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View Full Version : '74 Super Project. German Look? Rally look? We'll See..


ckuhns
October 7th 2018, 19:36
Well it's about time I started one of these...

This won't be any sort of quick project, everything will be slow going.

Anyway's, my first car was a 1970 Standard Bug, passed down from my grandmother. I loved that car, and it was my daily driver got about 5 years, until I sold it due to having issues I couldn't afford to fix at the time. fast forward 4 years and I'd started checking craigslist every once and awhile to see if I'd find it. One day, I did! It was in a garage with all the interior out, gauges out, windows out etc. The person I sold it to painted it (very cheaply) red, and then sold it.

I manager to buy it back, and had it for another year before realizing/deciding I didn't have the ability to give it all the love it needed (lots of rust).

Here's a photo of it's good side, a few weeks before it got rehomed to a couple who are currently giving it a full restoration.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1923/30220292997_1108be55a4_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/N3sUfr)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/N3sUfr) by Conner Kuhns (https://www.flickr.com/photos/151411101@N07/), on Flickr



After awhile without it, I got the itching for a bug. I ended up with a 1974 Super Beetle, with built trans, 1915cc motor with a big cam and big carbs. made good power, but ran too hot for daily driver duty, and didn't make any power below 3800rpm.

It was originally orange, but had a bad white repaint at some point. best part was no rust! The guy I bought it from owned it for 22 years, and was his weekend racer. He had removed all carpeting and sound deadening to make it as light as possible, which meant it was crazy loud on the inside. I quickly added sound deadening to help with that!

Here it is soon after I bought it.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1946/45158542541_5c0774d648_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2bNvkp4)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2bNvkp4) by Conner Kuhns (https://www.flickr.com/photos/151411101@N07/), on Flickr

ckuhns
October 7th 2018, 19:45
So, what are my goals? fast enough to be a little scary if you keep your foot in it enough, and for it to handle good enough to embarrass people with their fancy sports cars.

There are a few cars that I really like the look of, and will be drawing some inspiration from.

They are...

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1977/44247185125_0f541ae8c8.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2apYoAa)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2apYoAa) by Conner Kuhns (https://www.flickr.com/photos/151411101@N07/), on Flickr
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1945/44436974584_242c0593ab.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2aGK7od)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2aGK7od) by Conner Kuhns (https://www.flickr.com/photos/151411101@N07/), on Flickr
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1936/43344750120_36029f2aae.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/293eb6W)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/293eb6W) by Conner Kuhns (https://www.flickr.com/photos/151411101@N07/), on Flickr
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1929/45158525081_4129158407.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2bNvfd2)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2bNvfd2) by Conner Kuhns (https://www.flickr.com/photos/151411101@N07/), on Flickr
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1972/43344749830_e687c9a7fd.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/293eb1W)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/293eb1W) by Conner Kuhns (https://www.flickr.com/photos/151411101@N07/), on Flickr

ckuhns
October 7th 2018, 19:50
What's been done so far?

First off, ditching the steelies for some Porsche cookie cutters. 15X7 in the rear, and 15X6 up front, with 205/55/15 Yokohama S.Drives all around.

Before mounting up the tires, my wife helped me mask and paint the wheels, the idea was having them look similar to RSR Fuchs

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1928/44247197075_49b987f22d.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2apYs9c)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2apYs9c) by
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2bJcpcW]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1935/45109777352_a370b3abe4.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/151411101@N07/)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2bJcpcW) by Conner Kuhns (https://www.flickr.com/photos/151411101@N07/), on Flickr
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1957/45158545111_ea18af5739.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2bNvman)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2bNvman) by Conner Kuhns (https://www.flickr.com/photos/151411101@N07/), on Flickr

ckuhns
October 7th 2018, 20:03
For the interior, I've ditched the rear seat, and the idea is to eventually finish the back area with carpet so it looks decent. eventually, a roll bar or cage to stiffen the car a bit.

I purchased these Recaro's to install

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1944/44247183845_306fe9060a.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2apYod6)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2apYod6) by Conner Kuhns (https://www.flickr.com/photos/151411101@N07/), on Flickr

I also found a deal on some funky fabric, The idea is for me to learn to sew enough to start by redoing the door cards, planning on using the fabric I bought along with some darker gray microsuede on the door cards, like you can see in this photo..

