Thanks, Rob. Took it around the block to show a couple guys whom have bugs in my neighborhood. When I left I gave it a little gas. Tach got to about 2,500 rpm. That thing barked it's tires and took off! I can't wait to give it WOT!

Got a few more things done off the list.

Made and tacked in some plates to cover the hole where the driveshaft runs through the firewall. I had to do it this way cause the driveshaft and column are all one welded up piece. A little seam sealer and paint and it should look decent. You can also see I filled in the holes where the gas pedal was. I'm moving it over away from the brake pedal to give me more room. It'll be closer to the trans hump, but at least it wont be an inch away from the brake pedal.

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


Finished off the flooring on the passenger side. This is where the trans hump comes up into the floor giving the exhaust room to tuck within the chassis.

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


Last, but not least, I finished the tin work for the radiator / shroud. Just needs seem sealer. I'll still make a shroud for the fan itself, but that'll come in the finishing stages.

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


All's left to do is make the back floor that goes above the tank, weld in some front clip supports out of some metal rod, trim some more out of the engine bay to clean the look up, and make a battery box. Then it'll be ready for the body work stages.

High five!

Awesome!! Congratulations to your roll out!

Thanks. I've been cruising it around the block every now and then to help break in the engine. I rompt on it the other day. Got it up to about 3,500, which is pretty low, but :eek: this things is a hand full. Very fun. :D

PLEASE TAKE SOME VIDEO!!!! :D

Chris.

I did. Take a look on the previous page. Better yet, here you go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4Ct4LndyBk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKK5sYU2pHg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho0XJjECUns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKUld...eature=related


I'll get some video of the car getting on it soon enough. Just trying to get this thing finished. :D

A few things I've managed to get done.

Here's how the distributor mod looks.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/383-...-hei-mod-1.jpg


You can see the mechanical advance limiting screw with the side ground for "fine" tuning and the vacuum limiter which is made out of just a piece of 22 gauge steel I had laying around. Next to free modifying this thing.

Had to clearance the rotor cap a little.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/383-...-hei-mod-2.jpg


Here you can see it was a great concern to me whether or not I could even remove the distributor cap. Thank god it would come off. I still had to rotate the crank to get to the rotor screws.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/383-...-hei-mod-4.jpg


I moved the gas pedal away from the brake pedal some more. This is as far over as I can get it.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/383-...-hei-mod-3.jpg


And, last but not least, last night I made templates (night before), cut them out and welded the rear wheel wells in.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/383-...-hei-mod-5.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/383-...-hei-mod-6.jpg


Having a couple gallons (everything is sealed...but) of gas in the tank and the fact the paint kept catching fire on the bug body when I was welding the wheel well pieces up kept me from wanting to fully weld these things up. Some MasterSeries and sealer will finish the job here.

Next thing I'm going to tackle is the "engine bay". I want to trim out all the excess sheet and reinforce the front clip with some 7/16" rod. What do you guys think? Will I have problems with the whole front end shaking or will it be strong enough with some reinforcement and the fenders bolted up?

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/383-...-hei-mod-7.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/383-...-hei-mod-8.jpg



Here you can see a guideline I drew where I want to cut it.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/383-...-hei-mod-9.jpg


I'm trying to make the engine bay as simple as possible. No wheel wells and the wiper compartment will go so I'll have easier access to the dizzy. Also, it'll allow me to use the cowl vent to allow how air to escape. I just plan to make a mount for the wiper motor.

Things to do before body work / paint stages.

1. Rear, above gas tank, sheet metal.

2. Finish engine bay.

3. Finish filler neck sheet metal.

4. Seam sealer.


Getting there.

Don't forget item number 5 for your list:

5. Drive the sh!t out of it, all over hell, to see what will break! :D

Best to shake it down good and hard in primer first, right?
You never know what you might find needs done differently.

I like the "Wheel Hop Test" myself.

Or "Jump the Railroad Tracks"...

Way more fun to find tires that rub, or stress cracks, or... When it's not covered in shiny paint.

I don't think this will work as the base of the windscreen is a high pressure area and therefore is used as the inlet area for heater and dash venting. I can't think of a single vehicle that doesn't use this area as an inlet for the interior that proves the effectiveness of it.

Clive

Haha, that's true. I'm not going to jump tracks, but I have been testing and tuning the car in between working on it. It's hard not to want to drive this thing. :D So far so good. Mashed it the other night. It was kinda scary. Everything's holding up great.

I know what you mean, although, I do have all of the vent's / heater stuff taken out and the holes welded up with sheet metal. I'm going to seal the car with 3M seam sealer real good. So I'm thinking the air that comes through the front louvers of the the front clip with allow air to flow through the engine compartment and through those vents. What do you think?

Got some work done.

