New guy from Flint, MI area

[hotrodgary]

HERES A LINK TO THE OTHER BUILD THREAD THATS UPDATED AND YOU CAN COMMENT ON!
http://www.volksrods.com/forum/showt...490#post419490

Whats up? My name is Gary.

I'm brand new to the vw stuff, my uncle owned a couple dealerships in the area and my dad and cousins all worked there as mechanics when they were young so they know a fair amount about the early vw's.

I have been into hotrods/streetrods since I was born and have owned a 4 cars now myself. I have links to the pics in my sig below. I do all my own work, fab, bodywork, paint even do my own interiors.. except the seats themselves but I recently acquired a sewing maching so I'm hoping to start learning to do that.

I just picked up a 71 Super. I have wanted to do a fenderless bug for a long time and came across this one.
But I wasnt aware of the differences in the Super to the regular bugs till after I got it home.

I hope to get alot of helpful info and show you all some progress on it as time goes on. Prolly have a few quetions for ya along the way too

Thanks,
Gary

[hotrodgary]

Heres some pics of my past & current cars, and also the new bug

My Chevy II
Super Chevy Feature on it
http://http://www.superchevy.com/fea...ova/index.html



My 66 Chevelle, sold it recently



My dads 29 Hi Boy we did, also sold now unfortunatly



71 Beetle

[hotrodgary]

Well I found a nice 74 Bug and picked it up for $200 minus the suspension & drivetrain and it even came with a set of new floor pans not installed yet!!
So I can get rid of the Super Beetles! Thats good cuz I'm surprised the neighbors didnt start calling the township on me for all the cars in the driveway haha. Cant even keep my Nova at home cuz theres NO room right now!

I ordered a beam extender and picked up a new ball joint front end with dropped spindles! Going saturday to get the rear control arms, a steering box & a sunroof top I guy cut off a car that I will put in when I chop it.

I'm finally moving ahead now that I got the right car!!

Hopefully I will have some better progress pics pretty soon, going to get the tunnel blasted so I can start working on it. Heres a few pics of the mess I got so far haha!

-Gary

This is the newest one.. obviously its not that low... I just had to stick the tires under if for some visual effect lol!

[hotrodgary]

Picked up my roof section and the swingaxle torsions & plates to change my irs over. And I rolled up some tires just to get a little visual motivation! Heres some more pics.
-Gary

[hotrodgary]

I'm still collecting parts... picked up some artillery style wheels for it and some 29 ford headlights, 33 ford cowl lights and plan on getting some 37 ford tail lights.

Heres a couple of pics and a photochop i did of what i mights do to it.

[hotrodgary]

So I got my beam extender finally! Yes! Got it bolted on and the front susp. bolted up. Gonna get the body cut out and get it sitting back on the frame! Finally progress, I will have some pics soon.

Also had a buddy give me a good engine... he thinks? lol, I wanna set it up in the frame and fire it up to make sure it runs.
-Gary

[hotrodgary]

Well I decided to start a build thread here cuz I've been askin lots of questions and figured I better show somebody what I got? And I like to get peoples feedback!

This is the first VW I have ever owned (bought 3 to get one that I wanted) and its been a quite a learning process! I've learned the majority of it from here reading countless threads and weeding thru shit.

So here it goes,

I picked up a 74 body and bare pan. Been slowly collecting parts for it. Trying to get everything used or whatever I can find. Its supposed to be a "budget" project lol. Trust me... I know how those go!!!!

My plans:
Chop it 4", got a sunroof top I'm gonna put in.
New heat channels.
29 ford headlights.
37 ford taillights.
33 ford cowl lights.
spun alum. gas tank.
8" Pegleg Beam extender.
Gotta front beam assembly with 2 1/2" drop spindles.
Guy GAVE me a good running 1600 for it.
G/F Dad gave me a chrome steering column and wheel outta his 32 ford for it.

Not sure bout wheels & tires yet, I know they will be big and littles though. And dunno what I want for seats yet?

Not sure bout the chop yet either? Tossin around the idea of laying the windshield back kinda like a saltflat style look.

Picked up a 34 ford dash for it, not sure yet but I like it!

