No power brakes, manual steering, no A/C and no heater. It really doesn't get cold enough here in Houston for heat. The few days that it does I just wont cruise the bug. It does get hot, but I wont be driving it much when it's 100º outside. If I don't like having a manual brakes and steering I can always upgrade, but I'm just trying to save myself the headache of hooking all that up. That and it'll free up so extra ponies for the strip.
I see. Well, being I am as old as I am, I have to have a/c and a heater. I am putting in a unit from Hot Rod Air in texas. Also, power steering and brakes are a must. This is going to be a street cruiser only, won't be racing it(not at the strip,at least) and wifey will be driving it a lot. Gotta have all of the creature comforts. I have decided to have my floorboards, and all attaching metal, RhinoCoated. My buddy has a truck accessory shop and will be doing it for me. It will also add insulation to the floor. This will be done on the underside only, then the interior side will be painted and insulated before adding carpet. I will have all of my panels welded together then I can take the unit to him and have it sprayed in. Then, as I am bolting the floor and panels to body and chassis, I can first bolt the assembly to the chassis then to the body. What do you think of that idea?
Joined: May 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 119 Location: Houston, Tx
Re: V8 Super Beetle Project « Result #2 Yesterday at 10:58am »
A baby? Congrats! I have three, one just married, and it has been a blessing. Yeah, get that car finished up soon. Women change when the baby is born and their maternal side kicks in. How money is spent changes practically overnight.
Looks like you are getting real close to firing it up. Let me know when that time gets close and I'll come by to help out.
Joined: Sept 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 1,309 Location: Houston, TX
Re: V8 Super Beetle Project « Result #3 Yesterday at 9:53am »
No power brakes, manual steering, no A/C and no heater. It really doesn't get cold enough here in Houston for heat. The few days that it does I just wont cruise the bug. It does get hot, but I wont be driving it much when it's 100º outside. If I don't like having a manual brakes and steering I can always upgrade, but I'm just trying to save myself the headache of hooking all that up. That and it'll free up so extra ponies for the strip.
Hey guys, got an update. I borrowed the wifey's camera for this set of photos.
Before I begin, I just wanted to let everyone know I found out last weekend that my wife is pregnant!!! We're both very excited and now I need to really kick this project into overdrive. I want to have it finished before the baby comes, because quite frankly, my project funds will be reduced to just about nothing. I can finish it in 8 months. No problem. I did joke with my wife, after making sure she knew I was happy and all about the baby, and I said, "OK, who's baby is it?" Comments like that is why she married me.
OK, I've finished welding up the firewall, floor, rear firewall, the floor support under the tail of the tranny and the steering mount. Also, I welded up and ground down the welds to one side of the roof / b-pillar. I also patched all the holes that were behind the dash in which the A/C / fresh air came through. There were about 5 good sized holes I had to patch.
It might not look like much but it was a ton of work.
The dash bar is kinda in the way, but you can see some of the patches. I plan to grind them smooth and I'll use some bondo to give it a clean appearance. I don't plan to put the dash back in. I'll mount my gauges to the dash bar for that racey look.
Here's part of the floor support that I had to cut out so the tail of the tranny would have room. A lot of this project I've kinda guestimated how things will fit and have prayed it works out once I go to put the part in. So far I've done a decent job at guessing. Here I had to make a small adjustment. I basically cut it out and exstentded it down. Obviously...
I also got a good used balanced drive shaft. I'm going to see if our engineer / machinist can put it on his lath and help me shorten it in exchange for some graphics. He likes fooling with remote controled airplanes so he always needs some sort of decals made up.
I got a some extra spending money, after paying all those lovely property and homeowner association taxes, and bought a few things. I bought some starter bolts so I can finally put in my starter, a new fuel pump because I got the wrong one (I need one that doesn't have the fuel return line just to simply things), and last but not least I bought a new 750 cfm carb to replace the rebuilt 600 cfm edelbrock carb. The 600 cfm I originally got when I thought I was going to run the 283. Well, with an extra 100 ci I needed more carb. I did opt to buy a Summit Racing brand carb because I've read some good reviews about it and I like how it has black accented parts instead of chrome / gold.
