1973 V8 Super Beetle Front Engine Conversion - 283 SBC

[V8SuperBeetle]

Trying to wrap up fabrication so I can start body work and get paint down.

Welded in the seat mounts.




Here are the seats bolted in. Nothing super fancy, but they'll get the job done. I do have covers for them which I'll put in after paint.




I put down a second coat of Master Series on all the bare steel before welding up the rear fire wall. You can see the center section sitting there waiting to be welded in.




Center section tacked in and making a pattern for the left and right sides. All I had to do was that one pattern which worked for both sides. I overlapped the left and right steel steel sections to make the rear fire wall stiffer.




Here's all the pieces in. I still have to finish welding it up but it's in there.




Now I'm down to just adding some finishing touches. Things to do to move onto body work and paint!

1) Finish welding rear firewall.
2) Patches for the front of the heater channels
3) Line the hood scoop cut out with 1" steel to make the center of the hood more rigid.
4) Seal up rear fire wall and heater channel patch seams.
5) Battery mount. Still thinking about where to put it.


I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! This past week I got insurance on the bug too. Very exciting getting close to finishing.

[V8SuperBeetle]

Got a few more things done off the list.

Made and tacked in some plates to cover the hole where the driveshaft runs through the firewall. I had to do it this way cause the driveshaft and column are all one welded up piece. A little seam sealer and paint and it should look decent. You can also see I filled in the holes where the gas pedal was. I'm moving it over away from the brake pedal to give me more room. It'll be closer to the trans hump, but at least it wont be an inch away from the brake pedal.




Finished off the flooring on the passenger side. This is where the trans hump comes up into the floor giving the exhaust room to tuck within the chassis.




Last, but not least, I finished the tin work for the radiator / shroud. Just needs seem sealer. I'll still make a shroud for the fan itself, but that'll come in the finishing stages.




All's left to do is make the back floor that goes above the tank, weld in some front clip supports out of some metal rod, trim some more out of the engine bay to clean the look up, and make a battery box. Then it'll be ready for the body work stages.

High five!

[70Turbobug]

Awesome!! Congratulations to your roll out!

[V8SuperBeetle]

Originally Posted by 70Turbobug

Awesome!! Congratulations to your roll out!

Thanks. I've been cruising it around the block every now and then to help break in the engine. I rompt on it the other day. Got it up to about 3,500, which is pretty low, but this things is a hand full. Very fun.

[chug_A_bug]

PLEASE TAKE SOME VIDEO!!!!

Chris.

[V8SuperBeetle]

Originally Posted by chug_A_bug

PLEASE TAKE SOME VIDEO!!!!

Chris.

I did. Take a look on the previous page. Better yet, here you go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4Ct4LndyBk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKK5sYU2pHg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho0XJjECUns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKUld...eature=related


I'll get some video of the car getting on it soon enough. Just trying to get this thing finished.

[V8SuperBeetle]

A few things I've managed to get done.

Here's how the distributor mod looks.




You can see the mechanical advance limiting screw with the side ground for "fine" tuning and the vacuum limiter which is made out of just a piece of 22 gauge steel I had laying around. Next to free modifying this thing.

Had to clearance the rotor cap a little.




Here you can see it was a great concern to me whether or not I could even remove the distributor cap. Thank god it would come off. I still had to rotate the crank to get to the rotor screws.




I moved the gas pedal away from the brake pedal some more. This is as far over as I can get it.




And, last but not least, last night I made templates (night before), cut them out and welded the rear wheel wells in.






Having a couple gallons (everything is sealed...but) of gas in the tank and the fact the paint kept catching fire on the bug body when I was welding the wheel well pieces up kept me from wanting to fully weld these things up. Some MasterSeries and sealer will finish the job here.

Next thing I'm going to tackle is the "engine bay". I want to trim out all the excess sheet and reinforce the front clip with some 7/16" rod. What do you guys think? Will I have problems with the whole front end shaking or will it be strong enough with some reinforcement and the fenders bolted up?







Here you can see a guideline I drew where I want to cut it.




I'm trying to make the engine bay as simple as possible. No wheel wells and the wiper compartment will go so I'll have easier access to the dizzy. Also, it'll allow me to use the cowl vent to allow how air to escape. I just plan to make a mount for the wiper motor.

Things to do before body work / paint stages.

1. Rear, above gas tank, sheet metal.

2. Finish engine bay.

3. Finish filler neck sheet metal.

4. Seam sealer.


Getting there.

[Clatter]

Don't forget item number 5 for your list:

5. Drive the sh!t out of it, all over hell, to see what will break!

Best to shake it down good and hard in primer first, right?
You never know what you might find needs done differently.

I like the "Wheel Hop Test" myself.

Or "Jump the Railroad Tracks"...

Way more fun to find tires that rub, or stress cracks, or... When it's not covered in shiny paint.

