The Wazabug Project

[whozawhat]

This Bug looks much better than it is. Once it started to come apart, I found so much rust it was amazing that it held together for a 75 mile tow home. Got what's left of the body off the pan.

Edit..12-26-09 almost one year into this project I felt that I would update the initial conditon of this Bug. So here is what I found out over the past year.


-Front beam rusted out and bent
-ball joints and rod ends shot.
-entire wiring system f*&k#@, wiring on the floor had to be pushed buttoned to start
-all transmission mounts broken
-transmission has mismatched synchros and broken gears
-IRS trailing arms rotted and bent
-all the magic smoke had escaped from the clutch
-engine ran but just barely, after teardown it was decided that 40 years of Canadian winters and roadsalt had corroded the case beyond reuse.
-turn signal switch mechanism destroyed
-all brakes worn to the limits
-mismatched and worn tires
-interior originally was white in colour but was spray painted black
-gas tank rusted and leaks
-glove box missing
-dash butchered around the radio
-mice living in the engine on top of each bank of cylinders, and inside the foam in the C pillars and the seats
-the interior smells of urine
-floors gone,
-heater channels gone,
-lower section of forward firewall gone
-inner front fenders gone
-spare tire well gone
-rear apron half gone
-package tray rotted
-front and rear pan crossmembers rotted off

...and that was just the beginning

Edit 01-01-2011, What the hell have I done??? This is way more work than I had planned to do when I bought the damn thing.

Edit..03-02-13 its been finished and on the road since June of 2011.
It is an absolute blast to drive. I am very happy with the outcome of this project.
It has won a bunch of trophies and featured in a magazine, even though that was not in the plan, not that there was a plan anyway.

The amount of work has now dwindled down in memory and I am thinking of other projects.







Not having a full plan at this point except that this was not a restoration, I decided to just cut the rusted section out of the bottom of the body then shorten the doors.






Ok the doors are back together and fitted new lower hinges in the A pillar. I have never done this type of work before and my inspiration comes from this website, I am just sort of following the program.






Managed to get the door handles and gas filler door filled, cut off the front apron, got both sectioned doors hung on the new lower hinges, then it was off with the roof.....




No requirement for a rear seat, why have four when two will do. Time to shorten up the body. Removed 10 1/2 inches, and stuck the loose bits back together






Damn cold weather did not even turn on the heat in the shop this weekend, instead took the torsion arms to work to sandblast and install ball joints.
CIP1 delivered my new adjustable beam, dropped disc spindles, etc so it was time to clean things up and put it together.




Still F'n cold here so I decided to haul stuff to work again today.
I made what will be the top of the "heater channels" (for lack of a better term), even though there is no heat.



then I took the donor parts that I got from the junk yard and cut them to make parts that the rear section gets built from, cut the inner fenders loose to drop them 3"



the donors...




surgery...





the remains.. or new beginings.....



oh yeah,,, "it" finally got a name,,,Wazabug...

Feb., 07, 2009
It warmed up a bit today and I managed to make a little progress. Finished lowering the inner rear fenders, cut out some rot and started fitting in new pieces.














Then it was time to hang the outer fenders in place, these ones have alot of rot under bondo and are used now just for mock up, later they will offer donor parts to alter the shape of another set of rear fenders.


with the rest of the body lined up with the rear section, and some more trimming, and a bunch of measuring, it was time to tack the sections together.



Then the 11 gauge pieces I cut to replace the heater channels got welded in. I still have to grind down the outer edges for a final contour, and add some angle or tube underneath for strength.



The next step will be to finish building the lower front sections of the rear wheelhouses and adding some structure for reinforcement.


Here is how it sits at the moment, still has the stock wheelbase, the rear suspension is still at stock hieght, the front has the drop spindles and the beam lowered a bit. There is still no frame built under the body at this point, and I plan on skirting the edge of the 11 gauge, to hide the frame, and give it a channeled look. I figure the running clearance under the frame, before lowering, will end up around 5 inches, but with the flexible skirting it will look like 1 inch.

Building it this way is kinda backwards but the plan is not to buy replacement heater channels, floor pans, quarter panels, etc. etc. just to cut them up.
With enough of this and thisand alot of this some day I will have this.



Feb., 16, 2009
Got some time to do a little more on Wazabug. Started to fit in pieces to close up the front of the rear wheel house sections,


found that the original lugs on the torsion section will be in the way of the new frame crossmembers,



so I cut them off,



fit in the new rear section,



cut some old metal to become the inner body panels, welded up everything inside, then tacked in the inner panels,




then it was time to lift the body and weld up the under side of the new bits.




then I dragged the tunnel out and shortened it 4 inches. I did not want the steering box and beam to come through the hood and with the bottom section of the body removed, and the body dropped as much as it is, I could only move the body back so far before it became a problem.





another problem with the section job is the wheels hit the inner fenders when they are cranked hard into a turn, I read the tech on cutting the inner section out and useing a rear fender to remake the inner curve, ( thanks to Ray-Dean ) , although I have other plans for my rear fenders, I did decide I could use sections of the front fenders. so I cut out the inner sections

.



and cut up the old front fenders



then I cut off all the lips of the fender section to make it more flexible. It is not a perfect fit and a little massageing is required to get it in shape.



then got the new pieces tacked in place.




Finished welding them in and ground off the overlap.



Feb., 21, 2009
Scored some aircraft seats, hope they fit, plan to strip them down.



Slipped the frame back under the body and fitted in a temporary cross member to hold the front of the body aligned.





Had to trim back some of the new inner fenders to clear the beam and tie rods



cut out what was left of the gas tank support to access some rotted stuff and get ready to rebuild this area.



Feb., 22, 2009

Not to excited about the look of the shock towers sticking up so high.



so I picked these up from Ebay, Armstrong lever shocks from the back of a 78' MGB, supposed to be "a matched set, tight and ready to install" Obvious plan is to take the new,0 mile, OEM front beam, and cut off the shock towers, then fit in the lever shocks, stay tuned....


cut some more rotted crap out of the front section




then opened it up to raise the roof on the footwell area



plan on useing this donor piece to fix it up



with everything cut out of the way it was time to fit in a temporary crossmember where the front of the firewall will be, this will give me a starting point to fit up the front end bits.


ground the outer edge off of the one side of the body sill, ( formerly known as a Heater channel, but when it is just flat 11 gauge I will not call them Heater channels again..), to follow the body contour.





cleaned up the days mess, and got to the computer


just in time to win a Model A spare tire cover on Ebay, plan to turn sections of it into my "required by law " front fenders.



Feb., 23, 2009
Forgot to post these pics of the door and window posts getting closed up.


















Feb., 28, 2009





Mar., 01, 2009
After moving the body back on the chassis, I decided that I wanted the extra space protected from the road splash so that I could mount the battery up front. So I thought that a 45 gallon drum would donate some metal for the job, it also fixes up the sharp edges from cutting the fenders,that would be a problem when it is time to get it licensed.




so I fit it in, then filled in the open areas of the inner fenders behind it..




then I added a piece of rebar along the front edge to stiffen and blunt the sharp edge.


then cut a slot for the steering shaft, cleaned up the doner trunk floor and started fitting it in. When the new frame is made it will have a mating section to seal up around the tunnel to drum gap.



with the hood up it looks like a snowplow..


But closed you don't see much




I need to figure out what size fuel tank I can fit in, so far it looks like I will have to make one to fit the available space.

My Model A tire cover and MGB lever shocks have arrived, but I won't get to that part of the project for some time yet.


Mar., 08, 2009

Not alot of progress this weekend, however I did manage to pick up a solid set of rear fenders to be recreated with a slightly different shape, stashed them aside for later.

Cut the front body mount loose from the discarded bits, then trimmed it down sand blasted it, then welded some tube to it, plan is to turn it around and build some front support off of it.






mounted it in place and cut holes thru the barrel...



then added a cross tube and welded things tight



at the same time I fitted a support for the trunk floor, and tacked the floor section in place,



you can see the floor section is now raised up by about 3 1/2 inches.



started to fit up filler pieces but ran short on time.




Mar., 15, 2009

Finished fitting the filler pieces for the trunk floor lift, Then it was time to hoist the body off again.



Time to get the torsion section sandblasted.....



stripped down the trailing arms, and torsion arms to get them blasted as well...



Then started to roll the body over, welding things as they got to easier positions ....



Finally had it upside down and finished welding up stuff in the front and rear then ground things down..









Flipped it rightside up and filled the last holes in the trunk floor..



Then started to fix up the dash, got one side filled in....



Mar., 22, 2009
Made some more progress, got the sand blasted parts back in the shop...



The trailing arms were rusted through in spots and needed some repair....





Then I sprayed everything with rust converter/protectant to hold it untill I can get my hands on some MasterSeries or such.. Hoisted the body up and set it down to the torsion/tunnel section, bolted it down, then added some caster shims up front to hold the beam at the right angle as I build the new tube frame to join it to the rear torsion section..







The plan is to have the tube frame pick up on the beam using these sandrail type beam clamps. They will hold the beam when the tunnel and original frame head get replaced.



Then it was time to fill the trim holes in the hood and fill the air grill over...







Now it is ready to move to the big shop at work so I can fit up the tube frame. Hopefully I can get it in there in the next week or two..



Today I ordered some Master Series from Chuck at MasterSeriesCT,


should take a little more than a week to get across the border....

Then tonight I stripped the steering column down to figure out how I was going to make the new one..

After removing the ratty aftermarket steering wheel this is what I found...


The PO had butchered a steering hub adapter to fit over the hub of the original bug steering wheel, they had sawed off the old steering wheel leaving just the hub, then drilled some holes to bolt the two pieces together, then put nuts on the bolts, those nuts then proceeded to destroy the turn signal switch mechanism as soon as the steering wheel was turned..



I think I will pickup a sandrail style steering shaft and some u-joints and build up my own column.

Mar., 29, 2009

The Wazabug Project is on the road!!!























Sort of .....



My friend Mike came by and helped get it into the trailer so I could take it to work. set it up on a rack , and get it ready for the new frame..





I won"t have the tube for the frame for a few days.

Apr., 05, 2009
The material to make the frame arrived, and my MasterSeries came in as well.
Thanks Chuck..



Started fitting tube and brackets at the rear torsion section...







Then I started at the beam and fitted tube from the sandrail type clamps back under the body.


finished fitting the perimeter frame pieces...



Then removed the beam and fitted up pieces of the new frame head.






Here is the new frame head bolted to the beam, I still need to add a couple pieces when I get some stock..



Then I removed the new frame head and reinstalled the beam with the clamps, stock frame head and caster shims, bolted it tight, then tack welded in some braces to hold the top of the beam at the correct angle when I cut the stock frame head and tunnel section out.





Then got the frame head and tunnel cut out and started to fit the new center frame tubes to mate up with the new frame head...





I need to get a couple of small pieces of material for the frame head, but it is Sunday and the steel mart is closed.. puts a stop to it for now..

