Got some work done to the bug. Actually, I put in about 10 hrs time, but it really feels like I didn't get a whole lot done. Getting in the coil springs, even with a compressor, was a real pain without the full weight of an engine or the vehicle to help, but I got it done. That took up most my time.

I sand blasted the front leaf spring mounts.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...-rebuild-1.jpg


And some misc. parts.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...-rebuild-2.jpg


Misc parts painted.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...-rebuild-3.jpg


I didn't realize just how bad the cabinet sand blaster at my work was clogged up until our engineer saw just how slow the process was taking. We filtered out the beads, put it back in, and it worked like a champ. I kinda thought it was taking forever and it wasn't really doing a great job of removing all the rust, but what do I know? I don't do this everyday and can't really complain because my work allows me to use some of their equipment. Any who, it works much better.

Here's the steering linkage sandblasted.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...-rebuild-4.jpg


Linkage with new tie rods installed and painted.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...-rebuild-5.jpg


Leaf mounts painted. You can see in this picture just how much I had to cut out of the heater channels. Quite a bit.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...-rebuild-6.jpg


And here's the frame as of this weekend. Control arms installed with new bushings and ball joints. Coil springs painted and installed. New shocks installed. Lowered 2" spindles. Sway bar painted and installed with new bushings and new sway linkage.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...-rebuild-7.jpg


Thats about as far as I got. More later.

Got some more work done this week and weekend. This will be kinda short because I smashed my finger working on the car this weekend. Leaf spring fell on it. Good thing it's my ring finger that I use to play guitar with and it's a good thing I DOn't have a couple shows to play this coming friday and sat. It's all good though. That's why we have four fingers.

Here's a pic of the wheels Ray lent me so I can compare to see if I'll like my wheels black. These are the same wheels and these are for the rear. 18" x 9.5 Thanks Ray!

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...sion-s10-1.jpg


I thoroughly cleaned the wheel bearings, thrust washer and castle nut to later find out I had bought new bearings. ::) Well, the bearings were in really good shape so I'll hang onto them, put new ones in, for future maintenance.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...sion-s10-2.jpg


Painted the spindle and dust cover and installed.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...sion-s10-3.jpg


Sand blasted the calipers.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...sion-s10-4.jpg


Took them apart to clean them and found a good bit of corrosion. Notice the rust on the dust boot.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...sion-s10-5.jpg


I cleaned them and then blasted the inners to find out that one of the pistons had some corrosion which gave me doubts about using for rebuild. So I just bought a new caliper for $10 from the Zone.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...sion-s10-6.jpg


Bearings packed, new seal, and rotor assembly installed with the good ol 2" spacers. Tire rod / steering linkage installed too. Front susp. finished.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...sion-s10-7.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...sion-s10-8.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...sion-s10-9.jpg


I started finishing up the rear suspension but smashed my finger. So I called it a day. After removing the rear diff cover. Finger didn't slow me down really. Just ran out of time really.

Alright, alright...(in my best Matthew Maconha voice) Progress.

Sandblasted the diff cover inside / out and the shock / u-bolt mount.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...mpletion-8.jpg


Drained the gear oil, which didn't look too bad, and added the new stuff after scraping away all the old gasket, on the diff cover and matting surface, with a gasket scraper.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...mpletion-1.jpg


I sand blasted the diff cover at work. Here it is installed. I used some of edelbrock's gasket sealer on both mating surfaces to ensure it seals up nicely.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...mpletion-2.jpg


Here the rear is after a good wire brushing and painting with some Master Series. It came out decent even though there still was some build up I couldn't remove. Seals still must be good cause there was no leakage after it staying like that for days.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...mpletion-3.jpg


Painted the shock mounts, leaf springs, and shackles.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...mpletion-7.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...mpletion-9.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...pletion-10.jpg


Here's a picture of the completed rear. Well, minus the shock tower bolts which I later added. Everything is hand tight for now cause the rear will need washers or something to make up for the extra space left by the .5" narrower leaf springs. Once the body is secured and I have the 18"s on I'll do a final setup of the rear diff.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...pletion-11.jpg


