V8 Super Beetle Project

[V8 Super Beetle]

"If it's not one thing, it's another. Just cause it's new doesn't mean it's good." A couple quotes from my old man I'm finding very true today. I demasked the bug to move it out of the garage because I needed a level work space to do a brake job on my daily driver. A 2004 ram 1500 in which I've managed to wear the brakes down to the rotors on 3 out of the 4 wheels. Any who, I went to start it, it was turning over fine and then the starter acts up. I could smell an electrical stench. I tried again and the car made a loud metal clunk like the starter jumped or something. Thinking there was something wrong internally in the block itself, I posted up a few questions and the problem all points back to the starter, or the flexplate. I'm thinking starter cause it's been slow to turn over the engine. Needless to say I have to replace that. Good thing it's under warranty. Crappy Value Craft.

[Mock1racer]

Dang, I hate to hear that. I saw a new post and thought I was going to see some paint on that thing!
Somethings like a starter, battery, and such ,it's better to spend the $ for them. I'm a pretty cheap guy and dont like to spend a lot on stuff but those parts that get used a lot need to be reliable.
You know the saying," Only a rich man can afford cheap parts" Too true.

[CMD]

Aug 26, 2010 11:42:22 GMT -5 V8 Super Beetle said:

Aug 24, 2010 18:07:03 GMT -5 matt123 said:

Its lookin awsome man. cant wait to see the black on there

Thanks! I can't wait to get some paint on too.

Matt,
Don't make the mistake I made and paint the car too soon. The plastic and build primer need time to totally dry and will change dimensions as they do. You should consider putting the car in the sun for at LEAST one full day ( I've even heard as long as TWO weeks! ) before you seal the surface with paint!

CMD
photobucket.com/albums/v385/CMD/

[V8 Super Beetle]

Sept 2, 2010 6:44:53 GMT -5 Mock1racer said:

Dang, I hate to hear that. I saw a new post and thought I was going to see some paint on that thing!
Somethings like a starter, battery, and such ,it's better to spend the $ for them. I'm a pretty cheap guy and dont like to spend a lot on stuff but those parts that get used a lot need to be reliable.
You know the saying," Only a rich man can afford cheap parts" Too true.

I wish! ;D Tell me about it. At least it's under warranty. I know the guys at AutoZone pretty well by now so they hook me up without question.

Well, I've been asking around and it seems I need to put a OEM brace on the front of the starter. Apparently it probably walked after a while of starting without one. You would think torquing the bolts to spec would do it, but the brace keeps it all in place.

Plan is to get a brace from the dealership, $9, and inspect the starter / replace as necessary. Not a big setback but time I could use doing body work.

Here's a pic of the brace I'm talking about. It's on the front of the starter.

[V8 Super Beetle]

Sept 2, 2010 9:46:23 GMT -5 CMD said:

Aug 26, 2010 11:42:22 GMT -5 V8 Super Beetle said:

Thanks! I can't wait to get some paint on too.

Matt,
Don't make the mistake I made and paint the car too soon. The plastic and build primer need time to totally dry and will change dimensions as they do. You should consider putting the car in the sun for at LEAST one full day ( I've even heard as long as TWO weeks! ) before you seal the surface with paint!

CMD
photobucket.com/albums/v385/CMD/

Thanks for the advice, Charlie. I wonder if it's the heat that cures it? If that's the case it's been in the mid 90's to 100 here. A lot of the filler has been on it for well over a year. The latest round has been on there at least a month now. The car hasn't been in direct sunlight but perhaps it's the heat that will completely cure it.

I think I'll be Ok by the time I get paint on it. At this point I only have the first coat of high builder primer down and haven't sealed it yet. I need to block this coat, spray more high build primer and then block again before I can put down sealer primer. Depending on how much free time I have, it could be a month to another 3 months before I get close to paint. Who knows.

Thanks again.

[Mock1racer]

Ya know, I would have never thought about putting it in the sun to cure. Might need to put mine out for a while if it's not gonna rain.
Oh, the starter brace is another good idea I had'nt thought about.

[murphytj]

Sept 2, 2010 10:16:06 GMT -5 V8 Super Beetle said:

Sept 2, 2010 6:44:53 GMT -5 Mock1racer said:

Dang, I hate to hear that. I saw a new post and thought I was going to see some paint on that thing!
Somethings like a starter, battery, and such ,it's better to spend the $ for them. I'm a pretty cheap guy and dont like to spend a lot on stuff but those parts that get used a lot need to be reliable.
You know the saying," Only a rich man can afford cheap parts" Too true.

Matt. You need to get the Hi-Po starter that GM has. Much smaller than stock.



I wish! ;D Tell me about it. At least it's under warranty. I know the guys at AutoZone pretty well by now so they hook me up without question.

Well, I've been asking around and it seems I need to put a OEM brace on the front of the starter. Apparently it probably walked after a while of starting without one. You would think torquing the bolts to spec would do it, but the brace keeps it all in place.

Plan is to get a brace from the dealership, $9, and inspect the starter / replace as necessary. Not a big setback but time I could use doing body work.

Here's a pic of the brace I'm talking about. It's on the front of the starter.

[V8 Super Beetle]

Thanks Tom. I've know about the smaller starters and a lot of people use then with S10s cause of the tight space. For now, a starter starter will have to do. That'll be an upgrade item later down the road.