[V8SuperBeetle]

Originally Posted by Clatter

Don't forget item number 5 for your list:

5. Drive the sh!t out of it, all over hell, to see what will break!

Best to shake it down good and hard in primer first, right?
You never know what you might find needs done differently.

I like the "Wheel Hop Test" myself.

Or "Jump the Railroad Tracks"...

Way more fun to find tires that rub, or stress cracks, or... When it's not covered in shiny paint.

Haha, that's true. I'm not going to jump tracks, but I have been testing and tuning the car in between working on it. It's hard not to want to drive this thing. So far so good. Mashed it the other night. It was kinda scary. Everything's holding up great.

[evilC]

Originally Posted by V8SuperBeetle

............... Also, it'll allow me to use the cowl vent to allow how air to escape. I just plan to make a mount for the wiper motor.

......

I don't think this will work as the base of the windscreen is a high pressure area and therefore is used as the inlet area for heater and dash venting. I can't think of a single vehicle that doesn't use this area as an inlet for the interior that proves the effectiveness of it.

Clive

[V8SuperBeetle]

Originally Posted by evilC

I don't think this will work as the base of the windscreen is a high pressure area and therefore is used as the inlet area for heater and dash venting. I can't think of a single vehicle that doesn't use this area as an inlet for the interior that proves the effectiveness of it.

Clive

I know what you mean, although, I do have all of the vent's / heater stuff taken out and the holes welded up with sheet metal. I'm going to seal the car with 3M seam sealer real good. So I'm thinking the air that comes through the front louvers of the the front clip with allow air to flow through the engine compartment and through those vents. What do you think?

[evilC]

Originally Posted by V8SuperBeetle

I know what you mean, although, I do have all of the vent's / heater stuff taken out and the holes welded up with sheet metal. I'm going to seal the car with 3M seam sealer real good. So I'm thinking the air that comes through the front louvers of the the front clip with allow air to flow through the engine compartment and through those vents. What do you think?

I still don't think it will work as the air pressure at the base of the windscreen is quite high and maybe higher than that at the front clip from all the pressure diagrams I have seen. If the air at the base of the screen is at this higher pressure then the tendancy will be for the air to flow in there and out through the bottom of the engine compartment. It may even stop the airflow through the front altogether. if nothing else it will be a turbulent free for all in the engine compartment.

You could close the old heater vents off and vent the engine space into the front arches?

[V8SuperBeetle]

I did a little mocking up last night which has me still trying to figure out my alternator situation and I change my mind on my wheel direction.

The great news is the engine pulleys and radiator hose clear the hood by a few inches actually. I was worried they wouldn't. There's more room under the hood than it really looks. I did take the carb off and the breather (wait for it), but the hood closes great. I haven't seen my car with the hood on in quite some time. Here's how the hood closes minus carb, breather, and alternator. Wait for it...




The other problem, as some of you may know, is I have never put the 17" vette wheels on upfront. I've always have had the 16" upfront so I figured they'd fit, no problem, right? WRONG. The tie rod rides on the wheel. I would need 2.5 spacers to clear. I have 2" spacers on there now.




This is a repost for some, but I'm going with Weld wheels and this is how the car will look.




It'll be safer cause I'll be getting ride of the spacers AND I'm lovin' the old school drag car look.

I played with the alternator a little. I installed it as it would normally be. I was surprised it closed as much as it did. The hood is about 2" away from being completely shut.





I then disconnected the alternator and turned it as far outboard as I could. That gave me another 1/2" - 3/4" closer on the hood. It's so close to being closed. Ughh...





If only I could get the alternator to sit another 1 1/2" lower I would have it made. I'm looking into other alternator brackets.

Last but not least, my carb scoop came in, tubes of seam sealer and all my paints for the car (MasterSeries, epoxy primer, high build primer, hugger orange, black, clear coat, HVLP gun, etc). Here's a mock up pic of the car scoop. Should look b*tchin'!




This weekend I'm going to try and get the rear sheet metal finished and get the hood cut for the carb scoop. That should just about get me ready for the body work stages.

[V8SuperBeetle]

I guess my car is officially not long the german look style?

Got some work done. Not as much as I would've like, but something.

Mounted my carb spacer and carb scoop mounted and I cut out the hood too. Mmmm, polished aluminum. I think it added another 50 hp, lol, jk. Maybe 5-10 hp on the top end.

Got some work done. Not as much as I would've like, but something.












I think I may have my alternator situation figured out. It'll mount like this, but it'll take a little fabrication to make this work.




Did a little grinding to clean up the sheet metal in the engine bay.




I starting doing some seam work. I put down a coat of Master Series on the seams to keep then from ever rusting. Next it'll get another coat and them some 3M seam sealer.






I ordered my wheels so they should be here Wednesday. I should have some pics by the weekend with them mounted. Maybe even a little cruising video with some of the new toys on.

[volkdent]

Lookin good! Should be a serious tire shredder.

Jason