Hey guys / gals,

I was referred by a local V8 bug owner and he thought it would be a good idea for me to post my build here. I think so too. I have tons of pics, a lot are kinda redundant, but I will post what's needed to tell the story so to speak.

I've been working on my V8 conversion for about a year now and I'm still working on it. Here's a picture of the bug when I first got it on Nov. 4th of last year.








A few months before I purchased this super beetle I had remembered reading in a VW magazine about a V8 bug. I had owned a 74 super beetle before but had to sell it when I was in college. I've been wanting a V8 muscle car as well so I figured why not build a V8 bug. A month or so later I spotted a blue beetle sitting in a near by mechanics lot. It had been sitting there since 01. I stopped in and a month later I became the owner of this beetle after a months wait for the mechanic's lien to go through. I paid $500 for this beauty. javascript:emoticonp('')


I then begun to disassemble the car kinda knowing what work lied ahead of me. Another thing you'll notice is I'm doing this in an apartment garage, so my space and power is limited. Not to mention I have very basic tools and this is being built on a budget.










Every weekend, if possible, I work / worked on the bug and got a little done at a time. I've also bought what parts I can afford as I went.


Purchased some 1988 vette wheels, 16"x8.5" with 235/55/16 tires. Paid $100. I plan to put some new replica Z06 vette wheels on when it's all finished.






I have more time than cash, sometimes, so I started doing some body work and continued taking the car apart.










Some V8 S10 motor mounts I got as a Christmas present.

At this point I had a deal lined up with a guy whom wanted to swap my bug pan, tranny and motor out for an S10 chassis, but that deal fell through. I looked into designing my own frame, various was to do an inexpensive front and rear suspension using leafs, but I soon came to find out just how expensive steel is.

Some to scale plans I drew up. I'm a graphic designer and in no way and engineer or a fabricator.






Being that I've never really had any kind of fabricating experience other than taking shop classes through out high school, I really didn't know too much about building car chassis other than what I had seen on the net. So I stuck to my original plan of using an S10 chassis and just shorting the wheelbase down to match my beetle. Which is 95.25" for those whom are curious. I got the idea to use an S10 chassis from another guy on a forum whom was doing just the same and it seemed to be working for him.

Next, I found a guy build a Bugatti replica to take the pan, tranny, and motor off my hands. I sold it all for $200.






As you can see from the picture I had already removed some of the trunk with a sawzal. I then continued remove the area where the V8 would reside, someday.






Then one day I found someone whom was parting out a 94 S10. Bought the chassis off him for $150. The guy was even kind enough to lend me his trailer for the weekend cause it was about a good 1 1/2 hr drive away. Us texans are some of the kindest trusting people.






I some how managed to, I don't recommend this, lift my bug body up all by myself onto some center blocks and rolled the chassis under the body. It took a little lifting here, add a block here, lift there....geez, what a pain. Labor of love...








You can see just how much longer the chassis is. Got some wheel spacers so I can install my vette wheels onto the S10 chassis. $100 for all four.


There was no way I could use the S10 leaf springs so I kinda guessed what spring would work. I saw an Isuzu Amigo at the junkyard and figured they would work cause their length and with was about right and their spring rate isn't as much as the S10 which should make for a softer ride. Here's how the two compare. Cost of leaf springs, $45.






I then just dove right into cutting up the frame so it would fit under the body.








I then measured the wheelbase and cut the middle of the frame down to the needed 95.25". Good ol center blocks holding up great!

Here's how the frame came together. You can see it's prepped for welding also.









As you can see I used no fancy method by any means to hold the frame together. Just clamped the two sections together and eye balled it. I tried to get it as straight as possible with my limited tools.

After practicing quite a bit at weld, cause I haven't welded since high school classes and that wasn't much, I managed to do a decent job welding up the frame after grinding out some bad welds and making sure it wasn't pourous. I used the metal from the frame section I cut out to make 6"x12" rectangular fish plates for the sides and 2" x 6" plates for the top and bottom. It's probably over kill being the frame is 2"x6" and a lot of guys build their frames using 2"x3" tubing, but hey, I don't do this every day. So any added security I can get the better. After all, I welded the frame up with a 130 amp 110v arc (stick) welder. All I've got is 110v power.

Here's the shortened welded up frame and a nice shot of my apt complex.








I then took the body off those stable blocks, one of which broke and I was using a jack in it's place, and sat the body on top of the frame.





Don't make fun of my unsexy beads.

I then began cutting away quite a bit of the body sheet metal. I pretty much channeled to body to drop down even with the bottom of the frame.