I am going to have lots a questions about getting the thing low I'm sure! Dunno the best route? Trans raise? Channel? Torsion raise? Lots of option, not sure whats the best?

Anyways, Heres some pics of it so far. enjoy

-Gary

[hotrodgary]

Well I got the engine and trans together, still waiting on my trans mount/adapter from CIP1 so I can put it in. Then I wanna fire it up and make sure my free motor runs?

I got some wheel adapters today for the rear so I could bolt up some bigger rubber that I had in the barn. (not what I will end up using!)

It needs to get low! I ordered adjusters for the front so Im waiting for those too.

Little wood and some zip ties I "mounted" the headlights to get an idea of where I want them and how they will look.

I need to get crackin on replacing the heater channels so I can start the chop. I marked it out and I cant decide whether to chop it 4" or 5".... I think 6" is too much?

couple pics...

[hotrodgary]

heres some sketches I did of what I hope to do to it.

[hotrodgary]

Got a few new goodies, picked up a box full of 33 ford cowl lights via ebay for a good price!

I guess I'm ditching the sunroof top, I will need to pick up another cuz I dont really wanna cut that one up for pieces.

I got on craiglist and found a guy with a brand new sliding ragtop kit from that streetbeat customs. Called him up and he said he bought it new back in 2007.Said he got it for a vw he was going to restore, till he was driving one day, hit a bump and the car split in two! lol, he said he opened the door to get out and the roof buckled haha.

Anyways, I have heard good and bad things about these kits, and i was not even looking at one for what they are new, but for the price I got it for, I couldnt say no?

I would like to mount it from the bottom rather than the top, I dont like how they sit up and the frame is exposed.

I am in the process of putting the adjusters in the beam now, hope to get it on the ground by the weekend and get some progress pics up!

-Gary

[hotrodgary]

Some new pics, got the adjusters put in... if you saw my other thread you would know that I did it wrong and had to redo it. Its def low now, might even be a lil too low but we will see.

Theres a pic of my ragtop kit I mentioned earlier. Im really undecided whether or not to use the sliding ragtop or the sunroof top I got????

Got the headlight and cowl lights mocked up for some ideas of where to mount them. Engine is sittin in it with the headers I picked up bolted on.

I need to get busy and replace the heat channels so I can start choppin it.

[hotrodgary]

We louvered my hood! Put 120 louvers in it.

And we fired it up... heres a video.. unfortunatly we ran outta gas, cuz we had it running for a little bit before I ran to get the camera... I'm glad it runs!!!! And its pretty quiet? Wasnt sure if those pipes would be loud?


Crappy Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHMC-Wi7DZY

Doesnt sound as good as my Chevy II though
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ALqEzAlEgQ

[hotrodgary]

I'm in the process of getting the heater channels put in also finally :)

And I Picked up a 54 oval window rear clip and glass last night! Pretty excited about that, it was a random find on craigslist! I'll post some pics this weekend!

-Gary

[hotrodgary]

OK, well... I said eff it, i'm tired of thinking about it and starting cutting last night!

Took 4" out. It looks so awesome!

This is my first chopped top on a "round" car and was kind of nervous but so far its gone well... I havent cut the back out yet but tonight we will see how it goes trying to put the oval clip in!

Heres lots of pics of how far I got last night
let me know what ya think

-Gary

before


posts marked out


cuttin out the roof skin



cuttin the middle out


cuttin the sides


cuttin the front a pillars

[hotrodgary]

cuttin the door tops


test fittin the front section... gonna be awesome!


all cut off


tackin it in place



badass



tackin the top of the rear door posts


cuttin the front door top off of the spare door


fit in place


im ready, lets go drive it this way lol


hackin off the rear section



cuttin the b pillars



fittin it together



cuttin the b pillar out of the spare roof


set in place


tacked in place, time to do the other side tonight

[hotrodgary]

Well, Last night we got the passenger side b pillar and door tops done. Got the rear section all cut off.

Had to dig all that damn foam filler out of the sides and take a torch and heat up and scrape all that tar sound deadener crap off the rear floor and firewall.

Tonight I hope to the oval clip fit in place.

-Gary

more pics :)

my friend takin a sawzall to the sides


i'm cutting across the top of the firewall


All gone!



cutting the passenger side b pillar out of my spare roof


tacked together and the door tops done

[hotrodgary]

Well we got oval clip fit and everything pretty well mocked up now, just gotta get to welding!

