Today we are on the outskirts of LA and we're
going to go visit my friend John Reynolds and he
has built this amazing sleeper bug.
And you're like, I don't even know what that is,
but that's OK because we're going to show you.
And it is not like anything I think you've ever
seen and it is really fast.
His bug is like a little rocket ship, and I
want him to show it to us.
See it?
Yeah.
Yes, since you came all this way.
Well, hold on a minute.
Hold on a minute.
Just really quick.
You guys even know who John Reynolds is?
OG 13.
OK, let me time out for one second.
So.
So you know, my background is rock crawling.
I race King the hammers, monster trucks, whatever and this
is the very original King of the hammers.
He won that very first year.
Well, you're the 1st girl to win.
I'm I'm finished, so that's all.
I'm the first female to ever cross the finish line
at King of the Hammers and you're the very first
winner.
Winner.
OK, hold on.
I want to surprise myself.
Well, this is nothing impressive.
This is a totally bones back car.
So so why are we here with this like super,
you know, actually looks like we're in what, 1973 right
now?
That's 1973 and but that's a total.
That's what you want people to think.
That's the facade.
So that's what he wants you to think.
The original VW had, I don't know, 30 or 50
horsepower.
How many horsepower was would have been in this case?
So I think it had, it was rated at 50,
but that's net horsepower.
So what's getting to the tires is more like 3235.
There's different estimates there.
So there's different ways of rating horsepower.
Like if you're, if you're just dining the motor, right,
the horsepower.
But then it, all that power has to go through,
you know, the, the gearbox and everything down to the,
it's called parasitic drag.
Parasitic drag, that's what it's called.
I knew that parasitic drug.
First of all, I have had no idea what you'd
already done to it.
I'm sure you get people going.
Holy crap, that thing's in amazing condition.
It's beautiful.
That's the fun thing is when I take it someplace
and people, a lot of people come up and they
say, oh, that's such a cute Volkswagen.
My parents had a Volkswagen and my grandparents had a
Volkswagen It that draws them to it.
And here's the cool thing, if they don't notice there's
anything different about it, I don't mention it because it
makes the conversation a lot shorter.
Right, Right, right.
You'll get covered if I get into like their, you
know, the motor and this and that.
And they go, what?
You just say thank you, have a nice day.
Right.
I mean, it looks literally like a brand new vehicle.
That was the whole purpose.
Gorgeous.
Until you go, wait a minute, there's a roll cage
in there.
Hold on a minute.
Yeah, So and if anybody gets behind it underneath and
looks at those tires, they're going to go wait a
minute, are those drag tires?
It's insane.
This project, you know, the start of it was the
whole idea was to be a sleeper and, you know,
to make it as close to stock looking as possible.
But there's a couple things you need because you can't
put 517 wheel horsepower down to 560 tires.
517 wheel horsepower.
OK, so wait, what is the motor doing then?
Well, it's, it's just making a lot of power.
You want to see the motor?
Yeah.
In the front.
It's a VW.
She gets back somewhere.
OK, so there's the.
Holy crap, that is no longer a Type 1.
Did they have a type One in there before?
Yeah.
OK, so a Type one had 1600.
It was a 1600 CC dual port.
Yeah.
And was it naturally aspirated?
Naturally aspirated, carbureted.
Somebody comment on my video.
I said, oh, you're polluting the planet with your car
and it's this.
You know how much cleaner this car is than the
original version?
Not only is it fuel injected in in modern standards,
but it also burns E85, which is comes from corn.
So little did they know that's much funnier than the
original.
And you know what, whatever people like that, whatever, whatever,
dude, whatever.
That's amazing.
What made this possible is I wanted to use a
Subaru transmission, which is the five speeds a lot more
robust.
It was made from the factory to handle 260 horsepower
versus a Volkswagen transmission which was made to handle 50.
The WRX that this came out of would have been
an all-wheel drive.
Yeah.
So you have to delete some of the of its
capabilities to turn it into just a rear wheel drive.
Correct and nice thinking.
You don't have to.
There's a couple people trying to make all-wheel drive Volkswagens.