[CMD]

Sept 2, 2010 10:23:41 GMT -5 V8 Super Beetle said:

Sept 2, 2010 9:46:23 GMT -5 CMD said:

Thanks for the advice, Charlie. I wonder if it's the heat that cures it? If that's the case it's been in the mid 90's to 100 here. A lot of the filler has been on it for well over a year. The latest round has been on there at least a month now. The car hasn't been in direct sunlight but perhaps it's the heat that will completely cure it.

I think I'll be Ok by the time I get paint on it.

Thanks again.

I said the same thing. My bodywork took nearly four years and was painted two weeks after finishing in March of '09. The car was only in direct sunlight briefly before going to the trim shop, at that time I noticed several imperfections in the bodywork.
Then in the trimshop until June of 2010.
Since then, covered up in my garage as I worked on other projects. Every time I looked at the car; things had changed! Some better, some worse! After lot's of research; I've found that the curing process can take YEARS, under the wrong conditions! Direct sunlight will speed up the process and insure you don't have my problems. I would recommend as much time as possible up to two weeks.After time in direct sunlight; mine seems to have stabilized now, and the trouble spots will be touched up. Hopefully I can finish it and be driving next summer. Your situation may be different, but why take the chance.

CMD
photobucket.com/albums/v385/CMD

[V8 Super Beetle]

Thanks for the advice. Once I get the next coat of high build primer on I'll let her sit in the sun.

You car is looking really great BTW. What body filler was used that it changed so much being out in the heat?

[V8 Super Beetle]

Update. Haven't got a whole lot done to the body because: 1) I've been doing some maintenance on my daily driver (full brake job and had to replace that battery). 2) I had to replace the faulty starter on the bug. I'm thinking Auto Zone's brand of car parts really ain't that good.

Replacing the starter was the biggest PITA. It would've been easier just pulling the motor to get it done. It took me probably a total of 7 hrs. to replace the starter and to install a starter brace. Getting the starter out was much more difficult than it was putting it in the first time cause now I have hard trans cooler lines, the battery cable, alternator cable and my hard fuel line that run right under where the starter comes out. I managed to push the lines out of the way and got the starter out, but after it was all back together, my trans cooler lines were leaking. I snugged them up a little, but haven't had the chance to start her back up to see if they're still leaking because my battery died. I left the ignition switch on all night.

If getting the starter in, wires connected, shimmed correctly and bolts torqued to spec wasn't enough, I had to manage to install the brace in such a tight space. I think I'm ready to perform brain surgery now. I dropped the brace bolt to the engine I don't know how many times. The brace wasn't a direct bolt in either. It was off by about 1". So after I got it in, I notice it was too long to bolt to the starter.

Here's what I'm talking about. Lines in the way of the starter easily dropping out. Not that a starter easily drops out from a S10 V8 conversion anyways. It takes some wiggling and carefully maneuvering.




Can't forget the brace. I was only able to take a picture of the block bolt. The end of the brace is down in there somewhere. ;D





Now onto some bodywork. I wet sanded both front fenders, the drivers' side door, and part of a rear fender. After the starter install I was tired of working on the bug.

It's coming out good though. I've only found one high spot and one low spot so far which is circled in red.




High spot.





Low spot.

[Mock1racer]

Okay, so, you sand it, put the primer on it, glaze it, paint it, sand it, and now paint it again?
Is this to keep the scratches from showing? That's where I'm at now, I can see the scratches from the sandpaper in the paint.

[V8 Super Beetle]

Well, my understanding is, and this is the quick simple version. ;D

1. Clean car throughly with warm water and soap / use wax grease remover.
2. Remove original paint or scuff if original paint if still good.
3. Do body filler work. Final sanding with 100-150 grit
4. Use glaze to fill in pin holes in body filler and coarse sand paper scratches. Finish with 100-150.
5. Wipe down with surface wash to get rid of dust from sanding.
6. Spray car with 2 thick coats of high build 2K primer, AKA polyester.
7. Dust coat / guide coat car. Can use cheap aerosol primer in contrasting color.
8. Block sand with 180 dry or 220 wet. Fix missed low and high spots.
9. Repeat steps 5, 6, and 7. Block sand wet with 400 grit.
10. Wipe down with surface wash, tack rag the car, and spray car with one coat epoxy primer. This will seal the body work and give a uniform color to spray base over.
11. Can sand with 600 grit to get rid of any orange peel, or not.
12. Spray 2 coats of base or until total coverage achieved. Wipe down car with tack rag between coats after paint has flashed. If using a single stage paint, don't tack rag the car.
13. Spray 2 coats of clear. Spray 3 if you plan to color sand and buff so you have more clear to work with.


The idea is to spray as little material on the car as possible. When you have too many layers of paint it will crack when hit instead of flexing with the panel.

[V8 Super Beetle]

Consider high build primer like sprayable bondo. It fills in minor surface imperfections. Pin holes you miss, coarse scratches, etc. You spray as much high build primer needed to get the surface smooth and free of defects. All major dings should've been taken care of in the bond stage. There will be a few missed that can be taken care of in the primer stage.

[Mock1racer]

Well, I got one of those LPHV guns, but it dont spray worth a crap! It comes out like that stuff you spray on the ceiling of your house. I tried to dielude it but it still didnt work that great. That's why I stopped workin on the body, It was making me mad. Maybe what i should buy is more pateince!!