Left the Boxsters at Home...
 

This weekend we left the Boxsters at home and had some off road fun with the Beetle and one of my bikes (Yamaha XT 225).

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I've never seen a beetle with a snorkel before!

The snorkel worked well. Engine kept running fine. I think that these transmissions weren't designed to run for extended periods under water though.

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...and the 2,500lb Harbor Freight winches will not pull a 3,000 lb car out of a mud pit.

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They will if you have a snatch block or two and enough cable.
With two blocks you could lift or move 5000lbs. with a 2500lb. winch.

sad panda....

youre gonna have a hell of a time getting that radiator back to working condition lol. maybe dawn?

Looks fun. HooptieX is having an event at Redneck Off-road Heaven park in Ardmore,OK on Sept 18-19. My friend and I will be there with our boxsters and another friend with his Beetle that's set up like yours. Rick said he was going to meet me there too.

Wow, I heard about that event months ago, but had other commitments that weekend. Now suddenly my schedule may be open. The Dung Beetle probably needs a roll cage to be legal, but that's doable. The automatic transmission is failing, but a HootieX would be a good way to finish it off if it stays in gear. ...or maybe run another car. :dance:

I can't speak for HooptieX officials but the guy running the event is pretty relaxed about the rules. Pretty much have a helmet and you're good to go. Maybe weld some bars from the A pillars to the back and call it a day? Doesn't have to be pretty or even completely functional. Just enough to pass tech? It's being held at a large park. Even if it fails tech, you can still go dink around and have fun

Tentatively planning to arrive there Saturday afternoon to spend the night and run on the track on Sunday.
This car still runs well, but over pressurizes the cooling system. I'm going to dump some "K-Seal Ultimate Head Gasket Repair" in there and see if it fixes it well enough to get me around the track a few times. I have a factory hard top on the car right now and that meets the rules.
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This is about fun and not looking to compete, but what is your tire advice for this? I currently have 17" wheels and TW 100 tires on it.

Awesome. Re-71's are the tire of choice among the fast crowd. Anything with a very soft compound does well. I run Hoosier racing rain tires myself.

The head gasket sealer seems to be working. I got it mostly street legal (Oklahoma is easy) on Friday afternoon. The cooling system pressure seems a bit high, but it's not purging coolant. I put some fresh gas in since it was about empty of the 2019 gas that was left in it.
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I'll drive it minimally over the next two weeks, but enough to sort it out and have it ready. Hopefully it holds together and waits to die a proper death at the event.

My local Gambler 500 group has a very different perspective on the HooptieX than the RallyCross guys. I'm still deciding which way I want to go with this car.

Very off topic here but how'd you do the louvers in the frunk?

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Just drilled with a step drill, cut and bent them.
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This car just has a single radiator - front and center. I had a Toyota radiator for a while, but the single Boxster radiator with a manual switch did fine for 1/4 mile and runs through an autocross course. It's not an endurance car and the AC system is completely removed.

Playing with wheels and 20 mm spacers. The Reproduction Fuchs 15s fit the back, but need another 5 mm or so to work in front. I kind of would love to have 15" mud terrains and throw chunks of dirt around the track rather than go for speed with stickies. :D
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Fun thought, but probably going with 17s and 18s with 20 mm on the rear. Save the 15s with mud tires for 914 shenanigans another time.

That's awesome! Hoowf they clear the brakes? Is that a 2.5?

Throw a roof rack on there, and maybe the quad lights up front....I absolutely love that look

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I didn't think that 15s would clear the brakes, but these wheels do on the rear and just barely bind on the front caliper. That's using wheel studs and 20mm spacers. I just ordered some 25mm spacers to see what that does in front.

The car is a 2001 base ...with a 2.5L set up with the intake and throttle off a 2.7L.

The wheels are pretty odd at 15x8.5 and deep. I pulled them off of a rat-eaten 924 that I bought, then traded. I haven't found much info on them.
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If you're out to have fun (lots of drifting) then you'll want rock hard tires with high air pressure. To be fast with a rwd car you actually have to drive very conservatively. Drifting is slower. The fastest way around a corner is slow and steady. Don't let the rear end get out at all unless you're trying to rotate. You also want as low air pressure as you can get without losing a bead. Losing a bead is bad. I usually start off with around 27 psi and work my way down to 20 psi as the tires warm up and I get a feel for track conditions. Drifting on these tracks around here will eat up your tread real quick. As I said earlier, drifting is slower but man it can be soooo much fun if you get it right. This race isn't for points so I'm less concerned about being fast. I'll throw my good tires on to set a good time, but otherwise I plan on throwing some tires I don't care about on. I'm thinking about racing for times on Saturday and Sunday will be drifting and jumping day. I'm stoked to see you and Rick come out

I saw similar reproduction wheels when I was looking recently. I really wanted to find some fat ass 15s that I could throw some 26" tires on but I only found the super narrow version. The look is great thoughhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a8d49f7aa7.jpg

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Woody, I'm really looking forward to seeing you in person after all these years. I'm still unsure about the engine in this car, but I'll be there with something arriving Saturday afternoon and just booked a motel in Ardmore. I may have to make time next year to get into RallyCross. It looks like a lot of fun.

Ike, I just had some 235/75/15s mounted on them. That's about 29". I won't have time to see how far they are from fitting anything for a day or two, but I have a big hammer and a recip saw. Everything fits eventually. They are planned for my winter project 914, but I am curious if they can work on a 986 without major suspension modification. Pics when I give it a try.

If you have coilovers you may be able to Max out the ride hide and make em fit. Don't hit any bumps though lol. I can't wait to see those pics.

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