Low down Hillbilly

[OCD Garage]

Thanks for the pics. I didn't know there were different styles of Hill Billy. I've only heard of short, med and long in the body design I have. Never seen another one with a fiberglass roof either.

[syncrobuggy1]

Yes there were 3 different length Hillbilly's made. The medium and long body were the same style, with the medium being 14 inches shorter. The short one was a different style like shown. the hood was very round and the back end had a slight downward angle to it as they were originally built to be run with bus reduction boxes. when set up the fenders would be flat.

the hardtop was built for the medium body but there were some modified to fit the long body.

[OCD Garage]

A little more progress. Next up, two curved, inner front tubes to tie into the torsion housing, a pair of the shock mounts and the air tank cradle/compressor mount to be located between the Sharpie marks.

[OCD Garage]

Centre supports added on front hoop:

Shock mounts and centre supports done for air tank. Next up will be compressor and air tank mounts.

[Tom_Kathleen]

It looks like you have been watching the guys on "Texas Metal" with they way they make suspension supports. Nice Job. Tom
_________________
Manxter #16, 1968 Meyers Manx & Kick-Out SS #16 (WIP)
Manx Club & CVA

[Dale M.]

[OCD Garage]

Thanks guys: It's been a lot of trial and error hand fitting the various pieces together with so many intersecting angles. Although I have a decently equipped home shop, my skills are a bit rusty and progress is slower than it used to be.

[OCD Garage]

Compressor mount tacked in, air tank mount fabbed. Need to pick up an elbow for the compressor output and make mounts for the relay and water trap.

[OCD Garage]

Air ride sub frame is now welded in place and I can lift it off the floor again. Starting to knock the surface rust off from sitting for so long, nice to be able to roll it outside for the messy jobs.

[OCD Garage]

Working my way around the pan filling in all the gaps, welding the perimeter and repairing a few rusty spots in the driver/passenger footwells. Shifter now works without binding on e-brake/clutch tube, yet to install new shifter bushing. The raised section is beginning to blend in, will soon fill the sides. As you can see, templates are done for the rear pan floor, just waiting on more material.

[OCD Garage]

Today's challenge was filling the driver's side rear floor perimeter, plus along the tunnel to cover where I raised the handbrake. The floor is fully welded to the tunnel on the passenger's side. The patches are plug welded around the edge every 1". After finishing the driver's side, the rust holes in the front bulk head will likely be next on the list.

[OCD Garage]

Now you see it, now you don't! Mocking up the driver's side now. Sorry for the glare, recently re-lamped with led strips.

[OCD Garage]

Pan sides/floors are nearly finished, along with rebuilding the front bulkhead. Next, I'll be cleaning-up and repairing a rust hole on the side of the section where the beam bolts to. A new box of parts from Cip1 will soon be here with stainless braided brake lines, cables, seat sliders and a bunch of other chassis goodies to keep the build fueled.

[OCD Garage]

Repairing the frame head now. There was a section of perforated rust either side and along the bottom of weld seam between the tunnel and frame head. Cut it out with the 4" grinder/zip disc, then chiseled out the remains of the rusty lower section and welded in new 14ga.

[OCD Garage]

Decided to test fit the body for the first time since the fabrication of the air bag frame. Only trouble spot is where the motor raise causes the shifter to interfere with the back of the body (when shifting into reverse). I'll notch the body 1" and make a small bump on the cabin side.

I'm waiting for a sheet of 18ga sheet metal to come in so I can start the seats. Now I can get an idea about how high the risers will be + seat tracks. Then I can move on to the steering column support, console and gauge cluster. Sure glad everything fit as I measured.

[OCD Garage]

The beginnings of my seats. I stripped the thread off the bolt on the punch die and so couldn't finish today. Altogether not bad progress for an afternoon's work. These will sit on matching bases and be tilted back a few degrees. I'll cut slots for seat belts, upholster with 3" cushions and mount to the seat tracks.

[gordr]

I built a long-body Hill Billy circa 1970, on an unshortened '61 pan. Drove it for several years, year-round, in Vancouver. It was blue. I made a removable hard top for it out of wood, covered in black vinyl fabric, with a glass rear window, IIRC. It had "gull wing" doors glazed with clear vinyl.

There was a big flaw with that particular body design, which can be seen in the OP's photos. The rear vertical panel of the "storage tub" area badly obstructs the flow of fresh air into the cooling fan of an upright engine. I would always burn out engines driving on the freeway at 70 mph. Took me a long time to realize the cause. I would urge OP to look closely at this, and ensure the cooling air intake is not obstructed. Perhaps the use of the "suitcase engine" cooling tin would be a work-around.

I sold my Hill Billy; don't know what became of it. I will have to search for photos. There might be some.

[syncrobuggy1]

[OCD Garage]

I think your problem may have been thinking you could sustain 70mph on the freeway with a bone stock stock air cooled VW, not the design of the body. I have a 1600dp with a dog house cooler/shroud plus I will be adding a remote filter/oil cooler and a deep sump. As you can see the rear 'seat' area is also fully cut out to clear the air tank/compressor on mine, thanks for the heads up though.

[gordr]

One of the selling points of the original air-cooled Beetle was that it could be driven all day at WOT without overheating.

This may have been a problem unique to the long-body Hillbillys. I never used a 1600 engine. all mine back then were the 1200 40-horse models.