V8 Super Beetle Project

[V8 Super Beetle]

This is true, all above.

At this point I'm guessing cause I don't know the cc's of the pistons. So my father is going to contact the guy he got the engine from whom built it and he'll fill us in.

[lookatme]

heres a site with some calculators that come in handy
www.speedwaybids.com/calcs/

i use them to get a general idea from time to time. there is one for dynamic compression.

[Carmen Dottoli]

That calculator is cool. Good link. We did the G-Tech on the 58 and it said 0-60 with slicks went 1.658 seconds. I know it has be off a bit because those types of gadgets have been proven off but it still looks cool to see that for a 0-60 # !! LOL!

[V8 Super Beetle]

Thanks! I'm come across calculators like that, very useful.

[V8 Super Beetle]

I started widening my fenders. I think I'm not going to keep them as wide as they are. Right now they are 3" wider but I think all I need or want is 1.5" so that way the outer edge of the tire is inline with the outer edge of the fender. So I'll have to go back and grind the welds off, slide the fender in and then weld again.

BTW, this welding was done with my stick welder, if you can't tell. I had a hard time getting it to start an arch because I tried to keep the amps as low as possible to prevent burn through. Seems to work just fine, but there was the occasional burn through. I used 1/16" 6013 rods and the sheet metal is 22 guage. Who's says you can't use an arc welder for sheet metal?







What do you guys think?

[lookatme]

they look good. but if youre going to narrow them back a bit, id narrow them, so that the tires will tuck into the fenders under full compression.

[V8 Super Beetle]

May 5, 2008 11:10:58 GMT -5 lookatme said:

they look good. but if youre going to narrow them back a bit, id narrow them, so that the tires will tuck into the fenders under full compression.

I'd leave enough room so if the wheels do happen to compress enough that they'll tuck under the fender rather than rub. I'm going to roll the bug out and take a look at how it before I make the decision to narrow then back some.

[hellraiser]

lookin good, and with a lil time on the english wheel, u shouldnt even be able to tell they were widened. great work

[V8 Super Beetle]

Thanks! Some of the welds are as nice as they appear in the picture, but a little work with the grinder will take care of that. I wont be english wheeling it since I don't know a single owner of one. Instead I'll be using some bondo to fill and smoothen out the curve line. If you can see, it's concave then it become flat. It'll be more gradual.

[hellraiser]

ya thats what i was talking about, u will probly hav some trouble with the bondo cracking cuz those fenders arent very sturdy and flex alot

[lookatme]

May 6, 2008 21:51:52 GMT -5 hellraiser said:

ya thats what i was talking about, u will probly hav some trouble with the bondo cracking cuz those fenders arent very sturdy and flex alot

ever hear of a brand called Evercoat?
it is some GOOD material, have not seen it crack EVER. then again if you do all the work that you can to the fenders, and get them as close as possible first, you wont need a thick layer of bondo, which is what usually causes the problems. (ever notice that the broken out patches are a quarter inch thick?)
-chris

[V8 Super Beetle]

May 6, 2008 21:51:52 GMT -5 hellraiser said:

ya thats what i was talking about, u will probly hav some trouble with the bondo cracking cuz those fenders arent very sturdy and flex alot

I don't think they'll flex like a set of fiberglass ones will. They do flex a little, but not a whole lot, well, from my experience. If anything road dabri would hit them and crack the bondo or chip the bondo / paint off.

But really, I don't plan to pile up a whole lot of bondo. I'm going to shape them the best I can without an english wheel, some how, maybe a hammer and a dolly, and use bondo to smoothen out imperfections. It should hold up fine being it's not going to be a daily driver and will be garage kept.

Also, I was thinking about maybe doing some similar things that this bug has done to it. Notice the cut out holes in the fenders, front and back, reducing drag and I love the look of these running boards. They direct the air around the vehicle reducing drag. The running boards also kinda act as ground effects. I'm thinking I'll make an air dam / scoop up front that'll act like ground effects with a function. These are only thoughts at this point cause it'll take away more from the sleeper factor, but it'll look more modern and cool.






I widened the other fender. This one came out a little better as far as the shape. It's hard to tell, but I'll have to go back and redo some of the work on the first fender I did. There's a couple parts that aren't flush and it's about 3/4" - 1" lower at the tail light assembly. I'll probably bring in the fender about 1/4" too to even it out with the other. Turns out the body shifted a little when I lifted it to do the fender work so they're pretty close to the same width. I don't have the body mounted just yet cause I'm waiting to get the motor in so I can be sure the hook will clear the air breather / carb. One is off by about 1/4"-3/8". I'm able to still my four fingers up under the fender between the tires and the inner fender lip.










More to come......

[V8 Super Beetle]

Here are the shortened front body mounts that originally came on the S10 chassis. I'll use these to support the front end of the bug body.

[lookatme]

looking good, give the extensions time to either grow or grate on you.

[V8 Super Beetle]

Thanks! I'm digging the new width of them. After looking at it for a while it's always good to take a look at it the next day and you'll have a different outlook. After seeing both of the widened fenders I like their new width. I'm going to widen the front fenders buy about 1 - 1.5".