Build: Zippy the Wonderbug

schwim wrote:

An historic event has occurred. Sound the horns!

Fantastic - Zippy's engine sounds great! 8-)

Now for the Horns... :lol:

ok, so the pans functional. when's the body and interior going to match?

Super_Randy wrote:

ok, so the pans functional. when's the body and interior going to match?

Functional, hopefully not too long. Virginia allows "antique" tags which don't require vehicle inspection. It's intended for cars that only drive rarely, like Sunday drives or to car shows. I'm going to do the welding along the pan mating surface like heater channels, front cross panel and lower rear arches then I'm going to smush him back together and tag him. If I can do that without anyone inspecting him, I'm just going to start driving him and I'll do small jobs on him when time permits.

I just don't have the time to restore him and don't know when I'll ever be able to due to all the real life shit I'm having to do to make the apartment for the kids legal. There's an end in sight, I just don't know when it will happen. Then when that's done, there's all the stuff that we wanted to fix on the property even before we knew about the issue with the apartment. I've decided I'd rather drive Zippy now in any condition rather than wait for the Utopian time line required to restore him and drive him. Literally, the only panel on Zippy that isn't rotten or crunched is the roof. Absolutely every other piece would require restoration or replacement and I don't have it in me to do all of that before I get to drive him.

That is incredibly fantastic! 8-)
Congrats to this milestone.

Maddel wrote:

That is incredibly fantastic! 8-)
Congrats to this milestone.

Thank you sir, I'm over the moon about it. It was the high point of recent years.

I found during the drive that really the only thing that needs tending to the pan assembly is the gas pedal assmbly. All of the important parts are worn to the point of causing it to bind. I did a little tinkering with it but the issue spans like 5 parts so it would require some non-replaceable parts to fix. The guys on the Samba pointed me to an aftermarket solution made by one of the members and I've got that coming. Once that's installed, I'll try it again and see if anything else needs tending to before the big sandwich.

Once I'm ready to do that, I'm going to make the front and rear aprons removable as it will make everything so much easier to work on. Both the front and back have been hit and are beyond repair so I don't feel bad about cutting up good metal to do it. That will allow me to pull it in, work on a bit, bolt it back together and still have a whole car and not just parts strewn across the property.

Speaking of parts strewn across the property. I went to grab the 5 mil fuel line from where I stashed a ton of the parts in an old kids play house located on the property. I was run off by hundreds of European hornets so had to spend the day evicting them. This bad boy was left under my rear seat cushion after the battle.

kill it with fire!!!

you could just buy this, it's already done. https://www.oldbug.com/fmj.htm

Super_Randy wrote:

you could just buy this, it's already done. https://www.oldbug.com/fmj.htm

I super duper love FMJ but man that's a lot of money. It's been up for sale for a really long time, hasn't it?

idk if its still for sale. i found that link on the samba, couldn't find the car on oldbug. :?
i noticed the engine has been changed sense it was built. but still asking $32,500 isn't bad for a pre Compound, early DBK, Pip built car. hell it's not even that bad for a 51 split.

Today, I sorted the accelerator assembly out. I had the tube/spring installed incorrectly so I sorted that out at the carb, added a bowden tube between cooling tin back plate and chassis and installed the X-Celerator kit that's sold on the Samba classifieds for converting the pedal to a roller. It operates super smooth now.

I also changed out the oil drain gaskets and screen and pulled the pulley to get to the oil pump. I've got some gaskets on the way and will put that back together when they arrive.

I took the fuel pump apart to make sure the diaphragm was good, cleaned it up and reassembled. I'll reinstall that with new hard copper lines and hardware.

I'm waiting on some tools and parts to come in the mail but I managed to install the fuel pump and install the hard line/connect to the carburetor.

While I'm waiting on the stuff, I'll start welding in some metal just so I can put the two halves back together.

Nice progress Jason!

What happened to the brake pedal return spring?

schwim wrote:

schwim wrote:

... Virginia allows "antique" tags which don't require vehicle inspection. It's intended for cars that only drive rarely, like Sunday drives or to car shows...

Damn! Now I'm really envious!
Over here you need a special vehicle inspection to get a "historic" tag.
It's biyearly and the car needs to be in original factory condition.
If any only period correct aftermarket stuff is allowed.
Not to mention other mods like lowering or engine upgrades.
This sucks to the max.
Of course Herman doesn't qualify for such a tag...

Maddel wrote:

What happened to the brake pedal return spring?

I had moved it over to the clutch as I was having problems getting the brake pushrod connected to the pedal arm again but moved it over after the pic, or do you mean the coiled part? It's working well to return the brake arm but the way it's coiled so ugly, I thought for sure I put it together incorrectly.

Maddel wrote:

Damn! Now I'm really envious!
Over here you need a special vehicle inspection to get a "historic" tag.
It's biyearly and the car needs to be in original factory condition.
If any only period correct aftermarket stuff is allowed.
Not to mention other mods like lowering or engine upgrades.
This sucks to the max.
Of course Herman doesn't qualify for such a tag...

