1973 V8 Super Beetle Front Engine Conversion - 283 SBC

[V8SuperBeetle]

Originally Posted by effvee

Hi, you might want to add some ceramic booties on your wires, thoses headers are going to cook them time after time;set after set.

The headers are ceramic coated, so that'll help. I haven't heard of that being a problem before, but I will look into it.

[V8SuperBeetle]

Well, I got some things done over this weekend.

I went to Pick A Part, because they had a 50% off labor day sale, and picked up a tranny crossmember. I looked for a tranny but they were all pulled and gone. I sanded blasted the crossmember here at work and it's ready for some paint.






Painted the transmission crossmember.




Flushed and washed the radiator. Then I gave it a light coat of black engine enamel. I was going to polish the brass but the way I plan to mount it and set up my fan shroud my efforts wouldn't have been worth it cause it would be hidden.






I used almost a full quart of Master Series in my gas tank to seal off all the garbage in the tank. Seems to have worked cause I don't hear crap rolling around in there anymore.




I also painted and put the gas tank in place. I just need to get some bolts to permanently hold her down.




Last but not least, I picked up a used good th350 for $100. Getting her ready for a rebuild which I'll attempt myself. What little fluid I poured out looked really clean.




Almost forgot, I'm ordering my roll cage today so I'll have tranny rebuild and roll cage pics coming in the next few weeks.

[V8SuperBeetle]

I started the rebuild of my th350 tranny by starting disassembling it last night. I almost got it completely tore down but I'm lacking a couple of tools to do so. One of which I ordered, a clutch spring compressor, and the other is snap ring pliers which I'll just buy.

I've never rebuilt a transmission before but this thing is a piece of cake to take a part with the help of a Ron Sessions book. Shouldn't be too bad to put back together either. On another note, this tranny is really clean inside and has very little signs of wear on the clutches, bushings, and trust washers. I had thought about just buttoning it back up with new seals and gaskets, and a good case cleaning but I want to make it more durable by adding an extra clutch and a hardened sprag as well as give it stiffer shift with a shift kit and adjustable modulator.


Pan off. See, clean.




My low buck oil pump puller. A $7 pry bar and two 3/8"x16 bolts threaded in 4 complete turns. Worked like a charm.








This is about as far as I got. I couldn't remove the nickel sized snap ring that holds in the gear / shell and you can see in the next picture the valve body is disassembled.






More to come as I finish tear down, have the case hot tanked, clean the hard parts, and reassemble.

[johnnyvee]

dude, you're a damn machine

[V8SuperBeetle]

My cage came in moments ago. I'm going to see if I can't get her tacked in this weekend. Any tips on notching the tubes? Not all of them cam with notches. Thanks.

[Humble]

Here's the trick I used when I notched my rollcage: Go find a toilet paper tube, a razor, and a sharpe. Take the tube and start by cutting two very shallow U's on one side so it looks like a notched pipe. Start shallow then slowly take away more until you get a nice fit. Once your cardboard template is ready you do a different angle or pipe on the other end of the tube. Only do a template for tubes on the right or left side not both sides. For instance the rear cage stay, and a door down bar on the drivers side. The reason is, you can slice the tube long ways and turn it inside out which gives you a mirrored template for the passenger side of the car. Once you have a line down just use a grinder to take off material, work slowly and test fit often, patience is invaluable with cage work.

Here's a couple pics of what I'm talking about.

[V8SuperBeetle]

Thanks for the tip Humble. I did something similar. I made template from the existing notches.

I spent most of all Sunday trying to get my cage assembled. It's going to take longer than I thought, but It's getting there.

I trimmed and notched about half of the bars. I did quite a bit of thinking and just figuring out exactly how I want this thing to fit. Now it's just making it happen.

The main hoop didn't exactly go where I originally wanted it to so I'll be welding it into the body and the rest will be welded to the frame. I plan to gusset the cage to the body in various places just to stiffen the body up and so the cage and body become one unit that bolts to the frame.