Apr., 12, 2009

Finished up the frame head...




then pulled the frame off of the body , put it on the bench to weld up the top side...


Crossmembers will be added when I know the location of the seat mounts and the foot pedals...


put the frame and body together again and fitted in a skirt section along the edge of the body sill, this will strengthen the body and provide an attach point for ground effects



welded up the inside of the skirt then took a break from fabricating to prep the rear suspension parts before reassembly.. Got out the Master Series..




poured out more MS than required, I didn't realize how far this stuff goes, so I finished up the extra on the rear section.. This sure is nice stuff..


Then it was time to turn the whole thing upright and cut the tabs holding the doors closed, finish welding the outside of the skirt, grind it down, and trim the inside of the body sill to match the frame underneath.




Then I test fit one of the aircraft pilot seats in to check it out......


turns out that the mechanism that allows the seat to adjust vertically takes up so much space inside the seat, that the seating position is too far foward...time to rethink my seats..


while thinking about seats I fit the old trany in place to figure out the new shifter location...


then off I went in a different direction, I installed the front beam, spindles, and tie-rods so I can figure out how to mount the lever shocks...



here is how it sits today...



still to come, shifter, e-brake, footpedals, steering, etc.etc. blahblahblah.

Apr., 19, 2009

I didn't get much accomplished this weekend, as the weather gets nicer the progress will slow down as this is a winter/rainy day project, and I will be riding my bike as often as possible.
I did however locate a set of seats that are small enough to fit, they came out of a Honda I think, they ain't sexy but they are cheap and comfortable.
I did finish the MasterSeries on the rear trailing arms and torsion arms. Once it dries I can reassemble the rear suspension, fit the rear brakes and get the tubes for the e-brake cables fit,



The seat slider mounts had to be cut down and new mounting tabs welded on...



Then a pair of crossmembers and seat supports were added to the frame to anchor the seats in place...



Mounted both seats in place, not too sure about keeping the headrests though. Now that I know where I will sit I can fit the pedals, shifter and steering..



Apr., 26, 2009

Finished rebuilding the rear trailing arms and installed them with the disc brake setup so I can fit the e-brake cables...



Then I built a shifter post to locate the gearshift on....




Then it was time to set it down and figure out where the front end height is going to be so I can mount the lever shocks and cut off the stock shock towers off the beam...


Sitting on the ground with the front beam still adjusted all up, and the rear torsion arms about 1/4 inch above there lower stop.







Apr., 28, 2009

Got some time after work to pull the body off and take it back home. Leaving the rolling frame to have things fitted while I have access to the 220V MIG....





May 03, 2009

Got the frame back up on the stand, and raised the shifter mount up to allow the e-brake to work underneath...



Shortened the shifter rod, hooked it up and got it shifting, also fitted an old CV boot to see if I like it.



Made some doublers to weld in at the frame joints to help stiffen things up. Just tacked them in for now..



Bent some new tubing for the e-brake cables to run inside.




Fit the new e-brake lever in place, I have a boot for the lever to cover the mechanism, and plan on an inverted channel to cover the center frame and form a top over the tubes, cables, wires, fuel and brake lines etc.



Mounted the new pedal cluster, then used some old pedals to widen things a bit, moved the clutch pedal over about 1 1/4 inch.



Then moved the brake pedal over about 1/2 inch.. Plan on making some pedal covers out of checker plate or grip tread.



Used a sandrail type pedal box as a guide to fit the mounts for the master cylinder,



forgot the master cylinder at home, so I cut off the shock towers, I will cap them and use this area to fit headlight mounts,,,,,,,, when I get some headlights.



More next time....

May, 10, 2009

I received a steering flange to spline adapter and stub spline from Pegleg Metalwerks...


and because I need to have a collapsible section in my steering shaft I picked up a couple of sliding intermediate shaft sections from the wreckers to make the required pieces. I will set this stuff aside for later.



One of the front lower shock studs was broken so I replaced both with shorter ones to work with the rod ends, I still have to pin them and shorten the threads.


Picked up some metric rod ends to use for shock absorber links and made some mounts for the lever shocks...


Stacked up 500lbs on the front frame and placed a jack underneath. This allows me to work the suspension up and down and find the best location to mount the shocks.


After several attempts I was pleased with all the clearances and how they traveled and they were tacked in place...



I did not like how the clutch cable lever was located on the foot pedals that I had previously mounted. So I used a section of the old pedal pivot housing welded into the frame and a new longer pivot shaft to move the lever arm into the space between center frame tubes, then plated over the slot created for the lever.


Fit in a new rigid and flex Bowden tube for the clutch cable.



Cut the tack welds holding the shifter mount in place, moved it out of the way, then secured the end of the ebrake tubes, then refit the shifter mount.


Capped the old shock mounts, still need to fit light mounts to them..


Fit in a tube for the throttle cable to run in but can't finish the pedal end until I complete the gas pedal..
That's it......

May 18, 2009

Got the master cylinder mount fit and some more frame crossmembers located....



Started boxing in the back section of the frame in front of the transmission....



added a top section over the center frame tubes, some portions are removable





Refit the shifter mount...


Made some suregrip pedal covers for the clutch and brake..


cut a slot for the ebrake handle.....



cut a slot for the throttle cable tube...


fit in the mount tabs to screw the cover sections too...


flipped the frame upside down to finish all the welding underneath...........


all it needs now is to finish the gas pedal and battery box mount, then cover in MasterSeries, and it goes home to meet up with the body again....


Tune in next time for another episode...

May 27, 2009

Took the seat backs off and removed the covers, cut off the headrest mount bracket, used material from the headrest to patch the hole left in the seat cover, reassembled the seats.
Finished seats are now lowbacks.




May 31, 2009

Finished up the gas pedal and mounted a battery tray



Then got the MS and gave the frame two coats of the silver




and a coat of chassis black...........



now it can go home and get the body on again...

June 08, 2009

picked up some LH and RH threaded rod and made up the pieces for a rear suspension torque-bar kit......



fit in the top cross piece of the torque-bar but I have to wait for the engine and exhaust system to fit the two side support bars and check clearances.



moved the frame back home and assembled the rolling chassis......................



then set the body in place so I can work on the steering column.....


June 28, 2009

I have not got alot done lately, been busy enjoying the summer,

so if it ain't rainin I aint't buggin

but it did drop some rain today, so I got a little more done.

Fit the replacement rear fenders just for a look. These ones are not full on bondo and they will get sandblasted and modified a bit,



Then I used some bearings, a piece of exhaust pipe, a muffler clamp, a couple of old CV boots, a u-joint, a pegleg spline adapter, and a sandrail steering shaft and made up my steering. I will fit in a collapsible section, if I have to for licensing, but I might get away without it.
Put the steering column in place and closed up the dash around it.
The POS steering wheel is just for mock up.




Then I fit in some panels to close up the trunk floor areas.



Made the large center panel removable.



then fit in a filler strip in front of the panel.



More on the next rainy day...

July 12, 2009

Got a little more done.
Managed to fit a panel to close in the front firewall/barrel section that was left open from when the original frame tunnel was in place.




Then I tried a little 1/2 inch copper tube over the shifter shaft and it fit great, that gave me an idea and I ran the shifter rod through some 1 inch copper tube, I put some rubber o-rings on the shift rod so it would not rattle on the copper tube, this allows the CV joint boots to be stretched out a bit and still let the shift rod rotate inside it.



I did a similar thing with the copper tube and some thrust bearings at the top and bottom of the steering shaft, again this allows the boots to be stretched and allows the shaft to rotate freely inside.




Got the Model A spare tire cover and cut two fender sections out of it, then wrapped the front and rear ends with some steel tube, with the ends done I fit in some tube on the outer edge.






Cut and bent some 11 gauge to form mount brackets for the fenders, welded them in and wrapped the edges with some 1/4 inch stainless to help stiffen them up a bit.




The red hose is just for spacing. This is how they look sitting on the wheel. The next step is to fabricate the brackets that will mount to the spindles





See ya

July 26, 2009

I have figured out how to make the fender to spindle mounts, but it requires removing the spindles to fit and weld the mounts to them, as I want this to be a rolling chassis for awhile I will have to finish the front fenders later.
I turned my attention to the windscreen hieght, previously I thought of it shorter than I do now that I have seats and a steering wheel. I fit in sections of the windscreen posts which I had cut off, I tacked, welded and ground things back into place then marked the new cut lines and recut them a little taller.


the top bar is a level, just for lining things up straight.


Then I looked at the fit of the doors. I had originally fit the B pillars to the doors before welding the body to the sill plates. Now I find that I fit them too tight, so I cut them off again..


With both on the bench and easy to work on, I trimmed off the saw-tooth edged trim and flange that holds the rubber door seal, welded it up and smoothed it down.




I have to complete some body fabrication before I refit the B pillars just in case it twists abit, I don't want the doors to bind against them and I only want to refit these pillars once so they have to sit aside for awhile as well.



August 9, 2009

Well as it turns out I had to refit the B pillars so I could bend up some conduit to form the upper body line of the cockpit, I will weld the pillars in tight after all is lined up, the conduit can still be adjusted to provide some rake to the top body line it is just sitting in place for now. I will skin the areas over once they are in position.




I did some small detail jobs like finishing the welding and grinding on the through tube for the steering.


and hammered some conduit down into the windshield posts to reinforce them, and welded in an extra brace on the steering column to the cowl and trunk floor.......



I did not like the gear clamp style mounting method used with the universal turn signal switch I plan to use, so I made a mount bracket and welded it to the steering column.



In the process of leveling the car up to get the new upper body line in the correct spot I confirmed what I thought earlier,,,one of my IRS trailing arms is bent, probably from too much time being driven in fields by teenagers.
I should have checked it closer when I took it apart I never would have spent the time blasting, welding and painting the bent ones. Luckily I located a set of NOS arms and I am getting ready to swap over they bearings and stub axles. when I removed the arms I also cut open larger holes in the body near the upper shock mounts so that the torque bar kit will fit in properly, and hung in a mock up engine to help in fitting the rear body sections.....


This time it goes together with the torsion bars...



Aug., 30, 2009

Finally got a coat of Masterseries on the NOS rear trailing arms, and got them hung in place, after a few different spring plate angles I settled on an unloaded angle of 15 degrees, this gives me a good ride height so I will start there.

I also fit the new disc brake caliper mount under the bearing cap.
Because the new caliper mount is made of thicker material than the drum brake backing plate that was removed it spaces the bearing cap out about an extra 2mm.
This means the outer stub axle bearing can float in its cavity an extra 2mm. To remedy this I installed a bearing preload washer into the bearing cavity in the bearing cap, this will keep pressure on the axle bearing and hold it into the cavity in the housing. I also installed a 2mm spacer on the stub axle between the outer bearing and the outer spacer, this is to move the spacer out to where it runs properly in the grease seal, it also helps to get the disc spaced properly in relation to the caliper mount. Gotta love these bolt on EMPI parts, (not).


