Going to post some random projects here.

So I was brought a 73 Mercedes (another LeMon, not the same car) and this:


My instructions where to "make it work". I had no idea what I was doing, so an intense amount of research, and I have a rough idea...




The local radio station I listened to went under, and my boom box sucked anyways. I've had these old school Cerwin Vega speakers laying around since I moved into the new shop, and my friend had a damaged but working amp. That was motivation to finally hook it up and run Pandora. Kinda ghetto, but it sounds great.


And speaking of old school audio, I am a sucker for it. This is my "new" amp for the shop truck.


And my "new" sub.


Both early 2000s, and I have an Alpine deck from 2001. Gonna have a nice old school system, lol.

Anyways back to the turbo...





Saab T3 rebuilt and converted to carbon seal. Painted everything with VHT paint, and surprisingly it hasn't flaked or discolored yet. Only about 5 hours of hard driving, but the hardware changed color. I'm impressed, for rattle can paint.


My friend brought over a T3/T4 eBay turbo to see if it would fit. Rubbed the fender a bit. But my employee has it now, putting a draw through turbo on his 65 Chevy with a 250 I6, since this one worked so well.


Doing final assembly. Still had my fingers crossed at this point.



Also still working on this chassis, very slowly between projects right now. Need to get back to it, for a show next month!



First time it fired and ran. Started on the first try. Tuned for about 3 days straight.


The car, and mini air scoop.




The end result, the car made huge power gains at 7 PSI. Will chirp the tires in 2nd every time. Once we got it tuned pretty well, it will break loose in 2nd. Its a high mileage car with almost no maintenance. Tightened the head bolts, but its bubbling oil out after boosting between the head and block. Valve seals are likely bad, it burns a good amount of oil. He said he will see how it does at the first race in a week or two. And if its satisfactory, will do some engine work.

That aside, I was impressed with not only the car, but myself. I had never played with turbos before. And I built a successful draw through set up on my first attempt, in about 3 weeks time (with about 6 days of sick time mixed in).

 

This is one of my favorite projects. And its coming back this month some time to get closer to driving.

Putting 944 IRS in a 67 VW Double-Cab.





The interesting part of this project, is that the owner designed a lot of it, and actually did a good job. So I did it in various stages
as he had funds available. I didn't really know what this was when I made it.




He is running a 911 motor and 944 transaxle/torque tube. So I had to adapt the two. The overhang served later as a mount for the engine.




This piece started making more sense when I built motor mounts. [facepalm]







I modified a fuel cell for him. Would have been easier to just build it to the right shape and size.



He wanted a roll cage built to stiffen the chassis, since I was about to cut a huge hole in the floor.
We disagreed on design a bit, the cage is not "proper" or up to any regulated standards, but its what he wanted.
The top bar in this first picture looks crooked (it is in comparison to the rail below it, depends on what's important)
but the B pillar hoop is 3/4" taller than the C pillar because the roof is higher in the center. And that bar intersects
with the welded joint to add some support to it. Also the crown gussets will be behind the seat, where no one can
hurt themselves on them.



I'm proud of this though..






The cage hits the floor right above the inner rocker support. Kinda strong...

 

The engine..







Hanging the transaxle.



Did some bell cranks for the rear coil overs. Strong but not too heavy.














I had to machine all of my own spacers and hardware for the coilover, since they are from Germany.
They had an odd bearing size I couldnt find anything to fit.




This is the bus (its going lower, this was adjusted all the way up to get on trailer).

 

Okay here is some more fun, put a 302 and a T5 in a 73 Mercedes for LeMons.

Built a carb hat from scratch, since buying one is a no-no, and hood space was tight.








The motor/trans was far from fitting.



Mounted seat sliders, since the team has drivers ranging about a foot in height.




Per request, I made the gas pedal and linkage. It worked pretty well and was comfortable, but looking back I would
make it lighter if I did it again. Had to run an extra return spring. Also ran Wilwood pedal/master setup.








He decided he wanted to just build new front suspension, but use all the stock arms. This proved to be difficult.
Ended up having to make some very budget minded and unfancy upper arms, and widen the track width a few inches.

 

Did seat mounts and column at some point.






Built a semi cold air box... Can't seal it off completely because the fender is part of the core support.



Owner was against flaring the fenders, he wanted some type of wide body. Showed me a bunch of pictures of how he wanted it,
and this was my take. I later did the rear fenders my way, and he liked them better....







The initial plan for this car was to build headers that fit. At some point he decided against this, and wanted to run stock manifolds.
Well they did not fit, so I assumed he would change his mind back to headers. Instead he said turn them around backwards and make it work.
So I did. The funky side looks like that because I tried to keep equal length, that side is 3" shorter, so I got close. This was probably the most disappointing
part of building this car, not doing headers. But the judges liked all the crazy tubes, and everyone thinks its for a turbo.





Built an anti-rock link for the motor.



How I did the rear widening.






S4s in the background.




It got painted at some point, but I did not take pics.

Oh the fuel filter did get properly mounted.

 

Oh here is one. It had already seen some track contact in this picture.


Here is some cool ones I like. Sorry so many posts/pics.

 

The projects are knarly! I love the VW.

 

Sick work as always. Kool to see you putting your skill to different types of cars. Keep up he awesome work bro

 

wow.... that vdub is new.......

awesome! seeing projects like this from other people can give birth to new ideas and designs for our trucks. sometimes the idea for a look or part on another vehicle comes as inspiration from another. thats why i love reading through project build threads

 

i LOVE that double cab. my dad and i are die hard aircooled VW guys and i find it awesome as hell that a Porsche motor and rear end are going in it! i have a 944 for sale...just in case you are interested. its a project but does run and drive!!! PM me if interested

 

Nice work Seth... I'm just glad you're not closer to me cuz I would be broke!!!

BTW I never got a sticker with my control arms...

 

Man i love all the hard work and detail you put into everything. Well done man i i never get sick of your pics.

 

x effing2
i dont even own a minitruck but looking at this work, if i did i would take it there for sure.
seth, you going to DTE this year?

 

Ya I am going to DTE this year, I have a booth there.

Sorry about that, I may have been out at the time, or just forgot. I tend to forget a lot. What was I talking about?

Anyways, send me an address, and I will mail a few.

 

Actually I probably should have put these in here. I will upload decent quality pics tonight.

 

damn that frame is sic as phuck

 

nice frame man, what is it going into?

 

Thanks guys. It will be under a second gen Might Max with cut rockers and a scratch built floor/firewall, RHD.

 

that thing was pretty bad ass in person at DTE. those pics dont do it justice.

 

Wish I woulda went to D2E day. Frame looks good man I really like it clean an simple