Hot Rod Forum banner

V8 1973 VW Beetle Project

825K views 836 replies 88 participants last post by  V8 Super Beetle 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello all!

I'm in the process of building a V8 Bug out of my 1973 VW Super Beetle. I know this is possible because it's been done before. I'm on the v8bugs.com forum where you can find a handle full of example and different ways to accomplish this, but I still have questions. There's a lot more traffic here so hopefully I can get some help. I'm pretty much a beginner hot rodder that's a DYI kinda guy.

I'm looking into building a custom 2"x3" tube chassis for my build. I've took some measurements from my bug and designed a chassis in Illustrator to size. I'm trying to design the frame so it'll use the stock suspension up front.

I currently have a 283 SBC and th350 to put into the bug, but at the moment the motor is the block, with pistons and all, and heads. The motor is at my old mans (he works nights) so I don't have access to measure the motor off for mounting and what not.

Could anyone tell me, ballpark figure, about how much distance I'll need from each frame rail to fit the engine with mounts and shorty headers?

Here's my frame design, the distance between each frame rail is exactly 27.5". Also I intend on mounting the motor to the crossmembers that hold in the front control arms / suspension. Is this enough distance? Could I bring the distance between the two main frame rails closer? How should I mount the engine to the cross member with then motor mounts I have (see picture below)?



Here's some pics of my beetle and progress. I'm still working on cutting out the trunk!





 
See less See more
4
#652 ·
Yesterday I pulled the bug out of the garage to sweep up a little, knock some dust off the car and to drive her around a little cause she's been sitting for a few weeks. I decided to take some pics while the car was out cause I just mounted the new fenders and to take a look at overall progress.

The new fenders are pretty decent. They'll be perfect for when I upgrade my rear with a 8.8 explorer unit which is a direct bolt in upgrade for S10s (the rear is 3" wider). I think the car would look even better if I do about a 1.5-2" drop in the rear. So I'm going to look into some SOLID drop blocks from JTR.

The body and the fenders will need some work to make them fit right, but not too bad. There were some cracks in the center of the fenders and I'm guessing it's cause they flexed during shipping. They were just plastic wrapped / bagged and tagged. They seemed to do fine packaged that way for the most part.


















Here are the cracks I was talking about, which I have already filled and blocked sanded after I took these pictures. Below you'll see some gaps that'll need work on both fenders.










Over all, they're decent fenders. I have nothing to really compare them too, but I would think they're a little on the thin side, but that's probably cause I have no paint on them yet.

Fitment was OK. I guess it could be worse. I drilled where they had dimples molded into the fenders for the bolt holes. They weren't exactly spot on, but close enough. I had to widen about half of the holes so the bolts would line up.

I'll have more after this weekend.
 
#654 ·
V8 Super Beetle said:
Got a few things done this weekend. Really just testing things out and tweaking (checking valve lash, snugged up the headers / collectors and played with the fan in push / pull mode) to make sure everything is is running right before I move onto paint. All seems well except the alternator.

I wired up my alternator and took the car for a test drive. After driving around the neighborhood for about an hour, I parked the car in the garage, turned it off, and attempted to start it back up. Well, it was very slow to turn over and it wouldn't fire back up. I did let the car sit and cool for about 15 minutes and it fired back up. ???

So I'm not sure if the battery was drained some and the alternator isn't wired correctly or if there's another reason the engine wouldn't turn over while at operating temp, which has never been a case. I did have my electric fan running the whole time and it draws some amps.

................................
Great project. Should be a rocket and a lot of fun.

Is it possible that you are experiencing starter heat soak? You said it was running for about an hour, you cut it off, it turned slow and wouldnt restart till it cooled off. Sounds like a textbook case.

You may want to install a heat shield between the header and the starter, and/or install a remote solenoid.

Looking forward to seeing it in paint.

Mike
 
#656 ·
IHRodder said:
Great project. Should be a rocket and a lot of fun.

Is it possible that you are experiencing starter heat soak? You said it was running for about an hour, you cut it off, it turned slow and wouldnt restart till it cooled off. Sounds like a textbook case.

You may want to install a heat shield between the header and the starter, and/or install a remote solenoid.

Looking forward to seeing it in paint.

Mike

Thanks! It's definitely a handful, but lots of fun!

Thanks for the advice. I think I have it figured out though. I didn't have my alternator wired right and I had the fan running which draws some amps. Once I wired it up right I haven't had that problem since. I'm thinking the battery was drained.

I do plan to install a heat shield though.

Thanks again!
 
#657 ·
Still doing body work. It's been tough lately cause of the heat. It's been 95-100º. So I try and do as much work in the morning and the evening as possible.

I have the hood just about ready to rock. There's one small low spot that needs taken care of.




The b-pillars are pretty much ready. Just need to glaze and sand up to 150-180 grit.






The doors had so holes drilled in them I'm sure for some accessory. Don't quite know what. So i had to weld the holes up, grid, and tap them down.

