Manx Club

I just bought my first Dune Buggy 3 weeks ago.

I drive Uber part time on Sundays only to make some extra money for my project bus and when i was dropping off an Uber Rider passenger I just happened to have glanced over the parking lot area of condominium complex and seen what looked to be a buggy under some tree partially covered in a brown tarp.

I wasn't going to do anything because i was working on getting another Uber Rider then since nothing was coming into the Uber App i decided to knock on some doors and was led to a woman who had owned it for about 8 years and she told me that it had been sitting there under the tree for about 4 1/2 years.

I told her that i had worked on one with a friend when I was 17 and always wanted to own one. She said if i hadnt come along it would probably sit another couple of years.

I paid $1,800.

That's what it looked like after sitting under a tarp for years? Wow. What a great find!

5150bossman wrote:That's what it looked like after sitting under a tarp for years? Wow. What a great find!

No.. you don't want to see that photo
It was filthy .. i will post a prelim pic.. but in this pic i had already brushed some debris.. there was a puddle of water and mosquitoes , ants, dead roaches and sludge



Look what i found under the intake manifolds

OK, that beats the dead mouse I found in ours when we bought it

I am a glutten for punishment because the Dune Buggy looked great just sitting there but when i got it home it was going to prove an expensive flip because the motor had sucked in so much rain water that it was everywhere... wait to you see the pics.. but here is the preliminary photo of what i saw but in the pages to follow you can follow my journey to the point of no return Laughing




This is what it looked like underneath the tarp





It took about 4 weeks to finally negotiate it from almost 3k to $1,800 ( July 14th, 2016)

Ready to be towed home






I am out on the road without a paddle.. I cannot leave the car here and the buggy so i had to call a friend to come sit with the cars so i can go look for the bolt and cotter pin... it was a very hot and muggy day in Miami and i was wearing a black tee shirt... HOT Sweltering HEAT !!!

Damn cotter pin and bolt came off less than 3 blocks from where i bought it.

I finally got her home but it took a long time because the right front wheel was locking up and smoking

*** Don't you just hate it when people say: " It ran fine when parked " Yeah right ***





All cleaned up .. debris , leaves, dirt, ant nest and vermin removed via Dry Vac... what a mess this buggy was in.. now to tackle the wheel locked




I am a big guy at 6'2" and 250 lbs.. lets see how it is getting into this



It wasn't easy but i have to get sliders under these seats.. i cannot drive it this cramped up

I decided that i do not want these Trans Am wheels
so i put them up for sale on Ebay

these Trans Am Wheels are for sale.. all 4 with the adapters.. tires are extra as they are in like new condition..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/191916311060?ss ... 1555.l2649



Time to remove the gas tank.. the guy who built this dune buggy used a plumbing contraption hardware as you can see by the pic.. it didnt seal well and in some future posts you will see the nightmare of water i removed from the gas tank..




Its off center.. .. what a mess



Its a good thing that i have experience working with fiberglass so i will make this better.. if you have seen my '67 Maserati Blue Oceano Bug then you know what i am capable of



All these gauges wired up but not working..
No sending units to the wires



Removing the windshield






What a mess



The windshield is off and so is the hood


Now to remove the gas tank




Before this it is time to siphon out the water from the tank and gas if there is any

Time to pull and tear down the motor .. get ready for some graphic images.. not for the faint of heart.
I asked a friend Litdell to give me a hand because my herniated discs were acting up.







Tearing it down:





Water in the intake ports of head.





Some of the cylinders were so badly rusted that they only came out with the heads after some hitting with rugged rubber mallet.


The woman claimed that it ran when parked and that it was started up two years ago.. yeah right.. i dont see how .. there is no way this motor would turn over.

This drawing and the other information in Bruce Meyers assembly instructions will provide good information on how your buggy should have been assembled. It appears the original builder had his own ideas.

Details like how the gas tank should be secured. How the windshield frame, dash/hood/ and body should be secured together in a unit(you have the new fiberglass dash which follows the instructions above. You also use the new H cross section rubber strip under the dash (not the L aluminum angle and flat rubber strip). How the hood should be attached. The brackets to attach the body to the chassis. The secure mounting of the steering column. All these as well as the chassis and engine mechanicals, make the difference between a safe and reliable buggy or something that really shouldn't be driven on the street.

http://www.tjkustoms.com/Dune-Buggy/Manuals/Manx.pdf

It's really sad when people just don't take care of a VW..
This buggy sat under a tree outside for almost 7 years....
Look at this steering column wheel...




