Satan's "Lady Bug"

[Goodyear]

After a friend offered to sell me her 73 Super Beetle for almost nothing, I started looking up V8 Beetles. I came across an article about building V8 Beetles which featured a picture of what I have now discovered is a rendering of your car. I searched and searched for more info on that car, but found nothing. A couple days ago I came across buildthreads.com and saw an interesting Beetle build. When I saw the red building in the background of one of the pics, I realized THIS was the car I was looking for. After skimming through this build thread, I registered just so I could tell you your car is badass. As if you didn't know.

[mc84_zz4]

Wow Ray!! this is certainly exciting, and it's not even my car! Congrats man!

[454bug]

One of my favorite builds! Glad to see some updates.

After skimming through this build thread, I registered just so I could tell you your car is badass. As if you didn't know.

Thanks guys

[454bug]

Wow Ray!! this is certainly exciting, and it's not even my car! Congrats man!

Thanks Dave!

Progress has been slow but trying to make some headway!

[454bug]

After a friend offered to sell me her 73 Super Beetle for almost nothing, I started looking up V8 Beetles. I came across an article about building V8 Beetles which featured a picture of what I have now discovered is a rendering of your car. I searched and searched for more info on that car, but found nothing. A couple days ago I came across buildthreads.com and saw an interesting Beetle build. When I saw the red building in the background of one of the pics, I realized THIS was the car I was looking for.

Hey Goodyear,

Taking on a project that consists of 100% fabrication takes a lot of dedication... I wish you good luck with the project! If you decide to go for it, let me know. I may have a number of parts I have replaced or upgraded that you could use. You are welcome to them.

[454bug]

Hey everyone,

I hope your projects are coming along! We are actually making monthly headway with the car again and I am getting excited!

Here are a few update pictures:

First, we made a few tweaks to areas that needed some relief. We needed to notch the frame rail to clear my lower radiator hose:


We then extended the lower radiator mount brackets to get a little more tilt back of the radiator:








We then moved on to building the inner fenderwells. We used a heavier gage aluminum for these. I will also cover them with some kind of Rhino Liner material for rock damage prevention:






We will now build decorative coverup panels to dress up the engine bay. They will close the gaps between the inner fenders and the firewall.


Here are the finished product minus the dimple work:

[454bug]

And for some more good and expensive news... It's funny and sad at the same time when you have a project drag on for a LONG time... New and improved products come out and I am very tempted to switch gears on certain parts of the project and gravitate to the new items. In addition, things that have been really bugging me about the setup have had time to mess with my mind enough to jump off and make changes! Here is what is in store over the next couple of months:

First issue: GROUND CLEARANCE. This vehicle is a planned street car. Therefore, it needs to safely traverse the crappy roads and all of their obstacles (potholes, speed bumps, angled driveways, etc.). Therefore, I am trying to eliminate a few of the lowest points on the drivetrain and also add some more fun to the ride! Here's some evidence of my concern:


With the oil pan being just 4" off of the ground at ride height, it has really got me worried.




Therefore, I am investing in a Dry Sump system! I will need to decide between ARE, Stef's, Aviaid, Daily, Coleman, or Peterson.

[454bug]

Second and really big decision... I was convinced that with the extremely small cab and limited leg room that I was relegated to an automatic transmission in the car. The car has had a Turbo 400 in it since 1985. My concern has been two-fold... ground clearance and sustainability to accept the abuse it will have to endure and not turn into a grenade! And if that wasn't enough to worry about, the transmission pan is just as low as the engine's oil pan with the same road clearance concerns.

I have researched up and down the internet for a viable option for an upgraded Turbo 400 that could handle the torque, on and off the throttle constantly, heat buildup, engine breaking, and the like. Then, to get the close gear ratios I wanted along with an overdrive, I had to add the Gear Vendors. Then the paddle shifters... Price-wise, a built up Tremec is a MUCH less expensive option as well as the reliability and fun factors that are thrown in for good measure! Therefore, when my sheetmetal guy told me he felt he could remodel the cage configuration at my feet to allow enough room to operate a clutch pedal, that was the green light I was looking for!!!

So, the first thing I did was order a new set of Tilton pedal assemblies:


We got them in, removed my present Wilwood setup, and test fit them. I'm sorry we didn't think to take pictures of the test fitting but we feel it is all doable!!!

My sheetmetal guy will cut out the affected rollbars and replace them with additional room.

Presently, we are using a Tremec "Elite" dealer to rebuild our racecar's TKO600 transmission. They are building it back stronger and better than original. The company's name is Liberty Gears. I discussed the Bug project with them and they assure me they can take one of their T56 Magnum transmissions (normally rated for 700 ft-lbs of torque) and boost its power handling capability to 1,000 ft-lbs!

[Motown 454]

Don't you love it when you start thinking of doing these things over ......Lol Glad it's moving forward again Ray.

