my vw 1303 build (picture heavy)

[westypoo]

well ive been hard at work on my bug. i got my big motor( type 4 motor that comes outta a early vanagon thats a 2.0l...stock beetles came with a 1.6) all fabed up and painted, got my disk brakes on and also re drilled all my rotors and drums to 4x100 myself (damn ill never do that again..lol) and ive got my megasquirt efi installed and waiting for my big motor to go in to hook it all up. i hope to soon start on body work and paint. the color its going is audi nimbus gray. i know the wheels will get some ****, but they where cheap and what i could afford at the time, and look quite decent. their xxr 15x8 and 15x9 and et0 all around with goodyear 195/55/15 all around as well. on to the pics.

started off with these intake manifolds


then i made these outta them...








then i body worked them all smooth and painted them black







then i body worked and painted the fan shroud...here it is all painted








onto the car now... its a 73 super beetle (1303 in europe) supers beetles had struts in the front rather than the standard beetles had torsion bar front beam suspensions. ive gone and fixed ALL the rust on the car, welded and shaved every hole that i dont want. all the black spots on it are just paint to cover up the bare metal till i can get to workin on the body work and paint witch will be soon.






well their it is...let me know what you all think. i cant go any lower in the front till i can get some sort of a rack and pinion swapped into it....the lower arms where hitting my steering box (lame). open to suggestions. also you guys think i should goto a 195/60 in the rear instead of the 195/50?

[slimadi]

Sweet looking bug liking what you have done so far and yeah go for the 195/60 i think it will look better as it's a bug

[magoo_lc1]

love the car not feeling the headlights but im sure being its in progress that will change. Ive been wanting another bug for years

[Evil Panda]

Looks good Wes.

[westypoo]

YES...headlights are going in the damn trash..... waiting new ones soon.

[Evil Panda]

I miss the rag top....

[westypoo]

haha ya the rag was cool, but ill build another soon. just gotta get this one done then i can focus on my next project.

[CFF]

leave it the way it is!! it's awesome!

[Low And Slow]

nice fatgirl

[Zayan]

paint wheels different color and don't change rear tire size if you can actually eventually drop it flush with the stretch.

[hinrichs]

tires look huge, you can run smart car size tires since the beetle is so light and then that would help you go alot lower

[projektzwo]

it's different and i like it...

want to see it lowered.

[westypoo]

well time for a long long over due update. things have changed with this build a bit. hoping that if everything goes right this winter, ill maybe get a chance to bodywork and paint this thing. but heres a run down thats changed.

ive now converted the bug to watercooled motor. i put in a vanagon waterboxer motor in it. i also have megasquirt efi controlling fuel and spark. soon ill also be gettin a turbo put on it.

ive also built a custom dash with a mix of porsche gauges in it.

BTW: i know my wheels suck and that my tire sizes are rather wack. i now have a set of BBS RS's that will be going on soon with proper tires. the XXR's where cheap rims to just get me by rather than rolling stock stuff.

on with the pics (took these with my iphone, so their not the greatest)

[westypoo]

heres some pics of the vanagon water-cooled motor i put in it, and the fabbing the coolent lines from front to back. i was able to use a MK1 vw rabbit radiator and it fits like a glove and works perfect. you cant even tell this car is now watercooled from the outside. (witch was my overall goal)

[B Rod]

Nice man! What was the driving force in converting to water cooled?