[123pugsy]

WOW!

That hood looks wicked.

Nice job.

[MRGM]

very deep looking. hope that orange comes out just as good.

[70OldsSportsCoupe]

Paint's looking great, and I love the project. Very DIY, but one thing keeps bothering me, and that's the hole in the hood for the carb. It's off-center. How did that happen? I know that the carb and scoop are centered in the opening, so that means that the engine is off-center. Could you not get the engine centered due to clearance issues?
Minor point, really, but it just keeps nagging me every time I see the hood...

[zbhover]

I can answer that one..........

On the s10 the have the engine offset towards the passenger side a little bit, I'm guessing for steering shaft clearance. I think that some of the v8 motor mount adapters actually let you shift the engine further towards the passenger side for more clearance.

Here is a picture I took of our V8 beetle project yesterday, you can also see that the engine is shifted over a tad bit.

Originally Posted by 70OldsSportsCoupe

Paint's looking great, and I love the project. Very DIY, but one thing keeps bothering me, and that's the hole in the hood for the carb. It's off-center. How did that happen? I know that the carb and scoop are centered in the opening, so that means that the engine is off-center. Could you not get the engine centered due to clearance issues?
Minor point, really, but it just keeps nagging me every time I see the hood...

[V8 Super Beetle]

Thanks guys!

Originally Posted by 70OldsSportsCoupe

Paint's looking great, and I love the project. Very DIY, but one thing keeps bothering me, and that's the hole in the hood for the carb. It's off-center. How did that happen? I know that the carb and scoop are centered in the opening, so that means that the engine is off-center. Could you not get the engine centered due to clearance issues?
Minor point, really, but it just keeps nagging me every time I see the hood...

zbhover has got it. The engine is mounted about 2 inches to the passenger side so the engine will clear the steering box and shaft. Otherwise, the engine would be on top of it. The steering shaft on V8 S10 conversions actually passes through the header.

[V8 Super Beetle]

Here are those videos I was talking about.

Spraying the final flow coat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9mdqpQQCbs


The results of the flow coat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEU6vJaH10Y


First coat of clear on the fenders after color.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRO0agrxr14


Results of two coats of color and two coats of clear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_UdqwZNqmQ

[gearjammer38]

any updates yet? its lookin good

[V8 Super Beetle]

No real updates since my post earlier this week. Right now I'm wet sanding the fenders and this weekend I'll put down a flow coat of clear so they're nice and slick like the hood and deck lid.

Not this weekend, but next, I'll paint the car. I still have a little sanding to do to it.

[V8 Super Beetle]

Quick update.

I tore down part of my engine (headers, wires, carb, throttle linkage, dist, alt., etc), so I can paint the engine bay, and I repainted the engine. It had gotten a little nasty looking since having broke the engine in having head a little leak here and there. Looks like new again.




I also repainted the headers. Last time i didn't follow the instructions so the paint flaked off. This time I followed them and baked the ceramic paint on @ 300º for 2 hours. Boy did that stuff stink up the house.




I sprayed the "final" flow coat this weekend but ran into problems. My paint gun was acting up in middle of spraying the first fender so I had to quickly switch to my other paint gun. Well that through me off and it wasn't all that clean. So I managed to get a couple noticeable runs and I have a lot of dust in my paint as well. Needless to say, I'll have to sand them back down, fix the problem with my gun (which I figured out this morning) and repaint. Two steps forward, one step back.










Ughh...if it aint one thing, it's another. It'll get there though, just not quickly. I'm just being picky. My wife says they look good for being painted in a garage, I think I can make it better though.

[rwilliam99]

I agree with your wife - actually I would say they look AMAZING no matter where they were painted. It looks better than my car, which was also painted in a garage/barn.

Just remember, if you want to make it a driver, you WILL get nicks and chips in it. The first one hurts a lot....

[V8 Super Beetle]

Originally Posted by rwilliam99

I agree with your wife - actually I would say they look AMAZING no matter where they were painted. It looks better than my car, which was also painted in a garage/barn.

Just remember, if you want to make it a driver, you WILL get nicks and chips in it. The first one hurts a lot....

Thanks. That's true, chips will happen, but I would at least like to get it to a level where I'm happy with it. They do look good, but it's pretty noticeable out in the sun. You can't see the dust in the pictures and video though. I know it's from the unclean paint gun too. I just got in too much of a hurry.

Right now it's a 10 foot paint job. I'd like it to be at least a 5 footer.

A simple sanding and buffing would fix it, but I don't have the money for equipment right now. I do however have time and more clear coat.

[rwilliam99]

After doing the bodywork and painting on my car, I now understand why GOOD paint jobs are so expensive. It takes a lot of time and talent to do a good job on paint.

Interested to see how the body paint looks....That is going to be an AWESOME car when you get it done!

[V8 Super Beetle]

I agree! Thanks. I can't wait to get this thing finished up too.

[V8 Super Beetle]

I put down the final coat of clear on the fenders. They look great, except for the dust in the paint. I've come to the conclusion that this is the best I'll be able to get them painting in my garage, which isn't bad at all. Don't get me wrong, they have a nice mirror finish, just has a little dust though. There's a dog hair and bug on one fender too. LOL

I think I'm going to bite the bullet and will cut and buff the paint job. I'm thinking I'll hit it with 1200 to level out the dust, bug and hair, then 1500 and finally 2000. Then compound with the wool bonnet and polish with the foam bonnet. I've never buffed out a car before so I don't really know what to expect, other than it should come out like a dust free mirror. LOL

Can't hurt to try / practice it on a fender. If something goes wrong, I still have plenty of clear.

Here are the results. If you look at the light in the reflection you'll see the dust.

Oh yeah, my purple paint gun crapped out on me. That's okay though cause I have my backup that does just as well. I was just really getting used to the purple one though. No biggie. It did it's $35 dollars worth of work. Now to get my $50 out of this one. ;D






Here are the products I'm THINKING about getting to do the cut and buff job.

Buffer with wool and foam bonnet.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MAK-9227CX3/

Buffing compound.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MEG-M-8532/

Polishing compound.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MEG-M-8232/


Any comments or advice would be much appreciated. I've never buffed before.

[rwilliam99]

I'm by no means an expert on buffing, but I had MUCH better luck using the foam pads than using a wool pad. The wool pad was MUCH harder to control without burning the paint. The foam pads seemed much more forgiving for an amateur. There are different types of foam pads. I got a "coarse", "medium" and "fine" foam pad. Not sure those are the correct terms, but they were how aggressive the pad would cut.

Good luck and keep the photos coming...