1973 V8 Super Beetle Front Engine Conversion - 283 SBC

[V8SuperBeetle]

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.

[excello]

Those black wheels look great. Wow. That thing is starting to look meaner and meaner.

Btw, I feel ya regarding the workspace.

[ferfre007]

hello, how long you think it would be ready?

[V8SuperBeetle]

Originally Posted by ferfre007

hello, how long you think it would be ready?

To be honest. I'm getting married and having a new home built at the moment. So all my money, most of it, is tied up in putting a payment down on the home, closing costs, and wedding bills.

I'm hoping I'll have it finished early next year. Hopefully.

[V8SuperBeetle]

Originally Posted by excello

Those black wheels look great. Wow. That thing is starting to look meaner and meaner.

Btw, I feel ya regarding the workspace.

Thanks! It'll continue to look meaner. I was thinking of doing a black with gun metal metallic grey, but here's the look I've decided to go with. Jet black and candy orange with a gold base.



Thanks for sharing that picture. I see you're in a similar situation space wise.

[petevw]

Originally Posted by V8SuperBeetle

[ferfre007]

I understand! restoring a car takes a lot of money, more the cost of new family and home! hehe!


sorry por mi bad ingles!! hehe

[V8SuperBeetle]

A little bit of Bad and Good News...kinda. 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.


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.


I've got some thinking to do, more saving and selling of parts. 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.

[Humble]

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

[V8SuperBeetle]

Update...

I started disassembling the engine. I plan to even remove the freeze plugs, oil gallery plugs and cam bearings myself as well as install them to cut down on costs and to get some experience doing so.

Used some bolts and an arc welding rod (with the flux coating knocked off) to catch the piston.




And some fuel hose press on the rod bolts to protect the cylinder walls.




Works pretty nice. I don't have to worry about them falling on the floor without help. These will be up for sale. They're forged 4.030.




Cylinder bores are pretty much flawless by looking. No scratches or groves worn in from the pistons. Hone marks are still visible.




I rebuilt the carb. Here it is before.




Disassembled.




I sandblast the body and other parts that didn't have any jets. Cleaned it with a can of carb cleaner. Then I scrubbed it with warm water and light soap. Then blew the water out with compressed air and used a blow drier to completely dry it out before reassembly.




Cleaned up parts...




Cleaned up parts...the floats look really nice and new. ;D




And the rebuilt car. All new gaskets, seals, pump, linkage kit added, etc. Ready to rock!

[V8SuperBeetle]

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.






I started the pre-assembly process. I had enough time to plastigage the main bearings and I'm working on plastigaging the rod bearings. So far the mains have come out to a hair under .002 clearance. Once I get all the rod bearings checked I'll then clearance the block for the larger stroke crank and check cam clearance. So far it looks the rods are clearing just fine. I'll check with a feeler gauge to make sure I have at least .050 clearance.








More later...

[volkdent]

Keep it up! That thing oughta scream.

Jason

[V8SuperBeetle]

Originally Posted by volkdent

Keep it up! That thing oughta scream.

Jason

Yeah, it should make it boogy.