Covin - Sacrilege or sound idea?

[ToolsnTrack]

I seen this on the bay during one of my offshore boredom kitcar trawls....

cgi.ebay.co.uk/covin-911-track-day-car-spares-repair-/120732896104?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item1c1c3dcb68

Now its not a porsche, we all know that. There are some though that would be fairly offended at the prospect of a 911 replica, but yet not at the thought of a Cobra one, so long as it used a proper V8. Well to me it sure as dammit looks like a porsche...

So now I'm thinking, the Covin runs a VW aircooled number, what would prevent running a scooby turbo lump back there? Porsche performance, corsa pricetag?

And yes, the floorpan is rotten on that one but i would want something stronger than a beetle floor in ther anyway, so some strengthening would be on my agenda regardless of condition....

I would be sorely tempted by that if i didnt have a queue outside my garage at the moment... What you folks reckon?



EDIT: Then i start the youtube trawl and find its been done.



Boooooga! Ah well, novel ideas are few and far between these days.

[popuptoaster]

I had a Covin and it ran an XR3i lump, went much better than the beetle powered ones.

[stealthstylz]

What do they handle like? Remember you'd have to keep the standard VW floorpan to keep the registration, if you modify it you'll need an IVA test.

[popuptoaster]

Mine handled like a beetle with less body roll, front wheels locked up a lot as well so i guess the body is lighter, mine was a bit shoddy though, it was cheap and not very well put together.

[DWDarkWheels]

Sounds like a plan to me. Covins aren't sought-after enough for such a mod to be sacrilege. If anything the Boxer engine and power increase would be closer to the original 911 than a Beetle or Ford CVH. It's still not a Porsche, but a Covin would be a pretty cheap starting point for something that could be very interesting.

Darryl

[ToolsnTrack]

So in theory if you put in a "creative" rollcage whilst retaining the original floorpan you could avoid the IVA? That would strike me as the simplest way to beefing up the chassis...

[sumpcracker]

The later cars don't use a beetle floor pan, and use a CVH engine and a type 3 vw donor car.
No beetle parts used.
The reason they look like a 911 so much is because th mould is taken directly from a 930 turbo and the lights/glass ect is from a 911.
The covin chassis cars are far better, but still don't handle as the front is too light and the hevier the engine the worse it will be.

[ToolsnTrack]

Why is the front lighter than a real porsche though? What is missing from up there in the Covin?

[stealthstylz]

As long as you don't chop the central spine and floorpan you can add a rollcage. I'd love to get a body and built a full chassis for it with good suspension and the engine mid mounted.

Matt

[mk14dr]

Jun 6, 2011 12:47:22 GMT ToolsnTrack said:

What is missing from up there in the Covin?

Some metal?

[ToolsnTrack]

yea, thats a point.

I wonder how adaptable a total reversal of the Scooby driveline would be... 4wd scooby Covin?

[ettorebugatti]

There are some adaptor plates for it. It is popular by sand railers and VW hot rodders.

I cannot see anything wrong with using a Subaru boxer in a Porsche replica.

Other contenders are Alfa-Romeo Boxer from a sud/33/early 145, Honda Goldwing.

[Jowey]

Subarau SVX flat 6 boxer ?

[retrowagen1234]

weigh up the options is the best bet. I.e how much will the differing engines set you back in power and cost.

A standard bug engine isnt anything amazing, But a stroker coupled with a decent box is an amazing thing to drive. torque torque and more torque... And the noise on twin carbs will beat any injected ECU controlled korean (ish) thing..
That said. A decent stroker T1 engine is gonna cost a few thou. Whereas the scooby engine would cost what?

I'm disregarding the CVH as a boat anchor in this case.

[popuptoaster]

Jun 6, 2011 17:36:22 GMT @retrowagen1234 said:

I'm disregarding the CVH as a boat anchor in this case.

possibly you shouldn't, 105bhp for about 20 quid usually makes it very good value for money, especially if you consider you can also bolt up the RS turbo engines, which are also cheap.

[ToolsnTrack]

I would personally discount it. No offence to the Ford boys, i know they can be good engines, but a porsche needs a flat boxer arrangement in the back for me, albeit not neccesarily a studtgart variant...

[popuptoaster]

its your car and your choice, but seems a bit odd to need a boxer engine in a plastic copy of a porsche, a decent Covin with a decent engine in it is gonna be getting on for old 911 money anyway by the time you've done all the upgrades but without the resal value despite it having the "right" style engine in.

[damien4884]

Jun 6, 2011 13:27:39 GMT ToolsnTrack said:

yea, thats a point.

I wonder how adaptable a total reversal of the Scooby driveline would be... 4wd scooby Covin?

I've seen scooby gearboxes with the diffs flipped to go in beetles, so if you can flip the rear one in a similar way it would be fairly easy to do.

[scruff]

OK it's not a boxer but if weight is a problem how about rotary?

[ettorebugatti]

Establish your budget and work out if it is possible to install a nice boxer engine in it.

I recon for a couple of grand you could be settled. You only need to find a donor Legacy which could also supply the cool system (rad, plumbing etc.) wiring loom and fuel injection system.
EJ22, EJ25 or EG33 would be nice, don't think you really need the turbo for its performance (or complexity).

Rotaries have been installed too on beetle gear boxes. As Ford Cologne V6 (pretty popular for German campers)