Wild Brazilian 550 on BaT.

I want to hate that, and I should... but I can't and I don't.

It's glorious.

Yeah, the only thing I can fault are the wheels and the gauges. Nits to pick.

Sorry. That’s frikin badass.

Hate: gauges, wheels, and tacky color. But those I can forgive. I cannot forgive the rear-mounted radiator, which is why it only has 475 miles on it.

Love the concept of the Audi V6, and it looks like it has nice rear suspension.

But what does it have up front? I'd wager a ball-joint beam just like all the rest.

And how much does it weigh? And where's the torsional rigidity?

Hard pass.

Before I went the Speedstah route I was thinking of building a Fiero-based car and had bought a Fiero with the Pontiac 2.8L V6.  I only drove it once, from my Dad's house to mine after making repairs to the rear suspension, but O-M-G could that thing move!  

This 550 must be a rocket on wheels, but I agree with Danny that whomever buys it will be making cooling improvements in short order.

Nope.

I owned the first ever Suby Spyder in 2003. Greg put a big honking radiator in the back. Unless you were just on a nice Sunday cruise the thing would not cool. Drive in anger and the drive was over. I guess that’s why all Subaru kit cars now have the radiators in the front. Didn’t see the radiator on my 12 mini. That is a nonstarter. But it is the first time I’ve seen a watercooled V6 in a Spyder. Got a feeling my 200hp flat 4 Suby Spyder would smoke it.

Never thought an orange 356 would be attractive, nor did I like the look of the blacked out trim or no trim.  But this orange on this car is perfect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...qC1istvW0&t=151s

@550 Phil posted:

I owned the first ever Suby Spyder in 2003. Greg put a big honking radiator in the back. Unless you were just on a nice Sunday cruise the thing would not cool. Drive in anger and the drive was over. I guess that’s why all Subaru kit cars now have the radiators in the front. Didn’t see the radiator on my 12 mini. That is a nonstarter. But it is the first time I’ve seen a watercooled V6 in a Spyder. Got a feeling my 200hp flat 4 Suby Spyder would smoke it.

Has anybody else ever had difficulties with their water-cooled 356 overheating?  Can I assume that there is enough air-flow in the front of the car to cool the radiator?  Or do modifications have to be made to direct the air?  Does the air flow come from underneath the front sheet metal?

I’ve got a 550. Air comes into frunk through small vents in the front of the car then out the back of radiator. Obviously there is a fan on the back of the radiator that I cannot see unless I get under the car. Nothing to direct the air. I do remember that Lane’s car and some of the other Beck cars had fins in the front under the car to direct the air. Maybe a Beck owner or Carey can confirm.

The front suspension is completely customized and consists of a set of double “A” with coil-overs. The steering box is also from the Brazilian VW Gol GTI

Not a fan of Audi anything...but this combination likely works well !

  ReV

I just finished with a Subie EJ swap in my Spyder. We put two fans behind the rad in the frunk. I’ve only put a few miles on thus far as I need to get the suspension adjusted due to added weight and rubbing upfront, along w dropping to a smaller tire size but it’s cooling exceptionally well.

Here’s what it looks like-

https://imgur.com/a/3dwlM06

I missed the one picture of the front end suspension, I was looking on my phone and didn't catch that one. Looks decent enough.

But yeah, the rear radiator on the Spyder shape isn't gonna work, especially at higher speeds/loading.

Spyders are easier to make water-cooled due to that neat little slotted air intake grille in front.

356 cars are tougher to water-cool, although I'd like to see Carey use the 356C brake ducts to feed a radiator(or two small ones, a la modern-day Porsches).

@550 Phil posted:

I’ve got a 550. Air comes into frunk through small vents in the front of the car then out the back of radiator. Obviously there is a fan on the back of the radiator that I cannot see unless I get under the car. Nothing to direct the air. I do remember that Lane’s car and some of the other Beck cars had fins in the front under the car to direct the air. Maybe a Beck owner or Carey can confirm.

My Coupe had a scoop (coupe scoop?) under the front to route air into the radiator enclosure, but it was too low for the driveways here and was off-centered due to radiator placement.  I measured the intake area and made a cardboard model of one that was mounted higher, but wider and centered.  It had more frontal area than the original.  A friend of mine then formed an aluminum scoop to match the model I made.  Next I got a couple of fiberglass filler panels from Carey for the vents that are below the bumper on a real 356C.  I installed aluminum brake ducting fittings in each and routed one to the frunk where the A/C air intake was, and the other to the radiator enclosure.  The end result was a car that would stay cool event with the A/C running in the steamy Charleston summer traffic.  Very effective.

@Gordon Nichols, my Fiero-based 308 moved with the V-6 but moved even better when I installed the Caddy Northstar engine in it.

Yeah, I'll bet!  

That must have been awesome!

Went for $36.5K. Hopefully someone’s bet on an unknown chassis will pay off.