Not your traditional Hot Rodder intro...

More above. Too many pics for one post.


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.

 

Damn its like Attack of the FNG on this thread. Reminds me of this other uh questionable movie, just insert FNG where Tomatoes is. I like VeeDubs but uh go to the SAMBA and they would probably give you a minute place to exist. Nothing traditional about your build bud sorry. Not one iota. I will give you props for taking something scrapyard bound and making it some other fodder after painting though.-Weeks

 

Looking good thanks for the update

 

V8 Super Beetle, I'm just barely over being a FNG here myself, but I'm really enjoying your build. You have presented it in an intelligent, easy to understand way and I appreciate it. Regardless of ruffling the feathers of some on this board, the information presented here is valuable to other hot rodders in learning how to tackle a project, whether it's a Beetle or a '49 Plymouth business coupe such as the one in my avatar.

Keep up the good work and I'm looking forward to seeing your project finished.

 

Am I still really a FNG if I joined 16 months (Jan 08) ago and have frequented this forum a year before joining? I've been a member longer than you Weeks and that's a lot of BIG talk coming from a Californian. I've laid low for 28 months because I know this project isn't considered a traditional hotrod and it would get bashed here. It's like that movie "Grumpy Old Men" around here since we're making movie references.

BTW Weeks46, I think more people should a little pussy as their avatar. It represents you well.

 

V.W's are cool man, Buses, Bugs, Wagons, Things, Carmengias!!! The 1952 bug had a split rear window looked bitchen man! I think your project celebrates the true spirit of hot rodding: An old car given a new lease on life; like any good hot-rod it's a bit of a FRAKENSTEIN; and it's going to haul ass when it's built. Also let us not forget the first V.W. TYPE-1 (BUG) made itself known to the World in 1938, 15 years before the Corvette, so I would say your project is traditional enough because those little bugs really looked a like late or early models, so more power to you. I think you doing a great job!
Follow this link to a bitchen 1952 V.W. Bug

http://www.vwtrendsweb.com/features/0501vwt_1952_split_window_volkswagen_beetle/photo_01.html

 

Thanks for the kind words and actually "getting it". You're true hotrodders.

 

Thanks man!

 

I see you quickly changed your picture! LOL!

 

I think you're doing a great job with the V Dub.
Designed in the late 30's. American V8. Fabricating and shade tree engineering, what's not traditional. If it was a Thames panel or Fiat would it be any different?
I enjoy the progress.

 

Don't tout where you reside bud, just because I am in California does not mean anymore then you being in Texas. Your connotations are a little disconserting there bud. I lurked here from 2002 till 2008. I waited until I had a car that was worth being a part of this board as in a 1930 Model A. I also thought it would be a good laugh to sign up on 7-11 as in open 24-7 cause the HAMB is here all the time.

I started out in the veedub crowd because that was the only "hot rod" I could afford. I even went as far as having VLKSWZL as my license plate. Thats VoLKSWeeZLe, because I was pretty deep into it. Really dug volksrods.com and the SAMBA for knowledge but knew what I liked beyond them domestic American made iron. Just never came on the HAMB to talk about my VW. Only came on here to see what I really wanted and to get ideas.

I like how you at least used a superbeetle to create your uh car. At least you know where the least value for your dollar is even though it costs so much more to restore a superbeetle. Just glad it was not an Oval/Zwitter or pre 67 bug. Hell your beetle there by most VW purist standards is not even a VeeDub because they say Wolfsburg stopped making real VWs in 1967.

Now the Grumpy Old Men thing lmfao yeah I would be like the father spouting funny shit in your direction and you not knowing how to respond except I am 23 so now its the reverse I am a dumb unknowing kid. You need to take a chill pill. I wish some of the old HAMB would come out and give you a good rashin of chit but they have been pretty much relegated themselves to just talking within their groups more and more as the main board is overwhelmed with b.s.

As far as the Avatar bud its a sorta thumbs up to 2 different HAMBERS really that I respect. One be a really good contributor here as far as pictures of relevant events and another who is actually my TEXAS girlfriend dip-shit. But hey the old saying goes you are what you eat right? So I be eating uh catnip all day long. Thanks for the good laugh V8 Super Beetle you made my day.-Weeks

 

Yeah I had it like that for about the last 3 months and was in the process of changing it but f it. The avatar is back to stay. I only changed it because I saw KIRKs new one and thought mine had become stagnant. But my TEXAS gf told me to leave it up just for you. So enjoy I am through talking back to you. Have a great day bud!-Weeks

 

Thanks, I appreciate it.