Next, I welded up some angle iron to use as body mount supports. You'll see how the body bolts up in a sec.





Angle iron is my friend cause it's free here at work when it's available. Welded up the gas tanks new home. That's the stock tank. Which will also serve as the rear body mount too.







After working with the body I finally got it where I wanted it.





B-day presents (minus the carb). Bushings and ball joints to rebuild the chassis. Rebuildable edelbrock carb, but this one will have to go cause it's only 600 cfm and I need 750 cfm.

Started working on widening the steel fenders. I could go with fiberglass, but I want them to be steel and to be able to say "I widened them".











Welding sheet metal with a stick welder, not easy. Blow through and warping was a major problem.


Shortened the front body (were the fender mounts) mounts.





How the fenders look after tacking.







I then started working on the new location of the shackle mounts. I've probably have about 1/4" of clearance between the leaf springs and frame, but the amazingly don't touch. I might have to move the front mount location of the leaf spring up and move the rear diff back on the leaf spring about an 1"-1 1/2" cause the shackles are close to the rear fenders.

Drew up some plans for a 8 point NHRA approved roll bar. Anyone in Houston know where I can get the tubing bent to my plans? Just the main hoop, 4 bends. I can bring in a mock up tube using conduit.





Some parts I bought using that government stimulous check.

Summit Vortec Stage I intake. Rated idle-6000 rpm. Dual plan.




Vortec heads.




Total cost was $720 something.


Started doing some body work cause I'm getting closer to finishing the frame and my plans are to paint both the frame and the body around the same time. So I had to do a little catching up body work wise.










Not exactly the correct way to fix rust holes, but I don't want to take the slightest chance of burning down the building cause of my car (all that foam, old head liner, etc. ).










More...BTW, this the first time I've really done body work at this magnitude. Thank god for internet so I can research these things.


Shaved the turn signals.







Fixing this mess...







Had a little extra money so I bought some goodies...gaskets, 2500 B&M stall, TH350 rebuild kit, push rods, steel stamped self aligning stock rocker arms, oil pan, dist., S10 shorty V8 conversion hearders, timing cover, breather, all needed gaskets for a complete rebuild, etc. Total cost about $1000






I bought a used set of vortec valve covers and bought some 1500º ceramic paint for the headers. 500º flat black engine paint for the pan and valve covers and glossy black for the engine. I might not use these valve covers afterall cause I might just get the matching valve covers to match the breather and timing chain cover I bought.









Headers after sand blasting and 3 coats of paint.





Now, I've been talking about a V8 build but haven't show the engine. Well, my dad gave me a 283 that's bored over .060, but I traded it for a 355 ci cause the pistons were pop up and had a 13:1 CR. Way too much for my needs. I want this thing to be streetable. That and they would hit the chambers of my vortec heads.







See what I mean. So I found a guy whom made an even trade. Short block for short block. Here's the 355 ci SBC that will reside in the bug, one of these days. Aww yes, good ol casting #3970010.




Before I continue on to more body work pictures I'd like to tell you my plans for the motor since this is a V8 build and that's the awe factor and appeal about the whole thing. Some of these parts I still need like the carb, cam, gears, chain, and valve springs, but I know exactly where I'm going with it.

This is based off of a proven dyno build using exactly these parts except the cam I'm choosing will have a slightly longer duration, mainly on the exhaust, to give it that rough lumpity lump idle and my engine will have 5 more cubes (ci). The lift from the dynoed engine is the same being that vortec head can only handle a .450-.470 max lift with out problems.

Build plan for a 410 hp V8: Mine should have a little more horsepower up top but a little less torque. As stated before, this is a dyno proven build, with the exception of the cam having a slightly longer duration on the intake and even more so on the exhaust, that and I've got 5 more cubes.

355 ci SBC
10:1 CR
Vortec heads #060 w/ upgraded Z28 style valve springs
Cam: Duration 293/300, duration @ .050 242 int./255 exh., Lift .450/.453, LSA 106º (rated 2,500-6000 rpm)
Stock rockers, rods, and lifters
Shim head gasket
750 cfm carb
RPM Performer style vortec intake
1 5/8" to 2 1/2" headers
2 1/2" dual exhaust to flowmasters

My tranny of choice is a TH350 backed by a B&M 2,500 stall.



That was fun, now more about where I'm at. More body work...














Steering mock up...manual box. My seat will be in the stock location and I wont be sitting in the back seat.






Switch gears for a moment. Welded in the floor support.