OK, and they're still working on it right years later,
right.
It's it's not just any Volkswagen bug.
It's a super beetle.
Yes, What is the difference actually?
Well, a super beetle.
They put strut front suspension and that's the first super
beetle had strut front suspension as opposed to a beam
axle.
It was is there anything from the outside that you
could usually tell the differences?
The window, the sexy curved window, the windshield.
So a lot of the Piers full second, they don't
like super beetles because they don't look like the traditional
flat window and that's why I chose this one because
most people don't like them.
OK, so this is the original fuel tank.
I didn't change it.
People say why don't you put a fuel cell on
it?
Because it OK, because you can't use the gas door
if you put a fuel cell on it, it's too
high and in the gas.
And that was one of the things, OK, I want
the gas door.
So we're going to work around the gas door of
course.
So that means the stock fuel tank.
This is the in tank fuel pump.
Got it.
A big fuel pump in there or high performance pump?
Yeah.
So this is, this was the original fuel pump for
the EFI motor.
Got it.
But what was happening is the acceleration is so hard
that all the gas would push back to the back,
but the tank and it would start motor and the
motor would die even with like baffles and or there's
no nothing in there like that.
Unfortunately, with the Volkswagen, there's the stock tank.
There's not a lot of room to do all that.
And then I, I came out of this thing which
is called a surge tank.
And that's what its purpose is, right?
It's always full of fuel and it has to pumps
in there.
So now, so all that, you know, fuel that sloshes
backwards when you take off that compensates and allows it
to stay pressurized.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Very cool.
So that took the and then this part, well, this
is the radiator because most things were air cooled.
So so you need a radiant.
You cannot counter just air, right?
There's two major tails that says there's something up with
this car and just the wide tires.
However I put them, I did a bunch of narrowing.
So they're under stock fenders.
Is this a like a stock wheel that you modify
for something to be able to accept the That's incredible.
And then did you Weld it and do it all
yourself or how did you do that?
I touched your car.
I have a a wheel expert, somebody that knows how
to Weld, right.
It's set up, you know, to Weld wheels.
So it's an 8 inch of wide rim, but it's
all to the inside.
Yeah.
So you actually did have to like cut and, and
you cut the center out and put an 8 inch
wide center on it.
But it's all, it's like most of it is back
space.
Sure.
Yeah, of course.
So all the tires inside.
And so that involved a bunch of narrowing up of
your, your torsion bar and everything else.
All the components got compacted to be able to and
this car goes fast enough that it needs a certified
850 cage in it.
Plus it pulls the car together so little itty bitty
dual exhaust sticking out is no longer functioning as it's
function.
I know it's your weightscape.
It's your weightscape for your turbo, right?
They're they're lying to you, but they sound beautiful.
So it's the it's the only tire that I can
find in 15 inch that's real narrow that has an
8 speed rating on it, right, which is up rated
to work.
I don't know.
It's like not still not fast enough, but at least
it has some rating on it.
It won't peel apart on you.
All your lines are so tidy and you did all
of your own welding and everything on here.
TIG welding.
Yeah, it's beautiful.
So the air comes in through the these louvers, which
is made for Volkswagen air conditioning, and then it goes
through the air, through the radiator and then back down,
you know, through the bottom of the car here, right.
So this is where all the magic happens back here.
This is all this structure.
This is your structure that you built.
Yeah.
You had to support that whole it's just yeah, system
because this is just wants to just you know, I
wanted to push the whole motor 4 inches forward too,
which means I had to strengthen the original.
Is that because you needed the space or for the
weight distribution more over the because you need to fit
all all the most in order to get a quad
Cam Subaru and a Volkswagen, you either have to lower
it ridiculously low or push, push it forward or else
you're having to carve out the outside of the car
for the belt covers.
So it's called a low mount turbo.
The exhaust comes out of the header and it's a
very short distance until it gets to the turbo.
So all the heat and energy is right on the
turbo immediately.
So it does help with a response to have the
turbo close to the exhaust.
OK.
And then a scavenge pump pulls the pulls the oil
out of this little sump and so it pulls it
out and then it just pushes it back down to
the pan right, which is right here as far as
the pea shooters.