 

I hear ya' Weeks46. I don't mind people voicing their opinion, but it's kinda silly you calling me a FNG, cause title under my user name says so, and really I've been registered longer than you. I can say I've been lurking since 01' or whenever, but my "Join Date" states I'm an older member than you. That and I keep posting my build in this thread only because I KNOW in most peoples eyes here my build is not traditional. It even says so in the title. LOL! I doesn't matter what forum I post on, whether it's volksrods.com, hotrodders.com, thesamba.com, S10V8.com, superbeetlesonly.com, germanlook.net, my ride (uh, that's right, it's a hotrod) fits in a very small category. v8bugs.com is the most fitting place, but because I'm using parts from all sorts of vehicles (S10, 70's Chevy pickup, 1303 vw) I post on many different forums for constructive feedback. So my hotrod may be more traditional than a large majority of peoples rides that are considered traditional. Hated by "traditional" oldschool hotrodders, vdubbers, appreciated by the S10 crowd, purist, blah, blah... I think the true traditional hotrodders are the ones who can appreciate what it is I'm doing here. Taking parts from many different cars, using limited tools, space, and money to build something unique, something that goes against the grain, and will be hella fast. Isn't that what hotrodding is about? I'd hate to see how a guy sharing his honda civic build would be treated here compared to mine when my build is the same basis as a lot of peoples here (S10 chassis for frame and 350/ th350 combo). LOL! Even though I know this is not the place for that and apparently my build, kinda.

Any who, rant over.

 

Meeeooowwwww....I hear ya' about the meaning of it and whatnot.

Texas girlfriend huh? Um hum...yup. She must not be a native to be dating someone in CA. Such a long distance. Being that you're 23 (28 myself) I'm sure you've heard that song "Area Codes". You might want to keep that in check. LOL! Trust me. Learn from your elders. Sticking a feather in your butt does not make you a chicken. Gay maybe, but not a chicken.

 

V8 - ignore that idiot. This a great post and a good build. Hell there are members on here without cars, as long as you shit is classic and you think its a hot rod - hang around. I've been following this step by step build and its good stuff. Don't let him give all Californians a bad name. haha

 

Thanks! I will definitely keep posting. I was just giving him a hard time back. Nothing personal to those in Cali. Some of my family lives in Cali, although not natives. Nothing against Cali, great state. Thanks for following my build.

 

Regardless of where your build belongs (traditional? not traditional?), it's still a cool little car that's gonna suprise more than a few folks

Keep up the good work!

 

Thanks! I can't wait to get this thing on the street. The reactions from the vw crowd, hotrods, and street / drag racers will be priceless.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Well, some good news. I ordered an Eagle Specialty Products internal balance stroker crankshaft for my 350.

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=ESP-10350375057I


And I bought some (383) Speed Pro dish pistons.

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=STL-H859CP30


Both parts will work well with my stock 5.7" rods. So I'll save some $$$ there. Coolest part is I did some shopping around and found the crank for $231 here...

https://www.horsepowerparts.com/index.php?content_id=175&product_id=21684


and a set of 8 pistons here...

http://www.kmjent.com/cart/product.php?productid=324&cat=20164519&bestseller=Y


...I called summit up and said, "I'd like to buy these parts (I listed stock #s and he gave me the pricing) but I found them cheaper here (I then gave him the website URLs)". They beat their competitors prices by $1 for each product. Summit has a beat-a-price guarantee so I thought I'd see if it was baloney. It wasn't. I got the parts for $407 with shipping. At Summit's pricing it would've been $522 total with shipping. So I saved over $100 smackers.

So I have all my parts, or they're being shipped, and the motor can go together soon. That is after hot tanking, decking, and balancing. I might not have the assembly balanced if the bob weight of my pistons, pins, rings, bearings, cap screws and rods are fairly close to the neutral bob weight of 1825 +/- 2% from Eagle. Maybe balancing will be cheap enough if I give the machine shop the bob weight and they only have to balance the crank? We'll see...

 

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?

 

The replacement 3.75" crank came in and it was in much better shape.

 

Guy up the street from me has built 3 different Early V8 bugs...one has a big block in it! Alot of work there...looks good.

 

dont shit up the hamb.

 

I don't usually gripe about this myself, but no kidding!!

I don't have much against VW's, but the Super Beetles didn't come out until '71 (also the first year for the strut front suspension, hardly traditional!), which is quite a few years past our cut-off isn't it?!
I don't see what's traditional about putting one on a S-10 frame either!

Seems this is a blatant disregard of the 'rules', isn't it?
I'm really surprised this hasn't been closed by now, somebody must've been napping on this one.
There has got to be a VW only forum out there that would better appreciate this.