Turbo Punk, Skeletal Remains, And Other Worthless Shit.

[Turbo Punk]

Well, for over a year and a half I've been holding out on creating my intro. Why? hell, I don't know, I guess I was just
rebelling against the system.
Actually, I'm just lazy. Now here's what I've worked on and what I'm working on.

This is a wagon I built for my daughter. The only "stock" parts are the tub and the handle. Everything else I fabricated
from scrap metal and aluminum from work.





Here's my go-cart.



Now the good stuff. Here's my 1961 Turbo Bug. I've got a 1955cc turbo engine connected to a Rancho Performance
pro street plus tranny, CB Performance narrowed and dropped front end with disc brakes.




And finally, here is "Skeletal Remains". It started out as a 1956 ragtop bug out of a small town north of Buffalo NY.


Since the bottom 3-6" were rotted away I decided to use a rust free 1967 body as a donor for the missing metal.


Then invited some friends (fellow Volksrods.com members) for a couple chopping parties.


After cutting the two cars apart it was time to put the two together. This is basicly how it sits now.



So there you have it, I'll post some of the cool accessories I've collected for the car next time.

Tim

[Turbo Punk]

Ok, day 2 and a couple more pics. Here is a concept pic of my car. Since I'm doing a "Letherman Chop" (thank you Walt for the measurements and instructions) I used a pic of the Rat Patrol for my canvas.



Here is the steering wheel that TC restored and customized for me. This is the wheel that came with the car and believe me, it needed help. TC is one talanted man.



Since we're on the subject of the steering wheel, here is the horn button that Unkl Ian striped for me.



The wheels.


The engine. It will have dual Kadrons with 2 skull intakes instead of just one on the stock carb.




And the last pic for the day, Here is the decklid. The insets of the "W" have since been clear coated and the plan is to follow the lines of the car and clear the roof and the inset of the front hood. The rest of the car will be flat black except for the burgandy on the sides.

[Turbo Punk]

Here are a couple pics of the chassis. I bought this from a guy in Pa. for $500. It is fully restored with a newly rebuilt tranny. It is painted with Por-15 which is peeling off in sheets . I have a can of Master Series that will go on once I finish peeling the rest of that other crap off.



Going on the front is a rare Tinbeater extention. I say rare because it's a balljoint to linkpin extender. I wanted to keep the old 5 lug wheels to keep the old look. Nothing looks worse than an oval bug with 4 lug wheels.

Since the windshield is going to be just shy of 6 inches tall, I figured I'd have to find a way to see the street lights. I bought one of those streetlight viewers at a hotrod show and had The One Armed Bandit pinstripe it for me. It should look pretty bitchin mounted to the dash.


Here is the sign Pistol Pete painted for me I had the extra '56 door and felt that it was too perfect. There's no rust damage what-so-ever. So I just HAD to drill 4 holes and mount the sign .

[Turbo Punk]

New plans..... I bought a 54' bug shell that is going to replace the 56. I'll still use most of the parts from the 56 as well as the chassis with the extender. Since I won't be chopping the roof, I'll need something else to turn peoples heads, the car will have a full air-ride suspension. I'm picking everything up tomorrow and if the weather clears up, I'll be bolting the front end onto the chassis and trimming the body to fit.
Here's a couple pics of the new body.

[Turbo Punk]

Here's the latest update. I installed the new air-ride front end today after work. Here's a couple side by side comparisons to give you an idea of what I'm doing.

At full height, the frame head sits 10" off the ground.


When dropped, the frame head is about 1/4" off the ground.



I'll start working on the rear this weekend if the weather holds out. I'll get everything in place and take it to a pro to weld up.

[Turbo Punk]

Well, since I've dismantled "Skeletal Remains" and started on the new car, I felt that I should go with another paint scheme. This is actually an old idea that drew a while ago. I'm still going to use the decklid pictured above but I'm going with flames on the sides.
The car will still be a combo of flat and gloss black but I plan on masking out the flames and then spray a silver fade, front to rear, and then follow it up with burgandy to make the flames pop.
Here's the pic, sorry it's lousy. Oh, did I mention that I won't be chopping the top?

[Turbo Punk]

Well, Dan and I just got back from Jim Wolcotts. I GOT DOORS!!! Dan said I just HAD to get a pic with the door on the car so here it is. Damn that rake looks sick!!

[Turbo Punk]

I finished installing the rear spring plates for the rear drop. Next I have to fit the airbag mounts and have them welded in. Should be cool when I can finish this baby up. I hope to pick up the body tomorrow and start trimming it to fit.

[Turbo Punk]

I got the body home today and put it on the chassis (sort of). Yes, it is possible to lift a body by yourself and line it up on a chassis .




Looks like I may have to tub the rear a bit




Here's a drawing I did at work. This is going to be incorporated into the new name for this car-- FREAKSHOW--. I think it may end up on the front 1/4 panels.

[Turbo Punk]

I got the front trimmed and the body sitting on the pan . It actually looks like a car now! I wanted to keep as much of the front shelf as possible so I made a couple verticle cuts and bent the outside pieces back. I'll have to bend the bottoms back a bit to clear the tie-rods when I lower the front.



Here it is!! Body on and front dropped to the ground.


