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2" drop s-10 spindles, 2 quarts of MasterSeries silver and one quart of chassis black on their way so I can finish up, rebuild and paint the chassis.
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S10 2" drop spindles came in.
http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/spindles.jpg This weekend I finished welding the floor support in. Well, I didn't get to the welding underneath cause I'm not great at overhead welding. So when I take the frame apart to rebuild it I'm going to flip over the frame and tackle those welds and others. It's been a little while since I've last welded and I was working with different rods. I had to redo a few welds cause the rods I have are coat with less coating / flux so I wasn't use to them, but quickly got the hang of it. Not the greatest weld, but looks decent. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/weld.jpg I made some mounts for the body to bolt to. Still have to weld them in though. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/body-mounts.jpg |
Radiator for the bug in exchange for a little photoshopping. Courtesy of Ray (guy building the pro-touring V8 bug). Thanks Ray! Needs a little cleaning but it's in great condition.
http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/radiator-1.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/radiator-2.jpg I did some test fitting / mocking up of the radiator and seems like it'll have to go in the back cause the sway bar and steering box is right where I need the radiator to sit. So I'll be building a place for the radiator to mount in the rear. Having the radiator and battery in the back should help distribute a little bit of the weight. |
You DO NOT want the radiator in the rear unless you've got a great idea for lot's of ducting. Find another radiator that is the size you need it, my advice comes from others failures with that concept.
Jason |
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Last night I tack welded the "mount rails" that bolt down the heater channels of the body. This weekend I'm going to finish the metal work on the fenders and start laying some bondo, well, that's the plan.
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Did those pictures include a comment about the temperatures running cool? Don't mean to bug ya, but just because it was done doesn't mean it works. It can work, BTW, but you have to have a good grip on airflow and especially making sure you've got all the air bubbles out of your system. Jason |
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There's a guy on V8bugs.com that has a rear radiator setup and he has no problems with cooling. Just gotta make sure there's enough air being pulled across the rad. |
Well, this weekend I managed to finish all the metal work on one fender and I got down a layer of bondo. Looks like it'll turn out just like I want it to. My metal work isn't the greatest, but I'll make it up in body work. :) Stick welding sheet metal is a biotchhh! ;)
http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/fender-1.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/fender-2.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/fender-3.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/fender-4.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/fender-5.jpg MasterSeries paint came in! This is what I'll be using to seal and paint my chassis. 2 quarts of silver and one gloss chassis black. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/masterseries.jpg Next weekend I will hopefully have the other fender to or past this point. |
A little update.
Finished the metal work on the driver side fender and got down the first layer of bondo. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/fender-6.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/fender-7.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/fender-8.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/fender-9.jpg I started sanding the passenger fender with some 60 grit. Seemed like it took forever to knock down the bondo. I ran out of time before I could make any real sanding progress, but I'll need to get some 40 grit to move things along quicker. |
Cool, keep the updates coming! I am also keeping an eye on it at SBO ;)
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excelente!!! saludos desde Paraguay!!
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Thanks! I'll keep the pics coming as I go along. This weekend I'm going to work with the fenders some more and I'll post progress.
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Quick little update.
Last time I came to post my previous work the site was down, but here's where I am now. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/fender-seam-1.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/fender-seam-2.jpg 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. |
Impressive work. Keep it up! I really like the concept with the red and black wheels, silver paint and etc. I say run the exhaust out the stock dimples in the rear apron.
This is going to be a bad ass ride! |
Thanks! I was thinking of doing just that, running the exhaust through the stock location.
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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. :) http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/driv...e-fender-1.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/driv...e-fender-2.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/driv...e-fender-3.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/driv...e-fender-4.jpg 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. :) http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/bumper-shave-1.jpg Then I ground the tacks down flush. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/bumper-shave-2.jpg Filled with bondo and block sanded with 40 grit until flush. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/bumper-shave-6.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/bumper-shave-4.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/bumper-shave-5.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/bumper-shave-3.jpg 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. |
Nice detailing job!!!I can't wait to see it with V8 power...Oh dude that would be freaking awesome!!!
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Thanks! Me too!!! Once I'm finished making a mess doing body work I'll be on my way to sticking in the V8. I can't wait...but have too. :)
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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. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...-rebuild-1.jpg And some misc. parts. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...-rebuild-2.jpg Misc parts painted. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...-rebuild-3.jpg 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. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...-rebuild-4.jpg Linkage with new tie rods installed and painted. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...-rebuild-5.jpg Leaf mounts painted. You can see in this picture just how much I had to cut out of the heater channels. Quite a bit. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...-rebuild-6.jpg And here's the frame as of this weekend. 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. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...-rebuild-7.jpg Thats about as far as I got. More later. |
Got some more work done this week and weekend. This will be kinda short because I smashed my finger working on the car this weekend. Leaf spring fell on it. Good thing it's my ring finger that I use to play guitar with and it's a good thing I DOn't have a couple shows to play this coming friday and sat. It's all good though. That's why we have four fingers.
