Hello! New to the VW world & I just got a 411

[morepowerX10]

Hello all.
A bunch of folks on other forums don't really like the 411. I thought it was cool. Saw a rare one on marketplace and the wife and I bought it.
Inside of the car was a BUNCH of stuff that I'm not going to use.
I'm in Ohio USA, and I plan on cutting the entire body off this VW bus platform and putting it on the floor pan of an Audi TT, SN95 V8 Mustang or even a Subaru something.

(parts leftover are now gone)

[EverettB]

You should post an ad in the classifieds section as we don't allow ads in the Forums.

Thank you.
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[morepowerX10]

[EverettB]

We can't move a Forum posting to the classifieds as it's not a Forum thing - please do an ad in the classifieds section of the site.

Classifieds (link at top of site):
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/

Specially - "Place an Ad":
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/add.php

I'll leave this thread in place in case you are going to do a build thread on the car?
Sounds interesting with the pan swap.
You said Bus - The 411 doesn't have a Bus floor pan though.
Buses don't have a removable floor pan either, they are all welded together.

Or if you need help identifying things - I can move this thread to the "General" Forum
I see a Bus/Ghia air cleaner in there for one
I think the roof rack is a Type 3 roof rack that bolts to the roof but could be 411/412 instead?
The jack is a nornmal Bug jack
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[raygreenwood]

[morepowerX10]

Well OK! I created a for sale post in the classisfieds, Hopefully I did that correctly.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2649674

Now on to the FUN PART!

I've successfully completed nearly 20 chassis swaps and sure- the majority were body on frame swaps. I'm experienced in basic engineering and I assure you you, I've had a look under this thing. Now- I assumed that because it had a bus type engine or axles or something, that it was closer to the bus than the bug. But, I'm not a VW guy. More of a V8 Hemi or V8 Coyote swap guy.

I was told it had bus parts, so I made an assumption. No big deal there, I hope. My saw & grinder will not know the difference.

My plan for this vehicle looks like this:
Strip the interior completely out except for the dash and the headliner. Weld in 1" square tube braces and one large "X" brace in the back. Leave the doors on and strap this thing through the door windows and gently lift it in the air. Once I do that- I will begin to make surgical cut lines below the bracing. Once I remove the entire floor and drag it outside- I'll look at what type of NEW suspension pickup points I'll need to fabricate.

Based on what I see so far, I'll be making tubular upper shock/strut towers for the Subaru (or whatever I choose later) that will occupy a new space inside the 411 shell, which I will build covers to blend into the old interior..
The rest of the NEW floor pan & driveline will be welded with fabbed pieces and bracing all the way around the old body, welding them together. This is nothing new for me... Done a bunch of 'em.

I might do a full roll cage- but that's only if I go the V8 mustang route. It all depends on what I find locally, cheap enough.

Being new to the forum, I get it. Nobody wants to see a solid old shell scrapped. Believe me when I say- this thing is getting back on the road.

I've done a Maserati Biturbo with a Lexus 1UZFE swap, about 15 Hemi Durango chassis swaps, A crazy 120hp snowmobile powered hovercraft, Several LS swapped things, one was a huge Ice cream van that pulled a teardrop camper carrying it's own high voltage diesel generator for the commercial kitchen equipment. So making sure this tiny can doesn't go all "Journey to the bottom of the sea submarine" on me- I'll be careful.

Sure- I'll do a build thread on this site, no problem. Image hosting is easy enough & sorry about the classisfied ad.

[Pepperbilly]

Holy cow! You have a real mix of VW parts there. See some water-cooled stuff also. I really like that oil bath air cleaner from a late split bus. Someone will pay good money for that. Is that a sunroof car? That would be very rare. It also may have had a roof rack. I see some rack parts on the ground.

This is a unibody car. Good luck slicing it apart as Ray mentioned.

