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Newbie here, and i just got a speedster, yippie!!!!!!

FM Former Member
Hey guys, i'd like to introduce myself, my name is martin and i live in toronto, ontario, canada. I've allways wanted a speedster replica, and all the ones i've seen here have been very pricey. I found a speedster replica that i knew nothing about, not even who made the kit, but i do know alot about beetles (i have a 74, and built one for my dad; a 71 beetle), so i know what to look for mechanically, but when i went to look at my speedster, i had to buy it. Not only did i get the car for what i thought was a extreemly good deal ($14000CDN), but the car was absoultly prestine. The history of the car was that it is a kit built in cali in 1997, and was bought by the previous owner to the one i bought the car from, he bought it in las vagas at a auction, and shipped it to toronto, put about 700mi on it and parked it in his loft!!!, he collects exotic cars and had about 20 cars in a loft!!!(basically his living room!!!) Then the guy i bought the car from bought it in 2003, drove it 1000mi and had engine issues (bad coil, cracked float in carb), he could'nt find anyone to fix it that knew VW's and parked the car for 3 years!!!. Here's where i come into the picture, and buy the car for $14000, and he was asking $25000, the car was appraised for $35000 for insurance purposes. The car had less than 2000mi since it was built in 1997!!!! i had to buy this car for that $ i could'nt find anything, got the $, ran down and drove it home. Then i sold my 1969 dodge charger and actually have ALOT of $ and the speedster, it was a excellent trade to me, the charger just fit into my garage, and i miss the space. I LOVE the speedster, and i have wanted one for years, finally i have the car, and my 1974 beetle, and i'm really happy. There's alot of unknowns about this car like the engine build. It has dual dellorto's (36's drla's) and 1:25 ratio rockers and solid pushrods, other than that i have no clue about the P/C set size. I'm going to take it apart and see what's in it, but the car makes alot of power. I'm guessing it's anything between a 1600-1914cc motor.

Hope the pics work, here they are: (excuse the lighting and wires under the dash, i was looking at the stereo wiring from the PO)

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/speedster/DSC04469.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/speedster/DSC04471.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/speedster/DSC04480.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/speedster/DSC04482.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/speedster/DSC04489.jpg
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FM Former Member
Hey guys, i'd like to introduce myself, my name is martin and i live in toronto, ontario, canada. I've allways wanted a speedster replica, and all the ones i've seen here have been very pricey. I found a speedster replica that i knew nothing about, not even who made the kit, but i do know alot about beetles (i have a 74, and built one for my dad; a 71 beetle), so i know what to look for mechanically, but when i went to look at my speedster, i had to buy it. Not only did i get the car for what i thought was a extreemly good deal ($14000CDN), but the car was absoultly prestine. The history of the car was that it is a kit built in cali in 1997, and was bought by the previous owner to the one i bought the car from, he bought it in las vagas at a auction, and shipped it to toronto, put about 700mi on it and parked it in his loft!!!, he collects exotic cars and had about 20 cars in a loft!!!(basically his living room!!!) Then the guy i bought the car from bought it in 2003, drove it 1000mi and had engine issues (bad coil, cracked float in carb), he could'nt find anyone to fix it that knew VW's and parked the car for 3 years!!!. Here's where i come into the picture, and buy the car for $14000, and he was asking $25000, the car was appraised for $35000 for insurance purposes. The car had less than 2000mi since it was built in 1997!!!! i had to buy this car for that $ i could'nt find anything, got the $, ran down and drove it home. Then i sold my 1969 dodge charger and actually have ALOT of $ and the speedster, it was a excellent trade to me, the charger just fit into my garage, and i miss the space. I LOVE the speedster, and i have wanted one for years, finally i have the car, and my 1974 beetle, and i'm really happy. There's alot of unknowns about this car like the engine build. It has dual dellorto's (36's drla's) and 1:25 ratio rockers and solid pushrods, other than that i have no clue about the P/C set size. I'm going to take it apart and see what's in it, but the car makes alot of power. I'm guessing it's anything between a 1600-1914cc motor.