Then the windshield got cut to size and fit in place with just a few short sections of seal to hold it.


The tops of the windshield posts got a final trim and then were capped.


Then I arched some 1/2 EMT to form the back of the top rail of the windshield.


Next was a duplicate piece spaced to make the back of the glass channel.


A piece of 16 gauge was used to make the top of the cover strip, helps to stiffen the frame as well.


A small strip of 16 ga. was bent the hard way to follow the arch in the cover strip and it was tacked on following the slight curve in the glass to form the front of the glass channel.


The excess material on the top cover strip was ground off to follow the edge of the small strip, it was then put on the bench and welded inside and out, then the grinder cleaned it up.
A small filler strip was fit to the bottom of the two EMT rails and then the top cover strip was drilled and screwed down on to the rail. This makes the top strip removable, and easier for glass installation, I will use a foam seal in the top glass channel for final fit. It also allows for a solid anchor point for a future Carson top....maybe.


The got the rest of the painted parts soda blasted to remove the paint and bondo and see what I had to work with.
The original set of rear fenders is pretty far gone and I don't know if they will offer up donor pieces or not. But the rest came out nice


I placed a doubler inside the hood to support the latch post, welded some studs to it, then closed over the holes in the hood, modified the latch to remove the handle and push button.


I was short on material to make the support structure for the hood latch receptacle, so I loosely hung some parts over the back to try and get an idea on how I want it to look.



I really need to get the tires and wheels sorted out so I can start fitting things, but from looking at this I think it is in need of a serious bum tuck.




Sep., 05, 2009

I picked up some material to complete the hood latch mount, it bolts on using the four beam mount bolts,


I rigged up a release cable, as viewed from the underside.


Then added a finger tab to the safety latch to make it easier to operate now that the pushbutton is gone.


Bolted it all in place and it works great.


Now that I can keep the hood closed, I need to fit struts to hold it open..
Better go find me some struts.

Sep., 20, 2009



There was a good auto flea market last weekend and I picked up a few goodies.

As I was still trying to finalize the wheels, I found a really cheap pair of 15 X 8 rims, they have 5 X 5 Ford bolt centers, but the inside diameter of the shell is perfect for the stock VW centers to fit into.


So as an experiment and to see what it looked like, I cut the centers out of the Ford rims, and cut the centers out of an old set of VW rims,,,


In order to get the proper back spacing I had to reverse the rims, this means welding up the valve stem hole and drilling a new one on the other side, no big deal...So I lined them up set the back spacing, trued them and tacked them.



Here is the difference between the stock rim and the new rim size.


I like the way they look on the car, and it brings to memory a time earlier in the build when I hung the front fenders on the back. I thought it would look good if you ran super wide wheels to fill up the fender.


I now plan on running some wide ass tires. So to help with the bum tuck I blasted the paint off a set of front fenders,


cut out the headlight buckets and plated over the openings.


Cut the plates to accept the backshells from a set of 1960 Buick tail lights that I got at the market, mounted the lights and hung the fenders on to see how they look.


I like these wide wheels but the profile of the Ford shell is a touch to small to fit with any wheel covers that I had in mind, so I decided to get a pair of Marathon wheels widened.

However because this wheel is constructed with many individually welded spoke sections it is best to be widened by cutting the shell and inserting a band then welding it up. I don't have access to the equipment required to do it properly so I sent them out, hope to get them back next week.
Then I need to find tires, it's not so easy to get old skool fat 15's anymore.

I also got some headlights. I think they are from a late 30's Ford pickup, but I'm not certain.


I clamped the lights temporarily in a bunch of different places, and determined that I like them best in a position that unfortunately makes it impossible to open the hood,,



but,,, as I also need some type of minimal front bumper, and a place for some turn signals to mount, I figure to make up a swing away front mount section that will hold all the lights and bumper, once in place I pull some pins and swing it out of the way to open the hood.

I started with some plates to weld to the beam which will give me a stronger anchor point for the hinge section than just the stamped tin of the beam.

Here is one tacked in place.


As I need to get material to make the rest of the mount I moved to the back section and started to box things in to build support for the rear body section. First is to beef up the package tray area to hold a fuel tank




More next time...

Oct., 04, 2009

After framing around the parcel tray I figured the floor of it was rusted pretty thin, not good enough to support a fuel tank, so I added some straps..


Then I got some material cut for the fuel tank, I plan to use the stock level sender so I can use the fuel gauge inside the stock speedo head. I need to take this stuff to work to get the TIG welder to put it all together. It looks huge, but will only hold just over 10 gallons.



Then it was time to add support to the new upper body frame.



With the B pillars supported it was time to weld them in again.


Then I capped the new frame above the doors and cut the doors loose again..



I cut some flat 22 gauge material for the sides but it looked too flat and boring..


So I used it as a template to cut some curved material out of the old roof.. I decided to salvage the body line in the roof and move it to the side of the car..




Closed in the end sections with some material robbed from the cutoff parts..



Did a pant load of tack welds to close things up...


Splashed on a coat of MasterSeries to protect the inside of things before closing in the last panel on the doors.


Then closed it in, welded it up, and smoothed it out....


Also got my wheels back from being widened...




Front and rear....


That's it.....

Oct., 25, 2009

With the cold wet weather coming, all of the bare sandblasted metal was looking like it was about to rust, so I covered things with a base coat of Masterseries to protect it. I will grind it off of any areas I still need to weld on.



I had a set of Peep mirrors , but I did not have door tops to attach them too, so I fit them to the windshield posts.


I followed some advice from Rostigbug, and removed the rag joint from my steering shaft setup.


The wheels that I am using had center caps like this,,,,


but I like the look of the Mini hubcap that hides all the wheel bolts like this,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


So I got a set, then I had to figure out how to mount them. Any of the premade hubcap clips that I found would not work for this purpose, so I bent up my own out of some discarded aircraft clips.



Prepped and painted the wheels, then I riveted the clips to the wheels. Then drilled three small holes spaced around the edge of the hubcap so I could remove them from the wheel without resorting to prying them off with a screwdriver. They fit great...






Installed a pair of gas struts to hold the hood up....


Yahoo,,, the tires arrived, M/T Street Radials, 24 x 5 front, 26 x 10 rears, here is a look of the rears,


they stick out past the stock rear fenders by a bit,,,,,


So I installed the new rear (were front) fenders and started to work on fixing up and extending the flatened area where the running boards used to attach, I had to find enough good material to use in the old rusted fenders..





I modified both rear fenders, hung them on and gave the bottoms a rough trim, I will clean up the cut lines once I fit them for the last time when I weld them permanently to the car.
Moved back to the front of the car and fit the front bumper and light mounts. I had originally thought of a hinged and swinging system to get the bumper and lights out of the way of opening the hood, but I settled on a sliding arrangement instead. All that is required to move the bumper forward is to pull a pin on each side and loosen an anti-rattle grub screw. The bumper idea came from my friend Don, and is a piece of leaf spring that was bent a little extra and then had the light mounts welded on the ends.






Then it was time to roll it out to sweep up. I placed the front fenders on the tires just for looks as I still have to make the mounts, that's next. Here are some progress shots....




That's all folks...

Nov., 8, 2009
Removed the beam and took it and the front bumper to work so I could use the 220 volt MIG on the mounts, welded it up then reinstalled it.
Took the spindles and wheels to the shop along with the front fenders to fit up some fender mounts. I have done alot of searching for tips on fitting cycle type fenders to front wheels. It is something that is required in the UK but the only info I could locate on the web dealt with a fender mounted to drum brake backing plates, or fitted to the caliper mounting tabs on disc brake setups. I did not like the caliper bolt idea for a number of reasons so I came up with a different idea. As my spindles are forged rather than cast I figured I could weld to them if I prepped and preheated properly.
So here is what I did....made some pieces...



Tacked them in place and checked the fit...


Welded the fixed section to the spindle...


Reassembled everything, the two piece brackets are fitted concentric with the spindle and allow for adjusting the fender position about the wheel in all directions....



The fenders are now finally installed...




Hmmm, what should I do next

Nov., 29, 2009



I felt that visually the rear fenders seemed to "pop" out from the side of the car abruptly and I wanted the lines to flow out a little more gradually from front to back, so I decided to make up some running boards that would start narrow at the front then flair out to the fenders, similar to the running boards on a Prowler. So I shaped up the outer edge and tacked it in place with some extra bracing.




I will fit up an edge skirt on this frame and skin it with some of the old roof material. This also helped anchor the fenders in place at the front edge but I need to build the rear section so the fenders have something to attach to at the back end. But before I can do that I needed to fit an exhaust system so I could build the rear frame structure around it.

I looked at buying a couple of different types of exhaust but I did not want to spend the dough just to find out that I would have to cut and modify them to fit my application. So I collected some old VW headers from the scrap yard and cut them into pieces, then sandblasted the parts I decided to use.


My first plan was to make a forward exit system using my old Bugpack mufflers.



The Bugpack muffler ended up being a little to long for this idea, and it was getting things kinda crowded routing it under the drive axles so I changed course and fit things for a dual zoomie style system but using equal length primary tubes, that is why the front tubes make the "S" bends, and a pair of slip on Harley mufflers.





Once the headers were tacked up and fit in the car I located the attach points for the Kafer brace torque arms and got them tacked in place.



Next thing will be to pull the engine and tranny back out so I can remove the rear trans mount and weld it and the other mounts up solid.




Dec., 13, 2009

Finished the welding on the supports for the running boards and tacked on a 16 ga. edge skirt.


Then cut some wood templates for the top skin.


Here they are with the top welded in place, the top is 18 ga. so these suckers are solid.



Welded the torque brace mount tabs and reinstalled the brace.


Mounted a temporary brace to hold the fenders in the proper location so I can fab the rear supports.


Started by building some structure...



Then skinned it over on the inside with some 20 ga.


But I ran out of 20 ga. material so I had to skin the outside sections with 18 ga. ..... its pretty solid now


Welded it all up, ground off the messy bits, then put the mock up engine back in place so I can start to figure out the rest of the rear section.




Dec., 28, 2009

Figured out where to put the cutouts for the mufflers..



did some and opened them up..



then wrapped some 14 gauge around an old CV joint...



cut a section out and tacked it into the opening to trim it and strengthen it up.



welded it up solid inside and out, then got the grinder out and smoothed off the excess...



Next I had to tackle the gap between the body and fender, with all the cutting, shortening, sectioning, welding etc. it ends up a little sucked in on both sides, and the gap is not going to be fixed with bondo.



I cut some filler pieces and tacked them in.




Welded everything up solid and finished welding the fenders on both inside and out.
Covered up what I could with the last of the Masterseries
Got some more coming from Chuck though.

Gap is closed up and filler will take care of what's left



I plan on running a single carb. So to figure out some clearances for the rest of the rear body section, I installed a carb, air filter and alternator.


