A few things I've managed to get done.
Here's how the distributor mod looks.
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.
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.
I moved the gas pedal away from the brake pedal some more. This is as far over as I can get it.
And, last but not least, last night I made templates (night before), cut them out and welded the rear wheel wells in.
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?
Here you can see a guideline I drew where I want to cut it.
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.