Just ordered my 1st Speedster out of VMC in "918 Acid Green" (people either hate it or love it) with Black Accents and Subaru Engine. Debating on center black stripe or off centered stripes. How has everyones experience with VMC been? I also have a 2013 Boxster S with PDK in the same color so cant wait to own both a newer and "old" Porsche and compare the 2!
Attached photoshopped plans for the build!
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Not my first choice in color, reminds me of the osha safety green vests I wore once upon a time- but hey, whatever tickles your fancy. Congrats on the purchase, I’m sure you will enjoy it.
haha yeah, I can definitely see that! I don't know why but for some reason have loved the color ever since porsche unveiled the 918, and have always had compliments on it. 100% not a "traditional" color but wanting to add some touch of modern elements to the car as well to make 100% my own.
Any recommendations on adders or mods needed to make me enjoy the car more?
Love the color on your Boxster, not sure on the Speedster but I agree it will be cool to have a matching set. How long is your wait time?
I appreciate it, and I was thinking of doing another color but in the end its one of my favorite colors, and the matching set won me over. I was told between 18-22 months. Wish I could pay more to move that date up haha.
Also does anyone here recommend which transmission I should get right now I have the 3:44 but saw others talk about 3:88. This is my first manual car so not sure what the difference is, so please excuse my ignorance.
I do live in Dallas, TX where roads are some what busy and will be taking this on Highway cruises with my car club and out in about in town,
WOW that pops! You won't lose that in the sea of white cars in a parking lot. Just like a "real" Porsche those options add up fast! Now the long wait.
Impatiently awaiting one but I do know the subie engine is near done but that's it for now - if you're like me, you'll be impatiently waiting 
@msjulie how long have you been waiting so far?
I bought a Speed Yellow once thinking that I'd repaint it at the first opportunity. I grew to love it. I can totally understand how Acid Green could do the same thing. Congrats on your order! I can't think of anything I'd add.
@EnerG_CEO posted:Also does anyone here recommend which transmission I should get right now I have the 3:44 but saw others talk about 3:88. This is my first manual car so not sure what the difference is, so please excuse my ignorance.
I do live in Dallas, TX where roads are some what busy and will be taking this on Highway cruises with my car club and out in about in town,
The longer ring & pinion gear (3.44) will drop the rpm's out on the highway but will be a little slower off the line, while the shorter (3.88) will be quicker from a dead stop, a little 'zippier' around town and in parking lot slaloms but a little slower on the highway.
Given that you're going with the 190 hp Subaru engine package and "will be taking this on highway cruises with my car club" I think the 3.44 is probably the better bet here.
http://johnmaherracing.com/cal...ar-ratio-calculator/
Note the stock 1st through 4th gears and 25" tire in the calculator- change the appropriate box if running a different tire diameter or to see the effects of the 3.88. Hope this helps. Al
PS- Of course, to be able to have both- quick acceleration and a higher cruising speed, requires joining the Way of the 5 club. Has VMC put a Subaru 5 speed trans in a Speedster? I know IM has done a couple.
A Subaru "reverse geared" 5 speed would be "da bomb" in that car!
Benefits - No adapter for engine to VW trans required. Strong trans designed and geared for Subaru engine. Uses Subaru clutch assembly. Not starting off with a 50 year old transaxle. A very popular conversion.
Congratulations. Like I said in another post, You do you. Beck wait list for a speedster is 30 months. Suby 5 speed sounds like a good idea but if Greg doesn’t do Suby 5 speeds you could go old school and do a Porsche 901 or 915 5 speed. I’m putting a 901 in my Beck but I’m also using a Type 4 Porsche engine in my car. I have a Suby Spyder with a 4 speed VW transmission. I actually like the Subaru power but I also like the old VW tranny since in make the car feel vintage.
We just did our second car with a Subaru Gears 5 speed conversion. This car is actually our shop car now. I will be posting some video and info soon.
Greg
@VSpyder posted:We just did our second car with a Subaru Gears 5 speed conversion. This car is actually our shop car now. I will be posting some video and info soon.
Greg
Geesh our shop car back in the day was a very greasy Datsun B210 that wouldn't die :~)
Just added the 5 speed Subby trans!
@EnerG_CEO posted:Just added the 5 speed Subby trans!
Well, that didn't take much convincing...
Seriously, you won't regret it- it's 1 of the best things you can do to a Speedster. (except for a 6 speed. Too bad there's just not enough room, 'cause a 6 speed would be that much cooler again. My son's Civic SI with the 6 speed is sooo neat to drive- there's close gears EVERWHERE! And too bad it's not a convertible...)
