My 2006 Wuerth Motorsports Build

602evo

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I figured I would make a rough build thread for my car since I have changed a lot on this car in almost 4 years of ownership. I bought this car in January 2021 with a J35 Honda and 091 trans. The car was originally built in 2006 with a turbo VW and 091. It was Wuerth's "Stage 1" Chassis.

In the 4 years I've owned it, I have had multiple different set ups. Turbo J35 with 2D, and the LS1/LS6 and 2D. Last Thanksgiving, I blew up the 2D i had, and had Rich Roberts from Action Auto Racing Gearboxes build me a fresh Deco case 2D, which is been great!

The motor is an LS6 bottom end, with early 853 LS1 heads. I bought the motor in pieces from Lee Finke at Raceshock. It was his spare race motor for his class 1 buggy. Lee was my dads next door neighbor for years, and taught me so much about suspension/shock set ups and tuning. (RIP Lee).

I assembled the motor in my spare bedroom, with the addition of a Summit 8708 Cam. Powered by a Holley Terminator X engine management. So far I love the LS! 2 seasons in on it so far. The turbo Honda might have been faster up top, but cant beat the instant TQ of the LS!

Here's a rough timeline of what I have done the past 2 years.

First, built the LS, as well as a new engine cage for the car! I liked the style/shape of the S&S car's engine cages, so did something somewhat similar to that shape wise, and added the 1" cross bars behind the engine just for styling! Added another diagonal bar on the side of the engine cage for additional gearbox/engine bracing! (headers pictured in these photos didn't end up being used due to fitment issue)
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Here's a few more pics of the car after i painted the engine cage:
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Almost as soon as I put the LS in the car, the pivot tube cracked right by the inner trailing arm mounts in the exact same spot on both sides. So reinforced that area with some triangle gussets! (some of the areas were hard to reach with the TIG torch, so a couple areas arent as pretty as others :LOL: ) Since this, there have been no chassis structural issues at all!

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Next project after this was building a 2 to 1 exhaust, and wow does the car sound so much better, and seems to run better! Made it out of mild steel exhaust tubing, using 308L filler!

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Summer of 2023, @ranman5608 cut me a new roof with a break at the back to match the original Wuerth trunk! Powder coated it red, and it matches pretty good!
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Next major project was the addition of rear bypasses. @lincster sold me the King 2.5x14 triple bypasses that came from his Sandtrix F5 as he was upgrading! Being that they were the same size as my King 2.5x14 rear coilovers, i decided to mount them side by side, which made things much easier. (Found paint to match the added areas, too)

A whole year later, i still need to pull the coilovers apart and remove some valving. Lee and myself had the car dialed in pretty well with no bypasses, so the addition of the bypasses meant too much valving in the rear. Planning to do a coil carrier set up. I will be changing the rear c/o valving prior to Thanksgiving 2024 weekend.
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Here's a few pics from the 2023 season, removed the wrap the car had on it. Much cleaner! (@Funco4JM car in the background!)
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Going into the 2024-2025 season was FULL of tin work and other random projects. My buddy Kurtis built me a hood and dash for the car, and i decided to convert the car to a 2 seater and put a 22 gallon RCI fuel cell in place of the rear seats. Reason for this was to move some weight forward. When i put the LS/2D in, i probably placed the motor/trans slightly too far back, although i set it up to where at full droop, the trans CV center and hub center line were perfectly in line, which is the "correct" way to do it, however made the car somewhat back heavy. With the weight further, and the addition of 10.50 front tires, the car handles like a dream! (i traded my 8.50's and 15's for 10.50's and 17's). I then made a fuel cell cover plate with doors to access the electronics (which i relocated), The fuel cell fill cap and fittings, and the far door on passenger side for storage! Here's some pics of everything:

Early stages of electronics relocation
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Fuel cell of choiceIMG_2710.jpg

Plate that i made: (will do some clean up when i change the color this off season)IMG_0994.jpg
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Finally, here's some hood and dash pics. I'm only allowed 30 pics per post, so posting vets day 2024 pics after this!

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After this season, the car is going to get a full tear down, color change, 2" hallows, and some other stuff!
 

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Unfortunately, due to age/fatique, frequent wheelies, and the addition of the 10.50's, the original combo spindles are starting to kick the bucket. Passenger side spindle developed a crack, which i welded up last night. The quality of the spindle welds that were there on the passenger side were way worse than the driver side, so not sure if this side has an original Wuerth spindle or not. But assuming these spindles are 18 years old like the original part of the chassis, I would say these things don't owe me a damn thing!

Quick repair on the spindle to get me through the season. When i tear the car down after this season, I plan to go with Tatum Billet 2" hallows, or Kartek 2" hallow spindle kit!
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Also this past off season, sold the old 2001 weekend warrior FS3000 and picked up a pretty mint 2006 Holiday Rambler Next Level 38CK (that i already ripped the ABS plastic rear belly pan off of in Parker this summer 🤦‍♂️)

This thing is in super good condition and only had like 500 hours on the generator when i picked it up! Pretty dang good for a 2006!