There was also a rusted corner on the driver's side door that needed fixing. So I cut out the rust, welded in new metal, ground the welds, and filled the low spot with bondo.

The doors are ready other than some glazing and to be sanded with finer paper.






Almost there. Thing left to do are:

1. Radiator area.
2. Engine bay.
3. Front clip.
4. Finish detail work around the gas tank filler door.
5. Finsh driver's side front quarter panel.


The whole, where body work has been done, still needs a paper thin layer of glaze to fill in pin holes. Then I need to sand the entire car with the DA working my way to 150-180 grit.

Then we can paint. That's not too much more to do, right? LOL
 
#658 ·
Almost there! I know this stage has seemed to drag on, but I'm trying to make sure it's as perfect as possible so I'm not using filler during the primer stage. It seems just when I have a section done, I run my hand over it and I can feel just the slightest wave or imperfection.

This gas door has been the biggest PITA because of the body line just above the door. Once I get the shape right it'll be on like Donkey Kong.




I have the radiator area nice and flat. Just a couple more spots that need work and it'll be good.




The front clip needed some help. Some high spots and lows.




Just about finished with the other front quarter panel. Just a little more blocking. And another skim coat to make sure it's flat.




I'm hoping to have the remaining body work done by this weekend and to have some primer down. I have a 3 day weekend and the wife is working late tonight so I should be able to get it done. We'll see.
 
#661 ·
Well, I didn't get the body work finished. I kind of needed a break from it so I tackled some other things and cooling issues that needed to be worked out.

I made brackets for my locking hood pins. Everything was lining up great. The passenger side was slightly off after welding up everything. I tried to bend it a little and the pin broke. :mad: I figured, no problem, I can weld it on. Little did I know it's made out of aluminum. Figures why it broke so easily. So I have to buy a whole new kit just so I can redo the passenger side. Oh well.

The locking units mocked up.




The good pin.




And the jacked up one that'll need redoing.





My new replacement radiator. I had to replace it cause when the guys welded up my exhaust / plumbing, some slag put pin holes in it.




Here you can see where the water was leaking out. See the rust from the leak. :) If you look at the inlet, you'll see it was leaking there too cause I had the wrong size hose. So I replaced it with the correct size.




You can see just how much the hose was pinched and it still didn't seal. No more leaks here.




I also moved the overflow outlet to the radiator in the rear and I capped off the inline water neck. Now hot rusty water doesn't spew on my engine. I also installed a 20 psi can on the inline neck. The radiator has 18 psi cap. I might go a little lower, just incase.




Having replaced the radiator, fixed the hose leak, all the water gets back to the radiator, and not on my engine. I also installed a high flow 160º thermostat and I finally put in a 50/50 mix of coolant / water. The engine runs a constant 160-190º. I'll never have overheating issues again, I hope.


Onto body work. I just need to finished sanding down a few skim coats I put down the make her as flat as I can possibly get at this stage. These are the problem areas I'm still working on.







If I'm not too tired from our Saturday night gig I'll get a temporary booth setup and I'll spray some high build primer.

More updates soon.
 
#663 ·
tommytone said:
Looking forward to the paint part of this project. By the way, how does it ride?
Me too! The body work seems to be dragging on.

It rides great. The rear springs I selected are perfect. The ride is nice and cushy, not too soft, but it's not bouncy either. I still need to get an alignment though. It's plenty fast too. I'm still getting used to it, but is scary when I mash it. :eek:

Quick little update. I'm closing in on the body work. I put down a guide coat of black primer and sanded it all down and it's looking good. There were a couple low spots I missed but I have found them. My main problem area as of now is still the roof. I'm working on putting a skim coat of body filler and sanding away.

I didn't get too much time to work on it this weekend cause I had a gig so that pretty much takes up my Saturday and Sunday since I'm recovering the next day. I'll get some photos this week. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record but I'm finally pretty happy with the body work, for the most part. I'm 85% sure I'll get primer down this weekend.
 
#664 ·
Paint it dude

Just kidding. Maybe you could find a friend with the same roof and make a template out of construction board going from front to back. You would have to make three of them. Front section, middle and back. And by the way that's width wise and not length. LOL. That may help you gauge the right arc of the roof line. It also might be to your advantage to just find a roof and cut it. You do seem to weld good.
 
#665 ·
tommytone said:
Just kidding. Maybe you could find a friend with the same roof and make a template out of construction board going from front to back. You would have to make three of them. Front section, middle and back. And by the way that's width wise and not length. LOL. That may help you gauge the right arc of the roof line. It also might be to your advantage to just find a roof and cut it. You do seem to weld good.
Thanks for the advice. I had though about just getting a whole new roof at one point, but I'm so close as it is. I really just need the right sanding block. The flat blocks I'm using are just flowing with the flat spot in the roof. I like your idea of the roof templates.

I'm going to give making a sanding board like this a try.






My problem has been the whole car is one big round bubble and all the board I have are flat. I'm going to see if I can't get some plexiglass or something along those lines to make a flexible block.
 