You can see that with all the mods that have been done, it is going to be difficult to enclose the engine bay in any traditional Heb style fashion. The engine just sticks up and out too far for that.


However I do want the engine enclosed. Threw a bunch of pieces across the back section and sat and thought for awhile.



I think I am beginning to see it now.




Jan., 17, 2010

Just before New Years my HF tubing roller arrived and I spent some time playing with it making arc sections and experimenting with parabolas.


Then I made some end plates for the new rear apron.


Ran some tube through the roller and made the top and bottom rail of the apron.


Spent some time playing with different lines then built the outline for the rear section.





Then widened a section of hood skin by adding a section to each side.


Trimmed the skin to fit and tacked it in place,


Welded the skin tight and cleaned it up with the grinder. Then fit in filler strips around the perimeter section of the engine cover and the back corners of the cockpit.




Welded all the filler strips and cleaned them up as well.


Worked on a spider web style grill and after a couple of changes had the grill work in place. I plan on placing some perforated metal or flat mesh on the inside of the grill, just to close it up a bit. Welded up the apron rails and added some braces to stiffen it up.


Time to open it back up. Cut the back section behind the firewall between two braces that had been placed before it was skinned over. The engine cover is now removeable.



Next will be closing up the open areas of the firewall, and the corresponding piece on the engine cover, and skin over the apron.




Feb., 7, 2010

Closed in the top section of firewall,,,


welded some 3/8 rod to form an edge to close in the side panels.


Cut some material from the old roof,,,


and tacked it into place....


closed in the semi-circle top section of the engine cover and worked some perforated metal into the spider webbed engine cover grill to close it in a bit, but still let it breath..






Made a hinge, it has a removable pin so the engine cover can be readily removed.



Made some brackets that fit inside the apron. These allow for muffler support and hanger brackets for a light duty trailer hitch frame which I still have to make up.



Covered the apron with some skin from an old hood..


Then I decided that as the headers run close inside the apron, I wanted this area to breath as well, so I punched some holes, then joined them with slots, and backed the openings with some perforated metal.




Made up a set of nerf bar bumpers,,,,



Made a engine cover hold open rod, and mounting brackets,



Closed in the side sections of the firewall...


I plan to use a section of door seal at the mating seam of the engine cover. This is to act as a rattle stop rather than a water seal, so I taped a couple of short sections of seal into place, and fit a chest latch to each side to hold things closed.


I also plan on using some fender beading as a trim strip and rattle stop, between the engine cover and the inner fender,,, like this.

So I tacked in a filler strip along the edge of the rod to give a surface to attach the beading to.


Managed to get some upper filler panels fit on the inside before I ran out of time.



More next time.
Feb., 21, 2010

Pulled the engine and tranny out so I could get the trans inspected and resealed, this means that progress on the trailer hitch is on hold until the engine and tranny are back in place to check clearances.


So I turned to the inside and fit the lower rear interior panels.



Punched an access hole in each side to get at the body bolts prior to welding the panel in place.


Some new door panels were made from some flooring underlay left over from renovations, I may keep these and paint them or use them as templates for some beaded metal panels.


Fit some structure for the forward bulkhead and skinned the sides and top edge sections.



Welded it up. Then fit a lower panel that will trim the threshold between the frame and body sections. This panel is meant to screw in place after the body is attached to the frame.
The rectangular opening will get a removable beaded panel.


Cut the louvers from the old rear section.


Unkl Ian had posted a picture/video of the Badbug, it had moved the louvers up front and I liked the idea so I copied it. (They say that is a form of flattery)
Just held on with clecos in this pic.


Used a piece of 1" angle to start the header for the top. Cut and bent and welded it until it followed the curve in the top windscreen frame.


Rolled some EMT, cut and fit to form the rear baseline of the top.


Then started playing with the lines of the top. I plan this top to be removable but I don't think it will happen often. I also plan on it to be a hard top with a removable rag type insert, still want the sun to get in on the nice days and keep the early morning dew off my head after I pass out in it.



Ran outta time again.

March 13, 2010

After a bunch of changes I finished up the roof frame .


Covered it with some strips of tape just to get a better look at the final shape.


Messed around with some left over grill sections to vent the visor area, but don't think I will use them.



Cut loose the last of the old roof skin to use in the new roof.


Welded the roof frame and fit a pair of rear hold down brackets, then fit in the first piece of roof and tacked it down.


Seeing as I only have a limited supply of roof material, I made craft paper templates to use in figuring out the best cutting pattern.




Did a side job that had been neglected, the Armstrong lever shocks have a tapered hole in the end of the arm that I needed to drill out straight and install a bushing for a 12mm bolt.


Then I fit some thin perforated metal to the inside of the louvers. I did this so when you look into them you see the perf and it kinda makes you wonder if they are functional.



Got the trany back from the rebuilder, installed it and a motor and headers to check clearances for the trailer hitch. (pics when its done)


Ran out of time, but here is how it sits today.





March 21, 2010

So I got the pieces for the trailer hitch fit to the car and welded up, all except the receiver which needed to be located when the hitch frame is in place just to check final fit and alignment.
It clears everything and hides out of sight.


The draw bar in the receiver is removable and just for fitting purposes, it will be replaced once the trailer tongue clearance is determined.
The hitch attaches to outboard brackets that also support the mufflers, and to the bottom of the rear transmission support cross member, this cross member has been replaced with the heavy duty aftermarket unit.
The hitch is only meant to tow the trailer that normally travels behind my bike, so it does not have to be a Class 3 hitch

Then I got out the Masterseries and coated the louver section and the area behind it, leaving just the edge area bare for welding. Once it had dried I got them welded on.


I used the paper templates from the roof and cut the remaining sections of old roof skin.
Fit and tacked the rear sections to the frame.


The side and front sections needed to be made from new material. So I took a piece of pipe and rolled the side pieces around it to give them a curve.


Cut the sides to match the templates, and tacked them into place.


The last piece was the front, it is both a piece of roof and of the visor. It was cut to shape, then a series of holes was layed out in the visor section to vent the ram air. A second set of spot weld holes was drilled to correspond with the location of the top of the windscreen frame, the roof frame has a crossbow at this location that the roof gets spot welded onto. The remaining seam between the roof skin and crossbow at the front edge will be sealed from the visor area with a slick of seam sealer on both sides


Used a set of hole saws to cut the openings, three different sizes.



Fit the last section and welded up all the seams. I still need to clean it up with the grinder and fit some perf inside the visor.


Here is a shot from the back, it is 46 inches tall, and 67 inches wide




March 28, 2010

Finished the final fitting and welding on the trailer hitch. Here it is installed.




With the drawbar installed...



This is all you see when the draw bar is removed and you get down on your knees behind the car.



Then I removed the roof and fit some perforated metal on the underside of the visor area.



I like the effect you see from the top..



Finished all the welding, knocked the old paint off and got the grinder out and cleaned it all up.



Put the roof back on.


For a first time "just do it" roof, I like the way it turned out.
It is suprisingly light, only about 35 lbs. yet when removed from the car it is still rigid with no twisting.
I still need to figure out the rag insert and some other details. But thats another day.





April 3, 2010

Rolled it out of the garage to clean up as I have not seen the tops of my benches in months

I was a nice day so I took some pics..

Now that I get the chance to stand further away from it I see some changes coming.

I think the front bumper must go and the head lights will be relocated.





Then pulled it apart to cover all the bare metal with Masterseries.
A couple of spots will have to be sanded down where I want to weld, but this will protect it until then.






April, 4, 2010

The MS dried overnight so I was able to put some parts back on. But first I had to make up a panel to close the back of the fuel tank area.

So I cut some 18 gauge to cover the opening.


Then I got to play with my new bead roller. I built a stand for it last weekend when I first received it from Eastwood.



My first bead rolled panel is installed..


Moved up into the footwell area for the next panel.



Second panel flanged, beaded and screwed in place.





April 11, 2010

The nice weather has brought with it all sorts of other obligations. So my time in the shop has been getting cut back.

I did not accomplish much this weekend.
I did some work on the gas tank, figuring out where the fuel would come out, and where to put it in. Also made a plate for the sender unit to mount to. The pieces are now ready for welding, so I have to take them to work for the TIG welder.

I am going to use a Monza style gas cap, but I need to mount it on a stand pipe so it has enough clearance to open.


Closed in the open area above the tank access opening. Then I fit in a piece below the opening so it is double walled for strength, covered the inside with MS and welded it closed, it helps clean up the look of things as well.


Bead rolled a cover panel for the opening.


Then I went and rode my bike.

April 18, 2010

The weather was a little cool yesterday so I got a little more done.

I got the threaded adapter for the gas cap silver soldered onto the standpipe/filler neck.


Then went under the hood and removed the lower steering shaft bearing and support. I had one too many bearings in the system
After the bearing and mounts were removed I made a new panel to fit over the battery box. This panel is hinged on the back,,,


Closes nicely...


and is held closed with a couple of "T" nuts, this makes it an easier no tools required access.


Then below the cover panel I fit a mount for the brake reservoir.



I then cut off the bottom edge of the hood to give me a little badly needed clearance.


Bent a SS rod to fit and tacked it in, this will stiffen the front of the hood again and blunt the sharp edge.


Then it was time to remove the beam and cut off the mounts for the sliding bumper as I decided I did not like it. I took the beam to work cut the mounts off the made up a set of mounts to relocate the headlights. The ball bearings are attached just because I wanted to do something to breakup the look of the flat mount plate when it capped the shock tower.

welded the mounts to the beam, dragged it home and reinstalled everything..



Dug out some old motorcycle turnsignals and installed them, I think they will do..





April 22, 2010

So this week I was checking things out after installing the headlights, I banged on the top of them to see if they had any vibration.
I then removed all the lights.

They did have a little bit of vibration, so I decided to make up some gusset pieces.


Tacked them in..


welded and cleaned up with the lights reinstalled, no more vibration.


The fuel tank, which started out as a bunch of aluminum pieces,


is now complete, and pressure tested, it has 2 internal baffle plates to eliminate sloshing, and it uses a stock VW sending unit so I can use the fuel gauge located inside my speedo head.
This is what it looks like from the filler cap to the outlet valve.


Slit the side of some rubber hose to make a grommet to fit between the body and the filler neck.


Fit a couple more hold-down tabs to the inside of the roof. They will get welded solid next time the roof is removed. The hole for the attach bolt will be drilled in once the roof to body seal is in place, then I will install an anchor nut at that location.




April 25, 2010


Cold and rainy today,

Spent most of the day doing small stuff, refinishing the taillight lenses, and a loose mock-up installation of what is done so far, getting it ready to sit aside for a bit.

Also made a set of fuel tank hold down straps. Then glued some rubber strips down to the supports to cushion the bottom of the tank, also cut some strips to use between the hold-down straps and the top of the tank. Made a thick sealing gasket for around the fuel outlet, used some 1/2 inch thick medium density closed cell neoprene foam, when the tank is snugged down it seals the area nicely.


