I bought my '74 back in 1996 for the same reasons that caused me to buy my '65 beater
but it was way too solid to beat around in, so it eventually turned into another project. This
Bug is going to be geared more towards street & strip, but it won't be that fast (15's in the
quarter).
When I first bought my '74, it took me about a month and a half to actually bring it home. I
bought a junkyard engine, did the brakes (which took me a whole day and a half - don't laugh),
hooked up the electrics, put on rims, tires, and a steering wheel, threw in a drivers seat,
and I finally drove it home. I am very proud to say that this Bug has never seen a tow truck or a
tow bar while I have had it. Of course I only had it running for about 3 months...1 of which was
barely. I have a spring deadline to meet with this Bug. It has to be up and running, with all
the goodies installed by April 14th, which I believe is the date for the first Bug-On this year.
I'm not going to do a day by day page for this project since it's sort of near it's completion,
...sort of...but I will list what has been done so far, and some of what I'm putting on it...you
have to keep some things a secret. :o)
Work to Date
- turnsignals have been shaved
- trim holes filled, but will be redone with a mig welder instead of bondo
- installed a much larger fuel line
- undercoated the bottom of the pan
- lowered the front end, the back was already lowered when I bought it
- installed front disc brakes, dreamt of installing the back
- had a tranny built to my specs (the inexpensive ones)
- had a 1641 engine built to my specs (the more expensive ones), with more head and carb work
coming
- moved the brake fluid reservoir
Parts That Need to be Installed
- complete Crane electrical system
- full set of Autometer Gauges (everyone has VDO)
- competition fuel pump with regulator
- Mazda Miata front seats...as if there were any back ones
- fram fuel filter
- the tranny I had built
- the engine I had built
I really haven't made any plans to have this Bug painted, and I don't think that I will. I'll just
prime it, tint it, and run it.
I finally got around to throwing my new tranny in my '74. It wasn't easy, but after all the
painful bone bruising, skin scraping work I had to do, it's finally in there, although it doesn't
seen to shift right. The gears seem to be extremely stiff, and the shifter doesn't row through
the gears easily. I've decided to go ahead and install everything in the '74 that I said I would
since the '66 is going to go through a full restoration instead of going down the track. I'm
going to use my '74 as a Civic stomping daily driver. The engine will hopefully go in this weekend
if it warms up soon. As soon as the engine is in, I'll finish up all the necessary bodywork,
install all my parts, prime it all one color, and drive it everywhere.
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