Getting a vee street legal

[Ego4sho]

Hi guys, I'm pretty new to the whole formula racing series but I had an idea that just won't go away lol. I basically want to make a fun car that I can drive to and from the track, and also a unique car to bring out just for some car meets and what not.

I know there have been other guys that were able to make vee's street legal but I wanted to see if anyone on here has had that same thought. I know I need headlights, taillights, blinkers, plate light, windshield, whippers, muffler.
These are basically all the things Michigan requires.

Michigan doesn't have any vehicle inspections so I could basically just come in and register it as a vw, but I want it to be somewhat street legal.


I have also read that I will need a better cooling system because aircooled engines will sh*t the bed in stop and go traffic.



Does anyone have any more suggestions before I start? Also what kind of used cheap (race ready) vee would you suggest I start with? I am 5'8" and about 150lbs, so I can basically fit into almost anything!

[Evl]

Do you need fenders?

Also, I think most harnesses aren't DOT legal. I think you need to have a single orange/red release button or something.

Man, if I could drive my FE to work, I'd have to rent an office just to have somewhere to go!

[Mark Filip]

put a trailer hitch on it so you can carry tires, tools, fuel and spares while your at it.

or you can just buy a $300 FV trailer and a truck or small car to tow it with and save yourself a lot of time, money and asprin from all the headaches you will get.

[Ego4sho]

Michigan doesn't require fenders so I can skip that step. I need to look into the harness, but I think I'm going to just use a 4 or 5 point harness. And we don't have state inspections so I don't think anyone will notice a harness that is not legal because theres tons of cars running around here with them anyways.


I know that a beater truck and trailer would be must more cost effective but I want to have the novelty of driving a vee to car meets and through town. Just imagine how much of a head turner it would be

[Mark Filip]

Won't be a head turner when someone drives over you because they dont see you. Just saying really think about it

[Tiago Santos]

Yup.. Speed bumps might be a bit of a problem as well, but visibility (both seeing and being seen!) would be my biggest worry. Any formula car is so tiny (in height..) that you'd be invisible to most cars if you happen to be anywhere but right in front of them.

[Purple Frog]

I studied the situation in the '70s.
We were bench-racing and conspiring to run our own version of a cross country race, a la Cannonball Run. Our version was Tallahassee (FSU) to Miami (UofM). We were planning a non-stop car with 24 gallons of fuel supplied with side tanks strapped on each side of the Vee (sic). Ah.... youth, and Darwinism.

For the record, we never did it (the formula car street racer, that is) I think the statue of limitations has expired on the sprints to Miami.

Florida is fairly easy. We licensed a lot of off road/dune buggies. Use the round marker lights that are amber on one side and red on the other and mount them on each side of the roll bar. They can serve as both front and rear turn signals in that config. Muffler. If us use a title from say a 1963 bug, you don't have to have belts, because they weren't in those cars. No wipers required in Florida if you don't have a windshield. But you must use eye protection. We used a strong whip antenna with a bold flag to aid visibility.

Remember the first thing your forehead is going to hit if you rearend a 4x4 is the trailer hitch or diff. Not a pleasant thought.

Don't worry about speed bumps, worry that you will be the speed bump.

Buy a large insurance policy so that your survivors can write about the "legend", and expect to be pulled over often for 'chats'.

[Rick Kirchner]

STP orange paint and a strobe......

[Hawke]

I drive a Lotus Europa that has been lowered. It is now 39 inches high, and is the closest you can get to driving a formula car on the road. I have been a speed bump when people have reversed into me - "I didnt see you". If I cant see their mirrors, I move so I can.

Pulling up at the lights next too a big 4x4 can be worrying, but you can see the traffic crossing by looking under their car.

Listen to the Frog.

[Steve Bamford]

Does anyone have any more suggestions before I start? Also what kind of used cheap (race ready) vee would you suggest I start with? I am 5'8" and about 150lbs, so I can basically fit into almost anything!

I would start with making sure you have a legal will in order. I could also suggest what else you could fit in but it is not in good taste.

Someone had a post on here about a year ago or so trying to do the same thing but I don't think they ever went anywhere with it.

Issues other then safety that arise as pointed out earlier are where do you put your tools, fuel, etc? You won't get very far without fuel at the track or on the way home.

You also pointed out that cooling will be a major issue to deal with.

It sounds like a cool toy but not sure it is worth all the hassle & the danger you subject yourself too. It is the others on the road you have to rally worry about that you can not control or protect yourself from.

[joshuagore]

Only reason I could see for getting my Vee street legal is so the fuzz does not bother me when making setup changes and driving around the industrial park roads. If you want an open wheeler for the road, a Lotus 7 in Locust form is what I would rock.... and if you want it done on the cheap a fwd layout placed in the rear.

