V8 Super Beetle Project

[V8 Super Beetle]

Do you mean HVLP gun? Just wondering cause I know there are LVLP guns. What is the psi going into your gun? I used 40 psi. The gun naturally regulates the pressure down to 4-5 psi. Check to see what your paint requires to be sprayed at. I know mine required 8-10 psi at the tip which requires 40-45 psi at the gun / regulator.

Also, what size tip is on your gun? Normally, primers are sprayed with 1.6-1.8 tips to flow out more material quicker. Base and clear you use a 1.3-1.5 tip. The small the tip number the finer the droplets of paint will lay down giving a smoother finish. I'm using a 1.4 to spray everything. I just lay the primer on really thick until it just about runs. It doesn't matter cause it'll be sanded smooth.

[Mock1racer]

Ha! maybe I did that wrong! Low pressure high volume! LPHV.
OOPS! My bad. I have no idea what tips, psi or anything.
The directions of the gun said to use 5-8 psi going into the gun, so I turned my compressor down to 35psi and another regulator from there to the gun at 6 psi. For the record, this is a gun that came with the compreesor, impact wrench, air ratchet, tire gauge/filler, and a blower nozzle, so it's not a high quality gun.
If I can just get it to put down the primer, I may take it and let a pro spray the final coats.

[V8 Super Beetle]

You might want to consider getting this gun. I have this model and have seen some pictures of flawless paint jobs using this gun. I know you're on a budget just like me and this will get the job done. Just keep it clean after every time you spray.

$35

www.harborfreight.com/high-volume-low-pressure-gravity-feed-spray-gun-66222.html



Here's a fender this guy painted with the above gun.

[V8 Super Beetle]

Sept 7, 2010 11:50:47 GMT -5 Mock1racer said:

Ha! maybe I did that wrong! Low pressure high volume! LPHV.
OOPS! My bad. I have no idea what tips, psi or anything.
The directions of the gun said to use 5-8 psi going into the gun, so I turned my compressor down to 35psi and another regulator from there to the gun at 6 psi. For the record, this is a gun that came with the compreesor, impact wrench, air ratchet, tire gauge/filler, and a blower nozzle, so it's not a high quality gun.
If I can just get it to put down the primer, I may take it and let a pro spray the final coats.

LOL, it's easy to get those mixed up. 5-8 psi would be the pressure at the tip. The gun regulates the pressure to that amount. Try raising your pressure to 30-45 psi going into the gun. I would start some where around 35 psi. Mix a little reducer in the paint to thin it out, but go by the spec sheet. I bet it'll spray like a whole different gun.

[Mock1racer]

Cool, thanks dude. Next time I'm over by there I'll check it out. gotta be better than mine, it pulls from the bottom instead of the top.
That's a good looking fender. If my car turns out HALF that good I'll be happy.

[V8 Super Beetle]

Those suction fed spray guns need about 40-50 psi going into the gun. Give that a try and see how she sprays.

[V8 Super Beetle]

I'm about 95% finished sanding the first coat of high build primer. There's a hand full of scratches that I glazed that need sanding and I still need to finish sanding the rear fenders. About another 1 or 2 hours and it should be ready to go for it's second coat of high build primer.

It's coming along really well. The roof hardly needed any help. I guess it's all that time I spent doing it over and over.

I'll more than likely spray the second coat of primer this next weekend.

[Mock1racer]

I'm not looking forward to this!!



Looking good dude!

[V8 Super Beetle]

Thanks! It's not too bad. Just messy and time consuming. OK, yeah, it's not the most fun part. LOL. Painting it though, even just doing the primer has been fun using a real spray setup.

[V8 Super Beetle]

Quick update. I finished sanding the car, for the most part. I've gone over it with a fine tooth comb to make sure I got all the little imperfections taken care of. The front fenders need just a little more sanding, not even 30 minutes worth of work, and they'll be good.

Rear fenders ready.






I didn't get the chance to paint the car with more primer this weekend cause I had a gig and baby daddy duty now that my wife has gone back to work. I do still need to clean out the garage though.

I did manage to fix the broke hood pin. I broke it trying to force it about an 1/8". So I basically had to grind out the old bolt and weld in a new one.




I've also decided I'm going to pull my engine so I can repaint it and so it'll be easier to paint the engine bay orange. It's also gotten filthy since having installed it due to minor little first assembly leaks that needed snugging.

While the engine is out, I'm going to put a bigger cam in and swap to different head gaskets bringing my CR down from 10.39 to 9.8. As it sits now, it's getting some spark knock because I have a little too much CR and not enough cam to bleed off some of the cylinder pressure. It doesn't help that the cam is 4º advanced. After these changes I just might be able to run 89 octane. This will also give me the opportunity to see how everything is breaking-in inside of the engine.

I had a little help choosing the new cam. I will be going from a cam with .450/.450 lift, 278/278 duration, 234/234º @ .050 with a 106 LSA to a cam with .470/.470 lift, 302/302º duration, 236/236º @ .050 with a 108 LSA. I tried to find the closest cam to the recommended specs. Just might make a little more, or less power. You can take off 35 hp / tq since I'm not doing the long tube header upgrade at the moment. So I should be somewhere around 408 hp and 440 tq. For now, I need to get it happier on pump gas.

[Mock1racer]

EXCELLENT!!!
Nothin better than brakin in a new cam!!
Bodywork is turnin out nice and smooth, looks great.
Pulling the motor!!


You'll thank yourself later. That's why I chose to take it completely apart, and now I'm thinkin about re-doing some of the rear of the car.

Ah, it never ends.

[V8 Super Beetle]

Oh yeah! I'm pretty excited to see how much different the car acts with a little more cam that'll give it some more top end. The car has REALLy good bottom end as is. Too much for such a light car. It's a real tire shredder. More cam will help keep it from breaking the tires loose so easily, I hope. LOL

I agree, it'll come out nicer not having to spray around the engine. That and the frame needs a little touching up after all the work that's been done since it was painted.

Not to mention, the tranny leaks a little from the shifter linkage. So I'm sure I'll have to drop the pan to fix that.

There's always more stuff I would like to do to it. If I had the money I'd get the S-10 long tube headers, but I'll worry about that later.

[V8 Super Beetle]

Hmm...been racking my brain about improving my engine setup a little and I got some advice from a seasoned vet. That advice is...

Ditch the shorty headers and spend the $300 on some long tube headers. Retard my current cam 4º. Keep the CR of 10.39:1 as is. With my current setup I'm at a DCR of 8.969:1 on the KB calculator. Plugging all the numbers into the DynoSim, we get 438 hp @5500, 410 ft/lbs @2000 (that's why you're able to shred the tires) and 469 ft/lbs @4000.

Now, if we retard the cam 4 degrees, then that puts the intake closing at 47 degrees ABDC, a difference of 8 degrees from where it is now. I'm seeing a DCR of 8.514:1 on the KB calculator with this arrangement. Again, plugging the numbers in, I get 451 hp @5500, 388 ft/lbs @2000 and 467 ft/lbs @4500.



That sounds good to me. I'll still will be taking out the engine for paint. While I have the pan dropped to change the phasing of the cam I'll take a peak at the bottom end.

[Mock1racer]

451 hp @5500, 388 ft/lbs @2000 and 467 ft/lbs @4500.
That sounds REAL good to me. I'll be at about those numbers when I get some new heads.

[V8 Super Beetle]

What heads do you plan to get?