u/SquareShower5983

Picked up tires earlier this week for my Mobulwagen wheels and I love how they look.

Went with 185/60/15s all the way around for a slightly shorter sidewall height and hopefully what turns into a sportier look.

Currently rebuilding my rear brakes and painting the trailing arms while I’m back there and waiting for new cv boots and inner axle seal to arrive (I thought for sure I had ordered everything I could possibly need). Adjustable rear springs are ready to be installed too.

Finally got to install my drivers side door panel after 6 months of intermittently working on the vent window seals, scrapers etc.

Goal is to get it back on the ground by the end of this week or next week.

Inspired by u/captaincheem post on camping in a Suburban

I'm heading to Monterey this weekend to camp at Laguna Seca and watch the IndyCar race. Thought I'd share my build on my 2005 GMC Yukon

• 170k miles
• 14.8 MPG forever and ever
• 5.3L
• 4WD
• 2" Lift - torsion bars in the front and springs in the rear
• Bilstein 5100 shocks (these are amazing
• LT285/70R-17 Falken WildPeak A/T3W C (33") - these are also great on the highway nice and quite, plenty of traction offroad.
• GMT900 front disc brake conversion - well worth it, huge improvement in stopping power and brake feel
• LED lights all the way around
• Apple car play stereo + sound system
• Overland platform - stove, fridge, storage and 6" memory foam mattress. I sleep better in this than I do in my own bed at home.
• As far as work, I've completely rebuilt the front suspension and then just usual maintenance like spark plugs, wires, serpentine belt, etc. Other than that, super reliable.

I stole ideas from the SUBOVERLAND YouTube channel to build my platform.

I've towed 3 different VW bugs and a Porsche 914 (one bug is mine, the rest for friends). And I've done overlanding trips through Mohave Road and Lost Coast. Also made the trip up to Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Great Basin National Parks. Plus tons of camping trips.

Planning on Anzo Borrego this winter and then Mendocino in Summer 2027.

I love the Porsche 356 "Outlaw" look, especially the ones by Rod Emory. So I thought to myself, "What would Rod Emory do if he didn't have any money and no talent but owned a 1970 VW Bug?"

So here's a quick preview of my plan for my build.

Aluminum, silver finish "steelies" by Mobelwagen for that outlaw look. I love the way these look in person. I took a chance; it's so hard to know what a wheel will look like compared to viewing it online. Surprisingly, there aren't a lot of YouTube videos about these wheels and how to pair them with tires, stance, etc. I'm considering making one about this as I go along.

430s Interceptor 15" and 5.5" wide all the way around.

Lowered but not slammed.

Square stance with the tires, or maybe slightly wider tires in the rear to emulate a Porsche look. 185s if I can make them work, maybe 195s in the rear.

The hardest part so far has been trying to figure out the stance and what I need to make that happen. I bought adjustable rear spring plates, and after I get tires on these wheels, I may need to go to a 2" lowered adjustable front beam. It’s nerve-racking to spend $400-$500 on tires and not know if they’ll fit or have the look I’m going for.

Simple interior - black headliner and carpet, new dash pad, and Corbeau Sport Seats. Tachometer, Oil Pressure, and Oil Temp gauges.

The dream is to get a 1904 stroker engine from CB performance, but I’m going to do all these other things first, since the engine I have in it now is running, and I can drive it while I save up for the engine.

I may eventually add a smooth band bumper like the 356s, and I may swap out taillights and turn signals for a sleeker overall look. Also, I'd love to have bodywork and paint job redone on it too.

I'll share another update in a little over a month. I took a week off from work in late September to install the adjustable rear spring plates, finish painting the fenders, install tires, and get everything adjusted.

I don’t know why but I always appreciate a well finished fender. So I tried it myself.

I used my air compressor nozzle, a plastic scraper, heat gun, mineral spirits, and a marooon 3m scuff pad to clean up and prep the fender.

You can see in the photo I sprayed satin black over the rim where the fender mounts and satin black on the bumper mount because I was worried about the undercoating being too thick and not giving me an even fit on the fender and the bumper bracket.

But now that I’ve sprayed the undercoating, I think that was overkill the undercoating at least the one that I used has a very fine texture and I could’ve sprayed the entire fender well with just this undercoating. I may mask this off and just spray the entire thing with undercoating.

Also had some paint peel off near the bumper bracket, need to fix that.

Either way, I’m really happy with how this came out compared to how it looked when I started.

One side down, 7 more to go.

Compressed air to get under the undercoating. My adhesive has obviously failed so this won’t work for everyone.

I installed brand new vent window weatherstripping but I can’t get my vent window to sit flat on the frame, it sticks out at the top. I’m hesitant to think the weatherstripping needs trimming but can’t figure out why this is happening.

Any tips?

Is this normal? Is there some other kind of adjustment that would move this bar further away from this fender lip so I can get the new bushing on and get this old bushing off?

Straight up trial and error and just not enjoyable, really hard to plan ahead for whatever obstacles they throw my way. Controls on this part aren’t tight enough for this type of level/puzzle in the game.

I removed some old panels and thought I’d see how things went with painting vinyl. Here are my two test pieces. I think I’m going to go with camel and eventually do a black headliner and black carpet.

Overall, it was pretty easy to get them cleaned up and then I used the SEM prep soap and prep spray and then put down 6 very light coats. This was just to test out the colors, I have some brand new panels I’ll be painting and then on to the seats.

Pretty easy and clean install, but I did have to use a pipe cutter to shorten the steel line that comes out of the frame. Two 13mm nuts.

New 5.5mm hose from BelMetric, made in Germany and very nice quality.

https://belmetric.com/cohline-series-2122-cloth-braided-hose/

Bracket:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1901747

And I had to deal with a gallon of gas on the ground. I was under the impression I had gotten all the fuel out.