This is the wastegate.
Sure.
And this is how I just made the pea shooter.
You can see how I it just joins into the
pea shooters.
So you built all of these brackets and everything or
do you buy these?
You built all of that.
It's all everything.
You've every all this metal is all custom to make
this fit.
Man, How long ago was this painted?
How was this paint up?
It's about four months old.
It just feels.
Do you hear that?
Is this the stock color that would have been in
here?
This white?
It's beautiful.
This headliner.
Is this dash stock?
It is.
It's an original.
It came out of a 1978 car and I found
it's it's original with no cracks in it, which is
really hard to find.
Does these impress you?
Oh, you turn them, we'll get the wipers going.
Oh my gosh, that impressive.
Holy cow.
Around.
They blink at you.
Oh my gosh.
It suddenly feels like a way more modern car.
Anyway, I'm not really.
I thought this would be cool to have hidden gauges
and a lot of people.
Yeah, that is so cool.
OK, so I I'm dying to ask you if we
could go for a ride.
And ultimately I want to drive it, but you know
what?
I'm.
I'm not going to like, of course I I've driven
a lot of things, but I'm never going to come
on here and and pretend to be a poser or
something.
I'm not I don't have experience with with this kind
of you're gonna have to teach me about the gearbox.
I don't have experience with this kind of car at
all.
So I want of course you to drive it, peel
out, tell me what you can do, show me what
we can do.
And then if you'd be so kind as to let
me just kind of cruise, I'd be super thrilled.
I think we can.
It's got it's got what's called a dog box.
So the transmission, it has no synchros, and that's what
makes it a little bit more challenging to drive.
And you have to get your RPMS at the right
matching.
Yeah, matching in order to shift it helps or you
got to really hammer the gear shifts.
Got it.
What did you do to this motor to get it
beyond what it was originally designed for?
Well, the block is a closed deck block from IAG,
and it's got, you know, forge internals and whatnot in
it.
And the heads have been ported.
OK.
And it's a different intake manifold and a bigger turbo
and injectors.
And it was at a certain level.
And it just, the whole thing just rose to get
200 more horsepower.
And then when you run E85, you know, it's it
that adds 100 horsepower.
It's because it runs cooler and has a natural higher
octane.
So you can that when you do that, you can
put more boost and more timing into the motor.
The fuel allows you to have more boost and timing.
Which, how much boost are you getting on this?
About 29 lbs.
Holy crap.
Yeah.
Wow.
And it depends on how hot or cold it is
out.
Sure, Of course.
And and yeah, obviously cooler air is going to perform
better.
Yes.
So winter, we're in the right time of year to
drive this thing, right?
Oh, yeah.
OK, so let's go.
Let's go.
Play with it.
All right.
Is your seat belt on?
My seat belt on.
I'm ready to rock.
Holy crap.
Oh my gosh.
Holy crap.
John, how much does this weigh?
About 2000 lbs.
OK, pretty fast.
Crap, you.
I did know I was going to get squirrely, right?
I didn't.
Huh.
You never know.
How fast was that?
100 and 10110, Something like that.
Maybe 115.
Wow.
My gosh.
Oh my gosh.
Wow.
Yeah.
One of the things when I built this car was
to make the increase the distance between what it looks
like and what it performs like.
That's why I went with this color because it's it's
so like, oh, that's cute.
So it's it's increasing the distance between what how it
performs.
Ironic.
Yeah.
Ironic, ironic.
And watch me as I as I upshift one more
time.
So when you're going slow, it's real easy.
Just take your time.
Yeah.
Be firm.
You get used to the clutch and pass pushing the
clutch very easily.
Just easy.
Go right in.
OK, Third gear, 4th gear.
You wait just a little longer.
Come up a little more on their speed or waiting,
you're saying in your.
Yeah, see, I've waited just a little longer.
Yep, If you want a grind free, that's the challenge.
I like to make it as smooth as possible.
But that clunking is normal, right?
The engagement.
Yeah.
And that gearbox, you call it a dog box.
Dog box.
I don't even know why it's called that.