I had decide that I would move the front leaf mounts forward and move the rear back on the leaf springs to make up for it. I did this to help keep the shackles away from the fenders. They were an inch away from the fenders with the way it was previously setup. Well, that didn't work out so well. Here's the front mount moved forward 2". I drilled 1/2" holes to secure the mounts and drill an over size hole so I could mount the Isuzu leafs. The 3/4" were not cheap. :) They look manly though.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...pletion-12.jpg

You can see that the is now further away from the inner fender. The problem I ran into is moving the rear diff back 2" started having a weird effect cause I'm moving further up the arch of the spring. I planed to secure the rear by making something similar to these.

http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/images/S10-301.gif


Maybe I'll try just an inch instead of 2". Or perhaps I'll make some shackles so that they're not so close to the fenders. ???


http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...pletion-13.jpg

Here you see the rear it reassembled with and the body it back on. I tried rolling the chassis out so I could take pictures of it 95% finished and so I can clean up my garage but it was bumping into the boards that support the body. So I figured I'd put the body back on. It's been sitting up on them blocks a little to long for comfort. ;D That and I wanted to see the new stance with the 2" lowering spindles and the 3" block in back.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...mpletion-4.jpg


From this angle you can see how the 18" wheels will be very close to the wheel leaving very little of a gap, which is what I wanted. The tires will tuck into the fenders. I was just wanting to see how things looked.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...mpletion-5.jpg


These are going to look nice. I'll have them on next progress post.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...pletion-14.jpg


She sits fairly low. Even though a only did a 2/3 drop it seems almost slammed when I stand next to it. I'm really loving the stance and I'm sure it'll go down another 1-1.5" once everything is in and settles.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...mpletion-6.jpg


The front end aligned up nicely. The passenger wheel was 2" further inside the fender and make the car look off. Now, they're even and have the same wheel gap.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...pletion-15.jpg


Here's the problem I was running into. The arch of the leaf spring combined with the lowering blocks pushed the wheels forward. I can move the axle back that would just amplify the effect.

I'll get her sitting right again. Next time. If it ain't one thing it's another.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...pletion-16.jpg

I like these wheels. Looking good.

saludos desde Paraguay!!
 

excelente!! se nota que ya estas trabajando bastante por tu Käfer!!! exitos!!

Thanks ferfre and pete...

Well, I got the rear mocked up and hand tightened. The wheels fit nicely and look cool. I've got a bout 1/2" on each side from the fender hitting the side wall. I'm sure I could get more by slightly opening the bottom of the body since it's not permanently mounted just yet.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...8-wheels-1.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...8-wheels-2.jpg


Today when I get home from work I'm going to roll the chassis out and get some pictures. Then clean up the garage and organize my engine parts and tools so I can start build the motor. Finally.

huuuuuuuuuge!!!!!

:D :yes: :cheers:

Here's a few pictures of the size on my garage, per RaidMagic's request, and some shots of how the black vette wheels look.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/garage-wheels-1.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/garage-wheels-2.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/garage-wheels-3.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/garage-wheels-4.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/garage-wheels-5.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/garage-wheels-6.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/garage-wheels-7.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/garage-wheels-8.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/garage-wheels-9.jpg

Those black wheels look great. Wow. That thing is starting to look meaner and meaner.

Btw, I feel ya regarding the workspace.:)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3403/...5bdb223e_m.jpg

saludos desde Paraguay!!
 

hello, how long you think it would be ready?:D

Thanks! It'll continue to look meaner. I was thinking of doing a black with gun metal metallic grey, but here's the look I've decided to go with. Jet black and candy orange with a gold base.

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._7072800_n.jpg

Thanks for sharing that picture. I see you're in a similar situation space wise.

To be honest. I'm getting married and having a new home built at the moment. So all my money, most of it, is tied up in putting a payment down on the home, closing costs, and wedding bills.

I'm hoping I'll have it finished early next year. Hopefully. :D

:thumbup: