Howdy!

My name is Adam and I'm addicted to VW's   I'm not really new to buggies, but it has been a while. I, with some help from friends back in high school, shortened a VW pan and built a buggy using a body I scored for free. The only catch was that I had to cut the body out of the youpon bushes that had grown up through in and all around it.  I needed another project,  so my wife and I located a body at Dale's in Corpus.

After a lot of thought, we decided to base this off a traditional beetle pan. Most aftermarket pans were just out of our budget and not really what we were looking for. With a stock pan, all the tools at my disposal at work, and a few buddies I think we can build up a pretty slick pan.

We're thinking the plan is to build up a nice little 1600 or 1641 and slip that back into my sedan. I just cruise it around these days, and with as low as it is and the sentimental value it has, I don't really have any inclination to hot rod it around anymore. Then we'll take the 1915cc that was in the sedan, tear it down and swap out that crappy cam it has, drop on some dual 44's and put that in the buggy... This should provide us with plenty of power to have some fun   Anyways.. Still collecting parts.. The next big operation will be to cut down the chassis.  I tell you what, it doesn't get much better than this. What more could a guy ask for than a super amazing wife and a garage full of VW's

 I got through probably the biggest hurdle in the build (at least in my mind). I was sorta sweating out having to shorten the chassis but it was the first thing to get done on the long list of things to do on the buggy.
Now I've only done this one other time, and I didn't do any of the welding back then. When we finished that one, it was strong, but I'd be rather embarrassed to show people pictures of the tunnel when we got done. It worked but it looked like a hack job.. With this in mind, and the fact that I haven't done any appreciable welding for the past 7 years.. I was a little worried about the impending work ahead.. Long story short it turned out great and went off without a hitch despite several roadblocks along the way and my miss-estimation of how long it would take

I cut the top out of the tunnel to survey what needed to be done, and to use the scrap to practice a little welding on to get the voltage and wire speed set on the mig welder. I figured if all else fails with the welder, I could at least still tow it home like this as opposed to cutting it all the way before brushing up with the welder..

I did pick up a longblock for it though.. got a smoking hot deal on a recently built engine (only 40 miles on it). The owner bought an unfinished project that had this engine, and he wanted a small stock gas saver. He tore it down to a long block and I picked it up this morning..

Specs:
1776 cc
New AS41 block, tapped for full-flow oiling
Steve Tims Ported & Polished Stage 2 Cylinder Heads: (New 043 Mexican Castings with 3/4 reach plug holes, 42X37 SS Valves, Dual Valve Springs, Chromoly Retainers, Professional Multi angle Valve job, ported intakes, exhaust and a true ported combustion chamber area)
HD (30mm) Melling oil pump
Scat 12.5 lb flywheel
Scat counterbalanced 69mm crank
CB Performance Uni-Tech HD Connecting Rods, balanced
Mahle pistons and jugs
Engle 110 cam
CB Performance lifters
Scat 1 ½ qt. deep sump oil pan
Empi Remote oil filter w/ braided lines
New Aluminum Degree Pulley

I've got a set of Kadrons and an extra 009. Just need an exhaust and a few bits of cooling tin I don't have.

 All in all.. its a big step up from my first buggy.. and I came up with some better ideas for my next one.  (haven't we all Adam?...Admin :))

 I have a 2"x1" perimeter tubing and 16Ga floors. Getting the floor panels cut was the toughest.. no easy way to measure them with all the contours on the frame. I let the inside of my floors slope up the curve of the tunnel as it goes to the back of the frame. Next time I think I would stick to strictly flat floors instead. Having the contour made it hard to tack in the supports...But the floor is very solid!

Next I will put the chassis up on jackstands, pull the front suspension and rear driveline out, and prep and paint the last bit of the chassis. Slowly but surely I'll be painting and rebuilding the front end and drive line and installing them back in to make my chassis drivable

On the bottom I used a textured black paint.. same stuff I used under the fenders of the Beetle. I'll use this same stuff to finish up the chassis after I get the driveline off.  On the top side I used the Duplicolor roll in bed liner kit. I have to say that I'm pretty impressed with it. It goes on real easy and looks great. As usual, the pics don't really do the finish justice, but it will give you the idea. One word of advice though.. only work with this stuff in a well ventilated area. Its very strong and gives off lots of vapors. Almost finished. Just need to get a few more pieces...and a little more time. Hope you enjoy the pictures!