paulj
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Posts: 143
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Post by paulj on May 1, 2009 10:05:23 GMT -5
I'm building a '54 Beetle using an Audi A4 five speed transaxle that HAD a 1.8L 16V VW engine until a few weeks ago. After a lot of thought about what I really wanted this car to be I changed my mind and pulled out the 4 banger and am looking for a 4.8 or 5.3 Chevy. Some of you may have seen the project on some of the other VW related boards. Now that it will be a V8 car I decided this is a good place to park it. I've been building cars for over 30 years. My first love was traditional style Hot Rods and Street Rods and still is for the most part but I love all things automotive. I'm a Chevy guy but all the other are okay in my book, I just feel more comfortable building bow ties. This will be my fourth beetle but the first to be non VW powered. I started with a decent '54 body I bought from a friend that was moving out of the country about 12 years ago. It sat for a long time until I decided on what I wanted to build. I started building the chassis almost 5 years ago and then shelved the car due to economic and family reasons. The chassis is similar to the Rorty (sp?) design but I wanted to do things a little different. I'm using S-10 4x4 front steering knuckles for the rear suspension and an Art Morison modified Mustang II front suspension. (Thanks again Ray/454Bug!) Here's a picture before I pulled the body back off and removed the 1.8L. I'm going to post a picture this weekend with the new front cross member tacked in place and hopefully a better idea of the center tunnel.
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Post by V8 Super Beetle on May 1, 2009 11:39:34 GMT -5
Welcome aboard Paul! Glad to see you've joined the brotherhood of V8 Bugs and glad you're here. Anytime you need a hand with something that requires another body I'll be more than glad to help. I'm right down the street. I can't wait to see this one progress.
Matt
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paulj
Full Member
Posts: 143
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Post by paulj on May 1, 2009 14:03:33 GMT -5
That works both ways you know. If you ever need an extra pair of hands just give me a shout. I got home from work early (10% cut in hours) so I will get an updated picture of the chassis as it sits right now.
You've made a lot of progress on yours the last few times I've checked on it.
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paulj
Full Member
Posts: 143
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Post by paulj on May 1, 2009 17:43:28 GMT -5
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Post by northwestoutlaw on May 1, 2009 17:45:17 GMT -5
cool deal keep up the good work.
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Post by hellraiser on May 2, 2009 0:01:58 GMT -5
lookin good
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Post by V8 Super Beetle on May 4, 2009 9:55:52 GMT -5
That works both ways you know. If you ever need an extra pair of hands just give me a shout. I got home from work early (10% cut in hours) so I will get an updated picture of the chassis as it sits right now. You've made a lot of progress on yours the last few times I've checked on it. Thanks for the offer Paul. I will need a hand when it comes time to put in the engine, which will be soon. I'm trying to get as much done as possible before I move into my new home which they'll start building soon. As slow as the home building industry is it'll be done in 4 months. Maybe sooner. So I'm trying to finish as much as I can before the move. That way I'll have less parts to haul, even though it'll be a mile away. ;D
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Post by V8 Super Beetle on May 4, 2009 9:56:57 GMT -5
BTW, the chassis looks REALLY good! I think that's the first time I've seen a picture of the full chassis, by its self. Looks very pro. I see the engine is removed. Have you located a donor V8 yet?
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Post by V8 Super Beetle on May 4, 2009 10:03:46 GMT -5
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paulj
Full Member
Posts: 143
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Post by paulj on May 4, 2009 12:38:35 GMT -5
I keep kicking around the idea of an older small block. I can practically put them together in my sleep and there's so many parts available. I think it's going to boil down to what I have the money for when the time comes. I'm still trying to sell my 1.8L parts for the funds to buy the new engine.
When I worked at the machine shop we were building 400+hp small blocks all the time and they live quite well on the street.
I got the silver '72 super on the road now and my daughter and I are going to start on the paint work this summer. I actually drove it yesterday without the fear of getting a ticket!
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Post by V8 Super Beetle on May 4, 2009 13:23:59 GMT -5
I'm glad to hear that the silver super is on the road again. Are you still going to go with the two tone pink and white them? I think that color scheme looks pretty nice. Sounds like a plan. What I found interesting about the article was that they used a vortec block which comes as a roller. They basically bought the short block with the roller lifters included. Tore the block down, had it honed, hot tanked, decked and they cleaned up the lifters pistons and rods themselves with scotch brite. They had some other machine shop costs (decked the heads to reduce the chambers to 63 cc to raise CR to 10:1 with the dish pistons) but was kept to a minimum. They kept the crank as is and used stock bearings. The motor had little wear due to the motor having low miles and modern overdrives keeping the rpms low. This is a similar build to mine in which I have a 3970010 (70's) 350 short block I'll have hot tanked, decked and I'll reuse the pistons / rods. A 350 combined with vortec heads will raise the CR to 10-10.25:1 which easily can make 400hp. You can get away with .5 pt more CR (vortec heads) due to their chamber design. Only difference is I have a dual plan low rise intake (performer RPM style - Summit), flat tappet cam instead of roller, and a slightly lower lift cam, but with a hair more duration on a tighter LSA. I do have the article beat by .25 CR though. Be sure to use some oil with the needed ZDDP that flat tappet blocks need to survive.
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paulj
Full Member
Posts: 143
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Post by paulj on May 5, 2009 7:37:13 GMT -5
My Daughter doesn't know if she want's to keep the car or not so I convinced her that we need to paint it something other than Pink so it's now going to be silver and light blue. I hope to get started on paint by the end of the month.
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Post by V8 Super Beetle on May 5, 2009 9:40:02 GMT -5
Awesome! Will you be painting it at home?
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Post by northwestoutlaw on May 5, 2009 10:04:05 GMT -5
cool deal keep us updated
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paulj
Full Member
Posts: 143
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Post by paulj on May 5, 2009 12:32:45 GMT -5
Painting it in the garage. I roll the '54 out and and then put up plastic to make a make-shift clean area.
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