DIfferent states have different restrictions, some require an initial inspection, some still require annual inspections and some states don't inspect any cars(Florida, for example) and you just hope someone doesn't lose their brakes and drive their backyard creation over your child while they're crossing the street.

Here, in Virginia, it just seems to be if your car is 25 years old or older, you're eligible for the antique tag. Here in the rural farm area, if you have a farm, you can put a plastic tag on your vehicle that says "farm use" and drive it everywhere with no taxes, no inspections, no renewals, nothing. Those are usually the jankiest vehicles. Then you have "commercial fisherman" with their tags and the same lack of regulation as the farmers. You can spot them from a mile away though because their truck is almost always rotten from the salt water rust.

in CA we don't have vehicle inspections. but for vehicles newer than 1975 we do have smog testing. frankly i wish they would do away with the smog testing and start mechanical inspections. as it's pretty easy to fudge and get a tire fire to pass smog if you know how and where to take it. also new vehicles are exempt the first 7 years (which you're taxed for) then it gets tested every other year. people don't seem to keep cars more than 10 to 12 years and seeing something over 15 is getting rare. when you do it's usually a work truck.
and if you saw some of the vehicles i have to share the road with Maddel would probably shit himself with what he's used to :lol: bad wheel alignment, tires wobbling, bald tires, bungy cords and ratchet straps (hell sometimes just string) holding hoods and trunks shut. missing body panels, driving down the street so staggered i can see the lock in the door from behind the vehicle, broken windows, broken lights. non working lights (i was behind a small SUV the other day that had one working brake light). you could take a car from the demolition derby and drive it on the street here as long as what came out the tailpipe was compliant. :roll:

Well, I've been doing a lot to zippy but it's been piecemeal, uninteresting and quite ugly. My current task is to weld in any patches that I wouldn't be able to do or would be hindered by having the body bolted to the pan. I think I've gotten all the welds in as of today and am only needing to finish grinding the scale off and painting the cavities under the gas tank and rear parcel shelf. Once I'm done with those two spots, I'm going to lay the gasket and sandwich the body and pan back together.

Chloe has been tackling restoring the gas tank.

Today marked wrapping up what I need to do prior to the great sandwiching. I found what I think were markings from Zippy's manufacture(two X's on right front wheelwell), I found a cross between the punisher and an alien under the parcel shelf and made enough dust to make it look like the garage was on fire. Also included in the images are some shots of the massive damage... well, everywhere.

looks like half the car is on the ground in the last pic :lol:

Super_Randy wrote:

looks like half the car is on the ground in the last pic :lol:

I've got an 1/8 of Zippy in each lung.

so you have 5/8 of a car on the lift then?

Awesome job & fantastic progress! :)
Given his origin obviously Zippy can look back on an eventful & turbulent life.
It's so cool to see that throwing in the towel isn't an option for you with this long lasting project (over a decade?). ;)

schwim wrote:

... I found what I think were markings from Zippy's manufacture(two X's on right front wheelwell), ...

To me these markings read like "44"...
Well "42" would have been a blast! :lol:

Maddel wrote:

To me these markings read like "44"...
Well "42" would have been a blast! :lol:

Man, that makes a lot more sense than my guess :) 44, the answer to life, the universe, everything + 2.

I saved the spot:

I removed the rear apron, I'll be cutting the other wheel arch short as well to ease working on the engine(since both arches and the apron itself is shot). When it goes back on, it will be in some fashion that allows me to quickly remove it.

A lot done today. First, I cut the second arch to match the first, I'll figure out the mounting method later but this gives me unfettered access to the engine for later stuff. I trimmed up and opened up the bolt holes in the body seal. Got all the stuff out of the passenger compartment, put the body on the pan, rolled it out, cleaned up the trunk space by removing all the sound deadening, removing the radio, installed the block off plate, and cleaned the front and rear glass. I've got the missing rubber parts and a bolt kit for the pan to body connection as well as some brake line to connect the master cylinder to the original fluid reservoir.

Zippy's back together for the first time in years. Hopefully, I don't need to separate him in the near future. I'd like for this to be fairly final.

Today was trunk day.

Today was a short day since I have my botox appt. today. Since I stored the tank empty for a decade, it had a ton of scale surface rust so I cleaned it out with a length of chain and alcohol, it seemed to do great. I'm going to leave the mesh sock out of the tank and just run two inline filters, one under the tank and one in the transmission tunnel. I painted the underside of the tank. I also hammered out the trunk's inspection plates, welded on a capture tab that was missing on the shifter rod plate and painted them. I also cleaned up the brake fluid reservoir and painted it with a hammer finish. I imagine the first time I fill it, that finish will be long gone :)

Today, fuel tank finishing, hardware cleaning/painting and I polished the gas cap. When some local hits me, totaling Zippy, the gas cap will be the keepsake of our time together.