The bitchin' bug

Heres a link to a build thread of a project being done by a guy on a metal casting forum I frequent. This is a pretty cool "on the cheap" ford-dub hybrid that actually has some promise. No finish shots yet though,so unfortunately, this is a "still in progress" teaser

http://metalmaster1766.webs.com/thebitchnbug.htm

He's aiming to have it done next July. Someone needs to talk him into coming to the challenge.

Anybody else notice his magnet attraction to light poles?

With all the recycling of parts, I wonder if this would count as green? Certainly qualifies as grassroots.

hello everyone, and thank ya 4cyl-fury for linking my site to here, I just joined and thought id check this place out, looks purty cool

whats the challenge? I should say I WAS aiming at having it at least running and drivable by this past July, every year the last weekend of July they have an annual car show down here a bit west of downtown Cinci called the "Rollin on The River" it is held at FernBank Park in Sayler Park on US-50, its free to walk around and see all the cars, its outside and always in the 90's that weekend (I love those kinda days) I had planned to enter it into the Rat Rod class because of the way I used mostly old parts, that and it still looks purty much like a dirty rat, anyhow I didnt make it. I'm at a stopping point now, I need to build a set of custom headers before going any further and cant afford to buy one of those kits yet, I might have enough saved by then if I keep saving my pennies, cause thats about all I have, or what I find on the ground, dadgum kids throwing pennies away cause they think they arent real money, well guess what, I'll pick em up and save them, they all add up

As for my magnetic attraction to utility poles, well the 1st time it was a snow storm, and if you have ever had a brake line break on you while running a suicide master cylinder (single master cylinder for all 4 wheels) you know the helpless feeling of WTF, E-BRAKE time. The 2nd time I hit a pole was 13 years later, I have had a few health problems if you read any of my writings on my web pages you know, I;ve had over 2 million in surgeries, 3 organ transplants, I take 26+ pills each day so I can enjoy life still, well some effect my eye lids and they get real heavy after a few miles of driving or just sitting around, I think sometimes I have a button on my ass that when I sit it pushed my eye lids closed, so since Jan 16 2008 I dont do much driving, and if and when I do it is only short drives and that is only if I feel very very good, if I feel just the slightest bit off I wont drive at all

sorry for being so long winded, but I would like to hear more about this challenge.

have a great day everyone Ron

Ron, each year GRM hosts a "challenge" where a car must be built according to a set of rules and the total overal cost (minus deductions for spare parts sold like passenger seats, radios etc - things you dont need for competition) must be less than the year...i.e. this past year the total allowable budget was $2009.00. Depending on how much of your bug projects budget you could determine (fair market value for things you already own, supplies youve bought in the past etc) your bug might be eligible. Theres 3 phases of competition - AutoX, drag race, and concourse. Its in october in Florida every year.

Ron, that thing is sweeet. Keep us posted. I bet there are afew GRM'ers in your area that'd love to help when you get the project moving again. And 4cylinder, when I read that title of the post, I thought you were referring to an ailment my wife has.

That is truly SWEET!!!

thanks everyone about the car,

well i most likely could build this for under $2000 but me trying to figure fair market value of all the parts i have been hanging onto for the past 15 years, and then some i have had since i was 15 when i bought my 1st VW, I mean i paid $800 for my 66 i'm using for the project, but fair market value as of the time i started the project couldnt have been scrap price, minus a lot of weight because most of it rusted away from sitting for 12 years before i started any work on it

as of now i have maybe $200 into it and all but $89 of that was for grinding wheels, cutoff wheels, welding wire and welding rods,. even the steel i used to fabricate the rear axle setup and most everything except the rear frame rails was given to me, i did spend the $89 on th frame rail material, it's 2 inch by 4 inch rectangular tubing

the only other thing i hope i hafta buy now is a header kit, and that is only if i cant find some original cast iron exhaust manifolds for it that will work, if i cant find a set to work then i will need to buy a header kit and i will build me a set of fender well headers to run down the side as side pipes where the running boards once were

and now for the name given to the car, well i am building it with 1/4 mile drag racing along with some daily street use for my short drives to doctors and the grocery store anyhow the name, well it goes way back to the mid 80's when i raced almost every Friday night at the local track closest to me (EdgeWater Race Track) it was test and tune night, back then it was $3 to get in the gate and watch, and $8 and you could race all night long, well my wife and I (we were not married at the time) would go she watched me race, well she was bored watching so i let her race my then 74 Olds Cutlass 455 CI backed by a 400 TH transmission, i ran a consistent 12.25 1/4 mile, the 1st time i let her race i road along with her, she ran an 11.83, her reaction time was almost nothing, maybe a .003 of a second and mine was almost .75 of a second

well when starting the Bug i told my wife that she was going to be the primary driver at the track, she was all for it, then i said " how about we name the car Bitch N Bug" kinda like - hey look at that, it's a bitch in a Bug, then when she blows the doors off of somebody who said that who is driving a fancy newer Mustang or Camero or some other car that they think is fast, see the engine in the Bug now is out of her 81 Mustang that was also a 12 second 1/4 mile car and grocery getter, she drove it everyday to and from work and everywhere in between

she loved that idea, so that is gonna be painted down both sides of the car, nothing fancy when it comes to paint, the only paint i use is the best kind - FREE paint, so the rest of the car most likely will have the Rat Rod look to it, no filler, only some paint over the welded areas that matches the original paint on the car

I dont know about traveling to Florida for this, my wife and i would love to but money is the main issue, that and i cant take those long drives anymore, but wait until next June and see how things are going, if the car is ready to go and we have some extra money, then count us in, but there is no way of knowing until June gets here

again thanks for the kind words about my BitchN Bug

Ron

There is a certain amount of "editorial slack" allowed to noteworthy projects. I'm pretty sure yours would qualify. Get back to work!