64 Air Ride Build

[krmnnghia]

Thought I would get my build up on this site so the fellow Michiganders can see it. Here yah go.

Well where to begin...this is my 1964 build. This is actually my first official body off the pan build. I purchased the car for $600 and what I received was the shell minus the fenders, the pan that appears to be pretty solid and a few boxes of parts and gauges and interior bits.

Here are the plans:

-Masterseries entire pan and every part of the suspension
-Masterseries the stock wheels and paint white
-Full Airkewld bolt on suspension

Now on with the pics...

Here she is


Body now seperated from the pan






The Pan repairs that still need to be cleaned up a bit




Thoughts on what to do with this piece here?


Some serious ugliness! Who does nuts like this?



Last but not least...I hate you Arizona! The car lost it's title at one point and Arizona issued it a new VIN as a 77 beetle. Luckily it is just a sticker and I am working with the local PD to help me get the original VIN re-issued.

So this weekend I tackled the Pan. Started with dropping the trans. MMmmmm years of sludge and dirt.



Took the front suspension/beam off and noticed this little tidbit I missed when I bought her. Got to love PO's.



If you have stripped the pan and need to take the rear torsion assemblies off you have to put a ton of weight on top or the jack will just lift the pan up... :lol:



So here is where we are. Pan is all stripped of that nasty tar crap. Tonight I will start to wire wheel the entire thing to prep for the masterseries primer and black coat.



So been burning the hell out of my Dewalt angle grinder :twisted: I decided to take a look at what was under a 1/2" of bondo. Here is the result.




Also after sandblasting with 80grit silica sand I was left with this...



So I got some of this and sprayed it on thick.



Let it sit for a while and am currently attacking all 5 wheels with the knotted wire wheel on the angle grinder and alot of scrubbing with green pads.

I painted for the first time today with my father in law's guidance. Did all 5 wheels, the gas tank, and the pedal assembly. Check it

Started with this


Then coated with Masterseries Silver twice(just could not get in those crevices without creating runs.


And then some PPG Shop-Line white


All Done after two coats


Sprayed the tank and pedals in 2 coats of Masterseries



Then 2 coats of PPG Shop-Line Gloss Black(9700)



Had some orange peel but this was expected as the masterseries was never sanded down and had some peel itself.

Here is the shop booth


And here is the reason the compressor never kicked on while we were working :twisted:



These compressor are F-ing LARGE! Next on the list is more pan work.

Airkewld 4 valve manual Bolt on Kit was ordered, arrived and we have masterseries coated all parts and painted. MMMMmm







Going to polish up the tank only as it will be shown under the hood. The transmission is almost complete. The amount of crud I have had to remove from it is ridiculous. Will Post pics when done.

Sorry such a big single post but this is months of work all consolidated. Enjoy!

Anyone want to get paid to do some body work for me?

[Dustin]

Looking good so far. I want to get an air ride kit for my 74 in the future. I would help you with your bodywork if I didnt have a ton of it to do on my own cars. Once I get some things done around here I am going to focus on opening my shop.

[Ruffuss]

Looks like the guy who formerly owned your 64' was related to the guy who owned Ruffuss between my grand dad and I. He had stuffed black garbage bags in the rockers and bondo'ed over top of it, in places it was 6" thick and 8" wide by 5' long. I weighed what wasn't ground to dust and it was over 30lbs from both rockers and the frt. corner.I joke he must have had stock in the company. Looking like your headed in the right direction. Later Kenn

[ghiastein]

I really wanted air ride too. After seeing a tricked out S10. He had it all linked up to his alarm system. When he pushed the lock button his truck sank to the ground. The frame was actually sitting on the black top. When pushed the unlock button the truck rose to his ride height. That is what I wanted to do to my Karmann Ghia but after talking to my Chevy Guy. He told me that I was in for tons of welding and fabrication. So I gave up but one can still dream.

How is your air ride system how extream is your kit?

AJ

[krmnnghia]

Thanks for the comments guys. This is the 100% complete bolt on kit from Airkewld. I went this way specifically because I cannot weld and Air Ride is not the project to learn welding on. Airkewld(Pete Skiba) builds these for show only. What I mean is they are slow to raise and lower so no having fun going up and down all the time without the compressor running constantly. From what I hear though they ride awesome. This is what I wanted. Something to slam to the ground when I park or am sure I am driving on a flat road and something that made the ride smoother. I ordered the 4" beam plus drop spindles to get the nose all the way to the ground. I will post up some better pics of the entire kit for you tonight. Still need to order all brake parts, 145/65 tires for the front and a few minor things and the entire pan will be ready to put together.

[Southpaw]

Krmnghia , I have built a few air powered machines here at work and when we needed to do shot after shot all we added was an air tank to act like a stash . Glen

[krmnnghia]

As in you added an extra tank or a larger one? The issue with this setup is the tank and compressor are fairly small. Fix those problems and I can go up and down for a long time.

[jmallen05]

Do you have any experience with airkewlds kits? I've heard that they won't let you lay out completely. That may have only been a problem with the early kits, he might have it taken care of now though. I've been thinking about putting air ride on my car, not this detailed, just air shocks up front and a little air management system, I can do it pretty cheap I just have to get around to do it. Your car looks solid.


jerry

[krmnnghia]

Aug 14, 2008 15:37:11 GMT -5 jmallen05 said:

Do you have any experience with airkewlds kits? I've heard that they won't let you lay out completely. That may have only been a problem with the early kits, he might have it taken care of now though. I've been thinking about putting air ride on my car, not this detailed, just air shocks up front and a little air management system, I can do it pretty cheap I just have to get around to do it. Your car looks solid.


jerry

This is my first air ride kit install so it's all pretty new to me. Considering I have the beam narrowed 4", drop spindles, and am running 145/65/15 up front I don't think I should have any issues laying the front half on the ground. The rear though is another issue. Since this is the bolt on kit there is a cradle that wraps around the transmission. I do not believe this will allow me to "lay pan" although that really isn't what I am going for. If you want to lay pan look at KCW's shockwave install for the rear. I think that may allow it to get as low as possible.

As long as my ride sits like this I will be a very happy man.

[krmnnghia]

It's coming along...Wife is getting antsy and wants me to get the body to the body guy to get the work started! WOOWOO!

Here be the pan in its new home. Been there for a couple weeks but other things have gotten in my way.



Beam went on just cause I had to put something back on it. MMMmmm Shiny!

[bren]

Pan looks great!
I look forward to watching the progress. Not many air rides around that I am aware of. Will be cool to see one.

[wells]

What a job! Keep up the good work!
Wells

[MikeH]

more, more..... when getting more pics? Its been a month.

[krmnnghia]

Ugh I know Don't remind me! Traded my 63 to Dustin for some body work and have been workingon the front beam components. Taking my King pin carriers to Dons Buggy shop in Perry to get the Bushings reamed to .710 and to get the zerks retapped as they are all stripped out. Then I can go ahead and bolt the entire front end up!

[wells]

Nice job, krmnnghia! I hope to get that far in another month!
Wells