Bill

[raygreenwood]

[morepowerX10]

I'm just glad the parts are getting a chance at new life in another project. If nobody needs them by the time I'm ready to call the scrap guy to pick up the steel from the swap, they'll be right in the pile with it. If I kept everything from every vintage vehicle I've built, I would have a literal junkyard instead of a garage.
Not trying to be mean or disrespectful to the VW parts, it's just time & space are crucial around here.

Keeping the "form" of the car is exactly what we want. We want it to look like a 1972 but take off down the road like a little race car

I'm going to look at a potential donor this morning. I'll keep the forum updated.

[412STi]

Hello
First: What you have in mind is nothing new and has already been done here in DE. A 411 Variant became a 997/411 version. Cost close to 1/4 million Euros to make it street legal.
https://www.speedheads.de/auto-news/th-vw-411-vari...09110.html

We can't save everything, but your car looks complete and has a rare sunroof.
My suggestion would be to spare this car and get an example from a junkyard that looks worse. These are usually bad at the bottom anyway and it wouldn't matter cutting them up.
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[morepowerX10]

[raygreenwood]

[morepowerX10]

I stand corrected by the experts as usual lol

At any rate- I've just re-measured the donor vehicle and it's going to fit Perfectly. Wide gnarly stance, exact same wheelbase and room for the strut towers.

When I get the donor cut down to the floor level I'll post some pics.
These are not nor have they ever been high dollar builds but let me tell ya- I get em done and they're back on the road in record time. Reliably.
The history of the 411? Doesn't mean much around here. As a matter of fact, it'll get rebadged as ? I'll come up with something fun no doubt.

[Pepperbilly]

Keep us posted. This will be interesting.

Bill

[raygreenwood]

[morepowerX10]

[morepowerX10]

If anyone is reading this and wants any of the parts in the above pictures, they're gone. I saved a couple things I thought I might need, and have the full trim for the 411. Everything else is in the great scrapyard in the sky.

On to the build:
I have selected a full floor pan/chassis donor. It's a 2002 Subaru Forester. Front engine, AWD and makes 165HP. Same wheelbase. I'm basically doing a complete floor pan swap. Everything will in fact fit under the 411, but the entire body of the Forester, is too wide.

No problem, I'll "capture" the strut mounts, weld them to the floor of the Suby and cut the body off. Nothing new here...

I saved the roof rack, I like the patina. I might do a full rally car livery on this thing, not sure yet.

[morepowerX10]

I've captured the tops of the rear strut mounts with 1&1/2" steel tube, welded to plates and positioned them directly over the strongest parts of the Suby floor pan's boxed sections. Worked perfectly, nothing moves except the suspension.

I welded everything half way for now, and cut the rest of the rear body off. The back end will now fit under the rear of the VW 411 shell. The front end??

Oh that needs to be narrowed as well. If you've ever seen a unibody drag car with a "front half" tubing struture capturing the suspension- this (much like the rear) is what I'm doing. I'm also replacing the big side rockers and firewall structure with 2x3 rectangle steel and tubular supports over the front strut turrets. All of this will fit nicely under the 411 shell. The Subaru dash is leaving, although I may insert the Suby dash cluster into the 411 dash.

If anyone is concerned about "crumple zones" lol you've not seen our youtube channel. We're former FMX motorcycle jumpers/MX Racers and oval track racers, BMX ramps/MTB jumpers. If you're worried about how this will behave in a crash test- stay home. This thing is for fun and trust me when I say- it'll get a real roll cage and 5 point harnesses IF it does anything beside hooning around the private property.

[morepowerX10]

Oh! I almost forgot- I picked up some rad little wheels for this thing. Complete with good snow tires. Blizzaks, in fact. I prefer BFG all terrain KO's but this will do, for now.

I'll update this thread in a few days, the holidays are starting next week... y'all know how that goes.

[raygreenwood]

Cool!

Oh...almost forgot to mention. If you are going to use the interior from the 411...be careful what you tear up as you remove things. Aside from a few switches and teh steering wheel and a couple of steering column parts....the 411/412 interior parts are unique to the car. Don't tear up things you might want to use.

That being said...really good headliners kits are available. I can send you links. Ray