I decided to just clean up the engine compartment by adding panels to hide the strut tower mounts and gas tank rail. It didn't quite turn out how I wanted, but I'm pleased with the results.

I was aiming for a look like this.

http://memimage.cardomain.com/member...344_5_full.jpg


I made patterns, again, cut out the sheet metal and went to install them. Oh, I also made a wiper compartment cover.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/engi...-bug-383-1.jpg


Everything fit well, but I could not for the life of me get the 18 gauge steel I had to bend smoothly. So I just boxed the top off instead. I think it came out pretty decent. The pics aren't great, but I think it'll look decent once It's got some hugger orange or black down.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/engi...-bug-383-2.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/engi...-bug-383-3.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/engi...-bug-383-4.jpg


I've also been taking care of buttoning up little things like bolting in the gas tank and hooking up the kickdown cable.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/engi...-bug-383-5.jpg

I bought a kickdown cable months ago and it didn't line up with the vortec intake bolt pattern (has 8 instead of 12). So I had to cut and bend this one to make it work right. Works like a champ now.

I also think I have my alternator situation figured out. I'm going to have to make an insert in the sheetmetal panel I just made, but I think it'll work. I'm basically just going to turn it upside down on the alternator mount I have now.

More soon.

I still don't think it will work as the air pressure at the base of the windscreen is quite high and maybe higher than that at the front clip from all the pressure diagrams I have seen. If the air at the base of the screen is at this higher pressure then the tendancy will be for the air to flow in there and out through the bottom of the engine compartment. It may even stop the airflow through the front altogether. if nothing else it will be a turbulent free for all in the engine compartment.

You could close the old heater vents off and vent the engine space into the front arches?

I did a little mocking up last night which has me still trying to figure out my alternator situation and I change my mind on my wheel direction.

The great news is the engine pulleys and radiator hose clear the hood by a few inches actually. I was worried they wouldn't. There's more room under the hood than it really looks. I did take the carb off and the breather (wait for it), but the hood closes great. I haven't seen my car with the hood on in quite some time. Here's how the hood closes minus carb, breather, and alternator. Wait for it...

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/hood...-383-bug-1.jpg


The other problem, as some of you may know, is I have never put the 17" vette wheels on upfront. I've always have had the 16" upfront so I figured they'd fit, no problem, right? WRONG. The tie rod rides on the wheel. I would need 2.5 spacers to clear. I have 2" spacers on there now.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/hood...-383-bug-2.jpg


This is a repost for some, but I'm going with Weld wheels and this is how the car will look.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/v8-b...-orange-44.jpg


It'll be safer cause I'll be getting ride of the spacers AND I'm lovin' the old school drag car look.

I played with the alternator a little. I installed it as it would normally be. I was surprised it closed as much as it did. The hood is about 2" away from being completely shut.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/hood...-383-bug-3.jpg
http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/hood...-383-bug-4.jpg


I then disconnected the alternator and turned it as far outboard as I could. That gave me another 1/2" - 3/4" closer on the hood. It's so close to being closed. Ughh...

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/hood...-383-bug-5.jpg
http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/hood...-383-bug-6.jpg


If only I could get the alternator to sit another 1 1/2" lower I would have it made. I'm looking into other alternator brackets.

Last but not least, my carb scoop came in, tubes of seam sealer and all my paints for the car (MasterSeries, epoxy primer, high build primer, hugger orange, black, clear coat, HVLP gun, etc). Here's a mock up pic of the car scoop. Should look b*tchin'!

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/hood...-383-bug-7.jpg


This weekend I'm going to try and get the rear sheet metal finished and get the hood cut for the carb scoop. That should just about get me ready for the body work stages.

I guess my car is officially not long the german look style?

Got some work done. Not as much as I would've like, but something.

Mounted my carb spacer and carb scoop mounted and I cut out the hood too. Mmmm, polished aluminum. I think it added another 50 hp, lol, jk. Maybe 5-10 hp on the top end.

Got some work done. Not as much as I would've like, but something.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/bug-383-v8-stuff-1.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/bug-383-v8-stuff-2.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/bug-383-v8-stuff-3.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/bug-383-v8-stuff-4.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/bug-383-v8-stuff-5.jpg


I think I may have my alternator situation figured out. It'll mount like this, but it'll take a little fabrication to make this work.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/bug-383-v8-stuff-6.jpg


Did a little grinding to clean up the sheet metal in the engine bay.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/bug-383-v8-stuff-9.jpg


I starting doing some seam work. I put down a coat of Master Series on the seams to keep then from ever rusting. Next it'll get another coat and them some 3M seam sealer.

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/bug-383-v8-stuff-7.jpg

http://www.mikeydesigns.com/bug/bug-383-v8-stuff-8.jpg


I ordered my wheels so they should be here Wednesday. I should have some pics by the weekend with them mounted. Maybe even a little cruising video with some of the new toys on.