I'm considering an epic project

"Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell." (oppisitelock) 08/24/2018 at 03:02 • Filed to: None

7

40

I’m researching converting my Skoda Pickup (previously 4muddyfeet’s) to RWD.

I want to use an E46 base because they’re easy to get, drive well and have a ton of performance parts. The plan would be to reuse both E46 subframes and the engine/ drivetrain. Somewhat in the style of this civic RWD project. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

Width is plenty close enough to work, propshaft will need to be shortened due to shorter wheelbase though. Extensive bracing and fabrication to mount the subframes would be needed. Not much Skoda would really be left other than appearance.

The whole point of this is to improve my skills and do something unique. I can do very basic welding and metalworking (patches for  rust repair and such) but I want to take it to another level. This would certainly be that...

Svend > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 08/24/2018 at 03:30

2

Bloody hell mate, run a hose pipe over it from time to time ay.

Lol. 

DipodomysDeserti > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 08/24/2018 at 03:32

0

Sell the Skoda and spend the time and effort sharpening your skills on something other than making a small FWD pickup worse. Buy and E46 and turn it into a pickup.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 08/24/2018 at 03:34

1

you’ve got bigger balls than me

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > DipodomysDeserti 08/24/2018 at 03:34

1

I don’t want an E46 pickup, I like the Skoda... I don’t see how rwd and an in line 6 could make it worse. This isn’t going to be a janky rushed build, I’m going to take my time and put effort into maintaining correct suspension geometry.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Svend 08/24/2018 at 03:36

1

Its a little better now. The photo in my post was just after dragging it out of 4muddyfeet's barn and moving it to my parents place.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > pip bip - choose Corrour 08/24/2018 at 03:37

0

Ive always wanted to build something bizarre. The kind of thing that's fun and makes people question why the hell it ever got built in the first place XD

duurtlang > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 08/24/2018 at 03:38

0

Do you have a spacious garage, a place where you can store the Skoda and have ample space left to work on large items too ?

Additionally, do you have an experienced mechanically inclined person close to you who can help you out when you get stuck? I mean in real life , not our lively but mostly offtopic whatsapp oppo group(s) ;)

If so, go for it!

It seems like an ambitious project though. A very cool project too, but very ambitious. I’m not too familiar with your experience and skill level, all I know that if I were to try such a thing I’d get stranded very soon.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > duurtlang 08/24/2018 at 03:46

0

I will shortly have a spa cious garage and a big driveway (just bought a house that I’ll be moving into in a month or two).

No local assistance, this is full DIY. I'm a mechanical engineering graduate and a quick learner. I imagine I'll get stuck often, but there are always ways past with a bit of thought.

DipodomysDeserti > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 08/24/2018 at 03:51

0

If you like the Skoda than you probably shouldn’t Mengelev a BMW corpse into it. Having driven a V6 RWD light pickup for six years, I can tell you the adding weight to the front and power to rear of a pickup most definitely makes it worse, especially if the roads are wet.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > DipodomysDeserti 08/24/2018 at 03:57

0

Im planning to use it for amateur drift events so it being tail happy doesn't really concern me

DipodomysDeserti > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 08/24/2018 at 04:17

0

Light duty, six cylinder,   RWD pickups are a dime dozen in the US, so it might be more of a cultural thing. My wife and I (and every other kid in the Southwest) owned a Chevy, Ford, Nissan or Toyota version in high school. A FWD four banger Skoda pickup sounds like a much more exotic vehicle.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > DipodomysDeserti 08/24/2018 at 04:30

2

Yeah there's nothing exotic about its 67hp 1.3 right now haha. A nice smooth BMW i6 will definitely improve things. I've been called many things, but a purist isn't one of them haha 

pip bip - choose Corrour > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 08/24/2018 at 04:34

0

bizarre it well definitely be, it’ll be fun to drive but frustratingly slow to build and you will most certainly attract questions like that where ever you display it too 

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > pip bip - choose Corrour 08/24/2018 at 04:59

0

The long build is part of the appeal. I've done plenty of work on older cars but never anything custom like this. Give me a chance to learn a lot of new skills.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 08/24/2018 at 05:55

2

...awesome.

Not surprisingly , but I really enjoy the whole fabricating aspect of car builds. Just making something is a really fun little (or big) challenge. Takes a while, but if you enjoy the process it doesn’t really feel like it.

Kickass idea too.

If you can get a donor car then you can basically just hack off the subframe mounts and weld them on . Strut mounts might be interesting, but as a VAG product I’d expect the Skoda to have struts anyway (maybe a rear beam).

I’ve read that rear subframes on E46s crack sometimes. Not overly surprising given how thin the metal is on them (I had to weld up the front one on my 330). While they’re out I’d take the opportunity to do a bit of reinforcement.

Shortening propshafts isn’t too tricky either once you can lay a decent weld. The actual UJ bit is sized to be a light press fit into the shaft so you can pop that out, cut the shaft (careful to make sure it’s square), knock the UJ into the shortened section and weld it back up. Needs balancing afterwards, but when I did mine it only needed a couple of grams adding.

Oh, and you do realise you need  box flares. Maybe wheels with more offset to poke them out a bit further, but box flares are a requirement for this.

Svend > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 08/24/2018 at 06:01

1

I'll let you off, otherwise I'd have to hunt you down and wash the car. You've been warned. Lol. 

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 08/24/2018 at 07:46

0

OR, OR, hear me out on this.

