Post by zbhover on Mar 28, 2009 20:59:48 GMT -5
Hello everyone,
I just thought that I would give you all an update on our V8 powered convertible beetle project.
I’ve actually got to do quite a bit of work in the last few weeks and I’ve added about 50 pictures to my website. I’ve also had some time tonight to re-format my website, before it was just something I threw together….
Here are a few pictures and some updates on what I’ve done, but I have more on my website at www.zbcreations.com/index3.html the new pictures are in the Body work, Engine/trans, and chassis sections.
First of all I got my s-10 chassis shortened up, I did so by using 30” eye to eye trailer leaf springs and using the stock front leaf spring mounts. This shortened my wheel base to 97.5” which is 3” longer than the stock beetle. This is just what we wanted so we’d have a little extra room for the engine.
I cut 31” off of the back of the frame using a port-a-band that I borrowed from work.
Here is the rear shackle. I ended up drilling a 2” hole there and welding in a piece of tube for a rear shackle mount.
Here are all the leaf spring, shackle, and body mount bushings that I cast
Here is the body sitting on the shortened chassis
It still needs to drop down a little lower, but I’ll take care of that when we widen the body.
It looks like the tires are going to stick out from the fenders 2.5-3” so we’ll probably widen the body 6”-8”
I think the beetle will look real good being 6-8” wider.
Here I am just eye balling what the engine will look like when I get it in there
I also made up some engine mount adaptors. The motor mounts bolt to them and I’ll weld the adaptors to the frame when I figure out where I want the engine to sit for sure.
I also got a 200R4 transmission for the beetle, I got our transmission from an 87 Monte Carlo. The Monte had 78,000 origonal miles on it and drove and shifted great, so hopefully I'll be able to get some miles out of it before I have to rebuild it. I'm assuming that the trans also has 78,000 miles on it, but for all I know it could have been rebuilt at some point?
It didn't have any noticable trany fluid leaks, most of the oil and grime on the trans was from the leaking valve covers....
The inside of the transmission looked VERY clean. It kind of make me wonder if it has been rebuilt???
Finally I started welding the body back together again. I decided that the best way to do this would be to use the doors to re-align everything. I built a stand/hanger for the back part of the beetle. I then put the doors back on the front half of the beetle, but since the bottom hindges were rusted out, I found some washers that fit in the gap and put a couple tacks between the doors and front part of the car.
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www.zbcreations.com/epbimages/3-22-09-46.jpg [/img]
Next I had to get the door gaps right on the back part of the door, and also make sure everything was lined up and square. I welded the doors on the inside and outside to the body next, and will brace the inside with some 1" angle or square tubing to make sure everythign stays square and aligned untill I can get some support put back in. Getting this far was a pretty involved process... Tac weld here.... adjust here, tac again..... measure here and there, cut a weld adjust some more............................... This is the point where it would be nice to have a good beetle body, but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun... LOL
Well that’s all I have for now but I’ll keep you all updated on my progress.
Talk to you all later
bye
I just thought that I would give you all an update on our V8 powered convertible beetle project.
I’ve actually got to do quite a bit of work in the last few weeks and I’ve added about 50 pictures to my website. I’ve also had some time tonight to re-format my website, before it was just something I threw together….
Here are a few pictures and some updates on what I’ve done, but I have more on my website at www.zbcreations.com/index3.html the new pictures are in the Body work, Engine/trans, and chassis sections.
First of all I got my s-10 chassis shortened up, I did so by using 30” eye to eye trailer leaf springs and using the stock front leaf spring mounts. This shortened my wheel base to 97.5” which is 3” longer than the stock beetle. This is just what we wanted so we’d have a little extra room for the engine.
I cut 31” off of the back of the frame using a port-a-band that I borrowed from work.
Here is the rear shackle. I ended up drilling a 2” hole there and welding in a piece of tube for a rear shackle mount.
Here are all the leaf spring, shackle, and body mount bushings that I cast
Here is the body sitting on the shortened chassis
It still needs to drop down a little lower, but I’ll take care of that when we widen the body.
It looks like the tires are going to stick out from the fenders 2.5-3” so we’ll probably widen the body 6”-8”
I think the beetle will look real good being 6-8” wider.
Here I am just eye balling what the engine will look like when I get it in there
I also made up some engine mount adaptors. The motor mounts bolt to them and I’ll weld the adaptors to the frame when I figure out where I want the engine to sit for sure.
I also got a 200R4 transmission for the beetle, I got our transmission from an 87 Monte Carlo. The Monte had 78,000 origonal miles on it and drove and shifted great, so hopefully I'll be able to get some miles out of it before I have to rebuild it. I'm assuming that the trans also has 78,000 miles on it, but for all I know it could have been rebuilt at some point?
It didn't have any noticable trany fluid leaks, most of the oil and grime on the trans was from the leaking valve covers....
The inside of the transmission looked VERY clean. It kind of make me wonder if it has been rebuilt???
Finally I started welding the body back together again. I decided that the best way to do this would be to use the doors to re-align everything. I built a stand/hanger for the back part of the beetle. I then put the doors back on the front half of the beetle, but since the bottom hindges were rusted out, I found some washers that fit in the gap and put a couple tacks between the doors and front part of the car.
Next I had to get the door gaps right on the back part of the door, and also make sure everything was lined up and square. I welded the doors on the inside and outside to the body next, and will brace the inside with some 1" angle or square tubing to make sure everythign stays square and aligned untill I can get some support put back in. Getting this far was a pretty involved process... Tac weld here.... adjust here, tac again..... measure here and there, cut a weld adjust some more............................... This is the point where it would be nice to have a good beetle body, but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun... LOL
Well that’s all I have for now but I’ll keep you all updated on my progress.
Talk to you all later
bye
