1973 V8 Super Beetle Front Engine Conversion - 283 SBC

[70Turbobug]

Ahhh ok - thanks.I was thinking more along the lines of stretching the clear coat or paint and then spray it on then buffing it.When I was in high school we did a project on the shop teachers Willys Jeep where we sanded the clear coat with 1200 and worked our way to 2000 between clear coats to get a deep effect on the paint.Black paint seemed bottomless deep.I´m not a painter though...I was one of the lucky guys that got to sand between the clear coats.....after that,I decided to stick to engines

[V8SuperBeetle]

Sanding can be no fun, but it's well worth the work in the long run. That sounds like some really fine grit to be applying another coat of clear. I wonder if he had adhesion problems with the addition coat. I only used 400 and 600.

[V8SuperBeetle]

Quick update.

I tore down part of my engine (headers, wires, carb, throttle linkage, dist, alt., etc), so I can paint the engine bay, and I repainted the engine. It had gotten a little nasty looking since having broke the engine in having head a little leak here and there. Looks like new again.




I also repainted the headers. Last time i didn't follow the instructions so the paint flaked off. This time I followed them and baked the ceramic paint on @ 300º for 2 hours. Boy did that stuff stink up the house.




I sprayed the "final" flow coat this weekend but ran into problems. My paint gun was acting up in middle of spraying the first fender so I had to quickly switch to my other paint gun. Well that through me off and it wasn't all that clean. So I managed to get a couple noticeable runs and I have a lot of dust in my paint as well. Needless to say, I'll have to sand them back down, fix the problem with my gun (which I figured out this morning) and repaint. Two steps forward, one step back.










Ughh...if it aint one thing, it's another. It'll get there though, just not quickly. I'm just being picky. My wife says they look good for being painted in a garage, I think I can make it better though.

[70Turbobug]

Keep at it until your satisfied.Nothing will annoy you more than doing something you think is half ass... What mods have been done to the engine? I see underdrive pulleys..

[V8SuperBeetle]

Originally Posted by 70Turbobug

Keep at it until your satisfied.Nothing will annoy you more than doing something you think is half ass... What mods have been done to the engine? I see underdrive pulleys..

I agree, it would bug me every time I looked at the car.

Mods are:

350 w/ 3.75" stroker crank for a total of 383 ci.
Vortec cylinder heads w/ upgrade Lunati valvles springs.
CR of 10.39:1 / DCR of 8.69 - I may need to run 98 octane. We have 93 here at the pump.
Isky cam .450/.450 lift, 278/278 duration, 234/234 @ .050, 106 LSA, installed 4º advanced
high rise RPM intake
750 carb
headman shorty headers
2.25" dual exhaust to 40 series FlowMaster Mufflers


I had a desktop dyno ran with head flow factored by 95% (5% less than the factory published numbers). Normally they've been 5-10% accurate with the software used. Figures are...

438 hp @5500, 410 ft/lbs @2000 and 469 ft/lbs @4000.

She's a real torque monster. One of these days I'll get it to the track and see how it does in the 1/4 mile. My gearing isn't the best for 1/4 though cause I have 3.08 gears. I could use 3.73 or 4.10 for best 1/4 mile time, but I don't want the drivability to suffer for .5 seconds at the track.

[V8SuperBeetle]

I put down the final coat of clear on the fenders. They look great, except for the dust in the paint. I've come to the conclusion that this is the best I'll be able to get them painting in my garage, which isn't bad at all. Don't get me wrong, they have a nice mirror finish, just has a little dust though. There's a dog hair and bug on one fender too. LOL

I think I'm going to bite the bullet and will cut and buff the paint job. I'm thinking I'll hit it with 1200 to level out the dust, bug and hair, then 1500 and finally 2000. Then compound with the wool bonnet and polish with the foam bonnet. I've never buffed out a car before so I don't really know what to expect, other than it should come out like a dust free mirror. LOL

Can't hurt to try / practice it on a fender. If something goes wrong, I still have plenty of clear.

Here are the results. If you look at the light in the reflection you'll see the dust.

Oh yeah, my purple paint gun crapped out on me. That's okay though cause I have my backup that does just as well. I was just really getting used to the purple one though. No biggie. It did it's $35 dollars worth of work. Now to get my $50 out of this one. ;D






Here are the products I'm THINKING about getting to do the cut and buff job.

Buffer with wool and foam bonnet.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MAK-9227CX3/

Buffing compound.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MEG-M-8532/

Polishing compound.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MEG-M-8232/


Any comments or advice would be much appreciated. I've never buffed before.

[V8SuperBeetle]

I put down the final coat of clear on the fenders. They look great, except for the dust in the paint. I've come to the conclusion that this is the best I'll be able to get them painting in my garage, which isn't bad at all. Don't get me wrong, they have a nice mirror finish, just has a little dust though. There's a dog hair and bug on one fender too. LOL

I think I'm going to bite the bullet and will cut and buff the paint job. I'm thinking I'll hit it with 1200 to level out the dust, bug and hair, then 1500 and finally 2000. Then compound with the wool bonnet and polish with the foam bonnet. I've never buffed out a car before so I don't really know what to expect, other than it should come out like a dust free mirror. LOL

Can't hurt to try / practice it on a fender. If something goes wrong, I still have plenty of clear.

Here are the results. If you look at the light in the reflection you'll see the dust.

Oh yeah, my purple paint gun crapped out on me. That's okay though cause I have my backup that does just as well. I was just really getting used to the purple one though. No biggie. It did it's $35 dollars worth of work. Now to get my $50 out of this one. ;D






Here are the products I'm THINKING about getting to do the cut and buff job.

Buffer with wool and foam bonnet.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MAK-9227CX3/

Buffing compound.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MEG-M-8532/

Polishing compound.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MEG-M-8232/


Any comments or advice would be much appreciated. I've never buffed before.

[bow]

sweet man youll be alot happier with the 3m buffing and polishing compounds

[V8SuperBeetle]

Thanks, bow.

After about 24 hours of masking, painting and waiting between coats, I finally have her in color!

Once it cures I'm going to wet sand and shoot a final float coat for an even smooth finish.

Sealed her up inside and out with a coat of epoxy primer.




Two coats of color.




2 coats of black, 3 coats of clear.

[volkdent]

Big progress, can't wait to see her bolted up!


Jason

[V8SuperBeetle]

Me too! Still some more to do before I can bolt her together. Almost there though.


Matt

[V8SuperBeetle]

This picture may scare some of you, but have no fear. The car will come out with a mirror like finish. My mother in law didn't quite understand why I was sanding my nice shiny paint. LOL

I have finished wet sanding with 400 grit and got her nice and flat. I have about half of the car done with 600 grit. After sanding she'll get a good bath and a wipe down with surface wash.

I'm thinking I will have the final flow coat of clear done this coming Saturday morning, or Sunday.

[V8SuperBeetle]

Got her all sanded down with 600 grit and I gave her a thorough bath. All's left to do is a wipe down with surface wash and spray another coat of clear.

[V8SuperBeetle]

Got some work done.

I sprayed the final coat of clear Saturday morning. It came out pretty nice. There are a couple runs, but nothing that wont sand and buff out.

Sunday my buddy came over to help me start putting this thing back together. We got the trim on, weather striping, got the door handles functional, and we managed to get a few windows in. We were having quite a hard time getting the front window in, so we called it a day.

Almost there!!! More to come soon.

[Steve C]

Hi

Looking good. I always find that the doors are most tedious part of a rebuild to do.

Steve