1973 V8 Super Beetle Front Engine Conversion - 283 SBC

[V8SuperBeetle]

Yesterday I pulled the bug out of the garage to sweep up a little, knock some dust off the car and to drive her around a little cause she's been sitting for a few weeks. I decided to take some pics while the car was out cause I just mounted the new fenders and to take a look at overall progress.

The new fenders are pretty decent. They'll be perfect for when I upgrade my rear with a 8.8 explorer unit which is a direct bolt in upgrade for S10s (the rear is 3" wider). I think the car would look even better if I do about a 1.5-2" drop in the rear. So I'm going to look into some SOLID drop blocks from JTR.

The body and the fenders will need some work to make them fit right, but not too bad. There were some cracks in the center of the fenders and I'm guessing it's cause they flexed during shipping. They were just plastic wrapped / bagged and tagged. They seemed to do fine packaged that way for the most part.


















Here are the cracks I was talking about, which I have already filled and blocked sanded after I took these pictures. Below you'll see some gaps that'll need work on both fenders.










Over all, they're decent fenders. I have nothing to really compare them too, but I would think they're a little on the thin side, but that's probably cause I have no paint on them yet.

Fitment was OK. I guess it could be worse. I drilled where they had dimples molded into the fenders for the bolt holes. They weren't exactly spot on, but close enough. I had to widen about half of the holes so the bolts would line up.

I'll have more after this weekend.

[volkdent]

If you already have those cracks there they will reappear shortly undless you beef up the fiberglass on the backside there. Just rough up an area 6x4 around the crack and put a couple of layers of fiberglass over it. You will really be upset when a nice crack appears in such a noticable area.

Jason

[V8SuperBeetle]

Almost there! I know this stage has seemed to drag on, but I'm trying to make sure it's as perfect as possible so I'm not using filler during the primer stage. It seems just when I have a section done, I run my hand over it and I can feel just the slightest wave or imperfection.

This gas door has been the biggest PITA because of the body line just above the door. Once I get the shape right it'll be on like Donkey Kong.




I have the radiator area nice and flat. Just a couple more spots that need work and it'll be good.




The front clip needed some help. Some high spots and lows.




Just about finished with the other front quarter panel. Just a little more blocking. And another skim coat to make sure it's flat.




I'm hoping to have the remaining body work done by this weekend and to have some primer down. I have a 3 day weekend and the wife is working late tonight so I should be able to get it done. We'll see.

[V8SuperBeetle]

Well, I didn't get the body work finished. I kind of needed a break from it so I tackled some other things and cooling issues that needed to be worked out.

I made brackets for my locking hood pins. Everything was lining up great. The passenger side was slightly off after welding up everything. I tried to bend it a little and the pin broke. > I figured, no problem, I can weld it on. Little did I know it's made out of aluminum. Figures why it broke so easily. So I have to buy a whole new kit just so I can redo the passenger side. Oh well.

The locking units mocked up.




The good pin.




And the jacked up one that'll need redoing.





My new replacement radiator. I had to replace it cause when the guys welded up my exhaust / plumbing, some slag put pin holes in it.




Here you can see where the water was leaking out. See the rust from the leak. If you look at the inlet, you'll see it was leaking there too cause I had the wrong size hose. So I replaced it with the correct size.




You can see just how much the hose was pinched and it still didn't seal. No more leaks here.




I also moved the overflow outlet to the radiator in the rear and I capped off the inline water neck. Now hot rusty water doesn't spew on my engine. I also installed a 20 psi can on the inline neck. The radiator has 18 psi cap. I might go a little lower, just incase.




Having replaced the radiator, fixed the hose leak, all the water gets back to the radiator, and not on my engine. I also installed a high flow 160º thermostat and I finally put in a 50/50 mix of coolant / water. The engine runs a constant 160-190º. I'll never have overheating issues again, I hope.


Onto body work. I just need to finished sanding down a few skim coats I put down the make her as flat as I can possibly get at this stage. These are the problem areas I'm still working on.







If I'm not too tired from our Saturday night gig I'll get a temporary booth setup and I'll spray some high build primer.

More updates soon.

[V8SuperBeetle]

Finished up fabricating, for the most part, and now it's on to body work.

There were a couple rust holes I took care of. Out with the old and rusty.




In with the new. Ground and ready for filler.




I also reinforced the hood. It wasn't too bad before, but now it's much stronger. I basically cut out 1" strips of 22 gauge and lined the opening. I later sealed the underside of the seam with 3M seam sealer.






My hood hinges were screwed and I could get to them to fix them after welding in those panels. They worked OK before, but they've just gotten worse. So I just cut out the hinges and extended those panels all the way back.






I borrowed my old man's 33 gallon compressor and went and bought a DA sander. After a wipe down with some wax and grease remover, I went to town on the hood, deck lid, and front fenders with a 40 grit disk just to knock most of the primer and original paint off. I got most of it down to the previous body filler and metal.