#666 ·
Flex board

The flex board will work out fine. Remember that once you get it close with a final sand of 600 or so, use a high build primer then finish sand and it will be close enough. With a beetle roof it doesn't have to be perfect cause the way the roof flows no one will notice anything. Can you imagine someone with protractor eye balls. Or slide rules coming out of pockets etc. LOL Unless those spots are flat as ironing boards. he he he
 
#667 ·
tommytone said:
The flex board will work out fine. Remember that once you get it close with a final sand of 600 or so, use a high build primer then finish sand and it will be close enough. With a beetle roof it doesn't have to be perfect cause the way the roof flows no one will notice anything. Can you imagine someone with protractor eye balls. Or slide rules coming out of pockets etc. LOL Unless those spots are flat as ironing boards. he he he

Thanks for the advice. As of now my plan is to get the body straight as possible with filler. I'm blocking with 36, 80, then 100. I'll spray a couple coats of epoxy primer, a couple coats of high build 2K primer, and mist a black guide coat. Block sand dry with 180 / wet 220. Fix any imperfections. Spray another coat or two (depending on how straight the body came out) of high build primer to get a uniform color. Possibly another mist coat and wet sand with 400 then 600 all in one direction until guide coat is gone and the body as perfect as I can get it. Then will come two coats of S/S paint and two coats of clear for an extra shine. The I'll sand away the orange peal with 400-600 grit and then lay a wet coat of clear. :thumbup:

I've never done this before, well I've done spot repairs and took cars into Maaco, but never a full job from start to finish myself. This seems like a good plan, to me at least. :thumbup:

If this doesn't get the roof straight I don't know what will. I made a flexible sanding block out of some scrap plexiglass and wood. I glued the pieces on and voila. :pimp:






As you can see I put down a skim coat on the entire hood. Im noticing where I was having my problems the filler was sanded flat. It didn't have that nice curve the vw roof has.

The rest of the body is pretty much ready except for sanding down a couple spots the needed a little filler, which you can see as the darker shade of bondo. Pin holes and grooves.








Crossing my fingers and hoping to get the roof ready in time for the weekend.
 
#668 ·
tommytone said:
The flex board will work out fine. Remember that once you get it close with a final sand of 600 or so, use a high build primer then finish sand and it will be close enough. With a beetle roof it doesn't have to be perfect cause the way the roof flows no one will notice anything. Can you imagine someone with protractor eye balls. Or slide rules coming out of pockets etc. LOL Unless those spots are flat as ironing boards. he he he
Almost forgot. You're right about the body lines. I just trying to get it as perfect as I can cause the top half of the car will be black. Black shows imperfects all too well.

 
#669 ·
Black Top

Well you are right about the black. Mine is Guards Red(the whole car). It's been painted about twenty three years ago and still in good shape. I'll post pictures soon. I've been watching your progress from the beginning of time as it seems. Going to maybe do another one like yours using another body. I like the idea of no vents or cutouts in the hood for a stock look. Right now I'm still trying to figure out what frame layout to use. I'm looking at a Chevy ll sub frame(pre-fabbed ) with a manual rack. Then a Rear sub pro street and just tie the frames together for the length. Cage it etc. Use shorty headers that use clamps and Nascar style rectangular oval exhaust. I think over all I may use the S-10 frame and narrow it in the rear(Pro Street).
 
#670 ·
Nice! Post some pics when you get the chance. All of those sound like great options. If I more $$$ for my project, and did do it while I had to pay for a down payment on a new home, wedding, and now a baby :thumbup: , I would've gone the S10 prostreet / pro-touring route.

Something like so.

 
#671 ·
Pro Touring

Do you have anymore pics of that frame? Looks like a S-10 with Sub. Just the way I would do it. Wonder if your idea with the rad in the back would still work with it? And I wonder how low I could get the body on it. I would still put a cage in it. I'm so excited and I haven't even done anything. LOL
 
#672 ·
tommytone said:
Do you have anymore pics of that frame? Looks like a S-10 with Sub. Just the way I would do it. Wonder if your idea with the rad in the back would still work with it? And I wonder how low I could get the body on it. I would still put a cage in it. I'm so excited and I haven't even done anything. LOL
LOL, nice. I don't have any more of that particular frame but here a shot of another just like it.




No as big size wise though. Yup, S10 back halved! You could do a body drop. That's what I did. The bottom of my bug body sits flush with the bottom of the frame. Only problem is I lost 6" of interior floor space so my head is about 5-6" away from the roof.
 
#676 ·
Roof height

Do you still have the same drivers position as stock? As for the head room, don't hit a bump. I may have to double the head room just as long as she rides smooth, fast and looks *****ing. I'd guess that having a manual rack and pinion will make things a lot smoother as far as turning and correcting on a hard launch. That's one of the big concerns for me. Launching straight. I've seen a wing on the back of another bug that kinda inspires me too. The height of the bug in general would have to be right for it though. What do you think?
 

Attachments

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top