[454bug]

Don't you love it when you start thinking of doing these things over ......Lol Glad it's moving forward again Ray.

Hey Wayne,

Ain't that the truth! I know you've gone through a lot of the same decisions with your project going from a Small Block to LSA setup.

I think we will both be much happier in the long run!

Take care and I hope your project is coming along well also!

[preston]

Dry sump is an excellent decision. As is a manual transmission.
Keep on trucking !

[454bug]

Dry sump is an excellent decision. As is a manual transmission.
Keep on trucking !

Thanks Preston!

[ragtop1968rs]

Awesome project Ray. I'm building a 65 bug with a 6.0 LS up front. I'm using a highly modified s10 frame with ridetech suspension. I'm just wondering what you're using for the hood hinges? Also, what are the measurements of your radiator? Have you had a chance to weigh the car yet?
Thanks, John

[454bug]

Awesome project Ray. I'm building a 65 bug with a 6.0 LS up front. I'm using a highly modified s10 frame with ridetech suspension. I'm just wondering what you're using for the hood hinges? Also, what are the measurements of your radiator? Have you had a chance to weigh the car yet?
Thanks, John

Hey John,

Good luck with the project! If I was starting my project today, I'd definitely be building it with an LS motor... But, I'm too far into this build to make that change!

To answer your questions, here's the hood hinges I'll be using:



I found these from a guy in Australia. They have struts that go with them. I think they'll look pretty cool. If you google "Billet hood hinges Beetle", there are a number of different options out there.

My radiator is a Ron Davis "Dual-Pass" radiator. The inlet and outlet are on the same side of the radiator since it makes two passes through the unit. The dimensions for the radiator are 16" tall x 31" wide. If you have an engine with less horsepower that won't build as much heat as mine, you may opt to go with a radiator that's 26"-27" wide and it would fit between your frame rails and probably fit better. Since I'm going to have a vented hood for the hot air to escape from under the hood, it would have been nice to fit the radiator between the frame rails. If I could have done that, I would have been able to run the radiator with a negative slope on it so the exhaust of the radiator would have had an upward trajectory to it... But, since I needed all of the cooling capacity that I could get, we'll just build an aluminum shrouding to help direct the air up right in front of the motor.

Early on, we did scale the car. At the time, the car was right at 2,400 pounds with a 50/50 weight distribution. Since then, we've added aluminum interior panels, etc. Therefore, I'm thinking the car will finish out right between 2,500-2,600 pounds by the time it's full of liquids.

Don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions along the way. Have fun with the project! I can't wait to follow along.

[454bug]

Hey everyone,

I hope all of your projects are moving along! We have made a little progress the last few days.

As mentioned previously, as soon as my sheetmetal guy let me know that he felt we could revamp the rollcage at my feet to accommodate a 3rd pedal, I made the big decision to scrap the automatic transmission and go with a souped up Tremec T56 Magnum! Therefore, we were able to verify the spacing and get the rollcage adjusted.

Here's what we did. First of all, we cut out the section to re-vamp:



We then added a pedestal for the roll bar to land on and started replacing the tubes. We also had to notch out the body a little to make sure the body would clear the new bars. I will need to remove the body so I can powdercoat the frame and cage. We can then lower the body back onto the chassis:



And this is how the re-vamped bars look like:



MUCH more leg room to operate three pedals:



We mocked the pedals up to make sure they looked and felt good:



And we are good to go!! I will get the new transmission and Quick-Time bellhousing ordered to see if we need to modify the trans tunnel or any of the other sheetmetal. We do know we will need to modify the location of the trans mount.

[Protour_Pinto]

Looking good!

I know for myself Its a double edged sword looking at build threads. Its cool to see how people attack off the wall problems and such, But then you see something cool that would work on your own project, You sit there with the Sawzall in your hand staring at the work thats already been done, its fine the way it is but just knowing it could have been done a little different or a newer part would be just a little bit better. To chop or not to chop!

[454bug]

Looking good!

I know for myself Its a double edged sword looking at build threads. Its cool to see how people attack off the wall problems and such, But then you see something cool that would work on your own project, You sit there with the Sawzall in your hand staring at the work thats already been done, its fine the way it is but just knowing it could have been done a little different or a newer part would be just a little bit better. To chop or not to chop!

LOL!!! Ain't that the truth!! It seems that every time I make some headway with the car, I see something that would have been PERFECT if I had done it that way on my car also... If I didn't enjoy the build process so much, I would be a lot more crazy about this.

Oh well... It's just more money, right??? I'll just go back to work and make some more!

[ragtop1968rs]

Hey John,

Good luck with the project! If I was starting my project today, I'd definitely be building it with an LS motor... But, I'm too far into this build to make that change!