Took alot of muscle'n around with the oval clip to get it straightened out and patched, had to replace one of the hinge mounts with an extra from the old rear clip. Took alot to finally get it all fit right, and cutting the sections from the b pillar to the rear clip wasnt as bad as I thought it would be, took alot of cuts for the first side, and only one cut for the second side lol.

Where I cut the firewall worked perfectly, it lays right against the rear clip so i can just weld it straight across.

I wound up sliding the roof skin back to the rear to get the "hump" of the roof to look right, the sunroof is about 5" further back than factory but looks good still. (not shown in any of these pics.. it happened after some beer drinking and stareing lol)

Tomorrow I will do some slicing all around the sides to roll it up to fit the radius' of the roof skin. Then I gotta cut the sides behind the rear quarter windows and do the radius for the rear of the quarter windows also.

More pics

cuttin the pass post out of the spare roof


all fit in place


gettin ready to cut the roof skin out of the spare top


the oval clip



set it in place just for a look see


then set the roof skin on for another look see... then we drank alot of beer and talked, that nights progress was over lol


set the side sections in and did alot more eyeballin..



Trimmed the peices to fit to the rear clip, this took alot of guess work actually, but if fit pretty nice. Second side was easy lol



Gotta do some slicing now to roll everything up to meet the roof skin


again, i'm ready to drive this thing dammit!

[hotrodgary]

I got the roof skin tacked in place now. Not super happy with the drip rails so far but they will just need a little massaging around to get em to flow real nice.

Next is going to be to finish tackin around the roof skin and filling in some of the gaps. then time to tackle the rear quarter window sections of the body.

All my inside cuts were almost exact surprisingly it wont take alot to finish off the inside, I'm happy about that cuz its a pain in the ass finishing off that inside stuff!

-Gary

More pics!

test fit the trunk lid... or hood... or deck lid? whatever you wanna call it lol


all tacked up

[hotrodgary]

Been busy this week so i dont really have any updates. All I got done was cutting the sides of the windshield area to line up.

I did draw another pic and messed around with photoshop to try some wheels. I still am partial to the early ford blue green color but I have noticed its pretty popular, I really like the early vw greyish/beige colors. not sure the name? Anyways here what I did!
-Gary

[hotrodgary]

Took some pics, but doesnt look much different lol, its all the welding and grinding and lining up the posts and what not.. the tedious stuff. Gonna have alot of mud in it before its done lol

Got drivers side rear window radius done last night. gonna make a wood pattern for the window to make sure it sits flat all the way around and to have a pattern for the other side. Also I think instead of using the seal around the window I'm going to press fit them and just urethane it in... still thinking.

enuff bs, some pics....

-Gary

Roof skin and gaps filled and ground down




Front & side posts after I widened, welded and ground down. I didnt get any pics before grinding to see how I cut it




The door after I welded (Dont make fun of my welds lol)



Rear window radius, I see alot of cars with shitty looking radius' on the back. I'm pretty happy with how it came out, not exactly what I wanted but will work


And took a couple pics before I went in for the night

[hotrodgary]

The rear quarter window areas are done now. I used part of the leftover b-pillar sections to piece it together. I was not looking foward to doing this part and it came out pretty good!

Next I'm moving on to the decklid area.

I'm wanting to change the cowl to an early style without the "dip" in the wiper area...and I think they are flat? I am going to build a flip out windshield for it and would like to run a flat windshield.

Are the early windows flat from left to right? I'm posting a separate thread to ask bout this. I would like to find a cowl section. I just want basically cut out from the top dash area to the hood lip edge. Be easier to graft that in than modify mine I think. Any info on this anyone???

radius' made and welded up, they are ground down but I didnt get pics yet.

[hotrodgary]

Another thing I did, I actually cut and pulled the quarter panels in on each side. I will have to take a pic to show. since the oval clip was layed down it was too narrow in the rear of the quarter window area, so I pulled each quarter panel in about a 3/8" on each side so the back of the quarter window would stay flat. Nobody will ever notice it.
Not sure if anyone else had this issue before?
-Gary