BUILD-OFF CHALLENGE: Budk – Bumblebee, Rustoration Options

[budk]

This car was found in a garage in Columbus in 2010. A member here, Tornik550 posted in the forum that he found it at a garage sale and that it may be an LE.
He wasn’t interested so I went and looked at it and brought it home. It turned out to be an LE and this is what it looked like when I got it home.





Someone suggested I contact Dr. Evil who was lived about 15 miles from me. Mike came over and we pulled the engine and tranny as well as other parts while he assured me that he knew where everything belonged. Mike rebuilt the tranny and then, long story short, life got in the way for both of us, a couple of years went by and Mike ended up moving to Ohio. Before Mike moved, I realized that he was going to be too busy growing his family and his practice and I didn’t know anything about these engines so I put an ad on the Pittsburgh Craigslist looking for an air cooled engine enthusiast to help me finish put the engine together that Mike and I had torn apart. The ad stated that my preferred choice of payment was beer and that I kept the fridge in the garage full.



I got a couple of replies with suggestions of books/videos to buy but then I heard from a guy who lives a little over an 1.5 hr drive from me. It turns out that he is a 914world member and I believe he has had something like 6 of these cars over the years. His name is Ray (reharvey) but I refer to him as my Mentor. Ray drove down and we developed a list of parts to buy to finish rebuilding the engine. A few months later, after a couple of trips, the case was back together with new bearings, cam and 2056 piston/cylinders but minus the injection, wiring harness, most of the tin and a few other parts. All the original parts that were taken off were kept since this is a numbers matching car.




That was 2 years ago. Nothing else got done in 2014 and now that 2015 is winding down it is time to get back to working on the car… and this challenge is the perfect motivation. The car will need the floor and firewall patched, door sills, longs and a few other pieces including work around the front marker lights. Are new fenders available? One of the PO’s had some work done (poorly) on the sills and the longs so I’m not sure yet what all is going to need replaced. Ray is coming down in a few days to give me his opinion on the body and I expect to be placing an order with Restoration Design soon after.

[budk]

I know this a big challenge and to have a shot at getting done I will need to get all the bodywork done within the next 6 months. Since I live in a cold weather climate and I don’t have a permanent heat source in the garage it will be even more challenging. What I do have is free time, a supportive wife and a Mentor who I can bounce things off even though he will be heading south for a good bit of the winter.

It will be restored as a Bumblebee even though that color scheme is not my favorite. I keep telling myself that it is only metal - it is only metal.... and fortunately I’m not smart enough to be intimidated by it, at least not yet. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif)
More to come.

[Olympic 914]

Howdy neighbor. I'm about 1 1/2 hr away from you also.. Not much of a welder either but I can provide moral support. and I'm not a bad wrench. if you need help.

Tom

[914forme]

I keep telling myself that it is only metal - it is only metal.... and fortunately I’m not smart enough to be intimidated by it, at least not yet. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif)
More to come.

Welcome to the challenge, I think most of us are using it for motivation to finish out builds also (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

I had to chuckle at tthat line, as I tell my wife there ar reasons I work with metal. Metal is more forgiving than lets say wood. Dome times you need accurate measurements etc... think roll bars. But for body work, you can always re-weld your mistakes.

Have fun enjoy the ride.

[budk]

Howdy neighbor. I'm about 1 1/2 hr away from you also.. Not much of a welder either but I can provide moral support. and I'm not a bad wrench. if you need help.

Tom

Thanks Tom, Good luck to you as well. What part of Pgh are you in? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[hot_shoe914]

Get the job done Bud, I might need you to restore my Bumble bee, since she is already familiar with the inside of your garage.


Shoe
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[sfrenck]

Paint the wheels black an call it an Unbumblee...

[Olympic 914]

Howdy neighbor. I'm about 1 1/2 hr away from you also.. Not much of a welder either but I can provide moral support. and I'm not a bad wrench. if you need help.

Tom

Thanks Tom, Good luck to you as well. What part of Pgh are you in? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

Irwin really. about 25 mi east of da Burgh.

[Mueller]

I really like the current paint scheme myself as well.

Good luck with the project, you are off to a great start.