2" drop spindles came in. I have 3" block for the back. Should sit kinda low, but not too low. Cost of spindles, $150.




Here's how the body will mount, to these rails which will be welded to the previous mounts you saw. Just incase you're wondering, I did have to cut out part of the header channels where the frame bows out up front so I'm only making use of the last five bolts.




Freebie from a guy on a V8 bug forum I'm on. Radiator! Which I will mount in the back.




MasterSeries paint for the chassis. Two pints of silver and one glossy chassis black. Cost $92, well free really cause for some reason the charge to my account dropped and I told them about it, but they didn't take any action........


And, finally catching up to where I am now. Body work on the fenders. Weeeee.......pain in my arse.






I've recently had the joy of learning what a body grater / shaper is....after I shaped it with 40 grit paper that is. Pics of final fender welding and grinding.





















I plan have the fender removable, so I got remove them after pretty much bondoing (you like that made up word?) them on. I was kinda skeptical how they were going to come out, but they look good!







Total expense so far is right at about $2,500. I'm guessing when it's all said and done I'll have about $4,500 tied up and that's with paint, interior, and a new set of 17" wheels with tires.

Total weight of the car should be somewhere between 2,600-2,800 pounds. I'm hoping for low 12's, high 11's on the strip.

Well, that's all I have for now. I hope I didn't bog anyone down and really this is only about 1/4 the build up images. You can see more here.

http://carmensbugs.proboards102.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=8&page=1


I'll keep you guys posted as my project continues. I normally work on it every weekend. I hoping to have it in paint in the beginning of next year.

Pretty impressive. Bet that would catch a few looks once it finished pulling a bass boat behind it.

BeetleWarrior wrote:Pretty impressive. Bet that would catch a few looks once it finished pulling a bass boat behind it.

Thanks! , that would be a site to see for sure. Now where do I put that trailer hitch.... Maybe I could daisy chain my Ram 1500 and a bass boat.

Quick little update.

The fenders released quite easily. I went back and sanded down / smoothed out the seam edge, not pictured.







I did manage to work on the driver's side fender, but didn't quite "finish" shaping it. It needs a little more filler to smooth it out. I'll post pictures once I've finished shaping it.

I'm still sitting on the fence about whether or not to shave the bumpers on my beetle. I prefer the deleted bumper look, but I'm worried somebody might bump me one day just tear up the body of my car. Hmmm... This is really the last thing I need to sort out body work wise.

Some more body work...

I pretty much have the driver's side rear fender done. Now I just need to remove it and smoothen the edges, but the hard work is over.










Just a little more work and I'll be ready for some high build primer. I'll have to have me a sanding get together and invite my buddy's over to sand down the body to get rid of the 40 grit marks.

Shaved the bumper holes this weekend, but still more to do. So, yeah, decided to go bumperless.

Tack welded in filler strips. So much easier with a mig.




Then I ground the tacks down flush.




Filled with bondo and block sanded with 40 grit until flush.













I didn't get a chance to finish the rear passenger fender cause my bro showed up ready to drink some beer and play the wii. Sometimes free time is hard to find...but was fun nonetheless. Still have to finish that one fender and remove a couple of them so I can block sand the seam edge flush.

I like the look of no bumper holes. I've thought about doing that to mine.

I think betters look good either way. Going this route saves the weight and the headache of fabricating a way to mount the bumpers to the frame.

All I can say is WOW.... looks great..... and, you have WAY too much time on your hands !

Thanks, LOL, not nearly enough free time, really. I've been working on this for over a year.

I had a good amount of time this weekend to get some things done. So much so I'm starting to run out of things to do body work wise... ;D

I finished shaving the fenders that needed finishing.








I also shaved the hood handle. I just cut off the button latch.




Prepared the weld area.




Bolted the handle assembly on with a little 1" square piece of 22 gauge sheet metal to fill the button hole.




Welded in the handle, welded the handle to the filler piece, and that piece to the hood.




I then used a cutoff wheel to cut the handle down flush. I the weld the bolts and filler metal to the outer metal of the hood.




Then I ground it flush.




A little body filler and block sanding.




And voilà...Finished!




Next, i want to delete the crescent moon vents and that should be about it body work wise. The onto building a roll bar.

Hey guys, update time...

Got some needed parts for Christmas. Motor mounts, tranny mount, shim head gaskets (.015), torque wrench, isky cam #201278, some Lunati valve springs, and Comp Cams double roller chain setup. I'm just lacking a flex plate and harmonic balancer to complete my motor.