The nose cone is way longer so that makes the tranny too long for most installs of a six speed but I think it has been done in vanagons.
The Suby powered 'shop car' Greg references was my build that I had to give up (heartbreak, personal matters). That was my 2nd build with Greg and it has the Suby 5 speed. Greg's builds are worth the wait and you know he's got a long waitlist. And, by the time he gets to yours, he'll have any bugs worked out on the 'shop car' (which I still hope to be able to purchase once Greg completes). 22 months must mean Greg is increasing production rate; given demands he's facing, I would have expected longer.
@EnerG_CEO posted:@msjulie how long have you been waiting so far?
March of 2021 - I know the engine is near complete and now I learn that Subie 5speeds 'are a thing' but I'm too impatient to wait for a change order
@msjulie posted:March of 2021 - I know the engine is near complete and now I learn that Subie 5speeds 'are a thing' but I'm too impatient to wait for a change order
I know it would push back your delivery date (and raise the final cost a chunk) but if you consider yourself a driver and like to drive AT ALL- it's one of the best things you can do to a Speedster. You won't regret it.
@ALB posted:Well, that didn't take much convincing...
Nah. No need. I only use 1-2 for autocross and 3-4 on the track. Honestly I skip 5th a LOT on the street. The gears are so close you can do that and not miss it.
5 is plenty, in a Speedster.
Disclaimer: the above anecdotes are in a 2007 Cayman S.
@IaM-Ray posted:The nose cone is way longer so that makes the tranny too long for most installs of a six speed but I think it has been done in vanagons.
You're right, of course- even with a Type 1 transaxle there's not enough room for a 6th gear while keeping the bellhousing in the same place. Gene Berg was on record as saying a 6 speed would actually be ideal and there's some compromises even with a 5 speed, but the torsion housing limits how far forward the nose cone can go and in a Beetle (or a Speedster, really) you can't push the engine back any further and still be able to remove/install the engine with the stock body work in place. If you've ever re & re'd an engine in a bug you know there's little enough room already; with the engine mounted even just 1" or so further back it plain wouldn't work.
As we all know, the stock 1st through 4th gears are spaced correctly for normal driving while keeping the engine running at normal temperature parameters. Lengthen the 3-4 gear spacing (go from .89 to .82- your typical 'Freeway Flier') and you create a 4-5 mph hole where under a heavy power demand (going up a long hill) a small engine (less than 1.9 or 2 liters) doesn't necessarily have enough power to accelerate through that 4-5 mph 'space' in 4th and the fan isn't spinning fast enough to carry away the waste heat from sitting at full throttle at the lower rpm. When I first got into VW's it was called 'lugging it', trying to accelerate in too high a gear for the situation (and was warned by everyone familiar with VW's to NEVER lug it). You can get away with the .82 gear with a bigger (more than 2 liter) engine but the 3-4 shift still just doesn't feel right- the spacing is wrong (as a couple of people here will attest, having tried it). This is why the advice for most people with 4 speeds is "leave the 1-4 gearing alone!"
With a 5 speed you shorten up the 2-3 and 3-4 spacing for faster acceleration while putting the stock 4th in 5th. Close 3rd and 4th gears work great for drag racing and are fantastic to drive on the street, while the stock 4th (as 5th) still does nicely as a highway gear. It works, even as a canyon carver, although I can see that if you were really serious you might want to shorten up 5th just a little as well. You could adjust a 4 or 5 speed for canyon carving with the top gear being the highway gear and shortening up all gears below (it will be expen$ive- a custom mainshaft with matching 1st and 2nd gears is over $1,000 and custom ratios in 3rd and 4th are 300 -$400 each), but even with a 5 speed it's no longer quite the around town street stomper it was. Danny's done this in the new trans for his Spyder and I think it will work quite well with his 2165 having such great power, a fantastic torque curve and the car being so light, but the wider 1-2 spacing won't be optimal This is where a 6 speeds excels- you get great stop light performance and top speed with close ratio gears EVERYWHERE!
The 6 speed in my son's 2012 Honda Civic SI is a blast to drive, around town AND out on the open road!
Rpm drops shifting at 3500 rpm with stock gears-
1.26- 0.82- drops to about 2250- This is the longer 4th gear that's so popular. Question- if it was as simple as just installing a longer gear for better highway speeds/quieter, lower rpm engine running and better mileage don't you think VW would have done it?