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1946/44436992014_e5829c90e1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2aGKcyJ)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2aGKcyJ) by Conner Kuhns (https://www.flickr.com/photos/151411101@N07/), on Flickr

If doing door cards goes well and I'm feeling bold I'll attempt to recover the seats, using dark gray microsuede on the bolsters, and the fabric seen in the photo of the old door panel for the centers of the seats.

I already have a Momo Prototipo in the car, spaced out 2". Eventually I will redo the dash, I'm thinking that flocking the top part will go nice. I also plan on making a new inlay where all the switches etc are, I want to use brushed aluminum.

ckuhns
October 7th 2018, 20:11
So far, I've added Silver Project camber plates and 26mm torsion bars in the back. When I bought the car, it already had a strut brace up front, 7/8" front sway bar and 3/4" rear sway bar.

The one big thing I did was ordered KW V2's. Tire Rack here in the US had them on their website, while not in stock, they were cheaper than anywhere else, shipped from their Nevada (NO TAX!) warehouse once they got them in, and all at no shipping cost to me, I was stoked!
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1911/45158777151_9fcb0c5ce0.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2bNwx94)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2bNwx94) by Conner Kuhns (https://www.flickr.com/photos/151411101@N07/), on Flickr

I have the front's installed already, but haven't gotten a chance to throw the rears on.

ckuhns
October 7th 2018, 20:20
Let's finish getting up to speed on what's been done!

I got the KW's on up front, lowered the car in the rear with the bigger torsion bars, and had it aligned. WOW did it handle great! I got home from it's first drive and decided to wash the car. I noticed the white paint was so thin on the roof, I could see a little of the OG orange.
To keep it short, I got carried away and next thing I knew I was using oven cleaner and melted some of the crappy white paint off. Not all like how it looks now, I'm not sure I do either, but frankly I don't care as i care more about how it drives.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1948/45158540301_b81760eea8_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2bNvjJr)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2bNvjJr) by Conner Kuhns (https://www.flickr.com/photos/151411101@N07/), on Flickr

Eventually I may paint the car, however there are things that are more important (to me) that I'd rather devote resources too first.


Those paying close attention will notice in the photo above that the exhaust sure looks odd..
the 1915cc motor never seemed happy, so the next order of business became ditching it for a EJ22 Subaru engine. The EJ22 was chosen due to being relatively inexpensive. stock they make around 135hp, and make plenty of power down low, so the car was not only faster, but much more drivable.

That pretty much gets us up to speed. My next post will go over what I'm working on now, and plans for the next year or so..

owdlvr
October 11th 2018, 13:19
Stoked you're finally posting here!

I met ckuhns years ago (2010?) on a mountain bike trip down in California, back when he had his grandmother's beetle as his daily driver. Took a few years, but finally got him on the GL forums :P

-Dave

Clatter
October 12th 2018, 23:10
Nice!

Thanks for taking the time to post up..

Steve C
October 22nd 2018, 21:16
keep posting please

ckuhns
January 6th 2019, 23:11
Well unfortunately nothing new has happened really, been daily driving the car without much issue. I got frustrated a briefly listed it for sale and took these photos..




https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7916/45725347695_82c78749a7_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2cEAmPH)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2cEAmPH) by Conner Kuhns (https://www.flickr.com/photos/151411101@N07/), on Flickr
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4811/46639945191_777520e3a4_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2e4pUN4)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2e4pUN4) by Conner Kuhns (https://www.flickr.com/photos/151411101@N07/), on Flickr


The good news is I'm keeping the car, however I've been slowly saving up to get something else as a daily driver so that the bug can fully become a project car, however saving has slowed lately due to this...





https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7924/32765406048_44c39741d0_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/RVngFW)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/RVngFW) by Conner Kuhns (https://www.flickr.com/photos/151411101@N07/), on Flickr
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7804/45725350365_53a2cafbd4_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2cEAnBK)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2cEAnBK) by Conner Kuhns (https://www.flickr.com/photos/151411101@N07/), on Flickr



My wife and I are buying a house! In Placerville CA. 1 acre of land, 1200 sq/ft house, and the part I'm most excited about is the 750 sq/ft garage!
It's got 11' ceilings, fully insulated and has heat and AC. The house will need some work to update things, so my plan is once I have another daily
driver, part the Super Beetle in the garage for a couple months to knock out house projects, then start tearing into the bug.

Steve C
January 7th 2019, 00:35
Nice house, congratulations to you both

josvandegalaxy
February 6th 2019, 06:53
wow, a great place you've got there. congratz