Did some body work. I shaved the vents on both sides, but kept the indention behind the vents, which I like.

I drew out a template



Cut the crescent moon shapes and test fitted.



Then cut the shape out of some 22 gauge sheet metal



Cleaned up the weld area with a 40 grit disk.



Tack welded it in place. I would've welded it up some more but there was a bit of rubber that sealed the vent in there... It caught fire a couple times, slightly. So I did enough tacks to get the job done.



Ground down the welds flush.



A little body filler.



Some block sanding, little filler, block sanding....etc.



Hit it with some primer. There's still some little pits so I'll have to go back and work with it some, but it's pretty much there.



Same for the other side. Still a little work to do.



I trimmed out some more of the body not that everything is pretty much where it needs to be.




I got a little carried away on the driver's side. It was tough cutting through the supers strut housing and the gas tank mount.

Looking good!

V8SuperBeetle wrote:I got a little carried away on the driver's side. It was tough cutting through the supers strut housing and the gas tank mount.

Nothing the welder can't correct right.

BeetleWarrior wrote:Looking good!

V8SuperBeetle wrote:I got a little carried away on the driver's side. It was tough cutting through the supers strut housing and the gas tank mount.

Nothing the welder can't correct right.

Thanks! Exactly! I plan to do my engine compartment like this. So it'll hide the ugly trunk structure.

Some updates.

A little more body work basically. I finished off the fresh air vents. They had little pin holes and needed some more block sanding. So that's done. Then I needed to close off the gap between the passenger fender.









You can tell from these pictures, but I figured it was time for some sweeping. So I had to jack up the bug and remove the front tires cause they went low. Took and filled them with some air. I took I picture so you could see just how well the stock S10 width works and perfectly under the stock fenders. The spacers are to give enough room for the vette wheels.

While I had the car rolled out and was cleaning, I snapped some pictures of how the body looks now.

I wish I had 1/100th of your talents. Be sure and send a finished story and pics to Horsepower TV and Gearz (maybe get on the show(s)). I have a question though. Is the stock S10 rear end gonna hold up to the V8 power? I think I remember a show that had a S10 conversion and that was brought up. Not a mechanic here (I can't even figure out how to install my flame thrower on my rail...lol), just asking the question.

SandRail wrote:I wish I had 1/100th of your talents. Be sure and send a finished story and pics to Horsepower TV and Gearz (maybe get on the show(s)). I have a question though. Is the stock S10 rear end gonna hold up to the V8 power? I think I remember a show that had a S10 conversion and that was brought up. Not a mechanic here (I can't even figure out how to install my flame thrower on my rail...lol), just asking the question.

Thanks! I'm not even sure my car would be worthy of one of those shows, maybe. They have some pretty awesome high quality rides. From what I understand is the S10 rear will hold up with relatively stock street tires and that's cause the tires will spin rather than grip. If I were to put slicks on and get a good launch, then I would for sure break the rear. A 7.5" GM rear is a pretty common size but aren't know to withstand tons of power.

Cool sand rail BTW! Did you say flame throwers?! Awesome!

V8SuperBeetle wrote:................................Cool sand rail BTW! Did you say flame throwers?! Awesome!

Thanks. I bought it new from Doug at Qualitat in Grand Prairie. I have done a couple of little things to it. I plan on doing a lot more when ever I can land a job (hopefully I can do that before I have to sell it to pay bills). I am tinkering around with a idea that should produce a very simple yet effective flame thrower for it. I have the new exhaust completed, just need someone with a couple of basic metal tools and a welderto help me attach the igniter. If it works, I'll wire it up with a quick disconect so I can go from "street leagl" to "back off my butt or I'll melt your windshield wipers" in about 60 seconds.....LOL

Don't cut yourself short about getting some interest from those shows. They really key on specific things. Doing all the work in an apartment storage building!. The fact that squeezing a V8 into a glove box! Having no professional plans to work off of! Parting out donor vehicles to obtain correct chasis! Your list is endless. Just keep taking pics and making notes. Then send the 200 pics and the short novel to the shows. The producers will pick out the pics they want and come up with a codensed written version of 100 words or less and......Wala!!!!

ya charlie aint no mechanic he cant even pill a bannana with out direction .....................

deckshot wrote:ya charlie aint no mechanic he cant even pill a bannana with out direction .....................

Hey!!! At least I have a job!!!!!!!!!!! Wait, I take that back..................LOL













P.S. It's peel ya monkey

hey hey hey i do have a job ...................... o wait i dont start till monday !!!!!!!!

deckshot wrote:hey hey hey i do have a job ...................... o wait i dont start till monday !!!!!!!!

