with a quarter tonneau cover and new vinyl top that was installed about 6 months ago. The top could probably use some adjustment and has only been up twice - once when my wife and I got caught in a rain storm on a road trip and once for these pictures.

As I mentioned before; if you are not looking for a true head-turning vehicle, look elsewhere. This car gets more thumbs up than all of the Vipers, Corvettes, Mustangs and so on and you'll always be answering questions any time you pull into a parking lot or gas station. It's really amazing just how much attention these cars get and I will miss all of the attention.

Please look through all of the pictures and feel free to ask questions. I think that the pictures speak for themselves and even though this car is not a trailer queen, it could hold it's own at many shows. There are some small scratches and blemishes as this is not a new car and some wear and tear should be expected.

Dub Shop stuff is the best.

Water to air intercooler is interesting.  Jimmy, why didn't you go air to air?

Just not enough room in the front of the car without chopping it up to go air to air plus all of the additional plumbing to get to and from the engine and water to air is more efficient if you keep a good sized reservoir with a good sized radiator. This setup has both a good sized reservoir and radiator and you can also add ice to the reservoir to keep the temps down in case you wanted to head to the drag strip.

At 18psi, this car consistently outran my bosses C6 Corvette to 110mph by several car lengths. Needless to say he wasn't happy about it because all he could think was that it was an old school VW engine....

Whoa whoa, easy player, don't be makin' it look too appealing to other suitors!!!!

Haha!

Thanks for your info, definitely more than I expected. Sounds like you put as much thought into your build as I would, which is a plus.  What's a 'minus' is that it's been of the grid for a few months, so whoever's had it was likely beating on it a bit in the meantime (rightfully so, it sounds a fun car), but what're you gonna do.

Let's hope the guy can flex a little from asking price.  From what I've read, it's titled such that it won't give me TOO much hassle crossing the border...(hopefully)

eBay shows that it's had 5 offers so far but I'd bet they're pretty low offers.

Beating on cars is fun!