And for those interested in 'typical' close ratio gear spacing-
1.12- 0.82 drops to about 2550- it will work, as it does keep the engine/fan happy (the drop is 100 rpm closer than the stock 3-4 drop), but if you're looking for acceleration into top gear you can see why the 0.89 is the better choice here. Even better for acceleration would be a 0.94 (stock Beetle 4th with the 3.88 r&p) but some people wouldn't like the 4 mph drop in cruising speed at 3500 rpm.
Notice how as you shift from lower to higher gears the recovery rpm (where the rpm's land in the next gear) keeps going up- it's what keeps the engine in the powerband as the car gets faster. It's why the 1.26- 0.82 spacing doesn't feel right. If you look at stock transmission gear ratios you'll find that every automobile manufacturer follows this to get the most out of the power the car has. The wrong spacing in any gear and it just doesn't feel right (and will affect what buyers say about the car).
I wish I had more access to gearing information like this when I was building my Spyder. Not knowing too much about the subject, when the trans builder asked me what gears I wanted, I referred to my old drag racing days where close ratio gearing was the way to go. My gears are: 3.88 final, 3.80 first, 2.06 second, 1.48 third, and 1.03 fourth. In hindsight, I wish my fourth was .89 so that it wouldn't wind so high on the highway. The other alternative would have been a 3.44 final.
I have similar gearing in my Spyder. Honestly I have no desire to get on the highway with my Spyder and when I have to the rpms are way too high to sustain a long trip. But when I’m on back roads or in the mountains they are just about perfect. I don’t think the highway is that car’s mission. After driving Danny’s car I realized my shifter is too long. We have the same shifter linkage. Mine requires a lot of arm motion while shifting his car is all in the wrist. Time for a shifter chop.
@Fastal posted:I wish I had more access to gearing information like this when I was building my Spyder. Not knowing too much about the subject, when the trans builder asked me what gears I wanted, I referred to my old drag racing days where close ratio gearing was the way to go. My gears are: 3.88 final, 3.80 first, 2.06 second, 1.48 third, and 1.03 fourth. In hindsight, I wish my fourth was .89 so that it wouldn't wind so high on the highway. The other alternative would have been a 3.44 final.
3.44 is the way to go for you- it'll keep the gear spacing all the way through and give 9-10 mph more highway speed. Just changing to the .89 4th will create a huge 3-4 hole.
As long as your tied to having the engine turn around 3K rpm for cooling to turn the fan, your stuck even if you have 32 gears forward and 8 reverse gears if you can fit it in the box.
In the end the cruising gear has to run so the fan turns at 3K, whatever that fan speed it but then you could of course create a variable speed fan NOT.
I feel that VW had the gearing spot on for 50-60 hp, as they obviously knew the engine rpm and fan speed to cool the engine at cruising speeds. Cruising speed cooling requirements don’t change with higher horsepower motors, for a given cruising speed. What does change is less of a need for short 1st and 2nd gears, as a motor with 150 lb-ft of torque can pull a taller gear. This is what I’m doing in my Spyder project, and is also what @DannyP is building into his new transmission. VMC offers something similar in their option sheet.
There are two downsides to this, one is giving up some acceleration in 1st and 2nd, the second is cost. You need a new mainshaft, at approximately $1000.
I’m willing to trade some initial acceleration for a close ratio box that has a usable 1st gear that you don’t have to shift before crossing an intersection, and spaces all the gear changes appropriately.
I had a 3:44 R&P with a 2110cc and it was a good fit, most times, but as Al said there are gaps or holes it seems that you have to live with but it worked well for cruising with a larger engine.
Hey! Whatever tickles your fancy! These are replicas and basically an empty canvas and perfect to do your own creation. This one will definitely be a one of a kind! And your choice of matching Suby drivetrain is spot on for your area; you'll be able to drive anywhere in this guy with no problems.
FYI, with my current trans(stock gears 1-4, 0.89 4th and 3.44 R&P) I have been cruising at 2500 rpm with zero overheating issues. I can go as low as 2000 just cruising around. I would NEVER mash the gas at that low rpm, but have from 2500rpm and up.
You don't REALLY have to run them at 3000 rpm if you have a good cooling system(and low head temps). And it helps if the mixture and spark advance is correct.
One thing I forgot to mention is that that colour surely will get people's attention and it might keep you safe. But you will have to drive it on March 17th ...
@ALB posted:The longer ring & pinion gear (3.44) will drop the rpm's out on the highway but will be a little slower off the line, while the shorter (3.88) will be quicker from a dead stop, a little 'zippier' around town and in parking lot slaloms but a little slower on the highway.