Ok, show-off....Just for that you get to hook up my flame thrower tomorrow for me . I'll be there around mid morning.


P.S. If it works, I'll need help puttin a vid on You-Tube. So any other "workin class" show offs wanna brag about being employed!!!!

SandRail wrote:Ok, show-off....Just for that you get to hook up my flame thrower tomorrow for me . I'll be there around mid morning.

Well ^%$#%&(. With that being said, ^^%$#$%. It looked good on paper, but when I hit the igniter, all I got was &&^%%%^$. Guess I'm back to the &^&%%&% drawing board.

he learned some new words installing it

Got some work done today...

My 6 pt. roll bar bolt in conversion kit came in this past week. I mocked them up on the frame, took them to work, and then had them drilled for the bolts.





I then cleaned up the metal where the plates would be welded with a 40 grit disk.










Then welded in the plates.














Then I capped the front frame ends with some left over 1/8 metal I had laying around. I still need to go back and grind the welds smooth so it'll look nice once painted.





Next, after I grind the cap welds, I'm going to take the frame apart, sand blast the small parts at work, power wash the frame, adjust the rear ends location some so the shacks wont hit my fenders, and then it gets new paint (MasterSeries), and reassembled with the new bushings, balls joints, lowering spindles and blocks.

Then I can work on getting the engine together and rebuilding the tranny. Still lots to do til I get to that point. That's all until next weekend.

Lookin' good!!

I was starting to wonder about this project. I'm glad you didn't give up on it

I wont give up on this project. Sometimes I just don't have time to work on it on the weekend and that's normally when I get the time to work on it. I'm hoping to have the frame finished this month, painted and rebuilt. One delay was I needed to get a few people out to help with lifting the body off.

If you need some help, post up. My weekends have been kind of busy lately, but it's gonna slow down soon. If I'm not doing anything, I'd try to come by and give a hand.

V8SuperBeetle wrote:I had a good amount of time this weekend to get some things done. So much so I'm starting to run out of things to do body work wise... ;D

I finished shaving the fenders that needed finishing.








I also shaved the hood handle. I just cut off the button latch.




Prepared the weld area.




Bolted the handle assembly on with a little 1" square piece of 22 gauge sheet metal to fill the button hole.




Welded in the handle, welded the handle to the filler piece, and that piece to the hood.




I then used a cutoff wheel to cut the handle down flush. I the weld the bolts and filler metal to the outer metal of the hood.




Then I ground it flush.




A little body filler and block sanding.




And voilà...Finished!




Next, i want to delete the crescent moon vents and that should be about it body work wise. The onto building a roll bar.

How do you open the hood? Actuators?

I plan to put a release / pull cord inside of the passenger front fender. Just something simple.

BugMan wrote:If you need some help, post up. My weekends have been kind of busy lately, but it's gonna slow down soon. If I'm not doing anything, I'd try to come by and give a hand.

I could always use some help. I'm out in Cypress (290 / Barker Cypress).

Updates...I've been a busy bee...

I ordered the rest of the parts I need from Summit to put my 355 sbc together with the money I got back from my tax turn.

Fuel pump, high volume water pump, oil pump, gaskets, thermostat, comp cam timing chain, flex plate, aluminum crank pulley, harmonic balancer, etc.

Basically everything to finish off the engine. The only thing that will be used is the oil pump drive shaft, the fuel pump push rod, the block and internals (pistons, crank, rods). I'm going to freshen up the bottom end with some new bearings and piston rings. So a good clean up and a light hone is in line, soon.

Yesterday I also got a good deal on some used wheels for the V8 bug. They're C5 corvette wheels, 17"x 9.5" up front and 18"x 10.5" in the back. . The 88' vette wheels just didn't have the look I want for my car, but they're fine for mocking stuff up for now until I can buy new tires. Got them for $150 and they're in really great condition. Just the normal small scratches on the edge of rim lip




Also, on Tuesday I finished off the passenger side body mount that bolts to the heater channel. All it was needing was a piece of angle iron to reinforce it. Cut a 3" piece of angle iron, cleaned it with the 40 grit disk as well as the chassis, and welded it in. Strong and ready to go...








I can't wait to get the chassis finished so I can put the engine together!

My parts came in from summit. ;D For Valentines' day my fiancé got me a DVD from box wrench on basic engine rebuilding which is excellent, and a Ron Sessions book on rebuild a TH 350.




