Planning winter work – eventual class?

dubalot · **Posted:** Thu Oct 15, 2009 8:16 pm

This is Keith with the red 83 rabbit and I’m trying to plan my engine swap for the winter. I have a couple different options and would like to figure out what class they would eventually put me in when I’m finished. I have 3 engine options sitting in the garage to replace the stock 1.7 Liter 72HP 8V engine.

One is a 1.8L 16V out of a 1988 VW Jetta GLI that makes 123HP.

The 2nd is a 2.0L 16V out of a 92 VW Passat that makes 139HP.

The 3rd would be doing a balance, P&P and cams on the 2.0L 16V and trying to get it up to 160HP. "Naturally this is the one I'm hoping to do if classing isn't effected too much."

If you guys can help me ball park what class I would wind up in I would really appreciate it. I’d hate to throw the rabbit into a class that I don’t stand a chance in next year. The info on the car as it sits right now is as follows

Curb weight = 1750LBS

Modifications include:
Shocks
Springs
rt-615 tires
catback exhaust
dual dellorto dhla carbs (will also be on new engine)
AC deleted
rear seat deleted.

Thanks

LVIIIR · **Joined:** Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:38 pm **Posts:** 333

Hi Keith! Glad to see you made it on the forum.

I'll take a stab at this, but I'll let one of the main guys confirm it. Pretty sure if you go with any engine swap you have two choices.

1) Get it dyno'd and have it weighed. Then they would be able to class you accordingly.

2) If you don't follow 1, you'll be put in "RUS"

I'm in "RUS" because I put a evo 9 turbo in my evo 8, fyi.

Here's a link that Dustin provided to help you out as far as classing!

http://www.nasaproracing.com/rules/nasa-x/NASA-X_Classes.pdf

PS. How did your brother like the ride?

dubalot · **Posted:** Thu Oct 15, 2009 9:38 pm

Hey thanks for the info. I looked through the sheet and found this as an approved swap at the very end.

"VW JettaA 2.0L 16V (134hp) ('90) swapped into a '78 VW Scirocco 1.6L (75hp) body. The swap will result in the Scirocco moving up to NXE* (from NXH**) with a base weight listing of 2040."

I'm thinking that seeing how the rabbit is essentially a scirocco that I may be able to swing this as an acceptable jump to E class. Naturally the officials would have the final call but that works pretty good for ball parking the classing. I'm sure though that if I do all the engine work I wanted to that I'd still be required to do a HP/weight measurement.

As far as my brother riding in your car goes, I can guarantee that he liked it. When I asked him if he though it seemed to have a little more power then the rabbit. He said "Honestly, is that much power even necessary?". I told him it always is.

Thanks again for getting back to me and also for taking Kevin for a spin.

LVIIIR · **Joined:** Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:38 pm **Posts:** 333

dubalot wrote:

Hey thanks for the info. I looked through the sheet and found this as an approved swap at the very end.

"VW JettaA 2.0L 16V (134hp) ('90) swapped into a '78 VW Scirocco 1.6L (75hp) body. The swap will result in the Scirocco moving up to NXE* (from NXH**) with a base weight listing of 2040."

I'm thinking that seeing how the rabbit is essentially a scirocco that I may be able to swing this as an acceptable jump to E class. Naturally the officials would have the final call but that works pretty good for ball parking the classing. I'm sure though that if I do all the engine work I wanted to that I'd still be required to do a HP/weight measurement.

As far as my brother riding in your car goes, I can guarantee that he liked it. When I asked him if he though it seemed to have a little more power then the rabbit. He said "Honestly, is that much power even necessary?". I told him it's always is.

Thanks again for getting back to me and also for taking Kevin for a spin.

Good call! I didn't even see that approved engine swap at the bottom until you mentioned it. Been a loooong day at work.

I'm sure either Brad, Marcus, Dustin or someone else will chime in about the weight/classing/etc and finalize it for you...

Haha, yeah no problem for giving him a ride along. Sad thing is I feel though my car feels "slow" after driving it daily. I wish the that feeling of quickness would never get old. :mrgreen:

ZetecTony · **Joined:** Fri Jul 04, 2008 11:11 pm **Posts:** 231

LVIIIR wrote:

Sad thing is I feel though my car feels "slow" after driving it daily. I wish the that feeling of quickness would never get old. :mrgreen:

I can't help but think me giving you a ride in the focus would re-calibrate your butt-dyno a little :lol:

As for you Keith, I hope my coilovers do wonders -- I'm not so sure I could handle being beat by a '78 wabbit :oops:

Marcus · **Posted:** Thu Oct 15, 2009 10:49 pm

Allow me to post up another rule to take into consideration...

Quote:

1.7 Special Circumstances
In the event that a “large part swap” has occurred between the competing vehicle and a donor
vehicle of the same model type in a higher base class, and the swap has resulted in a very large
points assessment that would place the competing vehicle at a higher classification level than the
donor vehicle, the competing vehicle may jump base classifications up to the donor car’s base
class, and not take the points assessment for any parts identical to the donor car. However, if
there are any parts on the competing vehicle that are not on the donor car that could be
considered a performance advantage, and they do not meet the requirements of the
updating/backdating rule, then those parts must either be assessed points or replaced with the
part from the donor vehicle. Additionally, the NASA-X National Director must individually
evaluate this type of base class jump for any other potential differences (besides parts) between
Page 20 - NASA-X National Classes 2009
the two cars, such as horsepower, weight, suspension, and aerodynamics to ensure that no
additional points’ assessments are necessary.

With this being taken into consideration with the rule posted above I would agree that E would be a good base class for the Rabbit- however base weight and all other things must be equal... AKA- your car would have to weigh above the 2040 or you will be assessed points.

Put simply- get the car weighed with you in it. If its over 2040lbs then I say E is a good fit otherwise you will have to take points accordingly for what you are under that weight.

This however will have to be presented to John either way... PM Dustin or Brad and see if they can email him regarding this.

blackdbl0si · **Posted:** Sat Oct 17, 2009 10:14 pm

Keith we would probably give you a base class based on power to weight ratio. We will need a dyno chart and we can get the car scaled for you. Rusher has a set of scales that we can set up. Let me know when you get some of this done and we will follow up.

sccsiouxland

Planning winter work – eventual class?

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