Dilapidated '66 Beetle Build

[fuoconation]

Updates! Went to the shop this weekend, and put in a few hours of work and finally got the body off. Thanks to Ian for helping! (eethirty)

Got most of the wiring labeled and set aside so that I could take the body off of the pan


Prepping to take the body off..

Not really quite sure what i'm doing..

Here comes the fun part.. I was going to try and get a come along and lift the body by the straps around the doors, but I couldn't find one that would work. So, I lifted the body up with a few of my buddies and slid 2x4's over the wheels and propped the body up, and then lifted it up. WICKED SKETCHY. The blocks were swaying..

Slid the pan out after a few sketchy moments




Now I'm going to clean up the motor a little bit and start to transfer things over

Next plan of attack is fixing the new pan because the rear floors were raised. I need to weld in some little patch panels to complete the new pan so I can paint it or undercoat it


Until the weekend, the car sits like this

Thanks for checking in!
More to come this weekend. Nothing major, but I'm hopefully going to be fitting in the new tranny with a bus nose cone

[K-Line]

wék sause

[K-Line]

Dead thread, delete.

[fuoconation]

Finally got around to working on the car this weekend. I've been crazy busy with school and my business so the car is kind of coming last at this point since I'm working to get money to finish it, but it's whatever.

The main point was to get the pan all welded up and floors finished, which I accomplished, plus some.

Before finishing the floors


After finishing them. They may not be the prettiest welds, but they're strong. Not bad for my first time really doing something with a welder. I still have to grind them down and make them a little more presentable and undercoat the pan for a quality finish on it

So after the pan got finished we were sitting around and started pulling things off the pan and started cutting some lines and what not and said screw it, this motor is coming out toady

E-brake cables were pulled through, ground cable was pulled out, rear shocks were disconnected, and axle bolts were removed. Time for the motor to come out


FINALLY OUT! That was the easiest motor pull ever

Time to clean it up, install the bus nose cone, replace the old axles with some fresh ones, do some seals, and get it ready to go back in. Question, why does the bus nose cone have a drain plug on it? i don't have a photo of it....

And now we wait until the weekend..

Plans for this weekend are to weld in the bag mounts, powdercoat some things, freshen up the motor a bit, and hopefully have it ready for the wheels to go on and have it rolling the following weekend

[fuoconation]

I haven't posted on here in forever.. Life has been crazy lately but I finally got around to making some progress on the car!

Here we go:

Pan is all painted!

Called a buddy of mine around midnight and asked if he wanted to help work on the car.. He ended up coming over and lending a hand on welding the bag mounts in

AND SO THE MADNESS BEGINS. Had to cut the corner of the pan out for the brackets for the transaxle

Transaxle bracket welded in and the welds looking beautiful as ever. Also, Top bag mount just laying there for reference

Starting to tack everything together. PS, we measured nothing



Both sides are in! This photo was taken around 4am.

Next day I decided to get my other car out for the summer. Might be for sale soon!

Back to work at 9am


Houston, we have bags!


Had to re-arrange things at the shop, so I decided it was time to put the motor back in the car

Sittin on the jack, just mocking everything up

On the ground. FINALLY! My father looked over at me after we set the pan on the ground and said "there's no way in hell you're going to be able to drive this damn thing down the road this low!" You watch pops. I'm gonna prove you wrong in every way.

"No way in hell. This thing isnt going to be able to move"

I've been waiting on some parts to complete the front end, and trying to find a few bolts for the through rods. I just got my parts in the mail yesterday, so this weekend its crunch time. Front end is going to be completed, and hopefully the disc brake kit will go on!

[fuoconation]

wow.. just realized i haven't updated this in forever.. SO, get ready for the photo dump...

[fuoconation]

With the through rods all bolted together, it was time to start test fitting everything..
IMG_5009 by aaron fuoco, on Flickr
2" drop spindles mounted, new ball joints, and tie rods soon to come. The air shock is a tight fit for sure
IMG_5012 by aaron fuoco, on Flickr
Rotors are on
IMG_5014 by aaron fuoco, on Flickr
Airkewld 5"-6" narrowed tie rods came in the mail and got mounted that day. Disc brake conversion kit installed
IMG_5218 by aaron fuoco, on Flickr
IMG_5275 by aaron fuoco, on Flickr
Quickly realized I had to shave the pitman arm down to be able to turn..
IMG_5220 by aaron fuoco, on Flickr
AND, with that said, it was time to put the car on the ground and see how it was gonna lay out.
IMG_5278 by aaron fuoco, on Flickr
IMG_5279 by aaron fuoco, on Flickr
So of course, I had to see what it was gonna be like to drive this thing.. And, so did my pops
IMG_5581 by aaron fuoco, on Flickr
IMG_5579 by aaron fuoco, on Flickr
I had the wheels sent to a local shop to have them shot peened, and they came out amazing.
Untitled by aaron fuoco, on Flickr
Untitled by aaron fuoco, on Flickr
In the mean time, I played the waiting game. I sent two of the wheels out to be widened and kept collecting the finishing touches.. I'll post more tomorrow!

[Asshole Bicycle]

Love your pictures.

[poondobber]

Nice.

Can you throw a color photo in once and a while? I aint no dog.

[fuoconation]

Nice.

Can you throw a color photo in once and a while? I aint no dog.

Just wait for it! Next update.. haha

[fuoconation]

Love your pictures.

Thanks! Pretty easy when you're a photographer haha

[fuoconation]

Alright, here we go guys.. Next big photo dump..

So, I got the wheels back from being widened.. and I definitely didn't think that they were going to fit at all

Now, it's time for some color on them, and then to mount the tires




With the tires mounted, I OBVIOUSLY had to see how this thing was gonna look with these wheels on it.. I rushed to the shop for a test fit and I was like a little kid in a candy store



At this point, I was speechless seeing this build come together.. These wheels really set the car off for me



With the wheels mounted and test fits going well, I checked over every nut and bolt to make sure that things were tight. Called a few people over to the shop, and it was time to set the body back on the pan.. The moment I've been waiting 5 months for. This whole process was SUPER SKETCHY


This is the exact moment I ran around my shop for a solid half hour screaming out of pure excitement. The car that I have dreamed about building was now in front of me. Still not completed, but it was there.

THE MOMENT YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR... WHAT COLOR IS THIS CAR?! Well, here it is.. In all of its rusted glory.


It was time to get this thing out of the shop and let it breathe some fresh air..


The homie stopped by and we did some hoodrat things of course.. which means driving this car with ZERO brakes and an out of whack alignment. I was so stoked to drive this thing for the first time and to actually hear it run.. Words cannot describe the feeling


Come back tomorrow for more updates!

[gusgus714]

Amazing man!!!!!

[Tim Holm]

nice beetle man! love the stance on that thing

[bostongreene36]

Damn thats a sick beetle. Keep up the great work. Aircooled Vws are fun