I made good progress this weekend. I drilled holes to bolt down my gas tank.






I ground the front frame caps to clean the appearance up.




I widened the side body mount holes some to give me a little room to shift the body some and I starting disassembling my chassis so I can finish the welds underneth and get it all painted and rebuilt.






That's about as far as I could get without a ball joint separator, which I'll need to borrow, to remove the spindles.

I finished disassembling the chassis. What a DIRTY mess. The front of the frame is caked with dried up mud. I've got a lot of cleaning and sandblasting of small parts to do. My plan is to hopefully power wash the frame this weekend and I'll sand blast some parts here at work.









I went to autozone to see if they had a ball joint separator to rent and I didn't realize how many great tools they have to rent. From piston ring compressors, oil pump primers, etc. Lots of tools I'll need and almost bought. I'm glad I didn't buy any tools right away. I will end up buying a good valve spring compressor from summit cause the one autozone has isn't all that great.

More...

OK, so by this weekend I had "Johnny 5" disassembled and the frame and suspension parts were ready for a good wash. I called up a couple friends to see if they could help, but as usual they were busy and I had to figure out a way to do it solo if I wanted to get anything done.

First I had to widen the distance of the center blocks so the frame could slide out which required some thinking. I need to put the good old 2x3 boards under the car again to keep the body suspended. I lifted one corner at a time and slid a couple small cut pieces of wood under the body. This allowed me to slide the lumber under the body and so I could move the stack of center blocks out. Needless to say this was a tedious process, but I got it done safely.

Next, I had to find a way to load a 400-500 lb car frame in the back of my truck solo as well. I ran a board under the back of the frame, put my floor jack under the board and jack it up so the rear could roll. While crouching I had to lift the frame "horns" and slowly pull the frame out. Wasn't too bad, just required some thinking.

Then I had to get it in the bed of the truck. I lifted the front of the frame into the truck and pull it in just enough to get past the lower front suspension arm mounting points so nothing was dragging. I call the jack again, put it under the front cross member so it could roll, and I lifted the front of the frame and rolled the whole thing forward. Pain in the arse, but I got it done. The drive to the car wash was right down the street so I didn't have to go too far.




So as I was power washing the frame I need to flip the frame over so I could give the underbelly a good wash. As I rolled the frame on it's side while still in my truck bed the frame got away from me and landed on the side of my truck bed. Put a nice soft ball dint in the side, it pounded the corner right above my right rear light taking off a section of paint about the size of a golf ball, and it put many scratches in the paint. All I could do was get pissed for a moment and say oh well.

Here's the frame upside down after all that mess.




So I again had to flip it over with about as much luck as the first try and took the washed frame and parts home. Now it was time to get the frame out and back into the garage, but this time upside down so I can finish up and redo some over head welds that didn't turn out so great. I had to once again figure out how to flip the frame and get it under the car without dragging it. My creeper helped out a lot cause the gas tank mount sat on it nicely lifting the rear up. So the whole thing rolled under the car without hardly any problems.




I know it doesn't seem like I got a whole lot accomplished, but I did manage to get all that done solo. I also, ground away all the bad looking over head welds and began welding. Hopefully this week I can finish welding, get some parts sand blasted and move closer to getting the frame in paint.

Wow, that was alot of work I 'm tired now..lol Looks good can't wait to see it finished, mad props on the thought and work done

I agree. You did a helluvalot of work on that thing. Lookin' good man!! I look forward to your updates

Thanks for the compliments guys. I have some catching up to do with my posts. I haven't forgot about you guys and I definitely haven't given up on the project.

Most recent updates...In the process of rebuilding / finishing the chassis.

I pulled the frame out from under the car and swept up the messy floor. I then put down my first coat of MasterSeries silver using a brush. It went on pretty easily with minimal surface prep. I knocked off most of the loose rust with a wire brush. It turned out pretty nice.








Here's a link to the Master Series paint site.
http://www.masterseriesct.com/


Inexpensive and good stuff.


I bought some more new parts. Seems like there's always something else to buy. Parts I got to finish up the motor, tranny, rear diff, and chassis:

Hydraulic lifters, some lube for the lifters, short water pump - aluminum alt. bracket (mounts up top), starter, B&M street shift kit for the th350, adjustable modulator, B&M drain plug for tranny, bushings for tranny, tranny cooler, intermediate tranny band, all new shocks, bearings / seals, rear brake hose, and diff gasket / gear oil. I think that's all...?