This pic shows the fuel petcock poking through the bottom of the package tray.


The last thing for the day was to remove the hood and finish welding the rod along the front edge.


Got it cleaned up and reinstalled.



April 30, 2010

I decided this week that the opening in the roof combined with the rake angle of the roof, would cause alot of air buffeting when cruising at highway speed.

Figured that an air deflector, similar to the type that pop up when you open the sunroof on a modern car, would help eliminate that. So the plan was to make a removable deflector that I could stash behind the seats when not in use when the ragtop is in place.

Started with two strips of 18 gauge, flanged and beaded them with the bead roller to stiffen them up. Then drilled and spot welded them together back to back.


Then cleaned up the spot welds and drilled a line of rivet holes, and trimmed the top edge with some 1/4 inch rod.


Welded the trim rod in place and smoothed the welds. Then pounded a series of rivets into the holes just because I like the look
and set the deflector in place.


To hold the deflector I attached some short sections of angle to the underside of the roof frame , and used a couple of brass thumbscrews which screw all the way through into the frame to keep it located.


Last part was to make up some small support arms. They have a small degree of adjustment to fine tune the angle once it is wind tunnel tested, oh I mean on the road. The side frame has had rivnuts installed for the brass thumbscrews to secure into.


^^^^^Oh ya, and I think it is rigid enough to bounce seagulls off.



June 7, 2010

The Wazabug Project has reached the end of its gestation period and behold the birth of BUGSPLAT


This does not mean that it is finished (far from it), it still has some development and growing pains ahead but it is now officially licensed.

Some time back there was discussion on creating a larger footwell area by expanding into the rear portion of the front wheelwell.

My big feet liked the idea.
So I cut openings.



Then made some cardboard templates to box in the larger area.


Fabbed the metal versions.


And welded tacked them in place.



With the box sections welded up it looks fine on the inside, but it looks like a toolbox is trying to escape out of the front. I knew this in advance and the next step was to fit a 3/8 round rod frame



The frame was then faced front and bottom with more of that perforated metal. Covered it all with Masterseries.



Layed out some paper templates to shape some 20 gauge sheet to start closing it in.



Had to get some material, then the work stopped for awhile, but I am getting back to it now




June 14, 2010

So I got some material and cut the side pieces.




Ran them through the bead roller, covered the inside with MasterSeries, and tacked them on.



Some rod stock was fit to support the front tip section of the new piece.


Here it is all welded and buffed and some MS splashed on.



They hide the box sections of the foot well extension nicely,
and I have the option of installing vents in the new box sections to allow ram air into the car, like giant crotch coolers.
That's it.

June 20, 2010

It was a sunny day so I rolled it out for some pictures.








Sept 6, 2010

Well I have been away for awhile trying to enjoy the summer, that and the fact that it has been too damn HOT to work in my shop on something that is supposed to be a winter project.
However I have not stopped work completely and I am overdue for an update.

Some of the progress since the last update include,,,,,,,

Cutting out some of the old B pillar at the bottom that I should have removed before.



and covering it over...



Reinstalled the seat to figure the mounting points for the seatbelts..


I found that when I sit in the seat and lean back I can bang my head on the body behind the seat, I decided to put in some headrests so I stole the ones out of the back of my Ford Explorer,,, (no one sits back there anyway the seats are always folded down to haul stuff..)


Dyed them black,,,,,


Welded the modified mounting bracket to the frame behind the seats so that the original spring loaded tilt feature on the headrests still worked. Tried them out and I like them.




Next was a roof insert to close the big hole in the roof when I want to keep the rain out. I had seen Timbo's and like the idea he used on the frame of his. So I cut some angle to allow for bending it to follow the roof curve,,


After it was tacked together I tried to find a way to carry it in the car when it was removed, but in one piece it was to big so it got split down the center.



Cut some metal to fit the frame and drilled a series of spot weld holes.


Ran one panel through the bead roller and welded it to the frame,

it looks like its good for drying dishes on...

The frames had a neoprene seal installed to set the gap between the roof and the insert frame, the frames were clamped snuggly in place and then through holes were drilled to accept ball-lock pins that will hold everything tightly sealed. This is what the pins look like from the underside.


With both insert panels finished and coated in Masterseries.


With one open Safari style on short fixed length arms...



Decided to use a marine stereo system that was just sitting on the shelf, it comes with a wired remote that can placed within easy reach. Also has a separate 600 watt amp and some big 6 X 9 speakers that will need spacers to mount them in the doors (which is the only place they will fit).


Cut an opening in the dash and installed a DIN sleeve for the stereo. Still need to figure out switch and gauges locations.



Figured out the routing of the front flex brake lines to clear the shocks and linkages then drilled a hole for the flex line to mount/join to the steel line.


As the body metal was not designed to withstand the flex loads applied by the brake line the original mounting bracket, which had been saved, was welded to the inside.


The flex lines now clear everything through all range of suspension and steering travel without kinking or being pulled tightly.


A problem that has been bothering me is the mounting position of the front shock. They are too low with the bottom of the shock sticking below the bottom of the frame.

They got to this position because of required clearances and mainly the fact the bottom shock mount on the lower torsion arm is too far outboard and by aligning the shock lever arm directly above it the shock had to be mounted lower to clear the tie rod that ran above it.


I have now decided to rework the lower torsion arms to reposition the lower shock mount closer in to the frame, this allows the remounting of the shock closer to the frame and higher up giving me a better feeling about not scuffing them off. So it was time to cut off the shock mounts ,,,


With the new ones tacked in the shocks now sit up nicely.


the work to the lower torsion arm to reposition the lower shock mount will happen later.

That's it for now....

Sept., 12, 2010

Got the speaker spacers made by cutting and stacking 2 rings of MDF, attached them to the door panels and cut the inner door to accept the speakers. Covered the panels with Masterseries to help waterproof them.


Made a cover panel for over the shift rod coupler.


Removed all the body pieces, fuel tank, engine etc, then took the body off the frame so I can put a floor in the frame and finish the underside of the bodywork. Rolled the body upside down to get at the parts needing completion on the bottom.




It is now ready to finish the bottom.




Oct., 03, 2010

All of the welding on the underside is complete. The first coat of Masterseries is on and then I ran out of MS.
I have more coming from Chuck but it takes some time to get it here.
No pictures worth showing of this work.

While awaiting the MS I turned to the front shocks again. This time to complete the modification of the lower torsion arms to relocate and align the shock attach point. This is required because I moved the shocks upwards and inwards for better clearances.

This first picture shows the alignment problem between the shock lever arm and the lower attach point.



The torsion arms now modified to relocate the attach point.



Torsion arms reinstalled, shock link aligns nicely, just need to get the proper hardware to make it all complete.



Next item to tackle was the tunnel cover. I found that when the body was on and the E-brake installed ,it was really difficult to get the tunnel cover on and off. I decided to make it into a two piece unit. Cut it and fit some mounting tabs on the frame.





Oct., 16, 2010
My shipment of MasterSeries arrived,, thanks Chuck

So I got the second coat of MS applied on all parts underneath.


Then masked it all off for a coating of rocker guard, some parts for protection and some parts just for the sound deadening qualities.



Also shot the inside of the roof, hood and deck lid.


While it is still upside down I applied some Home Depot Dynamat to the inside of the fuel tank compartment behind the seats and the inside of the doors to help cut down on the engine noise.


I ran out of the stuff before I was finished but with one door only 3/4 completed it still is a lot quieter than the second uncovered door when you rap on the door skin with your fingers. I'll get some more of this stuff and finish tomorrow.
Then I can flip it upright again. Sure would be nice to have a rotisserie but it's too late to make one now.



Oct., 24, 2010
I HATE SANDING, I HATE SANDING, I HATE SANDING.

So I flipped the body upright and started to sand down the hastily applied with a brush Masterseries that kept it from rusting while it was built.

I HATE SANDING, I HATE SANDING, I HATE SANDING.

So I sanded the entire body, the roof , the hood, the engine cover, just to get it ready to work with.
Oh. Did I mention.......
I HATE SANDING, I HATE SANDING, I HATE SANDING.

So after sanding all day yesterday, today I sprayed some more rock gaurd in the front.


Then I finished applying the roof patch sound deadener to the floor of the fuel tank compartment, (formerly the package tray area).


Then masked off the interior area and shot a mess of rock gaurd on it as well. (I like texture) and I HATE SANDING.


After sniffing all the fumes I decided to call it a day.



Oct., 30, 2010

Today I stripped the frame of its heavy bits. Then trailered it to the fab shop at my work so I could use the 240V welder on it.


The first thing was to finish the relocation of the front shock mounts and weld them tight.


Then flipped it upside down and scuffed the bottom clean so that I can weld in the floor. I think I will also add a couple of more cross members to finish the frame.





Nov., 07, 2010
Did some more this weekend.

Welded in the seatbelt anchors, fit 2 more crossmembers in the frame and started with the center floor pan.


Cut the side floor pans to size, drilled a bunch of spot weld holes and then ran them through the bead roller.


Here are the floor pans ready to spot weld. The bead rolling warps them a bit but nothing that clamping won't straighten out before welding.


Managed to get the center pan and one side welded in before I ran outta time.




Nov., 14, 2010

Got the second coat of MS silver on the bottom of the floor and the shock mounts. Then trimmed it up with the MS black, let that dry and masked it off..


Sprayed a coat of rock gaurd on the bottom and left it to dry.


Now that the body is one item and the chassis another, it is going to take up more space in my garage.
Also with the onset of winter I have to give up half the garage for my wife's Jeep.
So to make things roomier on the weekends when I get to work on this car I arranged to store my bike,then I took the body which has been sitting on saw horses,,,,,,,,,,,


built a cart for it and mounted that to some old casters..


And swapped the car over to the cart. It sure is nice to move it around this way, makes more space available for when the chassis comes home for assembly.


Then I started messing with some of the strange body mods that are planned, but that is for another time......



Nov., 21, 2010

Once the rock guard was dry I flipped the chassis upright and welded in the vertical floor sections in front of the torsion section.


Reworked the gas pedal. I did not like how the rigid tube came out of the center tunnel area. It allowed a lot of exposed cable right by my foot. I decided to use a short section of Harley clutch cable outer sheath and adjuster for this section. Made up a cover piece to close over the brake return spring area and give my foot something to rest on, it also holds the cable. Made a new lever assembly for the roller to mount on. It all works nicely now and the cable is protected.


Got the first coat of MS applied to the inside of the floor section, after it dries I will get some seam sealer into the edges before a second coat goes on.


Turned my attention back to the body. I had said that this car was going to get some strange things added, now is the time.
I don't want a smooth shinny car, sanding and body work I try to avoid.
I had thought of going with a military look olive drab finish crossed with a bit of something from Mad Max, but it was over-ruled.
My wife likes it all in MasterSeries silver. So seeing as MS is good for rust restoration on old iron bridges I decided to go for an old iron look something like iron punk or sometimes called oil punk. It will basically be an antiqued and dirty looking MS finish that looks something like pewter.
But to get the iron bridge effect happening I took an old movie prop idea and used it here.