Josh

[Marty Nygard]

I was going to try to get a bike powered sorta DSR but without fenders licensed here in Missouri. I thought it would be a great fun weekend street toy and also a good track day car. Gateway closed and they changed the rules to require the engine to be linked to a VIN so the 99% complete project will soon be on ebay.
Check all the rules first.
Marty

[ASRF1000]

I did exactly what you are describing in New Hampshire in 1986. I took a FV and changed the nose to a more pointy configuration, added front and rear wings, added lights and built fenders, added a small windshield (no wiper). Took an old air cooling shroud and modified it to fit in the chassis, also used the stock VW generator, got a experimental car plate from the state and they issued a title with it's own serial number.

I had a ball driving it around town for about 2 months. It did get a lot of looks. Sold it and I never knew what came of it.

Wish I could find photos of it. If I do, I'll post them here.

[Purple Frog]

'New Hampshire' says it all. Live free or die.

Any state that has a liquor store in the rest plaza of their interstate shouldn't worry much about what you drive.

[Mark Filip]

'New Hampshire' says it all. Live free or die.

Any state that has a liquor store in the rest plaza of their interstate shouldn't worry much about what you drive.

I live in NH and nothing is free and we have one of the toughest auto safety laws. But yes you can buy liquor at some rest areas it's crazy.

[Dragnmorad]

I have this project I have been collecting parts for... I dont know if I will ever get around to it. But it is at a point now it is somewhat possible... I am going to take a retired FF frame, cut it off behind the roll hoop & attach engine, frame & rear suspension from a motorcycle to it. Creating a trike. (two steering wheels up front & one rear drive wheel.) It wont need much modification of the body work & because in NY all you need to do to register a home made motorcycle is prove you didnt steal any of the parts.... there you go!!!
As much as I want it to have a cool sunday cruiser... it is the thrill of just pulling it off.

[Purple Frog]

Stephen,
The trick would be to get the whole rear assembly to lay over in the corners, Maybe tied to steering input. Then you could put a fat tire back there and get some half-way slip angles.
Build it, and we will take pictures.

[Dragnmorad]

I have the "donor frame" the problem is it is still racing LOL The driver has a new frame being prepped & the plan is to move all the best parts from the two cars to the new frame... but until that frame is done... my toy is on hold....

[ASRF1000]

Found it. Here it is prior to adding the lights, fenders and windshield. She was pretty rough at this stage.

[Dick R.]

I drive a Lotus Europa that has been lowered. It is now 39 inches high, and is the closest you can get to driving a formula car on the road. I have been a speed bump when people have reversed into me - "I didnt see you". If I cant see their mirrors, I move so I can.

Pulling up at the lights next too a big 4x4 can be worrying, but you can see the traffic crossing by looking under their car.

Listen to the Frog.

My wife and I drove Lotus Europa's many 10's of thousands of miles over much of the US in the 70's and early 80's . . . on California freeways, Texas interstates, NC thunderstorms, San Francisco and other cities. One memorable drive involved 112 degree heat in Needles California. The air coming through the vents was so hot we couldn't let it "impact" bare skin. She even drove hers in winter conditions. The joys of (surviving) "youth" (we were not really young then . . . except in comparison to now). Never again!!!!

The smallest car I want to drive now in this sea of "boxes on wheels with texting drivers" is a late model Mustang.

Dick
CM 85
FF 1600 (which has been known to go for "up and back" test drives on my short dead end street . . . usually with a spotter . . . the neighbors drive "boxes" and 4 X 4's)

[csatte02]

There was a guy that converted my dads first fv race car into a street legal car in Canada. I will have to find the pictures if I still have them. Here is a picture of it on the track in the 70's. If I remember right he put a 1600 in it, larger rear tires, lights and turn signals.

Just put a few of those orange bicycle flags on it.

[DanW]

Not that I would want to commute I80 to SF in it, but highway 9 would be fun.

http://www.sportscarmarket.com/car-r...1968-lotus-51r

http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/ind...?topic=14963.0

[veefan]

A street legal vee is a poor mans Atom! Just do it and don't read all the posts from the worry warts!

The easiest way to reg one in most states is by calling it "home built kit car".

[provamo]

"...and if you want it done on the cheap a fwd layout placed in the rear."



great idea!

[LeShaghal]

Indiana's laws are pretty lax. Headlights on the towers, tailights &turn signals...all that translates to an alternator&power loss associated with it. We've driven shifter karts& midgets around (quite literally under the radar) and you have to drive like a Motorcycle rider. SUPER AWARE, ALL THE TIME, DRIVE AS IF YOU ARE INVISIBLE! it isn't relaxing and since you'll be in a one-hole car nobody's there in the passenger seat to smile and breath after a nice set of switchbacks...so it's less fun. Now as a group!!!! What a riot, like a motorcycle gang with 4x the wheels. since there's no race you drive closer and faster than ever, everyone feels the rush...I can only compare it to Criterium cycling races. the guys next to you are your pals so you hot dog and play games (you feel 17 again!)

I was going to build a Watson Indy roadster but the pocketbook just doesn't have that kind of gusto so Super Vee it is. STP orange (like the turbine cars) hope to be such a spectacle that NOBODY could miss you. I'm hoping to get my hands on a Caldwell d13 as a pilot/prototype for another, more ambitious, vw powered street project.