So much cargo space i could almost fit a small car in there along with my car :LOL:
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Love the updates and keep the pics coming. As a fellow Wuerth owner I’m digging your upgrades.
 
Unfortunately, due to age/fatique, frequent wheelies, and the addition of the 10.50's, the original combo spindles are starting to kick the bucket. Passenger side spindle developed a crack, which i welded up last night. The quality of the spindle welds that were there on the passenger side were way worse than the driver side, so not sure if this side has an original Wuerth spindle or not. But assuming these spindles are 18 years old like the original part of the chassis, I would say these things don't owe me a damn thing!

Quick repair on the spindle to get me through the season. When i tear the car down after this season, I plan to go with Tatum Billet 2" hallows, or Kartek 2" hallow spindle kit!
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That style spindle was known to have cracking problems, the outer gusset with the ugly welds actually looks added as the original wuerth spindles didnt have that. He later came out with a new design spindle that was better.
I had alot of fun in my wuerth car, i had like the 4th car steve ever built.
 
A lot of these cars are 15 years old or more, Spindles and Hubs should be replaced. Dunes have gotten rougher and tires and weight have gone up.
Good catch
 
Awesome right up! My buddies dad has what I believe is the last Stage 1 Wuerth car off of their jig. Still has an 091 w/ a 2276 Turbo VW. The trailing arm pivots are the weak point on this chassis. Only structural issue my buddies dad has ran into. I gotta share this thread with him, I have been trying to convince him to start doing all of this to his car for the last 10 years lol.
 
That style spindle was known to have cracking problems, the outer gusset with the ugly welds actually looks added as the original wuerth spindles didnt have that. He later came out with a new design spindle that was better.
I had alot of fun in my wuerth car, i had like the 4th car steve ever built.
I found this out from a friend of mine who is family friends with Steve! makes sense why the welds on the added gusset were way different than the actual spindle welds. Everything Wuerth built seems to be really good quality!

Do you have any pics of your old Wuerth by chance?
 
A lot of these cars are 15 years old or more, Spindles and Hubs should be replaced. Dunes have gotten rougher and tires and weight have gone up.
Good catch
Thats for sure! I think I am going to go with Tatum billets after this season. They seem to fit right up to the Wuerth front end geometry.
 
Awesome right up! My buddies dad has what I believe is the last Stage 1 Wuerth car off of their jig. Still has an 091 w/ a 2276 Turbo VW. The trailing arm pivots are the weak point on this chassis. Only structural issue my buddies dad has ran into. I gotta share this thread with him, I have been trying to convince him to start doing all of this to his car for the last 10 years lol.
Thats awesome! See if you can get any pics!

Yep, seems like every Wuerth owner has said the pivot tube is the only weak point. Super stout cars otherwise! Everything from the Pivot tube forward is all original on mine!
 
I found this out from a friend of mine who is family friends with Steve! makes sense why the welds on the added gusset were way different than the actual spindle welds. Everything Wuerth built seems to be really good quality!

Do you have any pics of your old Wuerth by chance?
Here is a pic of a pic. I have tons of pics somewhere on a sd card from it on the chassis table being built up to it driving away with the new owner the day i sold it.
This pic im pretty sure is from 2005 (i sold it in 2006). The halogen lights and small tires sure does date it though.
It was a stage 1 chassis with a turbo subi and a 091.
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Here is a pic of a pic. I have tons of pics somewhere on a sd card from it on the chassis table being built up to it driving away with the new owner the day i sold it.
This pic im pretty sure is from 2005 (i sold it in 2006). The halogen lights and small tires sure does date it though.
It was a stage 1 chassis with a turbo subi and a 091.
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Thats awesome! The early rear shock mounts and everything. what year was this one built?
 
Thats awesome! The early rear shock mounts and everything. what year was this one built?
I wanna say i built it 2003 i think. Like i said above it was chassis #4, i think i was actually kind of like his first customer that wasnt a friend. Car #1 was his personal car stage 2or3 northstar 2d car. Cars 2 and 3 from what i remember were for a good buddy of his and that guys brother both vw bus box stage 1 cars and then mine was number 4.
Steve is a good guy, i actually tried to build one of his big cars he was designing when i sold that car it just didnt work out.
 
I wanna say i built it 2003 i think. Like i said above it was chassis #4, i think i was actually kind of like his first customer that wasnt a friend. Car #1 was his personal car stage 2or3 northstar 2d car. Cars 2 and 3 from what i remember were for a good buddy of his and that guys brother both vw bus box stage 1 cars and then mine was number 4.
Steve is a good guy, i actually tried to build one of his big cars he was designing when i sold that car it just didnt work out.
Cool to hear the background!! I would definitely like to see more photos if you find any!
 
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