I started to mask the car off to keep the dust from getting where I don't want it.




STILL waiting on my 4.5" wide fenders from VW Innovations. A month ago it was going to take 2 weeks. 2 weeks ago it was going to be here in a week. So far, I'm not impressed. I'm going to call and see what's up cause last time we spoke they were "just taken off of the mold". I know how that goes. Probably didn't even have them even made.

This week I'll be working on knocking most of the old paint down, which isn't in too bad a shape, and I'll be filling the low spots in hope to get some high build primer down soon.

[V8SuperBeetle]

Thanks! I'm going to look into that.

[volkdent]

Thought you might like these, a local guy went nuts.

Jason

[johnnyvee]

hahahahah

overkill

[V8SuperBeetle]

That's a cool looking car. It looks unfinished though which I'm sure that's the look he (or she ) was going for. Personally, I'd put the one piece tilting clip back on (looks like that's what it had), I'd put a better intake on cause I'm not a big fan of those tunnel rams (I guess it's just for show) and I'd put a deck lid back on. Other that, it looks well done.

[V8SuperBeetle]

Still doing body work. It's been tough lately cause of the heat. It's been 95-100º. So I try and do as much work in the morning and the evening as possible.

I have the hood just about ready to rock. There's one small low spot that needs taken care of.




The b-pillars are pretty much ready. Just need to glaze and sand up to 150-180 grit.






The doors had so holes drilled in them I'm sure for some accessory. Don't quite know what. So i had to weld the holes up, grid, and tap them down.

There was also a rusted corner on the driver's side door that needed fixing. So I cut out the rust, welded in new metal, ground the welds, and filled the low spot with bondo.

The doors are ready other than some glazing and to be sanded with finer paper.






Almost there. Thing left to do are:

1. Radiator area.
2. Engine bay.
3. Front clip.
4. Finish detail work around the gas tank filler door.
5. Finsh driver's side front quarter panel.


The whole, where body work has been done, still needs a paper thin layer of glaze to fill in pin holes. Then I need to sand the entire car with the DA working my way to 150-180 grit.

Then we can paint. That's not too much more to do, right? LOL

[V8SuperBeetle]

Hey Everyone. I hope your projects are going well.

My wife had our daughter, Madison Taylor, Thursday, July 29th. So I've been keeping busy taking care of Madison and my wife, which I really enjoy.

I'll still be working on the bug here and there, but at the moment I'm just spending time with Madison and my wife.

[Jim]

Congratulations dady!!!

This is the biggest moment for any parent (i have recently been a dady too),.... and i wish she will ALWAYS be HEALTHY and LUCKY in her life!!!

[V8SuperBeetle]

I made some good progress on the bug this weekend. I sprayed another coat of high build primer. I did a walk around video rather than MORE pics. You can hear my neighbors cammed 2000 or so reg cab short bed pickup firing up and passing by. Encouragement...the guy regularly has shoe polish numbers on his windows from the drag strip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFCUdxyZ3L0


I wet sanded the fenders, deck lid, hood, and the driver's side of the car, inside and out, with 400 grit. The fenders and deck lid need just a touch more sanding (pin holes) and it'll be ready for sealer, color and clear!

Some pictures of the sanded panels.












The plan when it comes to paint is to do it in sessions so I don't wear myself out. I'll do the fenders in one session: a coat of sealer, two coats of s/s hugger orange, and two coats of clear. Then I'll let the paint cure for a few days, wet sand with 400, and then spray an over reduced coat of clear.

Next would be the deck lid and hood, cause they'll be black, same process, and then I'll do the body.

So I hope to get the fenders in paint this coming weekend. Did I mention the weather has finally gotten cooler and is perfect for painting.

[V8SuperBeetle]

Here are the results of my paint session. I did one coat of epoxy primer to seal everything and to give a uniform color to paint over. I then sprayed 2 coats of single stag hugger orange and two coats of high solids clear.

I'm pretty happy with the way everything came out, but I did get a little orange peel in some areas, some trash, some solvent pop going on, and a couple of mess ups.

I laid the paint on a little too thick and have some sags and solvent pop going on as mentioned. I do and have planed to sand the panels with 400-600 grit to take care of any orange peel and then spray a wet / over reduced coat so it'll be pretty glassy. Sanding the paint will remove the imperfections.

All in all, it came out decent.




You can see a little bit of the solvent pop. I laid the paint on a little too thick. That's okay, nothing that can't be fixed with a little cutting.










Gotta fix this. : It wasn't the best idea the way I hung the fenders with the plastic and all. No biggie. The fender beading will cover most of it, but I still plan to fix it right with a little rubbing and some touch up spraying.






A little more solvent pop. Tis cool. Will be fixed.




I also did a little video so you could better see the results.

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

[NO_H2O]

Congratulations. I hope all is well with your girls. Now is Daddy time. The car will still be there.