The Beetle is back

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I have squares here in each size. the further out it gets the more the wheels hit the fender. I'll just move the body forward some for clearance and see how it looks. I'll try with the motor and pipe out first, probably remove the wing mount too. if it isn't going to work, then I'll just build the 2wd beetle back up again and order a mini cooper body for this project
 
Well guys, it's a sad day in Pipedom. I have given up hope on my 4wd on road VW. It just won't fit. I've taken the tub right off now and have the body just propped over the wheels. In the side pic you see I can center the wheel, but then at the back, I'd basically have to cut the whole back end off from the middle of the wheel or at the rear wheel nut. To drop it any lower I have to cut out for the rear shock tower. Shows in second pic. The front wheels I can get in a few mm changing the wheel squares 3rd pic, but The body just isn't long enough for the new wheelbase... so I am going to be selling this body with a chassis and a bunch of parts shortly...


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so sell the vw or cut the fenders and make it a monster beetle type. or toss the stuff on the shelf and forget about it for a while and hunt down a mini cooper body for this 4wd
 
Well sat back, and then out came the hacksaw. I might have to cut a little more off the back fenders but sitting like this fits for now. Guess I have to cut and mod the tub now

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I cut the tub. All I am using now to mount the body is the side parts. I had to drill new holes and move it forward. I then hacked a bit at a time until I could keep things from rubbing, then mounted the wing back. Allready started scraping the orange (and many other colors beneath) off. Next the dremmel and sanding drum come out to round things off a bit. I could always extend the rear fenders with some lexan I guess but it looks ok for now

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been stripping the paint. what a big job. sure slowing production down. I want to paint it soon. I considered making extensions for the rear fenders. you can actually see remnants of my old flame paint job there. it's about 3/4 done but today I have to work on the van. my rad is leaking. It has a tranny cooler added (previous owner towed a trailer) but am going to just bypass it. I was going to toss it in the shop while I detailed today but I couldn't make it there.... too much leaking out. I took a rock just before xmas and it was a pinhole. wasn't too bad. I was just waiting for business to pick up to replace it. but this week the flood gates opened. I travelled about 5 miles and dumped almost half my rad. so no way to make the trip on the hwy. I don't plan on towing a trailer ever so just going to disconnect it and remove it.

I also had to dremmel massive amounts off the cy clutch housing. I'll try and get a good pic but it's a pain with the rear brake cable holder.
 
Looking good there pipeous ,that body its like a cat nine lives and keeps coming back for more :lol:
Sweet i told you they are tuff as hell.
 
Well the paint is all off finally and I gave it first scrubbing with some bulldogs (steel wool). still needs more work but I am tired and packing it in for the day

no kidding, this is 3rd time back. been through a few owners now and still in awesome shape.
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I should test fit with the pipe. almost forgot I moved things... might have to do some dremmeling before I can paint...

I'm peeling decals off this thing to paint for a customer. They clear coated over the decals so have been doing a lot of sanding lately. Trying to get both ready so I can spray at the same time. Customer supplied the clear coat and I am using my automotive gravity feed for that
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I have black, white, pearl blue and chrome to play with. I'm doing flames on the scooter. kinda ghost flames.

I might just google vw beetle and see what pics pop up for inspiration. and nah, orange is Dave's color. I was getting razzed for starting with black... all my guitars are black too. just like black. it's a good base to start with
 
It looks matt now because I used black fabric dye to coat it. dyed the filler that way. I have to spray black again but paint this time, I need to spray the scooter as I sanded down to white in places. I sprayed the inside of the vw with charcoal grey dye. it's almost a plastic finish that can be sanded. I'll give it a go with 600 gritt before I spray. I'll probably dye the wing too.

looking through google pics. man vw paint jobs are boring one color deals... maybe I should just paint chrome highlights and clear coat.
 
Sprayed the black today. I had to spray the scooter. Just going to mask off the parts to spray the faskrome next. I have to mask the scooter too. should have next color done tomorrow. probably have most of the spraying done tomorrow. Then 2 days of clear coat work ;)
the bottom pic is my inspiration. just talked to the scooter owner. I am going to do lightning on it instead of flames... flames are just so overdone. I've never done lightning like this before, so should be fun

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