It starts by cutting the heads off of a bunch of 1/2 inch nylon bolts and sanding the cut flush to the head.


Then a pattern is laid out and the bolt heads are epoxied in place. The tape holds them from moving while the epoxy sets up.




Once they are dry they get covered in a few thick coats of MS to give them that "old been painted a hundred times" look.


Next it will need to have a couple of coats of MS sprayed over the whole car. But I need to get set up for that.



Nov., 28, 2010

During the week I managed to apply seam sealer to the floor panels and brush on a second coat of MS over top of that.
Then I spent most of the weekend prepping for painting. Sanding and masking all of the pieces and panels, no pictures of this cause its boring.

I did however weld in a couple of flatbar tabs into the corners of the rear window frame. These will hold a smoked Lexan window, sealed at the edges with PRC.


Cut a wood template to use to shape the Lexan.
After the Lexan is fit I want to get it painted with a similar but better rendition of the eyeball.
However I don't have access to a selection of 1Shot nor the all important talent required to pull it off.
I will be attempting to top up Unk's New Years Fund for this job.


Also did some finger molding on the front fenders to get them ready as well.


If I had some urethane reducer I could start spraying but it was Sunday and all places to buy that stuff were closed up. It will have to wait until next time.



Dec., 05, 2010

Friday night I fired up the shop heat to get things warm enough to paint.

Then on Saturday I sprayed 1 coat of MS in the morning and a second in the afternoon. Sprayed the third coat today and now just watching it dry.


Did I mention it sure smells great.



Dec., 12, 2010

Brought the finished chassis home from work and got it's wheels hung back in place.



Then I had to clean things up so I could squeeze it all to one side of my garage.



A big winter storm is blowing in and I have promised my wife one side of the garage for inside parking during week nights so her Jeep is snow free in the mornings.

After moving things to one side I started to take stock of what hardware I would need to start final assembly on the running gear. Progress will be slow for the next few weeks as there is Christmas crap to do.



Dec., 28, 2010
Found some time to get started on final assembly.

Welded a piece of tube to the center section of an old wheel so I could torque the axle nuts.


Then spent a bunch of time bending the rear caliper mounts into alignment, gotta love the precise fit of EMPI parts.

Got the tranny in place with new mounts and drive axle assemblies. Got the shifter hooked up, still need the steel brake lines but they are tied up in shipping.






Jan., 03, 2011

Made some more progress...........

Got the E-brake cables shortened and working, Then fabbed an aluminum trim plate for around the E-brake handle, it may be just decoration or it may hold a boot, I still haven't decided on stitching up a boot to cover it or not.



Finished the fitting of a flex bowden tube for the throttle cable, and added a return spring to the roller pedal arm.
Fit the master cylinder, but still awaiting steel brake lines and a line lock solenoid.



Moved to the front end and secured the beam with Gr. 8 hardware. Painted and fit all the new steering components and lever shocks with locking fasteners. Shimmed the front disc calipers for proper alignment. EMPI again....



Then it was time to do a basic alignment. Because there is no body in the way I decided to take all of my measurements off of the brake discs rather than the rims as my shop wheels have some dings in them. I used these wheels because they are all the same tire size, and then mounted them backwards to leave the disc accessable.



Levelled the chassis, centered the steering, set the camber, then set up the guide strings and some parallel bars clamped to the discs and proceeded to do the standard 4 wheel alignment and toe adjustments. When it was all good I tightened it up and called it a day.
I had a steak waiting its turn on the BBQ.






Jan., 30, 2011

The past few weeks I have been sick with the flu and a chest infection, have not accomplished anything until this weekend when I felt better.

My steel brake lines arrived from CIP1 and I picked up a line lock solenoid from a local parts house.



So this weekend I managed to get the line lock solenoid in place and the lines all routed and clamped down. I am working with pre-made lines so I have to be creative in the use of the extra length on some of the lines. When they were fit I covered the floor with a layer of Home Depot Dynamat to cut down on some noise.


Then cut up an indoor/outdoor mat to make carpet sections and stuck them down with some outdoor grade carpet tape. Then used some neoprene gasket tape to make a gasket between the frame and the body, now I can install the body....(pics of that stuff later, my camera died.)



Feb., 05, 2011

Ok so my camera is fixed.. And my brake solenoid to metric adapter fittings arrived, so that is now secured.

Here is a shot of the carpet job.. Should cut down the noise coming from the floor.


I got the rear plexi window but decided not to get it painted at this time, so installed it and sealed it up.



Then it was time to get the body back onto the frame, this is always interesting doing it all by yourself.


Success...


Now that I have a little more space, I can start to think more about the engine..

This one came in the car and was running, but once torn down for inspection it was not worth trying to rebuild. It is loosely assembled to use as a mock-up engine.



This engine was supposedly a freshly built 1641 that dropped a valve. I got it cheap and picked it up because the case looks much better, it is a newer fuel injection case. Time to open it up and see what else we have..




Feb., 06, 2011

Today the second engine came apart. It was as it was described, a 1641 cc, Mahle pistons, fresh build, ..



It also had the dropped valve,, and I know where it landed




The crank looks good, and it is 8 doweled to the flywheel, the bearing were new but they now have a little metal on the from the breakdown and they need to be replaced, the cam is a Bugpack 4063 and is like new, but the gear ran over some crap and needs changing, the other three cylinders
are mint but where can I get singles?? One head is fooked. Most importantly the case appears good so far, time to clean it up and start measuring..



Mar., 20, 2011

The past few weekends I have spent with the wiring, not really picture worthy so I haven't updated until now..

I am using the Rebel Wire Universal VW Bus harness, this gives me some extra circuits and extra wire to play with. Some of the wiring has been repurposed because of circuit changes due to the use of a universal turn signal switch, two wire taillights and some circuits like "water temp" (which is included in the harness) being used for other items.
I recommend the Rebel harness, good quality well labelled stuff.

Alot of time was spent drilling and deburing holes, fitting grommets, routing wire, mounting switches and indicator lights. Here is the completed dash layout.


The wiring is now complete and circuits tested, except for the wire terminations at the engine that will be completed when it is finally installed.

Some extras were the stereo amp, electric fuel pump, electric fuel shutoff valve, line lock, cylinder head temp and oil temp gauges, trailer harness connection.


Calibrated the new fuel tank sender to the fuel gauge and installed the fuel tank, seats, seatbelts and headrests. The panel behind the seat, and door panels need to be finished before they can be installed.
Installed the hood.


Started to bleed the brakes but found a hose that comes with the rear disc kit was defective and I need a new one so that put a stop to that.

I still have a lot to do before it is on the road, so in order to make up some time so I can possibly drive it this summer I decided to order a complete long block from Brothers Machine. more on that later.



April, 03, 2011

Awhile ago I posted a question on engine cooling in the open forum. What I learned was the best option I have for cooling is to seal the top from the bottom of my engine compartment.
This was something I had not initially planned on doing so it must now be done as an afterthought.
So working towards that I installed the mock-up engine, manifold and carb, so I could first fit the heat riser connections from the exhaust to the intake manifold.
While reading I have learned a single carb is supposed to work best with these connected, so now was the time to do it.


Once they were welded in I had to modify the breastplate tin to slide over them. Then I made up a couple of removable cover plates to close the slots over. I also had to trim the back edge of the tin to clear the new apron section. Then welded a 1/4" rod to the edge.




Made some cardboard templates of the area that needed to be filled, leaving about a 3/4" gap between the tins. The gap will be sealed with some heat baffle strip commonly used on aircraft piston engines .


Turned the templates into steel.


Removed the new tin section and welded a 1/4" rod around the underside to stiffen it up and remove the sharp edge.
Did some more mods to the shape of the breastplate so the baffle strip could seal onto it.


Then fit in the baffle strip and made some doubler strips to secure it. I still need to change out some temporary sheetmetal screws for some nutserts and machine screws, and paint all the bits n' pieces.
This picture shows the now sealed hot from cold engine.




April 10, 2011

This weekend I made some good progress. I installed the fuel shut off, filter and pump.
Then I worked on the paint, as I was not doing any sanding of bondo I had decided to highlight the ugliness of this car. First was to shoot some black spray bomb on the panels and engine tin, then wipe it off with a rag and thinners, leaving behind the dirty stuff.



Then added some stuff to the inside door panels..



Added some detail trim..



Gave the wheels the same smeared black finish, here you can see the difference.


Got a cheap air pencil to spray and fill in all the divots and creases and highlight the weld seams.


Then wiped it down with the black paint/thinners combo..



Installed the glass


Sprayed the engine cover in the same way and wiped it all over.



Finished up the roof, still need to fit a chafe strip/seal to the bottom edge and then install it.


It still needs to have the door art applied and a little air brush detail in a couple spots and it is done for now.



Next is to finish up the engine. I took delivery of a new long block from Brothers Machine on Friday, 1776, 042 heads, engle 110, counterweight crank, full balance, nothing too radical as I am looking for reliability.
I will bring it home from work this week.


April 17, 2011

Brought my new long block home, no pictures yet.

Made up a front bumper just to say I have one. Used some light round rod and did a little spider web thing.
Here it is just tacked together.


Also applied some self adhesive neoprene foam gasket seal to the bottom edge of the roof and got the roof on and secure.



I did not like the feel of the brake pedal and as the master cylinder sits well below the calipers I got a pair of residual pressure valves to install in the brake system, I just need to wait for a couple of short steel lines to arrive to finish that up.
Then complete engine assembly, install it, and a few more things (not including the items I have yet to come across) and it is time to



April 24, 2011

This weekend I managed to get a critical part started. I removed both doors and sent them to orbit in Unkl Ian's distant galaxy for awhile. They need to have some special treatment.

Then worked on a bunch of small items that need to be finished.
Nothing worthy of taking pictures.
Mounted the oil filter unit and cut the tin to route the oil lines.
Collected and installed all the fittings for the breather venting system.
Fit the lower tin below the push rods, (geez, does aftermarket tin ever fit like crap!)
Installed the foam seal onto the roof insert panels.
Finished painting and installed the new front bumper.
Removed all four wheels and balanced them. I will put them back on once I finish with the brakes.



I finally took some pictures of one of Unkl Ian's Flying Eyeballs mounted to my dash


And a "Volksrods.Com" sticker on the rear window.


Then I did the spring maintenance on my bike and took it out for a ride.

Better finish this car soon or else I will just be riding my bike all summer.



May 08, 2011

Been working on a few more small items,
Cut down and installed new style wiper arms, then fit them with shortened early style wiper blades (they are easier to cut short)
Installed a new battery.
Installed the fender beading and seal around the engine bay cover.
Did another bleeding on the brakes, this time with the calipers removed and even though the bleeder screws are located at the top when the calipers are installed, I rotated them around to ensure that all the air was out. They seem much better so I will wait on installing the residual pressure valves untill I have been able to road test it.