Also, I have the funding to take the car to get the exhaust and radiator plumbing done. So hopefully I have time to do it this coming up weekend. That means I'll be able to finally start her up really soon. I still need to run the fuel and brake lines but that's not too big a task or expense.
Last but not least, Santa is bringing me some goodies.
A gas pedal, cable, carb brackets, wilwood brake pedal and master cylinder, a shifter and a racing harness...
After the holidays I'll be in a pretty good spot. The car will be pretty close to driveable. Here's a brake down of what will be left to be done with the 8 months time.
Things to get: a sheet of 16 gauge metal $35 Seats $320 Another racing harness $60 tach $125 3 gauges (temp, volt, oil) $25 u-joint for steering $50 u-joint for drive shaft $15 seals for windows and doors $150 wiring harness $150 head lights $15 in light turn signal kit $15 new tail light lens $65 once piece window kit $125 new (to me) front glass $40-$50 brake line $15 fuel line $5 radiator hoses $15 gas tank hose to filler neck $5 tires $700 alignment $75 carpet $50 paint for the car body and wheels $400
Total to finish = $2435
Things to do: run gas line run brake lines finish trans and drive shaft tunnel finish radiator duct work finish engine bay finish back / gas tank firewall / flooring make and weld in seatbelt tabs mount seats body work paint wire up the car lay carpet inspect / register DRIVE!!!....
There's still a lot to do but I'm pretty sure I can get it all done in time. If you guys have any advice on inexpensive paint for the car body or find any deals feel free to let me know what you find. With the baby on the way I'm going to have to watching my spending. So I can't exactly get PPG or HOK paint. The pricing above is all for new stuff, but some of these parts used wont hurt either.
More soon...hopefully after the weekend...
So, you are not running power brakes. What about A/C heater?
Holy cow!!! Thats a lot of work.... but it sure looks good!!! Neary factory made !!! Awesome!! MurphyTJ : what engine goes in the 69 Squareback??? Up front, right??
I am running a new 350/330hp crate motor with a 700R4 transmission and narrowed 9"Ford, triangulated 4-bar with 4:11 gears.Yes, engine is in front.
Re: New Members Progect-71 superbeetle « Result #6 on Dec 23, 2009, 2:46pm »
Holy cow!!! Thats a lot of work.... but it sure looks good!!! Neary factory made !!! Awesome!! MurphyTJ : what engine goes in the 69 Squareback??? Up front, right??
I saw some recent pictures of your ride and I must say it's looking like you're not too far from it moving under it's own power. Looking Ray! Love the steering / paddle shifter setup.
Joined: May 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 119 Location: Houston, Tx
Re: New Members Progect-71 superbeetle « Result #9 on Dec 23, 2009, 9:00am »
Cliff hand formed the sheet metal that wraps the back of the cab. Some people use two door skins and then form corners to make the back part. I searched www.volksrods.com for Cliff's build thread but could not find it. I did find one more picture of it that shows the rear.
Okay, This project has been hanging around for a while (like years) So far there is only 3 hours invested in it. The body is unbolted fron the pan andd sitting on top of a shortened mid 80's malibu chassis, cut out everywhere needed to get it to set low. Bad choice of chassis, maybe but it was free. So, its time to start over. I am thinking of cutting the roof off, keeping the windshield section,vertically cutting it behind the doors, and adding a curved piece around the back, (to look like a T-Bucket), extend the cowl about 12" for legroom, add a firewall, a BBC,on 2X3 frame chassis, Mustang front suspension, 9"Ford rear.I AM DOING A '69 SQUAREBACK WITH A 2" X 3" TUBE CHASSIS,MUSTANG II FRONT SUSPENSION,9" FORD REAR Input anyone????????
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