And now with the rear dropped. I had to lift the back of the car by hand to get the jack out

[Turbo Punk]

I did some more work today. I welded the access panels to the inner fender wells then trimmed them up to clear the shock towers and tie-rods. I also trimmed the hood to fit over the steering box. I think I'll trim just a little more on the hood and weld in an inner lip so I don't have an exposed sharp edge.

[Turbo Punk]

I started painting the new suspension parts and body with Master Series today. I'll have to pick up some more from Chuck to finish it. Once the body is done, I'll do the chassis.

[Turbo Punk]

I got a little bit done today. I cut the access panels and number panel off the car. Take that you purists !!



Then I welded in a panel to clean up the area a bit. It actually came out all right. The tank I started restoring the other day. I'm still cleaning out the insides. If the degreaser I bought doesn't do the trick, I'll go to paint thinner.
Yes, the tank is a rare '56 2 rib tank . They were only made for a couple months .

[Turbo Punk]

Well, it's been a while since I've posted an update. I've actually been kind of busy on it lately. I started wilding in the new package tray that I cut out of the old project (Skeletal Remains). I still need to weld the front and will wait until I tub the rear wheel wells before welding the sides.
I've also been spending quite a bit of time on the hood. I have already put about 7 hours sanding and smoothing it and still need a couple more hours before it's ready for priming and paint. I'll tell you, I have a lot of respect for people who get these things smooth as glass. It really is tedious work. I'm not looking forward to smoothing out the body. It's as smooth as the lunar landscape.

[Turbo Punk]

I've also been doing some work to the air ride suspension. I just got the Easy Street air management system delivered the other day from www.airliftcompany.com . Now I just have to have the brackets welded in so I can install and set up the rear suspension.
Here's a couple videos of the front system in action. It goes from 1/2" off the ground up to 10".

[Turbo Punk]

Well, I put another hour and a half into smoothing out the hood and got it ready for paint. I poped the top off the Krylon super flat black and started painting. Half way into it the FUCKING nozzle broke off and paint splattered all over it .

Well, looks like I'll have to wait a few days, sand it again and repaint it. I really hope things work out better next time, I'm running out of sandpaper.

[Turbo Punk]

I finally got some work done on the hood. I smoothed out the paint splatters and repainted it today thanks to the 50 degree and sunny Christmas Eve weather. It's coming together a little at a time.





Also I made a little progress on my new shifter design. I welded it up the other day and found a couple piecec I needed at a bike shop yesterday. Here's a pic. I'll have to post another once I get a couple more things sorted out. The reverse lock out lever used to be an emergancy brake release leaver from a 30's Chevy car.

[Turbo Punk]

Well, nothing big but I just attached the hood ornament today. Wow, I spent a whole 10 minutes on the car. It's the side trim from an old Volvo. That's the thing I like about this project as well as many others on this site. If you find something cool, you can always find a use for it.

Purists be damned!!!

Here's a pic.

[Turbo Punk]

Two weeko I went to New Jersey to pick up a titled '68 chassis for $50. Well last week I traded it and a bit of cash for the original '54 chassis for my car along with a '68 tranny with 54 axles, tubes, brakes, and nose cone so it will fit the 54 chassis . Now once the weather warms up, I can start changing everything over. Here's a pic.



I also won some semaphore parts on ebay so I can now restore the ones I have for the car.

[Turbo Punk]

I don't know if I mentioned it but I now own the original doors from my project. I finally bought them from my friend Chris for a very good price and now have a spare set. I just need to re-skin the bottoms since they are pretty rotted and should be good to go after that. This is a pic of the passenger door while the car was still together. (when my friend Al owned it).

[Turbo Punk]

I met up with a few friends down in southern Ct. today for our anual VW performance forum get together (northeastaircooledperformance.org) and picked up my engine for "Freakshow".

This is the longblock that originally came out of my '61 turbo bug. I traded it to my friend Tim Scheller for all the work he did installing the 1955cc engine, tranny and other stuff in the '61. Well, since he's going in a different direction with his car, I bought the engine back. Not only did I get the longblock, I also got dual Kadrons, MSD 6al box, MSD coil, MSD wires, all engine tin, CB breather box, alternator, etc... The only things I'll have to buy are a new oil pump, MSD distrubutor and fuel pump. Hell, he's even going to come up to the house when I'm ready and help put it together and install it!!

A little more about this engine...It's fully balanced and blueprinted, is loaded with Gene Berg internals, was gone through less than 500 miles ago to install new bearings (it didn't need them but he changed them anyway just for piece of mind) and is built to run up to 7000rpm's!! Also, if I want in the future, I can slap a turbo system on it without having to worry about anything. Damn I can't wait to get the car together!!
Here's the pics.




Can you see the upsidedown "G. BERG" on the cam above the allen bolt?

[Turbo Punk]

Got a deal I couldn't refuse on some complete working semaphores. I'm gonna bring them to work to sand and repaint them while I'm supposed to be running the machines (don't tell my boss).

[Turbo Punk]

Sanded, primed, painted and my boss even saw me doing it .

Now I just need to clean up the lenses with some pollishing compound and I'll be all set.

[Turbo Punk]

[Turbo Punk]