V8 1973 VW Beetle Project by V8 Super Beetle

2 minute(s) of a 270 minute read

I got some things done this weekend. Finally, someone reliable came out and bought the bug pan, transaxle and motor from me. It took about 4.5 guys, lol, to lift the bug body off of the pan, while on a trailer with the front wheels strapped down, and into the garage. We did it this way cause of the super's front struts.

After getting my cash for the parts I took a trip to the local junkyard. There are dozens of places to choose from up and down N. Shepherd here in Houston so I did some haggling and yard hopping. After two hours out in the rain I left with a 10 bolt S-10 rear, left and right complete spindles (spindle, rotor, brake caliper), steering box, steering linkage (<---all from a 93 S-10) and rear leaf springs from an Isuzu Amigo. I got all these parts for $350.

Here's a photo of the bug body and one of the leafs to the side just mocking up to see if the leafs are of decent length. Seems like it'll work fine. I'll post pics of the other parts later this evening.

I'm about $750 into this project so far.

Soon I'll post some mock up plans of the frame design using the leaf concept up front and using coilovers in the rear. After building the frame and everything seems to work out well I post the plans with the dimensions if anyone wants to build one from them.

Does anyone have any opinions about using these coilovers for the rear of my bug? I think they'll work and they're pretty inexpensive. From jbugs.com for $59.95 for a pair.

Here's the second draft of the plans. I'm going to go over the measurements again tonight just to make sure this will work.

This design utilizes a leaf spring front suspension.