To answer your questions, here's the hood hinges I'll be using:



I found these from a guy in Australia. They have struts that go with them. I think they'll look pretty cool. If you google "Billet hood hinges Beetle", there are a number of different options out there.

My radiator is a Ron Davis "Dual-Pass" radiator. The inlet and outlet are on the same side of the radiator since it makes two passes through the unit. The dimensions for the radiator are 16" tall x 31" wide. If you have an engine with less horsepower that won't build as much heat as mine, you may opt to go with a radiator that's 26"-27" wide and it would fit between your frame rails and probably fit better. Since I'm going to have a vented hood for the hot air to escape from under the hood, it would have been nice to fit the radiator between the frame rails. If I could have done that, I would have been able to run the radiator with a negative slope on it so the exhaust of the radiator would have had an upward trajectory to it... But, since I needed all of the cooling capacity that I could get, we'll just build an aluminum shrouding to help direct the air up right in front of the motor.

Early on, we did scale the car. At the time, the car was right at 2,400 pounds with a 50/50 weight distribution. Since then, we've added aluminum interior panels, etc. Therefore, I'm thinking the car will finish out right between 2,500-2,600 pounds by the time it's full of liquids.

Don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions along the way. Have fun with the project! I can't wait to follow along.

Thanks Ray, for my hood hinges I want to use a standard type like a camaro uses only smaller so that they don't go thru the firewall like the vw ones do. I'd like to use a billet hinge but I haven't seen a smaller version yet. Someone had a build thread quite a while ago where they did that with some hinges they found at a junk yard.
Right now for my steering box I have an 87 Monte Carlo ss box but it sits at the front of the frame rail right where the radiator needs to go. With that there the biggest radiator I can fit would be a 16" wide x 24" tall downflow. But would that be enough to cool it? I'm only planning on about 400 hp. I don't want to put the radiator in the back so my only other option would be to change to a r&p set up. I'm not sure what the best thing to do there is.
Also, what are you using for the hood latch? The stock vw latch?

Thanks, John

[ragtop1968rs]

Any updates Ray?

[454bug]

Any updates Ray?

Hey John,

Thanks for checking in! My sheetmetal guy has been busy with other things for the last month or so. Therefore, not much to show as far as progress right now...

I've been ordering parts though! A number of them have long lead times on them so they'll be coming in over the next month or so.

First of all, as previously discussed, the souped up Tremec T56 Magnum is being built right now at Liberty Gears. It will ship in about a month along with a Quick Time Bell Housing.

I've settled on my clutch setup and have placed the order. Thanks to reading up on Danny Popp's Corvette, I've ordered a really cool piece from Quarter Master. It's a 7-1/4" setup that actually runs on an automatic type flexplate instead of a flywheel. I stole a couple of Danny's pictures to show the difference in weight! Right at a 31 pound rotating weight savings!!! It can actually handle around 1400hp!!!







I have also chosen my next project! Even before I finish my Bug, I got the green light from my wife to build a street legal Track Day car. Factory Five has just come out with their 3rd generation Type 65 coupe. They built a brand new space frame for it, widened the body for comfort and bigger tires, and they added an option to help it's aerodynamics versus the original setup. I like the nostalgic look of the car but I REALLY love the new aero package. They just got through building a mascot car for Snap On in 5 days with a team comprised of guys from Factory Five and Snap On. I think I'm going to build a twin car of theirs, color and all!

Here's a few pictures of it:









In the meantime, I'm in need of a front spoiler/splitter and rear wing setup for my Bug project. Well, unfortunately, an air-cooled Bug is not a real hot car to build a lot of cool stuff for... So... just like everything else on the car that needs to be stolen from another more popular/current car or fabricated from scratch, I needed to explore my options. I've been scouring the world for suitable products to fit on my Bug project. I almost ordered products from Europe's Fun Cup cars. I also looked into ordering products from a Japanese company. None of these options really appealed to me and there's a lot of risk ordering from overseas. Therefore, since I really like the look of the new Type 65 Coupe, I started studying their new products on the car. I did some cut and paste simulations and thought there might be a potential of the front setup working on my Bug! So, I went on and ordered a front Spoiler setup to check it out...



It came in and we put it in place and it looks VERY promising!!



It's close enough that we know we can tweak the fiberglass to match my car!!! I went on and placed the order for the carbon fiber Splitter. We will make some vertical cuts a few inches apart along the outside edges of the spoiler to get it to conform to car's shape. We will drop a few screws to hold the shape. When we are happy with the shape, I will glass in the new shape!

Factory Five has done some wind tunnel testing with their new aero package.





To keep the products somewhat balanced to their testing, I've decided to run the same rear wing (APR's GT-1000) as these pictures:





I'm placing the order for this wing next week. It comes without any pedestals. You have to custom build your own to work with your car. This really doesn't matter because there isn't anything out there that would have worked anyway!

To be continued...