I like quirky cars, especially of European origin. So, you could the Skoda to me for $1, pay the shipping for m e and ship it to me here in Nova Scotia? Eh? Eh?

:P

CalzoneGolem > Svend 08/24/2018 at 09:12

1

I looked at the pictures and knew your eye would be twitching. 

Svend > CalzoneGolem 08/24/2018 at 09:48

0

Twitching, I was having convulsions. Lol. 

CalzoneGolem > Svend 08/24/2018 at 09:51

0

Did you need to go clean a car to calm down?

Svend > CalzoneGolem 08/24/2018 at 10:08

0

Mate. I came home at 7:30am this morning and had to clean my step-father, get and ambulance, get a second ambulance crew to assist, disinfecting his bedroom and the bathroom, then spending up until an hour ago (2pm) in A&E (U.S. Emergency Room), then up on the ward, then have him climb out of bed and rip a cannula from his arm and sat in his blood and bowel waste on the floor, five nurses to assist, phone his son who couldn’t give a crap, now home and cleaning and disinfecting any and all surfaces and cleaning, at this moment, cleaning a car would be a very welcome change. But will settle for a beer (or several) in the mean time.

He’s now attached to a motion sensing alarm to alert staff at first signs of an issue. 

Sorry for venting, I needed it.

CalzoneGolem > Svend 08/24/2018 at 10:16

1

Sorry my man that sounds horrific. Sounds like your step-father is fortunate to have you. If you ever need to vent you can feel free to vent at me. You can email at my user name on yahoo. I’m pretty much calzonegolem everywhere  that I am.

Svend > CalzoneGolem 08/24/2018 at 10:28

0

Thanks mate, appreciated .

Several years as an ambulance officer, it still takes a different meaning when it’s your own family.

After dealing with four paramedics, seven A&E nurses and doctors, eight or nine ward nurses and staff (seriously, I’m not exaggerating , your hear anyone slagging off the NHS in the U.K. you tell them to come see me, everyone of them couldn’t of been more helpful), then my mother’s doctor phoned concerned she wasn’t getting the medication from my step-father so I’m now responsible for her meds and my step-father’s information.

For now I have some Directors Courage, Black Sheep, Bombardier, Old Speckled Hen and Guinness Golden Ale. If that doesn’t do anything I’ve a bottle of Freixenet Ice Wine.

CalzoneGolem > Svend 08/24/2018 at 10:35

1

I’m going to have some water and maybe a black coffee because I’m at work. But I’ll lift it to you anyways. 

Svend > CalzoneGolem 08/24/2018 at 10:49

1

Cheers mate, I’ll have a beer for you also. I insist. ;) 

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Svend 08/24/2018 at 13:30

1

Haha if you have it a proper wash most of the truck would melt away. It's rather rusty.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Svend 08/24/2018 at 13:31

1

Holy shit mate just seen this post. Hope you're feeling better, no one should have to go through stuff like that.

Svend > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 08/24/2018 at 13:32

0

Lol. 

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 08/24/2018 at 13:34

0

Cheers mate. Good point on the subframes, I’ve come across mentions of additional bracing etc on my basic bits of research, but didn’t know how common the issue was.

Im planning on getting a much better welder for this project (unsurprisingly my £100 might would be a bit out of its depth)and practicing a lot before doing anything important like a prop.

I was thinking normal arch flares, but box flares would be amazing....

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 08/24/2018 at 13:35

0

Errrrr... I'm going to go with no here XD

Svend > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 08/24/2018 at 13:46

0

Nothing holy about it, just very smelly. Lol.

Step-father is in the hospital, they’ve done the cursory scans and x- rays, bloods and samples.

My head is fried to hell, need to have something to eat and make something that mother will eat, but head is saying, ‘what next, what next’.

Going to try and not think about it and, and, and.............

Such is life, stiff upper lip.

The games a foot, follow your spirit and upon this charge, c ry God for Harry, England and St. George.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 08/24/2018 at 16:03

0

Yeah I wasn’t overly impressed by the e46 subframes, but then again I am used to Jaguar XJ40 ones which I’m fairly certain double as moorings for cargo ships.

Good little project though, trying to find where the stress points are and fixing them.

And it has to be box flares. It's the only choice ;)

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 08/24/2018 at 17:42

0

But, it’s a Skoda, old Skodas are super unreliable and cheap, right? I mean, really I’m doing you a favor by taking it off your hands...

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Svend 08/26/2018 at 14:17

1

You'll get through it mate, remember oppo is here if you need to vent.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 08/26/2018 at 14:18

0

Haha it's either this or go path of least resistance and use something boring but normal to go drifting (such as an E46...)

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 08/26/2018 at 14:18

0

Cheap yes, unreliable no.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 08/26/2018 at 15:41

0

Nah box-flare G roup B Skoda drift-pickup os much cooler ;)

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 08/26/2018 at 16:19

0

That just makes me want one more!

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 08/26/2018 at 16:33

1

That it is. I actually just fired it up for the first time in my ownership today. Not sure when 4muddyfeet last had it running but at least a year ago. Chucked the battery from the Twingo on it and it fired right up. Should be able to weld it up (just a quick but soli d “MOT job”) and use it until I decide on a donor car/ what exactly I’ll do with it.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 08/26/2018 at 16:36

1

After it's extended sleep in a barn, all it needed was a battery and it fired right up.