bugdust - Page 2 - Cut-Weld-Drive Forums

bugdust · November 7th, 2004, 03:44 PM

I'm building a longer shifter. I cut the threaded part off the top of a stock straight shifter and cut the bottom of the shifter where the tube part goes onto the solid part. I rounded the solid part with a belt sander then threaded it to 7/16 ( I think, I've used the tap & die set a lot the last few days). Then, I welded the threaded top to a pice of 5/8' solid round bar that is 40" long and smoothed out the weld and tapered the shaft with the belt sander. I have a nut that I'm going to weld to the bottom of the shaft as soon as I put all the bends in it. i may still have to cut some of the length off. I took the die grinder with a cut-off wheel in it and grinded the little ball that's in the bottom of the shifter. Once I got it small enough I pulled it out with a pick along with the spring. then I tapped a roll pin inti the hole. it's a little bigger diameter than I wanted so the slot I cut into the shift rod cup will have to be about 3/16". I still have to trim the roll pin because it sticks out about 3/4".
I should finish the shifter this week. I have the Scat bus shifter in there now and I just got a Hurst bus shifter off ebay but it hasn't gotten here yet.

bugdust · November 7th, 2004, 03:50 PM

I also scored some free old ratty seats for it. The driver side has a couple small tears in it but I don't care. They were in a baja so they are on VW rails already.

Check out the rebar braces. I'm not sure what they came out of originally but they have little round rubber bumpers on the back so I'm thinking some kind of delivery van? Plus, a friend of mine has a wooden Superior type steering wheel that I'm going to get or I have a couple 500s already.

The baja has all the lights in the housings now. Updated pics on my photobucket page. Click the link in my signature.
~Charlie

bugdust · November 8th, 2004, 07:00 PM

Shifter is basically finished, I think. I still have to put a quick-shift kit under it and maybe tweak the bends to get 1st and 3rd.

This is the pieces.

bugdust · November 8th, 2004, 07:04 PM

I welded the nut onto the shaft and grinded it until it was smooth and round. Then, I screwed it onto the shifter bottom part. I didn't really like the way it felt because when I threaded it the threads were a little shallow. So, I went ahead and welded the shaft/ nut to the bottom part, then grinded it smooth.

That knob is just there for now, I will put a different one on there soon.

bugdust · November 12th, 2004, 02:20 PM

I just scored an old copper hurst bus shifter off ebay

bugdust · November 20th, 2004, 03:13 PM

OK, I got the long shifter temporarily mounted in the baja with the shift lit. It's not going in there, it's just easier to switch shifters in the baja since the 69 has a 1" spacer plate that is a bit of a pain to line up and hold, etc. Anyway, I can get all the gears now but I'm still going to either bend the shifter a little more or shorten it a few inches. I'm working on a shift knob/T-handle for it also.

I yanked the ugly seats out of the 69 and put one of the "new" seats in just to see how they look & feel. I managed to take a little chunk out of my thumb in the process

The seat sits a little high but it's pretty comfortable. I'll pull it back out and paint the frames & clean them up some. I might lower them too. I also yanked the steering wheel out and put in a Superior 500 that I have. I have to find the horn button (it's around here somewhere) I'll try to post pics within a couple of days. I think I have to get new batteries for my camera, it died today at a local show

Anyway, watch this space...the 69 is getting a minor cosmetic change this weekend

bugdust · November 21st, 2004, 11:28 AM

Minor cosmetic change in progress

Some new pics on the link in my signature under RHD 69 or whatever it's called.

bugdust · November 21st, 2004, 02:54 PM

bugdust · November 25th, 2004, 05:27 PM

Bug is almost all painted, just have to do the left door & jamb and the dash.

The 69 has been shaved (door handles, trim, one wiper, license plate light, rain gutter in front of doors, turnsignals, emblems, everything), frenched (license plate, antenna, Porsche 914 guages), filled (dash, bumper mount holes, exhaust cut outs, rear air intake). More?? Has 4-wheel discs (914 rotors on type III hubs on rear, ghia on front), lowered, 8-spokes, new 165s on back, new 195/50s on front, teardrop tail lights, scat bus shifter, etc???

bugdust · January 15th, 2005, 07:57 PM

I haven't done anything to the bug but here's a couple pics anyway.

bugdust · January 15th, 2005, 07:59 PM

...and the pop-outs I got from Donald (57Drag) are now installed and sporting some stickers.

bugdust · January 15th, 2005, 08:03 PM

...and the baja with the KCs mounted.

bugdust · January 30th, 2005, 05:22 PM

Nothing new on the 69 or the baja. But, I sold the long shifter (thanks Dan) and the Hurst bus shifter (for triple+ what I paid for it)

Then, I bought a package deal. Donald ( I think) posted an ebay ad for some VWs local to me. Well, they didn't sell so I called the guy, went and looked at them and made an offer. Well, now I've added a 61 baja shell, a rustu 65, a 70 that's all apart, and a 74 bus, plus lots of parts. I'll post pics tomorrow. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them all yet but one of them is going to be a volksrod!!

bugdust · January 30th, 2005, 08:48 PM

Okay, here's another pic of more of my junk. My yard looks like a redneck lives here and my wife is just thrilled.

I'll have pics of the other two tomorrow.

the rusty 65 I just got

bugdust · January 30th, 2005, 08:54 PM

the 70 sunroof that actually runs pretty good.

