My Gazelle build

[2mAn]

Hmmmm... A Gazelle kit car, home-made frame, water-cooled Vee-Dub engine and Porsche transaxle.. You gotta be nuts!

Yep, you've found the right place! Welcome to the forum!

Good to have you on board, and the project looks interesting. Keep after it, and keep posting!

JDK

Thanks! Its nice to be among those who dream big. Ive been waiting for my buddy to finish making my rear subframe mounts because he has access to awesome tools (Matt Murray over at Eastwood. Seriously check out the stuff he builds. amazing). While thats been going on, Im preparing myself to build the front control arms. I have also started to visualize how I want the frame to come together. Ive gone through a few different ideas and after looking at the book frames, it will help to bring the idea to life.

I also purchased one of the rollbars available in the classifieds. I dont have access to a mandrel bender and the style is exactly what I pictured it to look like. One less thing to worry about down the road.

I also need to purchase a VW Beetle center tunnel because that will be my way to have a VIN and also make the car street legal for California. At least thats the plan for now. The thinking is that the Beetles also use a very similar rear torsion beam setup so structurally it should be pretty solid. I just hope this thing doesnt get too heavy.

In other random news, I traded my way to 9.5:1 pistons, a MLS headgasket, and a turbo-less BAE turbo kit for a BMW M10 motor. I believe this motor might be better suited to what I want the engine bay to look like and it also frees up the VW motor for a possible Super Vee or possibly a swap motor for a 914 down the road. Either way, I plan on building the engine, and the final powerplant will be determined down the road.

For now, I need to build a frame

[2mAn]

I took a chance on buying the rollbar without measuring the dimensions that Jonathan gave me, but it ended up perfect! I hope to have some more current pics, but really I am trying to get as much ready until my small break that I will have in December. Hoping to have the rear subframe mounts ready to weld, and also have a head start on making the front a-arms.

Anyways, carry on...

[GonzoRacer]

(Matt Murray over at Eastwood. Seriously check out the stuff he builds. amazing).

Would that happen to be the same Matt Murray who is/was an avid autocrosser and one of the main guys at the old Team.Net bulletin board? If so, please give him my regards! Good guy!

[2mAn]

(Matt Murray over at Eastwood. Seriously check out the stuff he builds. amazing).

Would that happen to be the same Matt Murray who is/was an avid autocrosser and one of the main guys at the old Team.Net bulletin board? If so, please give him my regards! Good guy!

Doesnt sound like him. He is more of a builder than a racer. He has some cool projects going on right now.

In Gazelle related news, I have been thinking about this a lot lately and Ive always had this nervous feeling about mating the VW or even the BMW motor to the 944 drivetrain . Recently I traded my way to some cool parts which meant building another motor, I realized that I need to reel in my imagination and get more logical. So, Im selling a bunch of small extras so I can buy a 944 motor to mate to the 944 drivetrain so that part would be a bolt on affair. And then I start browsing Pelican Parts classifieds and found a Weber DCOE 45 setup for a 944 on a custom (and very well built) intake manifold and BOOM, a new vision and more logical approach.

I really am getting anxious and am hoping to have a few things ready to go so when I have a few weeks free I can make some real progess on the frame, because if I can make solid progress there, this could be a reality sooner than later.

Stay tuned

[Miatav8,MstrASE,A&P,F]

Using the vw chassis/pan makes a lot of sense. You may want to go ahead and insure and tag the vw, so it will be ready to go unless there are other inspections required annually in your area.

[2mAn]

Using the vw chassis/pan makes a lot of sense. You may want to go ahead and insure and tag the vw, so it will be ready to go unless there are other inspections required annually in your area.

Yea instead of using the entire pan, Im basically using the center tunnel and building the frame around it. This would also give me a VIN and a pink slip, so when it comes to making it street legal, I should be ahead of the game.

Im in the works of picking up a 944 complete motor, but I want to try and grab the front subframe along with the steering rack too. If the front subframe fits in between the frame rails, I will be so happy I might do a cartwheel. So far the pieces seem to be meshing well and I hope by taking too much time to think about it I can continue to have these thing flow easier. The weber and carb manifold got sold, so that sucks, but it might work out in my favor if I can make this deal work for the complete motor, a front subframe and the steering rack.