[Johny Blackstain]

Between the Pirates, Penguins & Steelers, I'd think Bumblebees would do very well in the Pittsburg area. I'd presume it has to be one of the most desirable antique cars in the region, & there would have to be a few other owners about. Good luck w/ the restoration.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/thumb3d.gif)

[Olympic 914]

Between the Pirates, Penguins & Steelers, I'd think Bumblebees would do very well in the Pittsburg area. I'd presume it has to be one of the most desirable antique cars in the region, & there would have to be a few other owners about. Good luck w/ the restoration.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/thumb3d.gif)

Couple years ago I missed on a Bumblebee that was for sale at an estate sale. They were calling it a Steelers edition.. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
I got there over 1 hour early and there were already 3 other people in line. number 2 guy was a neighbor, knew what it was and bought it for $6000. It was really nice.. it had carbs and the FI and full set of manuals were included. Damn....

[Johny Blackstain]

Couple years ago I missed on a Bumblebee that was for sale at an estate sale. They were calling it a Steelers edition.. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
I got there over 1 hour early and there were already 3 other people in line. number 2 guy was a neighbor, knew what it was and bought it for $6000. It was really nice.. it had carbs and the FI and full set of manuals were included. Damn....

If it wasn't a bucket I'd say he did very well. Sorry for your loss. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)
I wonder if Creamsicles do well in Tampa? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[budk]

Between the Pirates, Penguins & Steelers, I'd think Bumblebees would do very well in the Pittsburg area. I'd presume it has to be one of the most desirable antique cars in the region, & there would have to be a few other owners about. Good luck w/ the restoration.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/thumb3d.gif)

You're correct, I assume it will be popular once it's done for the reasons you mentioned. I don't think I'd be able to drive it in Baltimore or Cleveland once it's finished but I can get away with it in Pittsburgh .
I'll make the next one the color and style that I want.

[budk]

Get the job done Bud, I might need you to restore my Bumble bee, since she is already familiar with the inside of your garage.


Shoe
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

It will always have a home here... I'll need it for reference to put this one back together!

[budk]

I spent the first two weeks of October removing everything left on the car except the suspension/wheels. I wanted to have the car sitting on the wheels so that I could install some bracing in the floor area. I know that bracing will need to come out at some point but until I know which panels need replaced I want the additional support. I also decided that I want to be able to hang the doors to check the gaps as panels are replaced so I had to change where I attached the door braces so that I can fit a door with the braces in place. And, I wasn’t really happy with the door braces that I had previously made using black pipe. The pipe flexed much more than I expected so I remade the braces with some extra square tubing I had laying around.


The last 2 weeks of October were spent building a rotisserie. I went with Restoration Design’s rotisserie because I think it best fits my particular needs of wanting to be able to move it around a lot and be able roll it onto my lift if need be. $250 worth of steel got the job done but I wasn’t prepared for the amount of time it took to fabricate it and for the amount of dirt created cutting and grinding new steel with the oily mill finish on it. It was however fun welding thick steel and it gave me a reason to buy a better welding helmet. I’ve been using a Harbor Freight helmet and while I haven’t done much welding before, when I did I struggled with being able to see where I was welding. So, I bought a Hobart Pro helmet and the difference is night and day. Much easier to see, lots of adjustments and the head strap assembly works really well. I also bought a better ground clamp as the clamp that came on my Millermatic 180 was practically useless. Once I got the settings on the welder dialed in and my technique correct I was able to lay down some pretty good welds.



Once the rotisserie was attached I removed the remaining suspension and with my wife’s help we removed the entire wire harness .


So, what’s next is to strip the car of paint so I can see all the parts that need cut out. I have a guy coming out next week to soda blast it in my driveway. His business is called Stripper for Hire (Stripper for hire website)…… I’m sure I’ll be the talk of the neighborhood! I still need to put dolly wheels on the rotisserie but I am waiting for a piece of steel so I will use cheap furniture dolly’s from Harbor Freight to get the car off my lift and outside for the stripper.

[Andyrew]

Great looking rotisserie and bracing!

[914forme]

Wow that rotisserie looks like something I need for my son's car at UC. Love this build.

[budk]

Wow that rotisserie looks like something I need for my son's car at UC. Love this build.

The design of the rotisserie is available on the Restoration Design website. Or, just go to Youtube and search for it. Thanks to Peter at RD for sending me the drawings and for being so helpful. I'll be placing a big order with RD soon. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sawzall-smiley.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif)

[budk]

Hera are a few pics of the car in process and a surprise find after it was stripped.




A few examples of the "quality" of patches that are now able to be seen.



Here is one of the many patches done by a PO, this one on one of the doors.


If you look closely, the patch is stamped with "120V 60 HZ, etc." ! Evidently this patch was made within the last 31 years or so.

[JoeDees]

Those welds make me feel better about my own.