V8 Super Beetle Project

[V8 Super Beetle]

I'm not quite sure what you mean. about the moving it up.

A cheese grater would've worked great, but I don't have one and my money is tight right now so I couldn't go out and get one even though they're probably really cheap.

Thanks! One of these years I'll have it all finished!

[lookatme]

i mean moving the bushings where the sway bar pivots. you might try moving them even farther forward. youre about at the end of the frame right now, but youre gonna extend the frame to the nose of the body right?.

[454bug]

Hey Matt,

You might think about looking at dropping the mounting point of the sway bar away from the frame to give you enough clearance for the radiator...

Then you could build new shorter length arms at the other end of the sway bar tieing them to the control arms. You might have to build the connections BELOW the control arms instead of above. Just watch your ground clearance. Since you aren't "slamming" the car as low as possible you should have enough room to work with... Here's an example of what I am describing...

[V8 Super Beetle]

Thanks Ray and lookatme for the suggestions! I'm going to think about these options and figure out what to do. I'd prefer a front mount, but I'm not opposed to doing a rear mount. So we'll see.

[V8 Super Beetle]

Quick update...

I worked on the rear fenders some more this weekend. I sanded down the first layer of bondo, tapped in some of the high spots and filled in some of the visible low spots. So far it seems like they'll come out decent. The shape is pretty much there, but there's a little filling and tapping here and there that needs to be done. And more sanding of coarse. Another weekend or two and I should be finished with them. This time I used a file to knock down and shaped the bondo as suggested.

These first three pictures are after sanding down the first layer.







Here's where I'm at after sanding down the second coat of bondo. Still a lot more work to do but it's getting there.

[V8 Super Beetle]

This weekend I had enough time to finish the passenger side fender. Now I need to remove it and smoothen out the mounting edge. The removal should be fun.

A couple quick shots in low light before I left for work.

[Mock1racer]

why take em off? do you want the seam? I'm weldin mine on and smoothin the body and fenders together. Lookin good though.

[V8 Super Beetle]

Thanks! I like the seam. That and i want to be able to take them off down the road.

[hellraiser]

ya keep the seam its worth it, they look good without them but with the fenders being as flimsy as they r u dont want the welds to crack and b easier to fix dings and what not

[Mock1racer]

good point.

[V8 Super Beetle]

I personally think they're quite sturdy went bolted to the car properly. I stood on mine recently to check. I weigh about 175 lbs. That's 79.37 kilos for those across the pond.

[Mock1racer]

maybe I'll look at that a little closer, It would be nice to take em off if i needed to. Oh, and by the way, my welds don't crack.

[Mock1racer]

Hey Matt, about your sway bar relocation, what if you ran it on the other side of your control arms? Basically, turn it around and flip it over then it would mount almost under the oil pan? My toyota truck is done like that, maybe it would work.

[V8 Super Beetle]

I didn't think of that. I'll have to look into it. Thanks!

[V8 Super Beetle]

Quick little update.

The fenders released quite easily. I went back and sanded down / smoothed out the seam edge, not pictured.







I did manage to work on the driver's side fender, but didn't quite "finish" shaping it. It needs a little more filler to smooth it out. I'll post pictures once I've finished shaping it.

I'm still sitting on the fence about whether or not to shave the bumpers on my beetle. I prefer the deleted bumper look, but I'm worried somebody might bump me one day just tear up the body of my car. Hmmm... This is really the last thing I need to sort out body work wise.