[2mAn]

A slightly overdue update, but I recently went and picked up a full 944S motor, all the wiring, a manual steering rack, the front subframe, and a few other parts. The guy I bought the parts from was excited to help in the build and gave me several more parts for free. He also noticed that my 944 transmission was from a turbo and offered to trade me straight up for the 944S transmission, which I gladly agreed to. The 944S is a 2.5L 16v 4 cylinder motor with around 190bhp and with a free flowing exhaust and a new chip I should be over 200bhp with a stock motor. I will also have a matching transmission so the ratios will match the powerband of the motor. This motor is far from "era correct" for what Im building but being that this is my first build of this magnitude, I wanted to simplify a few things and having subframes, matching parts and a bolt on steering rack should help when I start to put this whole thing together. I think for now, Im done with the "buying" and can start focusing more on "building" The front subframe also looks like it will fit nicely between the body of the Gazelle. Im getting excited and really wanted to get cracking, but while I was borrowing my friends truck to pick up these parts, he had my BMW and promptly crashed it leaving me car-less temporarily and also killing a few of my free weekends, so hopefully this wont sidetrack me too much. Anyways, on to the few pics I took when we threw it all in the garage.







I hope to get a rough mockup of the drivetrain the next time Im out there and I hope my friend will have made some progress on the rear mounts, because thats really where i want to start building this frame from.

[2mAn]

Finally got to spend a few hours playing in the garage.

I started with the front subframe, it was pretty nasty



and heres an after picture of using some purple power and some elbow grease. A parts washer wouldve been easier and had a better result, but I dont have one so...



Had a chance to mock up and get a rough idea of how the frame rails will line up with everything and so far it looks good. Of course, once I start welding stuff, it could get worse or not. Fingers crossed that it still looks good



down low from the side



another view from the other side



The bad news is that the alternator doesnt quite fit... who needs an alternator anyways! I will just remove it... No, seriously theres either a power steering pump or A/C pump on the lower end and I will try to mount the alternator down low. Granted, this may not be an issue once the torque tube is totally bolted in place.



Its pretty tight right now



And on this side, the cap also interferes, but I cant really move this. Im hoping the motor will move back a little to gain some clearance, but for now its something I have to be aware of



and some loose & tight gaps that will help things along when they get shut.

Heres the gap between the torque tube & the bellhousing



Is there supposed to be a gasket here or something??



Im missing the nut & bolt that holds these splined sections together but this will tighten things up a little



I got pretty lucky blindly buying this rollbar from a member here and it fits like a glove!!!



Its just mocked up next to the roughly where the frame rails should sit and the width is but its pretty damn good! Obviously there will be another layer of tubing, but this makes me pretty happy about how this whole project will turn out



Still fits behind the rear panel !



and up front, I hope we move closer to the firewall that I havent made yet



I get excited when I see something like this





edit: I also found out that my buddy Matt will be here visiting so were going to the Grand National Roadster Show next weekend!! and even MORE exciting is that he told me he will be hand delivering my parts to me. He better, if he plans to crash on my couch!!

[2mAn]

GOOD NEWS!

The Porsche 944 freaks over at Pelican Parts informed me that there is a factory A/C delete MOUNT(!) that moves the alternator down low. Now I just need to but the $200 MOUNT, a new belt and whatever else I might have to deal with

944 603 134 02 M100

Also, Matt informed me today that he is getting started on my part, I hope he finishes it in the next 24 hours!

[2mAn]

MORE GOOD NEWS!!!

Matt did it at the last minute, but he sent these last night. Im so excited to see my "CAD" transferred into metal 3000 miles away.







Welded up!







All done and cleaned up!

[GonzoRacer]

Now I just need to but the $200 bracket

OK, first of all, please don't use "That word" in here. It has been known to cause my head to explode, which really slows me down for a day or three...