Hope the pics work, here they are: (excuse the lighting and wires under the dash, i was looking at the stereo wiring from the PO)

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/speedster/DSC04469.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/speedster/DSC04471.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/speedster/DSC04480.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/speedster/DSC04482.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/speedster/DSC04489.jpg
Alan MerklinAlan MerklinDrclock - Elkins, West Virginia Supporting Member
Martin,
Based on the pics I would say it's probably a CMC speedster but I do notice that the carpet is not the type supplied by CMC.
I will also agree with your 1600-1914 cc thoughts as the dual 36mm Dells are perfect for this size engine.
Should you get curious and pull it apart, the bore size will be stamped on the top of the pistons. Nice car...... enjoy!

~Alan
FM Former Member
thanks alan, i'm a long time bug guy, and basically know alot about bugs having built so many, but based on what i read on here, and the library manual for the CMC speedster, i am 99.9999% that it's a CMC, but yes, the carpet, and leather seats must have been a finishing touch. My butt dyno (fairly accurate) tells me about 90hp, it's definetly a stout motor. I'm taking it apart for sure, the previous owner drove it with cracked floats in the carb, and a coil ment for a domestic car with external balast resistor, the points were burnt, and it was running extreemly rich. I'm thinking washing down with cylinders with raw fuel did'nt do it much good, compression is not very good and even across all cylinders so it's comming apart.

I just wanted to say hi, and show you guys my new ride, i think i got a really good deal, at least for a local car in this neck of the woods, basically $14000CDN converts to $12000USD or so, factor the really low miles (<2000mi) and a very obvious quality build, and i'm happy. The motor and tranny are brazillian OE VW new, and the front beam and suspension/brake components are new, not rebuilt. I'm sure there is a huge variance with the quality of the CMC's, depending on the builder, but this one was built very well, i'm very excited, by spring this car will be perfect and ready to hit the roads!!!
FM Former Member
thanks guys, you'll see alot of me now that i have a speedster!!! i've had the 74 beetle orange for 7yrs, and i LOVE that car. I've fully restored it, and did alot of mods to it like adjustable front beam, lowered rear, one peice windows, shaved some grills and lights, keyless entry on trunk and doors, nice stereo, fuch 914 2.0L alloys, basically everything has been done, this winter i plan to build the motor and finally fix the 2nd gear syncro in the tranny. As soon as the speedster is appraised the motor is comming apart. My beetle has a stock 1600DP motor with exhaust, 009 with pertronix, wires, ect.....here's more pics of the bug:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/DSC04304.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/DSC03710.jpg

beetle before:
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/IM000475.jpg

My dads' bug i built for him:
before:
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/Picture1.jpg
after:
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/DSC00194.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/paint/DSC00198.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/paint/DSC00199.jpg

I did everything myself on the bugs uncluding paint!!!!

hope you liked the pics:)

FM Former Member
Thanks, the speedster is allready there, asthetically the car is perfect, i allready alligned the doors, hood and engine lid, fixed some tidbits in the interior, now it's just the engine that i'm sorting out, it's comming apart to see what it really is, i can't take not knowing what cylinders are in there.

At least this speedster is just a beetle, and beetles i know inside-out, sure there's more stuff i can allways learn, but i'm really confortable with beetles, i could build one in the dark underwater if i had to, you know when you've built too many of them when you can say that!!!!! The speedster to me is the best of both worlds, a sheep in wolf's clothing if you will, the realibality of a vw, cheeeeeep parts, and the look of a speedster, it does'nt get any better.....well at least for me!!!!!

i'm joining the maddness, Hi, my name is martin, and i have a problem!!!!!:) Half the battle is admitting you have a problem!!!
FM Former Member
Congrats bro; nice job on the Bugs! The Speedster looks very nice; if it were me I'd swap the drums/disc brakes to the early wide five style which is the correct one for the Speedster; just like Lambros did. Just swap the drums to '67 units (the rears will need extra spacers if you have an IRS rear suspension); the car will look so much nicer, especially if you add the CB Performance aluminum drum covers for $89.95....