I think it has a 1500 sp in it. I have the hood and decklid and glass, etc for it. The deal came with three truckloads of parts and I filled my 4x8 trailer full of seats. Plus, the bus is full of parts, too.

bugdust · January 31st, 2005, 02:50 PM

OK, here's the 60 or 61 baja, I forget what year it is, It's missing the right door and the guy kept the all new rear brakes for his trike project. The front end has supposedly been rebuilt, seems tight. This is probably going to be my volksrod.

bugdust · January 31st, 2005, 02:51 PM

...and the 74 bus loaded with junk. I'm going to use it for storage until I get my other shed moved over here.

bugdust · January 31st, 2005, 04:53 PM

Oh, did I mention that the deal also came with an 82mm crank and the case, a 120 cam, boxes of new in the wrapper rubber (some from WCM), new in the box Brasilian running boards, some new stuff from TMI, a box of brand new engine bearings, wheel bearings, clutch & pp, never been mounted front baja fenders, etc. I cleaned the points in the 70 and it fired right up.

I got 7 or 8 big window doors, a couple early hoods (both need work), a solid late decklid and a 2-vent decklid, about 4 sets of highback seats with back seats too

The van is loaded to the gills with parts including a 1300 that supposedly runs but needs a carb and dizzy, three more "core" motors, two extra IRS trans, an autostick, major engine tin, used clutches, pp's, etc. I've got all kinds of junk to go through. It's fun being me.

bugdust · March 4th, 2005, 05:31 PM

I bought a Lincoln Power Mig 255 welder. It came in today and it is sweeeeet!!!

. I still don't have my building moved or wired but I'm hoping to have it finished within a couple weeks at most, I'm just waiting on my neighbor to get his stuff out of it and help me move it. I'll get a pic of the welder tomorrow since my camera is in my wife's van and she's at work.

-Get the building moved to my property
-Run the wiring from the meter to the building
-Wire in the compressor
-Get gas & wire for the welder
-Start fixing some of these damn Volkswagens!!!!

bugdust · March 5th, 2005, 10:06 AM

OK, here's the pic of my new (to me) welder...

bugdust · March 6th, 2005, 04:02 PM

The baja came with shaved doors when I bought it. I decided to put different doors on it so I could have handles. I changed the passenger side door today but I stripped a couple screws out on the driver side.

I also trimmed the left rear fender. I have to make a template out of posterboard or something to make the other side match.

bugdust · March 7th, 2005, 07:32 PM

I tacked some fender bolts to the stripped screws in the door hinge and then used a socket to get two of them out. The third one, the inside bottom one that's in the hole, sort of got tacked a little too much so it's welded to the hinge

Well, I broke the bolt off trying to turn it with vise-grips. So I thought I could use a diamond-tipped bit in the Dremel and grind around the screw. It didn't work. Finally, I used a cut-off wheel to cut away about 2" of the A-pillar so I could get to it better to grind. I was going to have to cut out a little rust there anyway. I finally got the screw loose but had to put everything up for the night. I'll change the door tomorrow and maybe get a good before pic of the A-pillar for comparison after I fix it.

bugdust · April 1st, 2005, 06:19 PM

OK, I sold the 65 I had. Look for it on the hoodride soon. The guy is going to roll it just how it is except with bumpers and maybe some polished 5-spokes.

I just got part of a 59 body that has perfect heater channels, good dash, and maybe the roof. It's going to be parts for the 61 volksrod project. It was free and I loaned the guy my 1641 so he can get his 64 bus going again.

I got some disc brake drop spindles from mikeschramm for the 69 RHD. I'm going to get adjusters within a week or so and hopefully start on the narrowed beam.

I've stripped a lot of parts off the hoopty bug for the 70 sunroof I have and I'm going to put the pop-up sunroof out of it into the 74 baja.
So basically, I'm just collecting parts for the various projects. More soon...

bugdust · April 9th, 2005, 06:37 PM

I bought two adjusters for the 69 beam today and the front to back brake line for the baja. I'm hoping to start on both cars again next weekend. More to come soon....

bugdust · April 15th, 2005, 06:28 PM

No new pics but I'll try to snap a couple as soon as it looks like I've done something. I took a few parts for my baja to work today and had them shot-blasted. I'll have to paint them this weekend.

Front bumper, needs to be converted to a tilt bumper
Rear bumper/cage with tow hitch
4-pt. "rollbar"
Baja exhaust with stinger, needs a few pinholes welded up

The raised adj beam (that still isn't on the car), the wheels, and the lightbar were all blasted before painting too. The wheels were painted using spray-bomb appliance paint and everything else was spray-bombed with Krylon.

I'm not sure what I'm going to use for the header. This is a low-buck project. I'm using mostly used parts that I trade other used parts for so I hope to have this thing on the road for less than a grand in actual cash, including what I paid for the car and misc. doo-dads, paint, etc I've had to buy.

Bug- paid $700 cash for
sold street tilt front for $100
traded two centerline copies for empi-8 spoke clones for 69 & baja tilt front end
bought parts baja for $100, took better tilt front, seats, rollbar, front bumper, baja fenders, tail lights off & sold rest for $50
tires/ wheels came off another $100 parts baja that I sold for $100 so they were FREE!!
front tires came off my toyota 4x4 when I put new ones on it
I trade a small 3 bolt stinger for the baja header
the bumpers came from a friend of Jon's (OK, I gave him a parts bug a while back)
I paid $50 for the light bar & lights
doors came out of the parts stash that I bought a couple months ago
I bought all new points, plugs, condensor, wires, etc for it- maybe $50.
The sand seal pulley and raised adj. beam came out of a friend's stash for FREE!
So, I'm up to about $750 for the car I guess plus my time making it a baja, welding up the dash and a bunch of holes, minor bodywork, etc.