1973 V8 VW Super Beetle Build - Dial-up beware, LOTS of images.

Hooked Post: 100

Lookin' good!! Very Happy

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

Interested Post: 50

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.

Hooked Post: 100

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.

Dallas Air Cooler Post: 243

Interested Post: 50

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

Interested Post: 50

Interested Post: 50

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.

Hooked Post: 163

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

Hooked Post: 100

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

Interested Post: 50 Location: Houston (Cypress), TX

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. : Smile

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.

Administrator Post: 1259 Location: Lone Oak, Texas

Was wondering if you had forgot us. Razz

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cell # 469.422.9072

'73 Bay Camper · (T 1 conversion)
'68 Bug · (Ratty Daily Driver project)

Interested Post: 50 Location: Houston (Cypress), TX

Interested Post: 50 Location: Houston (Cypress), TX

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. Smile

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.

Interested Post: 50 Location: Houston (Cypress), TX

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.

Interested Post: 50 Location: Houston (Cypress), TX

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?

Interested Post: 58 Location: spring tx

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

Apprentice Post: 14 Location: Lewisville, Texas

Wow

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

Interested Post: 50 Location: Houston (Cypress), TX

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. Rolling Eyes

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.

Interested Post: 50 Location: Houston (Cypress), TX

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.

Interested Post: 50 Location: Houston (Cypress), TX

Well, the plan was to get it in this weekend. If it isn't one thing it's another. I didn't get the motor in this weekend much less did I get the car home. My old man and I couldn't get a hold of my uncle whom has the engine hoist we need to borrow. So the move was put off until next weekend. I'm going to try and borrow one from my mechanic. So hopefully I'll get it home sooner than this weekend.

Some pics of the engine 98% complete. Just need to install small stuff like vacuum hose for the dist., pcv valve, put the oil sender unit back in (manual one installed for pre-oil which is pictured).

Interested Post: 50 Location: Houston (Cypress), TX

So I got the engine in last night. It's finally a V8 bug. Haha.

I've managed to get one bolt completely through the mount and the other is in but not through the back of the metal mount plate. I've got to move the rear of the engine about an inch towards the passenger side so it can go all the way through.

On another note, the engine fits great but I'll have to raise the body about 3" to clear the breather and the alternator. Seems dropping the body 6" around the frame was a tad too much. I might have to buy me a lower mounting alternator bracket for a short water pump. Maybe the one I have will fit after I raise the body, but we'll see.

One great thing is the dist. clears the wiper motor compartment by about 2". That's with the motor all the way forward in the mounts so I've got a little wiggle room to move the engine back slightly if needed.

Administrator Post: 1259 Location: Lone Oak, Texas

Looking good for sure...

I figured you would need a little KY gel to get it in there. Razz

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Cell # 469.422.9072

'73 Bay Camper · (T 1 conversion)
'68 Bug · (Ratty Daily Driver project)

Interested Post: 50 Location: Houston (Cypress), TX

Novice Post: 64 Location: Amarillo, Texas

Hey man I just got fineshed looking at all the pictures, Great job man! You give guys like me inspiration to build stuff like that! I would really like to see some more pictures! Hows the progress??? Keep up the great work!

Interested Post: 50 Location: Houston (Cypress), TX

Thanks, I'm glad my project has inspired you. I've made some more progress lately.

I bought a tranny. th350, which I'm in the process of rebuilding.

I also bought a tranny crossmember, sandblasted it and painted it.

Got the gas tank sealed, painted, and sitting in it's place.

I flushed the radiator and painted it.

Last, but not least, I bought a rollcage and I'm working on getting it installed.

So within the next month or so, I should have the cage finished, tranny in and be working on getting the driveshaft and flooring fabricated.

Novice Post: 64 Location: Amarillo, Texas

Sweet. Oh and the black rims are gonna look great if you decide to go with them.

Interested Post: 50 Location: Houston (Cypress), TX

Sorry it's been a while since my last post. Check this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvUaSOQgPYQ

I also have had the trans rebuild, it's installed, driveshaft shortened and installed, exhaust ran (FlowMaster 40 series), plumbing ran for rear radiator, and part of the floor done. It'll be a driver soon.

I'll post pics soon...

Administrator Post: 1259 Location: Lone Oak, Texas

Sounds sweet, got a good lope to it. Twisted Evil

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cell # 469.422.9072

'73 Bay Camper · (T 1 conversion)
'68 Bug · (Ratty Daily Driver project)

Interested Post: 50 Location: Houston (Cypress), TX

Thanks! I still need to tune it (degree in the timing and adjust the idle). It should have a little more lope once I get that done. Very Happy

Interested Post: 50 Location: Houston (Cypress), TX

Hey guys,

Time for an update! I have the bug driving, but there's still a hand full of things to do before I can get it in paint. I'm hoping to have it in paint by May.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4Ct4LndyBk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKK5sYU2pHg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKUldF9XIyk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKUldF9XIyk

Administrator Post: 1259 Location: Lone Oak, Texas

Cool.

Looks like you may have to move your seat back just a little. That knee was pretty high. Twisted Evil

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cell # 469.422.9072

'73 Bay Camper · (T 1 conversion)
'68 Bug · (Ratty Daily Driver project)

Interested Post: 50 Location: Houston (Cypress), TX

Haha, it's a tight fit for sure. That's as far back as I can move the seat. Otherwise, my head will pass the top of the roll bar and I wont pass tech inspection at the drag track. Better to be crampt than brake my neck in a rollover. I wish I could give myself some leg room but everything is so crampt.

It's fun to drive though. Like driving a go kart with a bug body and a V8. Cool

Interested Post: 50 Location: Houston (Cypress), TX

A few things I've managed to get done.

Here's how the distributor mod looks.

You can see the mechanical advance limiting screw with the side ground for "fine" tuning and the vacuum limiter which is made out of just a piece of 22 gauge steel I had laying around. Next to free modifying this thing.

Had to clearance the rotor cap a little.

Here you can see it was a great concern to me whether or not I could even remove the distributor cap. Thank god it would come off. I still had to rotate the crank to get to the rotor screws.

I moved the gas pedal away from the brake pedal some more. This is as far over as I can get it.

And, last but not least, last night I made templates (night before), cut them out and welded the rear wheel wells in.

Having a couple gallons (everything is sealed...but) of gas in the tank and the fact the paint kept catching fire on the bug body when I was welding the wheel well pieces up kept me from wanting to fully weld these things up. Some MasterSeries and sealer will finish the job here.

Next thing I'm going to tackle is the "engine bay". I want to trim out all the excess sheet and reinforce the front clip with some 7/16" rod. What do you guys think? Will I have problems with the whole front end shaking or will it be strong enough with some reinforcement and the fenders bolted up?

Here you can see a guideline I drew where I want to cut it.

I'm trying to make the engine bay as simple as possible. No wheel wells and the wiper compartment will go so I'll have easier access to the dizzy. Also, it'll allow me to use the cowl vent to allow how air to escape. I just plan to make a mount for the wiper motor.

Things to do before body work / paint stages.

1. Rear, above gas tank, sheet metal.

2. Finish engine bay.

3. Finish filler neck sheet metal.

4. Seam sealer.

Getting there.