I've sand blasted all the a-arms, put on a second coat of master serires on the frame, and I sprayed some glossy black automotive Rust-o-leum in the areas that are hard / impossible to reach with a brush.

One of the sand blasted a-arms











I've got the frame completely painted in the Master Series glossy chassis black as well as the front suspension. Also, I installed all new bushings, and ball joints in the control arms. Next is to put the front suspension together and begin working on the rear suspension.







Got some work done to the bug. Actually, I put in about 10 hrs time, but it really feels like I didn't get a whole lot done. Getting in the coil springs, even with a compressor, was a real pain without the full weight of an engine or the vehicle to help, but I got it done. That took up most my time.

I sand blasted the front leaf spring mounts.




And some misc. parts.




Misc parts painted.




I didn't realize just how bad the cabinet sand blaster at my work was clogged up until our engineer saw just how slow the process was taking. We filtered out the beads, put it back in, and it worked like a champ. I kinda thought it was taking forever and it wasn't really doing a great job of removing all the rust, but what do I know? I don't do this everyday and can't really complain because my work allows me to use some of their equipment. Any who, it works much better.

Here's the steering linkage sandblasted.




Linkage with new tie rods installed and painted.




Leaf mounts painted. You can see in this picture just how much I had to cut out of the heater channels. Quite a bit. Welding rods work great for hanging parts so you can paint them.




Control arms installed with new bushings and ball joints. Coil springs painted and installed. New shocks installed. Lowered 2" spindles. Sway bar painted and installed with new bushings and new sway linkage.




Here's a pic of the wheels Ray lent me so I can compare to see if I'll like my wheels black. These are the same wheels and these are for the rear. 18" x 9.5 Thanks Ray!




I thoroughly cleaned the wheel bearings, thrust washer and castle nut to later find out I had bought new bearings. : Well, the bearings were in really good shape so I'll hang onto them, put new ones in, for future maintenance.




Painted the spindle and dust cover and installed.




Sand blasted the calipers.




Took them apart to clean them and found a good bit of corrosion. Notice the rust on the dust boot.




I cleaned them and then blasted the inners to find out that one of the pistons had some corrosion which gave me doubts about using for rebuild. So I just bought a new caliper for $10 from the Zone.




Bearings packed, new seal, and rotor assembly installed with the good ol 2" spacers. Tire rod / steering linkage installed too. Front susp. finished.








I started finishing up the rear suspension but smashed my finger. So I called it a day. After removing the rear diff cover. Finger didn't slow me down really. Just ran out of time really.

Was wondering if you had forgot us.

Car is really looking good. The black wheels are nice, may be hell to keep clean though.

BeetleWarrior wrote:Was wondering if you had forgot us.

Car is really looking good. The black wheels are nice, may be hell to keep clean though.

Definitely haven't forgot. I figured once I was about finished with the frame I'd drop a bunch of pictures on the forum.

Some catching up to do on my postings...

8-) Alright, alright...(in my best Matthew Maconha voice) Progress.

Sandblasted the diff cover inside / out and the shock / u-bolt mount.




Drained the gear oil, which didn't look too bad, and added the new stuff after scraping away all the old gasket, on the diff cover and matting surface, with a gasket scraper.




I sand blasted the diff cover at work. Here it is installed. I used some of edelbrock's gasket sealer on both mating surfaces to ensure it seals up nicely.




Here the rear is after a good wire brushing and painting with some Master Series. It came out decent even though there still was some build up I couldn't remove. Seals still must be good cause there was no leakage after it staying like that for days.




Painted the shock mounts, leaf springs, and shackles.








Here's a picture of the completed rear. Well, minus the shock tower bolts which I later added. Everything is hand tight for now cause the rear will need washers or something to make up for the extra space left by the .5" narrower leaf springs. Once the body is secured and I have the 18"s on I'll do a final setup of the rear diff.




I had decide that I would move the front leaf mounts forward and move the rear back on the leaf springs to make up for it. I did this to help keep the shackles away from the fenders. They were an inch away from the fenders with the way it was previously setup. Well, that didn't work out so well. Here's the front mount moved forward 2". I drilled 1/2" holes to secure the mounts and drill an over size hole so I could mount the Isuzu leafs. The 3/4" were not cheap. They look manly though.




You can see that the is now further away from the inner fender. The problem I ran into is moving the rear diff back 2" started having a weird effect cause I'm moving further up the arch of the spring. I planed to secure the rear by making something similar to these.




Maybe I'll try just an inch instead of 2". Or perhaps I'll make some shackles so that they're not so close to the fenders. ???




