135 mph VW van

SurfnFish

SurfnFish

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man, could I have had fun with this as a younger surfer jamming for the beach...lol
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"In 1986, Porsche was fielding two 959s in the Paris Dakar Rally driven by two teams: René Metge partnered with Dominique Lemoyne in one, and Jacky Ickx with Claude Brasseur in the other. And while these 959s were engineered to be off-road beasts, capable of handling the toughest rally in the world, they were still quick. With a 2.8-liter 400 horsepower flat-6, not much could keep up with them, including support vehicles.
While standard T3s were available with an array of engines, ranging from 1.6-liter flat fours and I4’s all the way up to a 2.6-liter I5, they were all slow. So rather than mod the existing engine, Porsche took a 288 hp flat-six from a 911 3.2 Carrera and dropped it in the engine bay. Engineers then mated that flat six with a Porsche transmission that routed power to the rear wheels. And since this was meant to keep up with rally racing, engineers also gave the T3 a unique suspension setup and bigger brakes. It was said to have a top speed of only 116 mph, but in reality, it was around 135 mph."
 
I put one of these FAS GenV gas engines in my VW camper and it goes pretty good.
www.foreignautosupply.com

GEN.V Turn-Key Engine Conversion Program for Vanagons

Welcome to FAS - Foreign Auto & Supply! Home of your VW Bus & Vanagon restorations.
www.foreignautosupply.com www.foreignautosupply.com

In fact I replaced almost everything mechanical in it with new, and now it’s a really dependable and great riding roadtrip/camping/fishing rig.

It’s been a great retirement project!

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SurfnFish said:
man, could I have had fun with this as a younger surfer jamming for the beach...lol
View attachment 46292
"In 1986, Porsche was fielding two 959s in the Paris Dakar Rally driven by two teams: René Metge partnered with Dominique Lemoyne in one, and Jacky Ickx with Claude Brasseur in the other. And while these 959s were engineered to be off-road beasts, capable of handling the toughest rally in the world, they were still quick. With a 2.8-liter 400 horsepower flat-6, not much could keep up with them, including support vehicles.
While standard T3s were available with an array of engines, ranging from 1.6-liter flat fours and I4’s all the way up to a 2.6-liter I5, they were all slow. So rather than mod the existing engine, Porsche took a 288 hp flat-six from a 911 3.2 Carrera and dropped it in the engine bay. Engineers then mated that flat six with a Porsche transmission that routed power to the rear wheels. And since this was meant to keep up with rally racing, engineers also gave the T3 a unique suspension setup and bigger brakes. It was said to have a top speed of only 116 mph, but in reality, it was around 135 mph."
Click to expand...

Having driven and loved these things I would say that would be a terrifying brick bring shoved through a reluctant atmosphere at that speed. I can only imagine the handling would be lethal. As in move the wheel too fast and lethal consequences follow.
 
Obviously when the engineers were done with it the only thing that even faintly resembled a VW was the body..as they did with this one. Look at the 50 sec mark, well over 100 mph
 
I used to have this ‘72 VW bus that the previous owner installed Porsche cams into it. What a fun, party wagon to ride the late 1980s in! The “flying bread box” could actually pass cars on the freeway.

I once was trying to make light from the downhill side of Lynn Ave and Eastlake, by the Eastlake Zoo. Lead foot pedal to the metal! I actually caught air, turned the wheel, and popped the turn on landing as the light went red. Some dude at the sidewalk cheered me for the win.

Sadly, I lost that ride to a rear-ender at the N-bound I-5 Mercer exit. Definitely the most fun ride I ever had.

Edit: I was going uphill to the intersection. A bigger feat that caught air! I felt like I was in a Fabulous Furry Freakbrothers comix! Lucky my ride didn’t fold in half making that 90 degree turn. Should have been a crumpled gum wrapper at the curb.
 
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