And second, the "$200" in front of "That word" makes it even more offensive, if that's possible... Geeze, get your buddy to take two or three pictures of it and make your own! It's easy, just ask "Bubba the Br*cket Builder" about it...

*Note 1- The saga of Bubba the Br*cket Builder can be found on page 7 of my build log.*
*Note 2- Picture of exploding head can be found on page 8, after Marcus said "That word" one more time.*

Seriously, that sounds crazy high for a glorified alternator mount... Sure you can't make one?


JDK

[2mAn]

Now I just need to but the $200 bracket

OK, first of all, please don't use "That word" in here. It has been known to cause my head to explode, which really slows me down for a day or three...

And second, the "$200" in front of "That word" makes it even more offensive, if that's possible... Geeze, get your buddy to take two or three pictures of it and make your own! It's easy, just ask "Bubba the Br*cket Builder" about it...

*Note 1- The saga of Bubba the Br*cket Builder can be found on page 7 of my build log.*
*Note 2- Picture of exploding head can be found on page 8, after Marcus said "That word" one more time.*

Seriously, that sounds crazy high for a glorified alternator mount... Sure you can't make one?


JDK

Sorry!! haha I guess the best way to get attention around here is to be an idiot.

My plan is to pull the A/C unit off, inspect the MOUNT and see if I can modify it to move the alternator down there. If not, the cost isnt the worst thing because I can sell the A/C compressor for about the same price. I found a wrecking yard selling one, so I may be able to convince them to do a straight trade (not likely), but being that these are Porsche parts I kinda expect to get raped everytime I buy new parts. Ive wanted to put this car on steel wheels, but those cost more than you would believe, so I jumped on a good deal for some D90 wheels, even those wont be the final rollers. I might have a set of wire wheels made up for me.

It took my friend nearly a year to make those mounts for me, so I wont really be asking him for anymore favors unless its another super complex piece, then I will pray and wait for him to finish it.

I will have to look into the b-word fiasco

[factorypartsjoe]

Pelican isn't your only choice for parts you could try paragon or Lindsey if I recall correctly they both offer the br...um part for less money I believe. Don't expect to get screwed on the parts shop around Porsche club guys are a good source of parts for less money and they can be very helpful.

[2mAn]

All right! Finally had a free night to travel to the garage and play around for a few hours.

First thing I wanted to do was to see if my subframe MOUNT would fit correctly, and Im very happy to report that it fit like a glove! This totally made my night





I will have to be careful as to how I cut the 3"x2" frame rail since it will now get an angle cut to weld on to the mount. I think this will be stronger than a straight flat edge weld because there will more surface area being welded to each other. I will also be adding a gusset to make sure this is not a weak point.

You can see here how the angle the MOUNT takes in relation to the frame rail



and here you can see how far up the other side of the frame rail goes



Moving on, I had another goal of removing the alternator, the a/c compressor and the MOUNT This was because I wanted to see if this would be enough to allow the body to slide down over it all, and again.... PERFECT! Im going to go get the MOUNT from a wrecker in northern california this weekend since Im going up to pick up wheels for the Gazelle, and some other parts for my E30. Im fighting the temptation to sell the E30 because it will be one less project car and a lot more money will be free for this project.

Some more pics of the fitment of the body over the motor. It also helped that the torque tube pushed in further into the bellhousing. Its still tight on the backside but that gap is still there. This project so far is coming along great. I get more and more excited each step of the way





Good clearance on this side



Still a little tight on this side because of the distributor cap, but it clears



basically ready to be bolted up here



disclaimer: dont take my MOUNT too seriously, its more for myself to speak properly and not sound like this is my first time.... because it is

[2mAn]

Got a chance to install the a/c delete mount. Pretty straightforward and definitely what I needed. I dont think this was something I could fabricate on my own, and besides this was a pretty important piece, so I dont mind shelling out some money for a new one, it included the belt too so that was a plus. Also, the place threw in a used Haynes manual for a 944 . Its not the best manual out there, but better than nothing. I also found out that the front subframe also has amounting point for the control arms! SCORE!! and now the pics...









the B WORD!!!