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FM Former Member
ricardo, what real difference would there be? is the original speedster equiped with disks and a wide 5 setup??? Everyone in the VW scene has the compulsion to run disk instead of drum brakes, but in reality the stock vw drum brakes are very good if properlly maintained. My bug stops on a dime and gives me change!!!, i've taken the car to a road course track and aside from the lack of power the brakes were awesome, even after repeaded braking they were ok and not too hot. I mean disks are good, but i kinda like drum brakes, at least you don't have to worry about that pesky brake dust!!! but if the original speedster had disks i'd consider it, maybe when the motor has alot more power and i actually need the disks.
FM Former Member
You can actually use whatever you want. Original Speedsters used big aluminum drums (which is basically what we're trying to recreate with the CB Performance aluminum drum covers). 356's went to discs in the early '60's; technically Speedsters were no more by the end of 1958 when the Convertible D (the Speedster's successor) was introduced. So to answer your question, the wide five set up is the original type of wheel in Speedsters. Fuchs do look wonderful in Speedsters too but that's what I consider a custom touch. In my car I have a stock rear drum set up and front wide five disc brake set up by AC (Tri-Mil) Industries. You can get them for around $400 to $500 depending on the vendor but you can just use '67 front drums just the same and they fit right on without any mods. Good luck with your project.
FM Former Member
intresting, thanks for that info. For now i'll just get the car perfect, and like with all the cars i've restored i'll read everything i can get me hands on and once i know all there is to know about speedsters i'll make a master plan to make it as correct as possible. you sure know alot more than me, being a new virgin speedster owner, but i'm very excited about the car, i sold my 1969 charger to buy this speedster, heres a pic of what i sold:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d13/69martin/DSC02769.jpg

Not only did i get the speedster for a deal, but i got alot of $ and the speedster, and my garage space back, the charger was 18' long!!!, and basically fit in my garage by 6", that made it a real pain to work on!!! plus i'm not missing the 5mpg charger with today's gas prices one bit. That charger had a 440ci motor, and drinks gas like it's out of style, it would cost me $30 just to go out for a night of crusin, that is if i did'nt floor it!!!!

question for you, i have access to 911 fuchs, off a 71 911T i had, would those be good rims? when you say fuchs you mean the 911 wheels? looking at the clearence in the back i don't think they will fit. I have 914 2.0L fuchs on my 74 beetle, and i was thinking about getting another set for the speedster and fully polishing them, plus the added benifit of just bolting them on with the 4x130mm pattern.
FM Former Member
Jim,

Yes, yes i did!!! I really liked the car, but chargers are retarded expensive to get parts for, the car was a nice driver, but not nearly as nice condition as the speedster, some parts were outragious in price so i'd leave them alone, i just refuse to pay crazy $ for parts. That's one of the reasons i sold it, i like things nice, not half done, but that car hauled butt, it was a mild 440, with about 420HP, and retarded amounts of stump pulling torque, but it was a pain to fix, mechnically those old domestic cars SUCK, but they look awesome. But i've been there, done that, time to move on, i drove that car 20000mi, so i got it out of my system.
FM Former Member
That Charger is just incredible!! What a beauty!!! Talking about Fuchs; what you said is correct; it's the 911 style wheel with the 5 by 130 mm pattern. Check out Dale Bates' Intermeccanica under the photo file named Dale; I'm pretty sure he'll be able to clarify wheel clearance, etc.
FM Former Member
Hey peter,

Ya, i think it's a good deal, i've been looking for a speedster on and off for about 5yrs, i talked to this guy in the summer, but the motor was'nt running well since it had the wrong coil and burnt points, he paid $32000 for the car in 2003 march. Being a vw guy i noticed the wrong coil on the car and when i popped off the dist cap i saw the burnt points, and knew right away that the car was ok, but he thought it was really bad. Actually it's a good thing that the car broke down, because he only really drove the car for the first summer he had it and then parked the car until now. I called 5 months after the add ran in the autotrader, and he still had the car and sounded desperate, i went and looked at the car and found out then that the car only had 2000mi since it was built in 1998. I just had the car apprahised today for $30000!!!!!
FM Former Member
Peter,