It doesn't look like I got much done, but It's kinda tough do this solo.








The die grinder worked great using the edge of disk to cut. So I got the main hoop and bar tacked.

[V8SuperBeetle]

Not a whole lot of progress was made this weekend, but some.

I got the tranny completely taken apart and then found that the direct clutch piston spring, in the valve body, was broken. Probably the reason why the tranny was taken out of the car. It is a 5 clutch, heavy duty, th350, so that's good.

I decided just to go ahead and take the tranny to a professional shop because they could get it put together quicker, I don't have much "clean room" where I can assemble the tranny, and I get a 6 month warranty with the guys who did the work, that is if I can get it all going with six months time. Haha.


They did a really nice job and they were very informative about the parts I had and what to look out for. Basically the kit I had was a stock rebuilder kit repacked. Which is ok for my purposes. I dropped off the tranny Sat morning and they had it ready Monday after work.




I installed the tranny crossmember.




The tranny is ready to go in. I'm thinking I'll put the motor, hook the tranny up, and then install it as a unit...? I could just have someone help me pull it through the door rather than remove the engine. Hmmm...dunno which was would be easiest. Either way it wont be as bad as installing it in a car with a firewall and floor.

Also, I have a new radiator, fan, mounting hardware, etc. on their way. I bought a 22"w x 19"h aluminum radiator. I'm pretty sure I figured out a way to put my radiator up front. It'll be mounted low but wont be sticking out of the bottom of the body. Hopefully. The only way I see this working is I'll have to use a rack and pinion setup, which I'll have to buy.

Any advice on which rack to use for the S10 frame?

[V8SuperBeetle]

Another quicky update. I got the transmission installed last night. Torque converter seated all the way down and it spins freely with the bell housing completely bolted up. Now I just need to crawl under the car and bolt the converter to the flex plate.

Believe it or not, I got the tranny in all by myself. I lifted it and sat it on my floor supports, got out a jack with a block of wood, raised the jack, instead the converter (after a quart of ATF), slid the tranny forward until it sat down on the jack / wood, then roll the tranny forward and mated them up. Easier said than done, but it worked.


Sorry, the night shots on my camera phone suck.



I still need to adjust the crossmember. It needs to go in the most forward mount holes so it'll bolt up.

[V8SuperBeetle]

So I got the engine in last night. It's finally a V8 bug. Haha.












I've managed to get one bolt completely through the mount and the other is in but not through the back of the metal mount plate. I've got to move the rear of the engine about an inch towards the passenger side so it can go all the way through.

On another note, the engine fits great but I'll have to raise the body about 3" to clear the breather and the alternator. Seems dropping the body 6" around the frame was a tad too much. I might have to buy me a lower mounting alternator bracket for a short water pump. Maybe the one I have will fit after I raise the body, but we'll see.

One great thing is the dist. clears the wiper motor compartment by about 2". That's with the motor all the way forward in the mounts so I've got a little wiggle room to move the engine back slightly if needed.

[Humble]

Lookin' good! Where are you going to put the radiator? Clearance looks a little tight at the front of the motor.

[V8SuperBeetle]

Thanks Humble. The radiator will go in the back to fill the void and to help distribute some of the weight to the back. The high mount alternator bracket will have to go unless I can find away to use the same bracket to mount the alt upside down. I might wind up fabricating a cowl induction hood depending on whether or not I can have enough clearance under the hood.

[Humble]

With the radiator in the back I'd be worried about airflow, how are you going to get air back there?

[johnnyvee]

talk about your overkill

rock on

[volkdent]

I'm sure you can fab up a low mount alternator bracket, and a low rise intake would clear the hood wouldn't it? Hate to see that thing looking like a 4x4!!!

Make sure you're gathering plenty of air and forcing it through the radiator if your doing rear mount. I'd suggest aluminum as well to make it as efficient as possible. On the good side the motor is going to be laughing at how much weight your asking it to lug around!

Jason