Here you see the rear it reassembled with and the body it back on. I tried rolling the chassis out so I could take pictures of it 95% finished and so I can clean up my garage but it was bumping into the boards that support the body. So I figured I'd put the body back on. It's been sitting up on them blocks a little to long for comfort. ;D That and I wanted to see the new stance with the 2" lowering spindles and the 3" block in back.




From this angle you can see how the 18" wheels will be very close to the wheel leaving very little of a gap, which is what I wanted. The tires will tuck into the fenders. I was just wanting to see how things looked.




These are going to look nice. I'll have them on next progress post.




She sits fairly low. Even though a only did a 2/3 drop it seems almost slammed when I stand next to it. I'm really loving the stance and I'm sure it'll go down another 1-1.5" once everything is in and settles.




The front end aligned up nicely. The passenger wheel was 2" further inside the fender and make the car look off. Now, they're even and have the same wheel gap.




Here's the problem I was running into. The arch of the leaf spring combined with the lowering blocks pushed the wheels forward. I can move the axle back that would just amplify the effect.

I'll get her sitting right again. Next time. If it ain't one thing it's another.




More recent progress.

Well, I got the rear mocked up and hand tightened. The wheels fit nicely and look cool. I've got a bout 1/2" on each side from the fender hitting the side wall. I'm sure I could get more by slightly opening the bottom of the body since it's not permanently mounted just yet.






Today when I get home from work I'm going to roll the chassis out and get some pictures. Then clean up the garage and organize my engine parts and tools so I can start build the motor. Finally.

Here's a few pictures of the size on my garage, per RaidMagic's, request and some shots of how the black vette wheels look.

Received my new pistons and crankshaft for the 383 build. I have to send the crank back though cause there's a scratch on the one of the rod journals from shipping. It's from one of the shipping staples poking up into the box. You would think it's from the box the luxury treatment. LOL, look at that box. Oh well...

Match set is always good.




Made in India, that's good too right? LOL...






This is exactly how I received it...great job UPS and FedEx!!!




It looked OK. There was a little rust on of of the bob weights, but then I found an unacceptable scratch...back it goes.




A plastic bag of this weight really shouldn't have tears in it like it does. Wouldn't you think?

looking good keep those posts coming can't wait to see it at the shows.

Wow you should have kept a log of how many hours you put into this. Excellent job. I eagerly await more

Thanks guys. I'll keep everyone posted. I have put in quite a bit of hours. Wish I would've kept a long, but I'm too far in it now.

Well, I got my engine back from the machine shop and I'm starting to put it together. I'll post pics as I go.

I've upgraded the valve springs on my vortec heads.


Removed the inner dampers (too much seat pressure).




The stock spring (right) compared to the beefy upgrade spring (left) which are Lunati.




Good ole spring compressor. Compress, remove keepers, decompress, remove retainer, spring, install need spring, the retainer, compress, install keepers with even spacers between gaps, and decompress.




Heads ready to rock at high rpm!





Check all my clearances.

Finally, got my engine block and rotating assembly back from the machine shop. Had it hot tanked, magnafluxed, decks set to 9.020, hone, new pistons pressed, 383 ARP rod bolts pressed in, rods resized, and the rotating assembly balanced. Total cost was $590. Looks like they did a great job.












Then, I started running into problems. During the preassembly process I notice the bearing clearance wasn't right for the rod bearings. Narrowed bearings solved that problem. I dropped a piston and then it wouldn't go in right anymore. Order a replacement piston. Then, I managed to put a scratch on the crankshaft because the rod caps are darn near impossible to get off. So I had to take it to the machine shop to get polished. Last but not least, I wanted to install my own bearings, and messed up a bearing. I bought new ones and they are currently in without any problems.

Took the block to the machine shop for a thorough cleaning before final assembly. Tonight I'm going to paint the block and start the final assembly this weekend.

It's been a little while since an update.

Here we go. Here's some pictures of the build.

Here's what the crank looked like when I got it back from getting it polished after I boogered up the crank (small scratch). When I got to the machine shop I thought, "Wow, what kind of crank is that with the gold journals?" Haha.




I wish I would've take a few more pictures while we were building, but I was so into the build the last thing on my mind was taking pictures. The day flew by fast.












This last picture the intake, valve covers, carb, and air cleaner are all just sitting there. I was anxious to see how it would look.




I'm going to work on it some more throughout the week and I'll hopefully have it finished by the weekend. Putting an engine together takes much longer than I thought.