I will sell it to you for $30000CDN!!!!, just kidding. i'll let you know if i ever do decide to sell it, right now the engine is out, i've gone thru the entire engine and it's perfect, as a new engine with 2000mi should be. I found out it's a 1835cc motor, that explains and confirms what my butt dyno told me!!!

i plan to put the stock vw fan shroud on, throw away the chrome 36hp style one, and get heavy weight heater boxes in instead of the light weight ones (with no allum fins in it); no wonder they were just like a warm fart.
FM Former Member
Martin,
A few messages back you asked about Fuchs fitting on your CMC.
I have about the same generation CMC Speedster as you and they fit on mine.
I have 16" x 6" fuchs w/205/50's front and 205/55's on the rear. They are 84 911 front wheels. They are the same offset as the earlier 15" x 6" Porsche wheels.
I made sure when mounting the body, that it was centered. The rear tires JUST clear. My pan is IRS with front discs and rear drums. Dimension on the aftermarket Discs for the rear (like CBperformance sells) come out to the same dims, So Drum or Disc Rears end up the same dim. from Centerline of the Car.
Greg B

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FM Former Member
wow greg, you car looks awesome, i really like those wheels, but i can see on my car, the drivers side of the fender to the wheel is only about 1/2", so i think i'll have an issue, my car is irs rear, but for now, it looks like anything else but stock wheels will rub, not sure how to correct this, i guess by centering the body, on the passenger side there is alot of room. Your car looks exactly like mine, except the wheels and passenger rear view mirror!!!
FM Former Member
Hello Martin,

I guess you plan on driving it in the winter because there is no snow in Toronto right? Or you just want a little extra comfort in the fall time!

My original heater boxes on my 79 VW heat my car like a furnace and I have a auxiliary gas heater which turns the car into a sauna! I have to turn it on once in a while to keep it working.

Since you are a VW expert, any add on performance parts you can suggest without taking apart my engine. I still only have 88,000KM on the odometer.

My search for a Speedster begins today. I will post a want ad. How easy was it for you to get it across the border? What documents, insurance papers etc... did you need.

Thanks Martin, I look forward to seeing pics of the engine when its complete.

Regards,
Peter
FM Former Member
peter,

i bought the car here locally from a guy in bolton ontario. The PO brought the car from the US, so i can't tell you what's involved with bringing it to canada. I've been passivly looking for a speedster replica for about the last 5 yrs, this one i found in the auto trader, and spoke to the guy about the car on the phone, he really did'nt know anything about the car. He failed to mention that it only had 2000mi on it since built!!! after a few people came to look at it they just walked away from the car after seeing how bad the engine ran, amazing what a new coil and points will do to a car!!! and repairing the carbs. He made a BIG mistake selling the car as it was, with $50 worth of parts the car purrs like a kitten!!!!

As for your beelte, i'd say they run best stock. The only thing i'd suggest is a good set of spark plug wires, a electronic points replacment (huge difference in realibality and performance) and your basic tune up. One other thing that really helps is some type of preformance exhaust, i have a euro wide dual setup on my bug and it really improves performance and sound. Vw's are really under-carbed, and the best bang for your buck to upgrading a 1600 is to put on dual carbs, and like i mentioned the exhaust, wires, ect....but dual carbs will really make your car come alive, but really work well with the exhaust mods first. Other than that, there's a million other things you can do to your bug. If your completely stock now, confirm your distributor is stock vacuum advance type, it most likely is a 009 bosch replacment, if you have a 009, get a SVDA vacuum advance distributor, you won't recognize your car with that dist compared to the 009, allthough i have a 009 on my bug and basically a stock 1600DP motor and it works great, but i'm for sure loosing some low rpm responce/drivability, and MPG!!!!
FM Former Member
Peter,
ahhhh, right, silly me, FI car, you could switch to dual carbs. FI parts are getting hard to find, if you plan on sticking with it, collect all the spare FI parts you can. the dist and wires still apply, won't make a huge difference, but it will make some. You can tweek the computer, but the stock FI system is quite realiable, and works well.
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