Started to ready the engine for installation, here is the new longblock.


With all the external components added and ready to go in.

I want drivability in this car with a little extra umphh. So I went with a fully balanced 1776cc, 042 heads, engle 110 cam, doweled counterweight crank, KEP clutch, extra oil sump, progressive 2 barrel carb and a SVDA distributor with a magfire pickup.

But right now it seems that I am stuck waiting for a new throw-out bearing to arrive before I put the engine in place.

I will be driving it soon,,,I hope..



May 15, 2011

This week I managed a few different items.

I didn't like the look of the white radio in the black dash, so I covered it with a waterproof bubble cover from a boat.

Also decided that some kind of storage was required for a roadside repair kit.
So I used a small ammo box and made a pin and latch system to hold it securely in place.
It also keeps the passengers feet out of the gas pedal.



Finally got the engine in place. Fit all the oil, vent and fuel lines.
Reworked the carb linkage and hooked up the cable. Shortened and adjusted the clutch cable.
Got all the air seal in place, and started to hook up the wires.


Installed the rear apron, nerf bumpers and trailer hitch.
Started to hang the mufflers.


Installed the engine cover to set the alignment of the apron before tightening the bolts, and check the fit of the cover seal.


Attached a critter that I had made up from some kitchen spoons and welding rod.
It needs to have a VW logo painted on its back.



Tightened all the bolts, then pulled the engine cover back off until all the setup and testing is completed

I also have information from Unkl Ian that the doors may be returning from orbit soon, so stay tuned.



May 23, 2011

We have had alot or rain this spring so on the odd nice day I have been out on my bike
but that has cut into some shop time.

I did one project that works for both my bike and should look good hauling gear to an event behind my bug.
I needed to make a way to carry my old Coke cooler on my little camping trailer.
I did not want to use regular web tie down straps, so I got out the leather tools and made some straps. Screwed wood slats to the frame, welded D-rings on the edge and riveted the straps.


The cooler is secure for travel and looks good too.


This week my mother-in-law made up some cool padded bags to store the roof inserts.


She did a great job and loves this project. She is a car person herself with a driveable 47' Bentley and a 39' Rolls Royce project.
The bagged roof sections fit nicely under the hood.


The Harley Sportster mufflers that I am using are too restrictive if left stock.
So I performed the standard surgery with a 1 3/4" holesaw and cut the baffle section out. It can now be modified and reinstalled or left on the bench depending how it sounds. Welded the mufflers to the pipes because clamps weren't secure enough for my liking.



Now that the engine is in place it was time to finish the wiring of the engine, back-up lights, trailer light harness and auxilary engine bay light.

I had previously fit the license plate lights, but still needed back-up lights.
I did not want to mess up the back of the car with extra lights so I got a set of slim LED lights.


And then mounted them behind the lower grill section, you can't see them,,,,


Until they are turned on...........


Mounted a set of tail lights inside the engine cover, on the underside of the lid. This way they are not seen from outside but shine nicely down on the engine. They can be switched off at the dash seperate from the regular taillights when they are not wanted.


When switched on they light up the engine and shine through the perforated cover. The white lights are for the license plate.


With the brakes on...


Closer look...


Then with the wiring completed I removed the engine cover once again.
Added engine oil and ZDDPlus additive and prelubed the engine.
Installed the spark plugs and wires.

Hopefully my doors will return shortly, I am really looking forward to seeing them.

Once I can finish that part up I'll get the speakers installed, the stereo is kinda quiet without them.

Time to go get some gasoline for this baby.



May 29, 2011
It runs...

Fired it up this week and set the timing, did the initial carb set up, now I need to get it out on the road to do the final setup.


I also got my doors back from Unkl Ian, he has been skillfully hand painting a modified version of an old Ed Roth decal onto each door. He did a fantastic job that really works with the look of the car.






I installed both doors and inner panels, installed and wired the speakers.



When I turned on the stereo I got nothing

Started troubleshooting until I eventually found a bad connection on the PC board inside the amp.

A quick solder fix and I have tunes..

Did some more small stuff like fitting an adjustable stop for the gas pedal, fit in some muffler hangers to reduce muffler shake.

Also made up a bracket to mount my Volksrod plate.




June 5, 2011
This week I got it to the service garage to have the Safety Inspection completed.
Then I got my insurance and license plates validated.
I can now legally drive it on the road.

However the POS Empi clone of a Weber progressive carb has to be the worst out of the box thing I have ever seen.
The vender says all carbs 100% tested, it doesn't say they passed the test.
I need to open this one up, I could go into detail of its problems but I won't bother. I am just pissed, everything that EMPI has made for this car has had to be modified to work or discarded.

I have a fresh Zenith 32NDIX carb coming from XxonValdez, should have it in about a week.

I also modified the muffler baffle inserts for less restriction and welded them back into the muffler. After a couple of test runs I decided to cut them out and modify them a bit more.

I also got started on a tow bar.
I tacked the basics together to check the fit.
Should finish the rest of it this week.




Here it is pretty much finished for now. I plan on a few more things in the future like making up some side curtain windows.





Beside my daily driver.




June 12, 2011

This week I removed the POS carb and manifold. My Zenith carb(s) arrive tommorow so I am already to install it.

I had the cheapo EMPI electric fuel pump purchased when I thought I was using a FI case. I tried it, then removed it because it was very noisy and installed a stock mechanical pump.

Changed the rubber flex brake hoses for some stainless braided ones. The brake pedal is much firmer now.

Finished welding the towbar.


Then painted it and fit the safety chains to it.

Then seeing as how I can't drive until the carb arrives I took my motorcycle out for the afternoon.



June 19, 2011

This week I received my carb from XxonValdez. Zenith 32NDIX.
I also picked up a couple of parts carbs and manifolds from the samba for extra bits.
When the manifolds arrived I had a DEANO plenum style, a cheap twisted runner style, and what looks to be a NOS plenum style to fit an old DCNF carb.

I went with the DEANO first off because it did not need any rework.

Got the carb on and the initial jetting set and some short test runs done this afternoon.

Swapped out my SVDA dizzy because I don't have a vacuum signal with this setup and then installed a 009 that I have.


Made up a tool to check the float level using a spare float bowl plug with a piece of brake line solder to it. Details in the homemade tool thread.




Looking for an 010 dizzy to replace the 009, hopefully find one at the Jitterbug next weekend.


July 10 2011



Over the past couple of weeks I have managed to put just over 500 miles on the car.

It is time for its first oil change.

So far it has gone very well, the carb from XxonValdez set up nicely, I will tweak it a bit after my 010 Distributor arrives in a week.

The stamped steel mounts on Empi rear disk brakes are not the greatest setup.

The longblock from Brothers Machine seems topnotch.

Overall everything has been a pretty problem free so far.

The car has been to a couple of shows. It is quite a shock to some people around here, but always brings a smile.
Even driving down the road it is really getting alot of positive attention and some flattering comments.



I found a bunch of pics of the car online that were taken by others and I put them in a slideshow.
HERE

I have since made up some "print them yourself" business cards with a gmail address.

I give them to photographers at the shows so they can share their pictures with me.

One guy was taking some pictures on the road and at a stoplight I gave him my email and he sent some roadshots.



Tonight I reset the rear torsion bars as it settled out more than I figured. I may still tweak the right side up a smidge.

This car is a blast. I am very happy with it.



July 24, 2011

Just recieved my 010 Distributor and Pertronix ignitor, hopefully install it this week. (If I can stop driving it)


Been out to some shows, picked up these at the Vdubfest in Manchester Ontario





July 26, 2011

A camera equipped guy at the Vdubfest sent me these pics.








Aug., 18, 2011

Been racking up the miles the past few weeks.

The 010 distributor is a nice change with the ignitor installed.

The second gear into third gear synchro is worn and noisy, I changed tranny oil to a synthetic to see if I could get it to spin up faster but it did not help.

When I removed the diff drain plug to change the oil I found a spider gear tooth stuck to the magnet on the drain plug.
I am still driving it hoping it will hang in until the end of the season and then I will rebuild or replace it.
This sucks considering I paid the local guy to check it out for me back when the car was just getting built.

Took it too VAGKRAFT last weekend,
this is a VW and Audi show 99.5% were newer model water cooled cars, only 3 bugs, a Ghia, a splitty bus and me for air cooled entries.

But somehow they decided to give me the award for "Best in Show"
I was surprised, I mean WTF at a water cooler show??

Here is the VAGKRAFT "Best in Show" number plate.



While I was at that show I was interviewed by a guy who writes for Autonet.ca and he put this together, he got a couple of details wrong but I didn't proof read it. Haha.




Aug., 31, 2011

I was at a local show in Georgetown ON, about 425 car event, picked up these.



Then last weekend was Autofest in Oshawa ON held by Motor City Car Club. Great show of about 1000 - 1200 cars.

Volksrods like this are unseen up here and it had a great response. One of the top ten picks on Saturday,



Then in the finals on Sunday it was awarded the "Dare 2B Different" trophy.
This cool creation was made by a friend of Unkl Ian"s



In amongst the shows on the weekends I managed to install a Scat Dragfast shifter.

The tranny is still messed up but the shifter is nice. If the tranny holds out till the end of September I will pull it out and get it fixed or replaced then.



Oct., 16, 2011

Last weekend was the Canadian Thanksgiving and it was three days of great warm fall weather cruising.

Well that has changed and the cooler wet weather is starting to roll in. It is time to do a couple of things.

But first an update,

Went to the Berlin Klassic show in Sept. and picked up these for Best Rat and 1st Place People's Choice Air-cooled.



Then did a show at the local fall fair, no awards, but $50.00 cash for being in the top 3.

But this week I decided it was time to deal with the shitty battery that I bought in May, it wouldn't hold more than a surface charge.
It is under warranty so it was time to get it replaced.
When I opened the front compartment to access the battery I found that the POS EMPI master cylinder had slowly leaked all the fluid from the reservoir onto the car floor, lifting all the paint in the area.

Upon inspection I found that the fit of the rubber grommets and plastic hose nipple in the top of the m/c were very loose and over the summer months fluid had slowly seeped past and onto the floor.
Removed the m/c and cleaned up the leaked fluid and loose paint, treated the area with some corrosion preventative, it will get painted again after all the brake fluid is gone
So I removed the rubber parts,


and then stripped out the inner parts, cleaned the casting and brazed in fittings that won't leak.



Reassembled everything and bench bled the M/C, then reinstalled and tested it.

The cooler weather has prompted me to make up some heat riser tubes that run from the headers through the bottom of the intake manifold to warm it and eliminate manifold icing. Made them up and installed them today, then put the new battery in.

The tranny is still hanging in, even with a spider gear tooth from it sitting on my tool box.

I will probably remove it next for repair,
then when it is out I will look at reworking the POS EMPI rear disc brakes.



