Project free Super

[Chris V]

Around 3pm I picked-up a `74 Super from another forum member...One owner car, that was unfortunately rear ended twelve years ago. Hadn't moved since that day they were saying. The crank pulley, alternator pulley, alternator pedestal, fuel pump, distributor, and some of the cooling tin was all tweaked/broken. After a few hours I got it running (carb on a longblock)...went through the carb, media blasted some end-castings, found some center section boots, slapped in my powdercoated European Bus center section, popped in an 009, threw on some low miles plug wires, cleaned #1 sparkplug, bolted up an old dry-sump crank pulley, changed the oil, put an old battery in, gravity fed some fuel and she came to life.

Then I stripped and media blasted the pedal cluster and fanshroud, painted/lubed and rebuilt everything...hopefully whittle away at it more today before work.

[Lotrat]

Is she a keeper or are you gonna fix it and flip it?

[Chris V]

Looking like fix and flip, don't want it to be around for more than a month...Drove it today, trans hasn't got much reverse left in it...Have an OK 4.125:1 trans to toss in, and the engine seems to be tighter than the one in my DD as of late, so I'll swap them...then maybe some bumpers, brakes, and such.

[Chris V]

Got the engine into my current DD `69 (Dad got it off the lot in late `68):


Have a CV-joint ball stuffed into the road draft tube vent hose.

Car came with a bucket of parts...including one new front drum, and two new rears, along with all the seals, and all but one wheel bearing...Got most everything cleaned up, I'll have to pick-up some paint and grease.

[Chris V]

,

[Chris V]

Finally got a title for this car this weekend...haven't worked on it for weeks since it was in limbo.

I blasted all the rear suspension and repainted it, installed new bearings and seals in the control arms, as well as in the new front brake drums that came with it. I did buy some disc brake brackets and have some spare rotors that a friend is going to turn for me though.

I need to look into lowering the front to match the rear (lowered it upon re-assembly), I'm seeing that some choose rabbit strut cartridges and stock struts with the cup cut and re-located...so I need to grab a used rabbit cartridge from my other buddy to make certain this is the way I want to go before sourcing some new ones.

Dad also found a guy parting another `74 Super (nicer than the one I've got even)...Got the bumpers and rear clip for this car, and grabbed the wiring harness too while I was there.

Dad then found a guy giving away a German four louver decklid, so almost have the parts to make it look like a car if you squint

[Chris V]

I'm getting closer to actually aquiring some Rabbit strut cartridges to fool around with...here's an ol' pic of the back I never got around to putting up:

[Chris V]

Finally pulled the trigger on some Bilsteins for the struts...last night I got it apart, and today was all about chopping things down:

No struts, tire mock-up:

Nearly figured-out:

Ride at lowest setting with 95lb spring:


I even swapped the engine from this car out of Dad's first `69 and into his latest, and it hasn't missed a beat so far:

[Lotrat]

Looks like a good stance.

[Chris V]

This evening I pounded out the passenger rear quarter panel a bit, and then removed the original apron just as it began to rain. Took the replacement clip into the garage and drilled and chiseled off the donor apron. Sorta' hung it on the car and it's looking better already - the thumb is wearing a bandage though...wet sledge hammers and sheetmetal don't mix.

Here's what I would like to do with the front-end:
http://www.abload.de/img/53i1s17.jpg

[Chris V]

Still haven't touched it with a welder - just bumping things around a bit...First time the decklid has been bolted-on in sometime.

[Chris V]

Welded the apron to the existing 1/4's after working them over some more - didn't come out too bad, decklid shuts nicely - time will tell once an engine and rear enginebay seal are in there I guess:

[Buggin_74]

I would have left the apron unwelded.
Removable aprons make life so much easier.

Do it properly and you can't even pick its removable, I do it to all my bugs now.
No idea why VW made splitty aprons removable but let Bug owners suffer.

[Marc]

...No idea why VW made splitty aprons removable but let Bug owners suffer.

That's simple - the engine's already attached to the trans before the body's dropped over the pan when a Bug is being built. Buses are unibody, so the factory workers have to install the engine the same way we do

[Chris V]

I like the extra strength offered in a rear-end collision from the welded-in panel...and didn't want to add any further reinforcement that may interfere with future exhaust system options.

Trying to decide on exhaust options now...I've got a Kymco 1-1/2" header with big-bore boxes from a Thing with a custom hide-away for another Beetle that might just fit with a little massaging and provide a fair bit of ground clearance still.