[zbhover]

Just thought I'd give you all a quick update on the 69 convertible VW beetle project.

I started working on the homemade traction bars for it, if I had to do it over again, I may have gone with a 4 link rear suspension setup or something, but then again CHEAP is one of the major points of this project......


You can see more pictures from this update and more info on my homemade traction bars on the new page on my website at:
http://www.v8beetleresource.com/chassis19.html

And see the rest of the project at the V8 Beetle Resource:
http://www.v8beetleresource.com


Here are a few pictures from the update:



I started by drawing up what I was wanting to build, here are the brackets for the front leaf spring mounts.





Here is a demensioned drawing for the bracket, feel free to "borrow" my idea. You may need to make some changes though to fit your project. If you do use this info to build a set for yourself, please just post a link to my website to let other people know about it.





Next I cut out and drilled the front brackets. They came out real nice for cutting them out with a 4.5" angle grinder, but a drill press is pretty much required for the holes, luckily I have a nice JET drill press.





Then I cut the brackets out that will get welded to the bottom of the leaf spring plates.





Then I welded them onto the leaf spring plates. I'll probably take these to work later on and thow them in the steel shot blaster to clean them up so I can repaint them.





Then I bolted the leaf spring plates back on, I'll cut the extra U bolts off later btw.....





Here I am eyeballing it with half of the front bracket sitting there. Now I need to get some tubing, heim joints, bolts, etc.....



Thanks to everyone who is following this build!

[gmc1990rodder]

Thats Great work! Man i wish i could accomplish things like that! Really good looking welds also! Good job!

[zbhover]

Thank GMC,

I've got a wide variety of experience from years of building hovercrafts, almost 8 years now of working in industrial maintenance, etc...





Zach B-

V8 Beetle Site: http://www.v8beetleresource.com


Hovercraft site: http://www.zbcreations.com

[gmc1990rodder]

Thats is awesome! I'm a welder by trade and steel erection supt. by occupation. Its good to see nice weldes like that. And that quality off work!

[bentwings]

Nice that you use cad for your engineering. I use Solidworks and Cosmos for my stress analysis.

[zbhover]

I use Rhino 3D, Its real nice to be able to build stuff virtually before you ever start actually cutting material. Saves on scrap and headaches a lot of times. It is nice to make sure you get all the correct length bolts too and stuff like that

I've used Rhino 3D a lot for designing hovercraft projects, and also some woodworking projects. I'm also planning on doing a lot of designing on my next hot rod project in rhino too, a 40's-50's style truck, but that project is going to be a ways out yet......


I can save A LOT of work on carving a prop by first designing it in in rhino then printing out templates for each layer. Then I already have a rough shape to start carving on instead of a giant square blank.




Here is one of the hovercrafts I designed on the computer. I actually made templates for all the components and made them, and then the hull last, and put it all together and everything fit perfectly.




And here is the hover in real life after we finished it. Its nice for playing around with paint jobs too