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! http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...sion-s10-1.jpg 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. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...sion-s10-2.jpg Painted the spindle and dust cover and installed. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...sion-s10-3.jpg Sand blasted the calipers. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...sion-s10-4.jpg Took them apart to clean them and found a good bit of corrosion. Notice the rust on the dust boot. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...sion-s10-5.jpg 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. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...sion-s10-6.jpg Bearings packed, new seal, and rotor assembly installed with the good ol 2" spacers. Tire rod / steering linkage installed too. Front susp. finished. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...sion-s10-7.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...sion-s10-8.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...sion-s10-9.jpg 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. |
Alright, alright...(in my best Matthew Maconha voice) Progress.
Sandblasted the diff cover inside / out and the shock / u-bolt mount. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...mpletion-8.jpg 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. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...mpletion-1.jpg 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. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...mpletion-2.jpg 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. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...mpletion-3.jpg Painted the shock mounts, leaf springs, and shackles. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...mpletion-7.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...mpletion-9.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...pletion-10.jpg 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. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...pletion-11.jpg 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. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...pletion-12.jpg |
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.
http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/images/S10-301.gif 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. ??? http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...pletion-13.jpg 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. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...mpletion-4.jpg 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. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...mpletion-5.jpg These are going to look nice. I'll have them on next progress post. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...pletion-14.jpg 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. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...mpletion-6.jpg 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. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...pletion-15.jpg 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. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...pletion-16.jpg |
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saludos desde Paraguay!!
excelente!! se nota que ya estas trabajando bastante por tu Käfer!!! exitos!!
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Thanks ferfre and pete...
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. http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...8-wheels-1.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...8-wheels-2.jpg 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. |
huuuuuuuuuge!!!!!
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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.
http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/garage-wheels-1.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/garage-wheels-2.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/garage-wheels-3.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/garage-wheels-4.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/garage-wheels-5.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/garage-wheels-6.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/garage-wheels-7.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/garage-wheels-8.jpg http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/garage-wheels-9.jpg |
Those black wheels look great. Wow. That thing is starting to look meaner and meaner.
Btw, I feel ya regarding the workspace.:) http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3403/...5bdb223e_m.jpg |
saludos desde Paraguay!!
hello, how long you think it would be ready?:D
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http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._7072800_n.jpg Thanks for sharing that picture. I see you're in a similar situation space wise. |
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I'm hoping I'll have it finished early next year. Hopefully. :D |
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I understand! restoring a car takes a lot of money, more the cost of new family and home! hehe! :D
sorry por mi bad ingles!! hehe |
A little bit of Bad and Good News...kinda. :rolleyes: Lemonade out of lemons.
So I started taking the short block apart this weekend. I got far enough that I noticed some play in the #1 piston rod. I knew right away what it was and I didn't even bother to check cause I trusted the guy I traded motors with. Lesson learned. :mad: The BAD: So the rod bearings spun on the #1 and #2 rod journals. It seems as though the engine wasn't ran long which is good cause there's minimal wear. The crank looks like it'll clean up with a .020 or .030 grind. To get the 355 rotating assembly back to spec it'll take grinding and polishing the crank, having the assembly balanced, and either new connecting rods or machining to get them back to spec. After all those costs it'll probably be cheaper just to get a new rotating assembly balanced and ready to drop in from the manufacturer. The Good... I'm thinking about just bumping up my motor to a 383 ci. The cost of new parts and or machine work will be well within the range of a new 383 bottom end balanced. I've also been looking into just getting new set of Speed Pro dished 4.030" hypereutectic pistons with a 1.425" wrist pin height, a new 3.75" Eagle internal balance crankshaft, and buying two replacement connecting rods. I found a whole set of 8 for $20 (stock set). I'll just upgrade the connecting rod bolts to APR. Then have the whole assembly balanced. I already have new piston rings bearings, flexplate and damper that'll fit an internal balance 383 crank. The cost will be less as well. I did the math and with 12cc dish pistons, the .015 shim head gasket, 64cc heads, and a .021 deck height I'll be right at 10.27:1 CR. Which will be fine with the vortec heads cause you can get away with .5 more CR and still run pump gas. :cool: I've got some thinking to do, more saving and selling of parts. :mad: So the building of my engine has been put on hold for another month at least until I save the cash and have decided which direction to go. I should pick up about another 40-50 hp and tq though so that's good. I'll see if I can't get someone to desktop dyno my combo as a 383. |
I love the 2 tone look of black over candy orange, very sexy. Too bad about the motor, I've been there and I feel for ya. I'd say shoot for the 383 if you need to replace the bad bits to do it, why not? If you can afford it try to get forged pistons, they are quite a bit stronger then hypereutectics and will hold up to higher cr's better. Too bad about the set backs, I know I've had my fair share, just keep pushing and see it through to the end :cool:
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Thanks Humble, I appreciate it! I would go with the forged, but can't afford them right now and probably wont need them because I'm not going to push this car too hard a whole lot. Just some toying here and there, but mainly cruising and taking it to shows. It'll see the track a couple of times too. :)
Well, some good news. I ordered an Eagle Specialty Products internal balance stroker crankshaft for my 350. http://store.summitracing.com/partde...P-10350375057I And I bought some (383) Speed Pro dish pistons. http://store.summitracing.com/partde...t=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/inde...oduct_id=21684 and a set of 8 pistons here... http://www.kmjent.com/cart/product.p...9&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... |
Sound to me a great dealing!!!keep going mate..
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