- 3.44- 72.9 mph at 3000 rpm, 85 mph at 3500 rpm
- 3.88- 64.6 mph at 3000 rpm, 75.4 mph at 3500 rpm
Just some feedback based on my experience with my new VMC speedie. I have the 3:88 R&P (at least that’s what I ordered). I assume the gears are stock - perhaps Greg can affirm? Tires are 195/65/R15 and I’m powered by the ‘standard’ Greg/Pat 2332. At 70 mph in 4th my tach reads about 2800 rpm which is quite a bit different than Al cites above.
Around town I have little use for fourth gear. I rarely use it below about 55mph, and even then only if the road is flat or downhill and I’m cruising or coasting. I can get through an intersection in first. Slowing down for a slowish 90deg turn usually requires a downshift to first though. I have pulled a decent grade at freeway speeds once, and only for about a mile. It was a non-issue, but I did have open road ahead of me. If I was forced to slow down I suspect I’d need 3rd gear to get back to speed.
The 2332 gives me enough torque to get through the sluggish spots, and because I try to adopt the El Guapo attitude of driving my car the setup works quite well for me. If I wanted to row through the gears with consistently more pep, then I’d probably long for shorter gears.
Jon
@Jon T, something isn't correct here. Assuming a tire height of 25", a 3.88 with a .89 4th gear gives 60.3 mph at 2800 rpm. If you ordered his upgraded transmission with the .82 4th gear, that would give you 65.5 mph at 2800 rpm.
I'm wondering if your speedometer is not calibrated correctly?
If stock gearing with 3.88 r&p, it would take 3250 rpm to go 70 mph.
@LI-Rick posted:@Jon T, something isn't correct here. Assuming a tire height of 25", a 3.88 with a .89 4th gear gives 60.3 mph at 2800 rpm. If you ordered his upgraded transmission with the .82 4th gear, that would give you 65.5 mph at 2800 rpm.
I'm wondering if your speedometer is not calibrated correctly?
If stock gearing with 3.88 r&p, it would take 3250 rpm to go 70 mph.
Question: I have 165s; my car is supposed to have a "Freeway Flyer"; I am at 3,000 rpm at 60 mph. I do notice a gap in terms of rpms from 3rd to 4th; it's fine from 1st through 3rd. In other words; sometimes at certain speeds 3rd seems to give me too high rpms but shifting to 4th is too low. Not sure if I have a 3.88 or a 4.12 with just a lower 4th gear. What's your take? Thanks!
My speedometer appears to be accurate - any time I’ve approached a digital sign displaying my current speed (there are a few around town) it is dead on or off by 1 or 2 mph at most. I can’t declare that they are precise, but I’ve agreed well with more than one.
I suppose it is possible that my gearing isn’t stock, after all I never asked what the gears would be. I simply asked for the 3:88 option. I also suppose it is theoretically possible I didn’t actually get the 3:88 but I would think that highly unlikely.
@Impala posted:Question: I have 165s; my car is supposed to have a "Freeway Flyer"; I am at 3,000 rpm at 60 mph. I do notice a gap in terms of rpms from 3rd to 4th; it's fine from 1st through 3rd. In other words; sometimes at certain speeds 3rd seems to give me too high rpms but shifting to 4th is too low. Not sure if I have a 3.88 or a 4.12 with just a lower 4th gear. What's your take? Thanks!
Freeway Flyer was a term invented in the 1980’s by a company called Transform. They had huge glossy ads in the VW magazines. Mostly this term has come to mean a stock transmission with a 3.88 r&p and a .82 4th gear. This does lower rpm at cruise, but at the expense of a huge gap between 3rd and 4th.
With the numbers you gave me, the gear calculator says you probably have a 4.12 r&p with a stock .89 4th gear.
Thank you; that’s what I’ve figured.
@Jon T posted:My speedometer appears to be accurate - any time I’ve approached a digital sign displaying my current speed (there are a few around town) it is dead on or off by 1 or 2 mph at most. I can’t declare that they are precise, but I’ve agreed well with more than one.
I suppose it is possible that my gearing isn’t stock, after all I never asked what the gears would be. I simply asked for the 3:88 option. I also suppose it is theoretically possible I didn’t actually get the 3:88 but I would think that highly unlikely.
Jon, running your numbers through the calculator, the only way I come close to 70 mph at 2800 rpm is a 3.44 with a .89 4th gear. This gives 68 mph, which would be inside the margin of error in my book.