Nov., 5, 2011

So last weekend I took the tranny to Dougy D at Olde Town to get fixed up, now with the area emptied out.


It was time to do some more things to the POS EMPI rear disc brakes.

The stamped caliper mounting brackets have been bent into alignment and the caliper and pads are straight and parallel to the disc.
The problem now is when the brakes are lightly applied, like slowly rolling up to a stop, they set up a harmonic vibration in the stamped brackets.

This is not a squeal sound, but similar to the vibration you get rubbing your finger tip around the edge of a crystal wine glass.


I hope that by stiffening up the bracket with a small gusset I can take away the "tuning fork" effect created by the shape and construction of the stamped brackets.

I welded in some 3/8" rod to act as a brace.



I had to be carefull that the brace would clear the disc.


It is all together now just need to torque the axle nuts tight.


Nov., 13, 2011

So this week I got the axle nuts torqued.

Then I picked up my transmission from Dougy D.


He had found the 3-4 synchro and slider burred up and sticking, so he replaced the synchros, slider, and hub to fix things up sweet.

Then opened the diff to check it out.
Amazingly the broken spider tooth had managed to escape from the diff without trashing the rest of it.


Reinstalled the transmission and drive axles.



Nov., 20, 2011

So this weekend I did not have much time to work on the car but I did manage a little.

When I first made up the exhaust system someone had suggested that the clamp and gasket setup where the pipes join, should be replaced.


So now that the exhaust is easy to work on I fit in some flanges and a gasket to seal and secure the joint.


Then got the engine off the stand and back into the car.





Dec., 03 2011

Today was sunny and dry, so after it warmed up enough to melt all the overnight frost I took the car out for a test run.

I am happy with the transmission now, no more grinding shifting from 2nd gear into 3rd.

Then when I brought it home I decided to remove the roof, as it had not been off all summer, and take some pics.








Dec., 18, 2011

During the week I got a new windshield cut
So this weekend I changed it.
The original had a couple of spots where it had got nailed with welding spatter during the build before I got it out of the shop.
It also had a small crack form in the upper passenger side corner. I had made the frame to fit the glass but after it was welded up and the top cap installed it was too tight in that corner.
The new glass was cut 1/8 inch shorter and is not as stressed once the top cap is secured.

I also got to play with my new "Toyol", that is a new tool that is also a toy.

My HF knockout punch kit arrived and so did my set of dimple dies.

Thanks to Fernon for finding and testing this stuff out.



I did not have an immediate requirement for them so I just popped some holes in a panel to experiment.


Kinda almost makes me want to get some aluminum, dig out my old rivet gun and make up a pair of bomber seats.

Almost...



Mar., 11, 2012

This weekend was the Mega Speed custom car show in Toronto.

I took the car there and set it up on Thursday night.
Then went and visited periodically over the weekend as I can't stay there with it all day.



The show wrapped up this evening.

I found out that Bugsplat was in a class "Post 1968 European Street Machine" and in that class I was runner up
The first in class went to an Abarth Fiat.


Bugsplat also received a cool award presented by the Piston Pushers Car Club. They are a large club founded in 1954 and had a large club display of cars. It was presented for the car they "Most like to drive" which I thought was very cool coming from a group of traditional Ol skool rodders.



This creation has parts of a crankshaft, camshaft, valves, con rods, pistons, oil pumps, timing gears, harmonic balancers and a foot pedal.
It's adorned with a cast Piston Pushers car club tag and pin striped.
It also weighs about 4o lbs. The poor little trophy girl was having trouble passing it over to me.



Mar., 18, 2012

I finally got fed up with the howling noise that came from my EMP rear disc brakes.

I have tried many things to get rid of the noise but the best I have accomplished is changing the pitch of the howl.

I have the kit with the stamped steel brackets, the heavy duty cast mounts were not available from CIP1 when I first purchased this setup.
I have carefully bent and aligned the stamped brackets as required to hold the caliper straight and square with the disc.
The clearances between the disc and caliper have been shimmed correctly.
The brake pads have been carefully fit and have the back plates treated with rattle stop compound.
The discs have been checked for warpage and are fine.
The system has been bled and works fine, but I still get this howl noise that drives me crazy.

So this weekend I decided to end it all and change out the rear brake kit.

I had purchased a "ROTOHUBTM" rear disc kit with E-brakes from CB Performance.

Right out of the box it looked like a nicer kit than the EMPI it was replacing.

EMP now offers a kit with the heavy duty cast mounting brackets. It uses different calipers than the ones that came with the steel mounting plates in the kit purchased in 2009, and they will not fit onto the newer cast mounts.

The calipers that came with the steel brackets are 38 mm and have the brake line attach on the top of the caliper, and are meant to be installed with the e-brake cable on the bottom. This puts the bleeder screw in the correct position.

The calipers that come with the cast mounts are 32 mm and have the brake line attach on the side of the caliper with the bleeder screw above the line. This caliper has the e-brake cable attach on the top of the caliper.

EMP caliper for steel bracket on the left, CB Performance caliper on the right.



When I compare the mounting brackets from the two kits it looks like this. The cast ones fit perfect the steel ones required alot of filing to get the bolts through the holes originally as the fit was terrible.






They use different brake pads, the steel mount kit is on the left, cast mount kit on the right.



The CB kit also comes with caliper shims and a pair of axle bearing shims, I had to source out some retaining washers for the EMP kit myself.


When comparing the discs first thing noticed was that CB sent the correct ones, long nose, that did not require the spacer. The EMP kit sent the short nose discs and said to use the supplied spacer which was not included.

Then the construction of the CB supplied disc is more robust, it measures 2.5mm thicker through the wheel mount bolt holes, and has nice reinforcing in the inner casting.


The thing that I now believe to be the source of the howl revealed itself when I did a little test.

I placed both discs nose down on the bench in identical locations and then did a tap test with a screwdriver handle on the disc face. Repeated tests found the EMP disc had quite a resonance and would have a ringing sound for much longer than the CB disc which had more of a "thunk" sound when tapped.


I finished the install and took it for about 50 mile drive and it seems fine so far, no howl.



April 22, 2012
The car has had a rear view vision problem. It has side rear mirrors but no central mirror and no line of sight out the back if it did have a central mirror.
This has always been a bit of a pain.

It also can be difficult to see some stop lights if I am too close to them as the roof visor and the low roof line get in the way.
I have to stick my head out the side to see the lights.

I have tried the stop light viewers that were popular with the cars from the 50's that had big windshield visors but I sit too far back for the angles to work well and let me see the lights with the viewer.

I decided a little technology was required so I fit in a rear view camera.




And a front view camera to see the stop lights.



Placed the monitor where a rear view mirror would normally mount and wired in a selector switch to alternate the view between the two cameras.


It works great.



July 10, 2012
It has been a very hot summer so far. So I have not done any more work on the Flyer, its a winter peroject anyway.

But I have been driving the s#!t out of Bugsplat. Last weekend I popped the top off and put on some miles.

Stopped for a thirsty break and took a few topless photos.




Then I did some work to my hood ornament. I cleaned up the casting flash, filed some material off to fit the base a little tighter, then drilled and threaded the attach hole.


I reshaped the nose to be a little more like an eagle's beak, here you can see the new shape versus the original.


Also had to shorten the base piece to fit between the bolt heads on the hood. Then also flattened the base profile to work with my hood as I don't run the original trim strip down the center of the hood.



Then made a gasket to fit under the base, added some black paint to the ornament and bolted it on.




Aug., 12, 2012








Sep., 16, 2012

Put together a video slideshow of the building of Bugsplat.
So if you just spent a bunch of time reading this thread you can now get it replayed in a condensed version in just 17 minutes.

Click this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Tt802xX2H4&t=2s





Mar., 30, 2013
Last weekend Bugsplat went to the Megaspeed Car show here in Ontario.






It recieved a couple of awards
but that was not why it attended.

With it being in HOT VW's at this time I felt it was a good opportunity to try to find a new owner,

I decided to use the custom car show as an advertising venue in conjunction with local online advertising.

The car show had rules about having FOR SALE signs on your car.

So I had some business cards printed using the art that John Jaranson did of the car.

I put the pic of the front of the car on one side of the business card.



On the back side of the card I placed an altered rear view of the car.



I changed the licence plate to read FOR SALE and put a contact email underneath. It was subtle and did not cause any problems at the show.

Also, it worked, the car now has a new home.

I was pleased with the sale but I watched it leave down the road with mixed feelings.

It was alot of fun building and driving, but not all that I wanted in a car. However for a first time newbie attempt I was pleased. I learned a bunch building it and now I can apply that to another different project.

The car is only about 1 hour away from me so I am sure I will see it, maybe go and visit if I get VR withdrawls. hahaha

The big difference will be the next project will have a plan or at least a basic idea before I start.

All other details are highly classified but I am already working on ideas.

I next need to finish up the Maytag Flyer, a few smaller projects and acquire some more fabrication tooling before anything else. I will post updates when they happen.
But now that the warmer weather is arriving I have a motorcycle that needs some luvin as it has been feeling neglected with all my time going to Bugsplat lately.



April 6, 2013
So Bugsplat has been gone to its new home for just over a week. Since it left I have been advised its the spring feature at http://www.allaircooled.com/ .

Then today I received a pic in my "bugsplat" email from someone that I don't know.
It was taken last summer. The submitter said it was taken with an "infra red converted camera"

I think it is a cool pic.


Having a tough time suppressing the urge to start a project NOW,
It is like having withdrawls, "jones'n for a VR"

But I am not ready.

I better go work on the Flyer .

July 16 2013

Bugsplats new owner has the car up for sale, however it may just be an early fishing expedition as he is driving and showing it. It just picked up an award on the weekend .

He has a photographer friend that did some work for him. He just sent this to me.




Mar., 10, 2014

Looks like Bugsplat is up for sale again.
HERE
The current owner has linked the build video in the ad.

April 29, 2014

Looks like Bugsplat is off the market again. The guy that got it from me just sent some pictures. He is doing a radical engine swap and installing a GSXR 1000 sport bike motor in it. He says 250 hp. 15,000 rpm.






Nov., 29, 2014

It has been a few months and I was anxious to see this car with the new engine so I contacted the new owner.
Unfortunately the latest update on this car says it has not yet run with the new engine.
Too busy with life stuff to make progress.

I will update further when I know more.

[whozawhat]

Update October 2015,
According to the new owner of Bugsplat it has not progressed any further with the engine swap project. It is still sitting and waiting.

[whozawhat]

Update Nov 2015.
The new owner sent some pictures. He is back working on it getting the turbo setup and figuring out how to hang the engine in place and hook it up.
The latest numbers he says
"Will be pushing around 320hp at 14,500 rpm:)"

[whozawhat]

Just got an update on Bugsplat,
The new owner has the turbo FXR engine swap up and running.

It still has a few final items like locating a new fuel tank and shortening the axle shafts a bit but it looks pretty wild.

He also slammed it down with a set of air bags.


I hope to see it in the spring at a local show.