The engine bay is in primer!  It isn't perfect, but I think all the flaws will sand out in the primer layer.  I still need to add seam sealer to all the cracks, then it will get a few coats of sealer primer before paint.

I'm pretty happy with the symmetry.

Next I am prepping the front crossmembers for paint.  These were sandblasted and powder-primered a few months ago, then I touched them up with some bondo and epoxy primer.  Tonight I finished up the putty work, they are ready for urethane primer and single-stage black.

I also need to finish weld, putty, and paint the fan shroud I made a few months ago.  I'm going to re-work a few spots, but I think I'm happy with the general idea of it.

300 cans of Busch Light fit on the Beetle's new roof rack.

I took a weekend off to visit my college buddies in Los Angeles to compete in the Chumpcar Desert Dysfunction 24-hour race at Buttonwillow Raceway.  It was probably the most awesome experience I've ever had!  It was great seeing some of my old FSAE buddies, and we had a blast.  I didn't sleep much, but what can be more fun than wrenching on a shitty old half-assed racecar in the desert sun?  Nothing.

First things first: In'n'Out burger as soon as we left the airport.

This sticker about sums it up lol.

Billy making some adjustments to the headlights, which are required to run through the night.

Am I the only one that welds while on vacation?  Maybe.  I fabbed up the headlight brackets. 

The beast

Team Red Rocket is ready to go!

We decided to rent an RV so we could sleep in the paddock.  This is probably the best decision we made all week!  Neel and Jimmy got to drive this beast.

It's about a 3 hour drive from my Billy's house to Buttonwillow.  It's even longer if your transmission overheats.

The fearless pilots.  Nicole looks worried.

Here is some of our competition.  Other than the E46 M3 (which was in the Exception class), it was a bunch of junk.  But nicer than our junk lol.

This E30 had 15,000 race miles on it!  These guys set the fastest lap of the race.... in the dark.

Sunset

An electrical problem had us in the pits through some of the night.  We got back on track just after sunrise.

At 11:00am on Sunday, we took the checkered flag!  We finished 19th out of 29 entries, and were one of only 14 to finish the race.

Celebration!

Me, Tom, Neel, Jimmy, and Billy share a smelly, sweaty photo

Back in the 'Burgh, Jimmy and I stopped to give Jason a play-by-play of the weekend.  Work kept him back at home, so he couldn't make the Cali trip this time :(

Back to work. 

I said the engine bay was ready for primer, but I'm still not happy with the wheel tubs. 

I fashioned this curved round block out of a piece of hose, and that's working a little better.

It's getting closer, but it's still not perfect.  Now that spring is almost here, I can spray primer outside again.

More sanding.

 I think I finally have the shape of the passenger side wheel tub correct.  The whole bay is sanded to 220 grit, I should be spraying everything with a few coats of urethane primer this week.


I went to visit my buddy Chuck, who is LS-swapping his E36 sedan!  Check it out. http://getoffmylon.blogspot.com/

Chuck gets the shell ready for rust repair while Mr. Chuck moves some doors.  I like their uniforms.

There is a lot of rust in his rocker panels and floor.  The car has been in their family since it was basically new, he wants to save it from the junkyard and patch all the issues.  Speaking from experience, it will be a long road!