Thread: Please please, keep the booing to a dull roar,...

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Here's the Bomber ta the local car show.



Was a great turn out. 251 cars, largest in the 20 years it's been goin on. People that run it really need to work on how they lay it out tho. Was way too little room where we were, way too much on the other end. Same thing every year too, needta get ahold of the organizers before next year & have a talk about that,...

Due to not getting my time off as planned, I didn't finish the front half of the project before the show. Need to grind the welds down & do some creative hammer/dolly work to even up the pieces before I can make the center filler.
Will post a couple new shots when I get it finished up.

Took a break from all of the auto websites for a couple months. Between work & our other activities I was pretty burned out, altho now I have a metric butt-ton of reading to catch up on. Might burn out again just doin that! lol
But yeah, that & with the weather turning to crap it's pretty much slow to no goin on the Bomber these days. Anytime I have the energy to get out there & work it's raining, & somehow welding in the rain doesn't appeal to me. :P

ANYway,...
Did get out for the annual Oyster Run motorcycle rally in Anacortes WA. Spousal unit wasn't doin too hot so the bike was out, decidede to pack up the Bomber & go instead. We lucked out & got an awesome parking spot right next to the road block so we set up on the corner & watched em roll in most of the day. OUSTANDING day & so many scoots. & the people watching was sweet too. Starting to get promoters brinin in hotties with nice smiles, better curves, & not much on. Damn the luck! lol

This one was at an old gas station on the way round to the back side of town. Nice lil place, but I missed a great shot. When we pulled up there was a new Porsche Boxter on the other side of the pumps. Woulda made a good side by side shot.


Got a couple shots right before I parked it for the season.


Yep, STILL haven'f pulled the beam & bent the panhard mount up,... But I gotta say, it makes bump steer a LOT of fun! :


Have the gaps on the cabin cross piece welded up, need to smooth the metal & apply filler as needed & thats pretty much done till it's time to paint. Still have to make the filler pieces for the sides of the deck sill next to the firewall to complete the rear exterior metal work. Once I get that done I'll make a cross brace to fit where the firewall is now & then cut it out & make the new one further forward coming up from the fwd edge of the package tray. Once I have all that done & get the deck lid fabbed up I'm gonna start scroungin parts for the engine & turbo.

Days are getting longer again, & spring isn't far away,... Gettin itchy! :twisted:

Well looks like a lot of fun. The VW is looking bitchin as usual too. What color do you plan to paint it?

The flat black seems to be gettin overdone, but then I always find a way to be different.

The plan so far is to paint it with John Deere Blitz Black. Super durable paint, almost as strong as epoxy base but not nearly as spendy or hard to shoot. It's more satin that flat, & unlike most flat paints it's easy to clean & resists scuffing.
Gonna add some black reflective graphics at a couple points, both to set off the finish AND to meet the vehicle code requirements for reflectors.

OK, I did a bigger internet burnout than before. Thought I updated this page in April, maybe it didn't take,... But oh well, I not only haven't been posting on the car sites, I haven't even been looking at them.
Sometimes thats just how it goes, been busy as all hell & now that things are slowing down & I'm starting to work on the car again I'm back with updates.

So, here's the poop.
Removed the headlights, steering box, linkage & sterring arm & had them all powder coated prior to the Cruizin the Harbor show. Literaly got it together at midnight the night before! Did everything the same color as the axle except the headlight buckets, got a black wrinkle on those & it all came out great, looks sweet!
I started making a filler/former piece to go up front between the fender panels at the lower nose. Would have them welded on but I got ahead of myself & forgot to insert an access panel so I can unbolt the spring mounts w/o standing on my head. That should be done here in the next couple weeks tho.
Yesterday I started on the gap fillers on the decklid sill & have the passenger side completed, just needs some grinder work & it's good to go. Will probably get the drivers side done today, then I start cutting the donor metal to make the new lid.

Have some pretty cool ideas in store, gonna be pretty labor intensive, but if it all comes together like I visualize it,... Well, it's gonna make me happy anyway.
Still up in the air about puttin in a rumble seat, hasn't been done & would be pretty sweet deal if I pull it off, but then I cant go with the turbo setup I was lookin at,... But then, I can always redesign that too, an advantage to being crazy I suppose!

I'll post some photos later, just hope I dont get burnt out trying to catch up with my reading!

Glad you checked in, VW, you have nice ideas.

Jim

Nice ride!!

Like the flat black also.

I like anything with wheels and an engine.

I used to be an instrument technician, it came in handy wiring a friend of mines 55 chevy.

But... I would like some tips from you if I may when I rewire my 65 F-100.


Regards.

Richard Winters
Friendswood, Texas.

winr@sbcglobal.net

VW, I have been looking into VW's now the past week... I am beginning to like them more and more that I look into them. I know very little about them but have learned a ton so far from reading sites, forums, etc. A guy at work has one he said he would sell me or trade my golf cart for it but it needs a lot of work and an engine. I may build a 1600cc and put in bigger jugs and heads, and a nice cam. Not sure though, he has new floors for it but the fenders have some rust, etc. I am thinking of buying it and getting another top at pull a part junk yard chop the top 3 inches, take the fenders off and lower it. I want a straight axle but doubt I can afford it. For now I would keep the stock rear with it dropped about 3 inches and then find out how to adapt Cragars or Radir Tri Ribs and cheater slicks on it. It has the tranny still but no engine, some rust, needs new windshield and back glass...
Any idea how much I should pay for it if I don't do the golf cart trade? If I get this thing then I have to sell my 1948 Chevy coupe but I think I will be better off doing this because my 48 will take years of work and these VW's are so cheap and good on gas. The guy I bought my 48 Chevy from wants it back so I might just sell it back to him.
Any ideas here? Price of what I should pay? Info on cutting the glass for the windshield and back glass? Front end options on a budget?
Thanks!