So it doesn't have any synchros.
And there's these things called dogs and they engage like
a motorcycle transmission.
So you literally have to find the sweet spot.
Yeah, each time or you got a you got a
man head or you're pushing it in.
Yeah.
Oops.
Yeah.
If you don't do it right, I'll let you know.
That's it.
Holy.
I don't catch that on camera.
Holy mackerel.
You can pass in the most unsafe conditions because it's
what?
It's so fast that you can do it.
So you may take, you may stall it, you may
not.
We'll see how good your talent, your technique is regular
4 speed.
OK, so your legs must be longer because that's way
far away.
Yeah.
That's was that you're in first.
That's the emergency break.
Does it need to roll a little?
That's why I was bumping the clutch.
Bump.
No, no, no.
And OK.
All right.
Is it going to go well, you find where the
sweet spot is?
I'm so nervous because that it's just going to engage.
There's no, not much gas.
A little gas.
OK.
Pushing the clutch.
Yeah.
Sean let out.
You don't have to give them.
You're in fourth.
I'm in fourth.
Dude.
How do they go from 1st to 4th?
It's that type.
Well, 1st gear, it's in first.
OK, just find where the where the there's a place
where you're going to the clutch engages barely just a
little bit of gas pushing the clutch and firmly you
don't need to give up much gas firmly put it
in gear.
OK, I'm in 3rd.
I'm in 3rd now.
Fourth.
Maybe wait a little bit and firm.
OK, Well, I made it to 4th.
OK, Wait, was that it?
That's it.
That first?
Yeah, that's third.
No, we're still on 3rd.
That was third gear.
Yeah.
Push it all the way over.
All the way over.
Now we're in.
Is that in first?
That's it.
That should be it.
I think that's it.
That's it.
That's for.
OK.
Whoa.
So I don't trust anything.
I wasn't going to go faster than that, John, but
I did it.
I scared you.
Yeah, he scared me.
But I know what this thing's like.
Explosive.
No, no.
I was barely pushing the gas.
I was nowhere near pushing the gas.
I don't trust.
I'm not going to make him go crazy.
But I didn't.
I'm a quick study.
I did it.
He did it.
That's funny.
Yeah.
I'll try it one more time.
Is this a safe enough?
There's nobody around, so just try to be real gentle.
Don't try any kind of racing at all.
I won't race.
I promise I won't race.
We're gentle.
I think that's first.
It's just making a clean, No grinding shift.
That's first.
A little longer between shifts.
OK, so let it let it catch up with itself.
See, I'm just posting it.
It just doesn't even it just a lot.
It wants to go.
No, you don't want to go faster, but I don't
want to go faster.
I won't go faster.
Like having your foot on dynamite.
Were you at points in this car where you were
like crap and having to stop and like problem solve
all the time?
Was it constantly like every time you turn a corner
you'd have another about twice a day?
Yeah.
And it's just a little, you know, the whole thing
gets broken down to such little teeny.
Segments, you know, and he'd work through 1 little segment.
Yeah.
Why does that not get old?
Congratulations, we got through that.
We didn't go to jail.
We didn't die, right?
We didn't.
We didn't destroy the car.
You know what?
I hardly ever die.
So we're we're good.
Dude, that was a fun day.
I can't even believe it, honestly.
Check out more things that John has done.
Where are they going to find you?
Oh, probably John Reynolds on YouTube.
I have some other projects going.
I have AV8 Corvair conversion.
Cool.
I'm putting out the UFO, which is an Ultra 4
race car and I had the whole build of that
car.
It's going to be on YouTube.
So awesome.
If you're interested in this kind of stuff, John Reynolds
on YouTube.
And you told me that I was the first one
besides you to ever drive the car.
I'm probably the last person.
Boom, you're awesome, dude.
Oh, we had booty bump.
You don't do the booty bump.
Boom.
I do now.
I got a hair stuck somewhere.
I can feel it in my face, but I can't
find it.
I forgot what I was going to say like check
out more information in the I forget what I'm going
to say here.
Make sure to like, subscribe, leave a comment, and we'll
check you out next time.