Post by zbhover on Sept 20, 2011 19:26:28 GMT -5
I just thought that I would let everyone know that I have finally been making some progress on the V8 Beetle project. I took a couple days off of work and started by cleaning up the chassis, I'll also have some updates soon on some rear suspension work and transmission cross member work I've been doing too....
Below are a few pictures, you can also see these and more new pictures in the chassis section on my website: www.v8beetleresource.com
I took a couple days off of work to get some work done on the V8 Beetle project, and unfortunately the parts I ordered for the rear suspension didn't show up until the last day I had off....... Darn slow postal service
.... Oh well I've been needing to clean up the back part of the s-10 chassis anyways.
I started off by cutting off the old s-10 rear bump stops, they wouldn't do me any good since I put on shorter leaf springs, I'll add some new bump stops later on. Also to make the chassis a little easier to work on I hoisted the body up over the chassis.
The next things to go would be the old bed and body mounts, they are too high or in the wrong spots to use for body mounts for the beetle, so I hacked them off......
Here I have them all ground off, now I just need to start cleaning the rust off of the frame.
Next I pulled the chassis outside in the driveway to clean up the rest of the frame. I pulled out the rear cross member so I could clean the frame rails easier and also so I can take the cross member to work later on and shot blast it, or make a new cross member. I used a couple C-Clamps to keep the frame rails from spreading, etc.....
To clean up the frame rails I first used a wire wheel in my angle grinder to get all the major stuff off, then I came back with a 36 grit flap wheel in the angle grinder. I'll probably go over it one more time with the flap wheel before sand blasting......
Next I cleaned up the inside of the frame rails with the wire wheel and flap wheel. Of course the inside is much more difficult to get to than the outsides..... The sand blaster will come in handy in these harder to get to spots.....
Oh yeah make sure your wearing eye and face and ear protection..... and long sleaves are a good idea too.....
I eventually pulled the engine and transmission off the chassis so it was a little easier to work on
By this point I'm getting pretty tired of cleaning up rust............. LOL
Through the frame cleaning process I ended up killing my 4.5" harbor freight angle grinder. One of the brush holders cracked and it would loose power and shut off as you ground with it..... I was able to get the grinder to limp along though and finish what I was doing. A couple 3/8" nuts wrapped in duct tape worked for a while to hold the brushes in, then it got worse so I had to add the C-clamp later on...... The grinder isn't quite as nimble as it once was.....LOL
Over probably the last 4 or 5 years I've killed 2 of these 10 buck grinders from harbor freight, and with this project I've been using it a lot I decided to go with a good 10 amp dewalt 4.5" grinder, I've been using one of these at work for almost 8 years without any problems. I also had a coupon for sears and they had them on sale so I picked this up for 75 bucks, and it even came with a case, which is nice. It also has a quick release nut which is WONDERFUL!!! I have a 5" high speed matuba grinder at work with one of these quick release nuts and I don't know how you can live without them after having one........... LOL..... No more searching for that lost wrench.....
That is it for now, but hopefully I'll have an update on some more stuff in a few days.
Below are a few pictures, you can also see these and more new pictures in the chassis section on my website: www.v8beetleresource.com
I took a couple days off of work to get some work done on the V8 Beetle project, and unfortunately the parts I ordered for the rear suspension didn't show up until the last day I had off....... Darn slow postal service
.... Oh well I've been needing to clean up the back part of the s-10 chassis anyways.I started off by cutting off the old s-10 rear bump stops, they wouldn't do me any good since I put on shorter leaf springs, I'll add some new bump stops later on. Also to make the chassis a little easier to work on I hoisted the body up over the chassis.
The next things to go would be the old bed and body mounts, they are too high or in the wrong spots to use for body mounts for the beetle, so I hacked them off......
Here I have them all ground off, now I just need to start cleaning the rust off of the frame.
Next I pulled the chassis outside in the driveway to clean up the rest of the frame. I pulled out the rear cross member so I could clean the frame rails easier and also so I can take the cross member to work later on and shot blast it, or make a new cross member. I used a couple C-Clamps to keep the frame rails from spreading, etc.....
To clean up the frame rails I first used a wire wheel in my angle grinder to get all the major stuff off, then I came back with a 36 grit flap wheel in the angle grinder. I'll probably go over it one more time with the flap wheel before sand blasting......
Next I cleaned up the inside of the frame rails with the wire wheel and flap wheel. Of course the inside is much more difficult to get to than the outsides..... The sand blaster will come in handy in these harder to get to spots.....
Oh yeah make sure your wearing eye and face and ear protection..... and long sleaves are a good idea too.....
I eventually pulled the engine and transmission off the chassis so it was a little easier to work on
By this point I'm getting pretty tired of cleaning up rust............. LOL
Through the frame cleaning process I ended up killing my 4.5" harbor freight angle grinder. One of the brush holders cracked and it would loose power and shut off as you ground with it..... I was able to get the grinder to limp along though and finish what I was doing. A couple 3/8" nuts wrapped in duct tape worked for a while to hold the brushes in, then it got worse so I had to add the C-clamp later on...... The grinder isn't quite as nimble as it once was.....LOL
Over probably the last 4 or 5 years I've killed 2 of these 10 buck grinders from harbor freight, and with this project I've been using it a lot I decided to go with a good 10 amp dewalt 4.5" grinder, I've been using one of these at work for almost 8 years without any problems. I also had a coupon for sears and they had them on sale so I picked this up for 75 bucks, and it even came with a case, which is nice. It also has a quick release nut which is WONDERFUL!!! I have a 5" high speed matuba grinder at work with one of these quick release nuts and I don't know how you can live without them after having one........... LOL..... No more searching for that lost wrench.....
That is it for now, but hopefully I'll have an update on some more stuff in a few days.