Winr> Sure thing, ask away & I'll see what I can do to help. Aviation grade wiring isn't cheap, but it's tough as hell & takes up less space.

FMX> If it's just a shell that needs a load of work, a couple hundred at most. A car that cant even move under it's own power isn't worth much regardless of what it is.
You can get a decent amount of juice from a 1600 dual port if you do it right. Dont really even have to spend alot either. Find some 041 heads, fly cut em a bit, turn the jugs down for a .030 deck height, find a mild street cam, & drop on a set of dual 1 barrel solex carbs & it will give a good grunt for ya.
As for puttin it to the pavement, the best way to put on different rims is to order blank drums & have em drilled for press in studs in whatever pattern you need. There are also disc brake kits that come with VW, Porsce 5-bolt, or blanks. Some places will set them up for GM standard 5-bolt as well. Adapters work, but aren't real reliable in the long run.
The glass is pretty easy, once you have the chop done, take the stock glass, measure it, tape it off where it needs to be cut & find a place that will do it. They actualy use a belt sander & run it down, cost me a whole $25 to lose the 4" off the top of my windshield.

Alright cool I appreciate it. Yeah on the price, the guy said he is going to get me one but add in the new floor pans he bought for it a long time ago, he has some stock radio in it (can't remember what he said it is) but he said he wont sell it with the car and is going to take it out, umm.... Chassis and body and tranny and that is it. Someone frenched in the tail lights upside down so they hold water, but that is ok none of the fenders are any good so I will take em off and run some old 30's or 40's tail lights with blue dots in the back (fenderless). He said that if I chop the top that I will probably need a donor roof.... So I will have to look for one of them and also doors I guess? Or just the roof? I think what I will do is buy the case and then get some big cylinders, I would like to go a bit bigger than just a 1600.... I will have to read up on motors and go from there. Maybe a 2.0 liter? Who knows, I would need to just get it put together first. He said the trannies in these things never break and that all I would have to do if I wanted is do a new clutch plate or something and that is it.

Getting a dodnor top & the doors makes it easier as the metal is already curved properly for the filler sections. Can be done by hand IF you're good with sheet metal tho.
As for the engine, start pokin around on www.ShopTalkForums.com and you'll get all the info you will ever need about engines. As a newb, I would start with a 1600 to learn with & get the bigger stuff a piece at a time. You can make decent power with a 1600 with a junkyard turbo setup, pretty much what I may end up doing if I go ahead & do the rumble seat as it will all have to be custom anyway.
The real good parts are pretty spendy if you wanna go up over 2.0L, at least if you want it to last more than a couple months between rebuilds. Just stay away from GEX engines!!!
Trannies tho, yeah, not bloody likely! They can take some abuse, but it's not that uncommon for people with big engines to split the case or shatter a CV joint. But, you can get a decent light race duty trans for about $500. I have one in mine with a beefy differential & a couple mild mods & have over 100K on it, alot of it pounding the sand in the mojave with a 1.8L race motor.
How fast you wanna go all depends on what you wanna spend, but a person can make a lot of power with little money if you stay sane & research the tricks.

So stick with a 1600 or around there and put a turbo set up on it? What about an upgraded cam... I want some kind of rumble and not have it sound like a ricer motor either if you know what I mean. haha. I listened to that rat patrol car and it sounded good for a small motor. I didn't know these things didn't last that long. A lot of guys said they have to rebuild at around 50,000 to 80,000 miles... I wonder how well a 327 or 302 would do in one of these things. Haha I have a 302 and 3 speed tranny in the garage all ready to go. haha just messing, that would be a nasty machine!

If you go turbo a mild grind will be fine. From what the folks on STF have said a step above stock works fine for average applications in smaller engines, past that it's all in the setup of the turbo itself. You can put together a 1.9L for a reasonable price & if you add a turbo you'll have some serious grunt.
Now for REAL power you upgrade to VW's version of the big block, the type 4. Came in the vans, the rare 411 & 412 (wagon & fast back, UGLY, but quick!), & the Porsche 914. The conversion is pretty easy, requires the larger, beefier bus transaxle and you can upgrade the drive shafts as well. A common thing seen with the euro-look crowd is to replace the rear swing arms with those out of a Porsche 944, they bolt up & are stronger, but are 2" wider at the wheels, can mount some serious rubber back there too.
The type-4s are a little harder to come by & a lot more expensive to build than the standard type 1 motors, but they make crazy torque & are more reliable over time when you're lookin for lots of ponies. But if it's gonna be a toy, just something you drive on weekends & the like, you can get crazy with a type 1 engine & be good to go.

There's several folks that have made a sub frame & mounted V-8's in them, some obvious, some not. A popular route is to get a buick front drive transaxle & drop a V-8 in the back seat making a mid engine car. The possibilities are only limited by how much room you have & what you wanna spend.

Cool looking project...pray for sunshine and keep an umbrella or rain gear in the trunk!!!!

Well I never got that VW I told you about. He wont drop on the price and I told him he wants to much and to try Barrett Jackson car show because I wont pay that much. He thinks 1000 is very cheap for it hahaha.