Years ago I bought a chrome steering shaft in hopes that i may use it and the time has come...



I want to be able to use one these bearings from Empi and see how i can make it work and still keep the tube to 10" for my turn signal assembly



Here is the chrome steering column that i will be using and Turn Signal



Let's mock it up to see how it would fit:


Chrome Roll bar came off..
It was bolted to the body instead of the rear latitudinal frame for safety.
It's crazy but whoever put this buggy together was rushing or was just careless.. what a mess



These hideous seats have to go and they are on sale on Facebook and soon here on the samba


Very bad job at making seat rails.. or rather fixed stationary seat tracks .. no movement.


These Classic '82-'92 Trans AM wheels are up for sale and sold in less than a week on Ebay.. .. they are huge 16" x 8" and 10" wide.. sold on ebay for $400 plus shipping



I got ahead of myself but i decided to purchase the Wire Harness from Rebel Wire. Like this i will have it and not have to worry about it later...



I am about to remove the body off the pan so i can take to the body to the body shop for paint.
I will also be getting the pan sandblasted sometime down the road when the floors have been replaced... i believe that i will be going with U-Pol Raptor Liner



Removed side pods and slapped some 5 x 205mm chrome porsche wheels i had in storage
They have been for sale for so long but no one wants to buy them so i think i will strip them and get them powdercoated black or some other color so i can sell them.



Time to remove the body off the pan so i can get to work on my buggy..



Well today was the day to take it apart until it began to rain..
So here is what i was able to get done today...

I went to WalMart last night and bought a gallon of Rust Oleum Truck Bed Liner .. a whopping 124 oz for only $43.95 which is a deal since it sells on ebay for $118.00



The T-Handle shifter was in bad shape from the corrosion but i Wet Sanded it with 800 grit then 1,000 then finished off with 2000... now for the polish portion is to use a blue stick on the buffer... it was badly corroded.

So lets get to work on the body...
I have been traveling quite a bit to Colombia since i own two businesses down there so in the mean time i am leaving the body of capable hands to do the fiberglass work and paint.

So here are the pics
I prefer Blue on Everything even in my soup and all of my previous VWs have been Maserati Blue Oceano or Midnight Blue like a Harley i used to ride





... i just love the color blue but since this buggy's interior is Red and black i guess i will have to stay red and i hate the color the color red except.. well i wont go there...


Taking the body to the Vittoriano Auto ... Argentinians are great at Metalwork and fiberglass and top coat paint...








I needed to make the fuel door so i had this bright idea to use a VW trunk badge from the swap meet and just stick it on to a billet fuel door.. here is what i did .. i posted it on Facebook and then i had like 40+ people wanting one just like mine.. wow.. that was unexpected.. but here it is.




This will sit under the hood via screws that connect from the fuel door and the gas tank is center filled so i had to use a hydraulic 2" OD hose from Amazon Hoses...

So now its time to spray the black primer , then some other grey primer, value shade, then silver or gold base coat, then the house of kolors candy apple red then the high solids clear coat.















I had to put the body out in the sun to dry bake for a while but it started to rain.. oh well.. this is Miami after all.



Now comes the painted product in HOUSE OF KOLORS Candy Apple Red

I sent my heads to be rebuilt at a Shop in Miami and for $98.00 this is what i got back...
there was some damage to one of the spark plug threads so an insert was used to repair the spark plug hole.

Here is a Before and After shots of the heads.

As i mentioned earlier i tend to jump around on my projects as tasks become available.
So now i am looking at the exhaust.
This Empi Stainless Steel Exhaust is about $350.00+ which is up there in price
Stacey White suggested i get this type of exhaust with an M2 Performance Muffler from Amazon for $55.00 Shipping included... he has video of how great it sounds so make sure to check it out.



So i was chatting with an Aussie on facebook last week and he suggested using Hayabusa mufflers but that would require making a custom 3 bolt flange and it would take away from the aesthetics of my dune buggy..

So i decided on getting the Empi 3462 Comp Exhaust, 1-1/2" w/ U-Bend 2" OD Stinger in Chrome for $138.00


Attach a 2" OD M2 Performance Stainless Steet Muffler and curved tip outlet on Ebay for $55.00 Free Shipping

The 2 " chrome clamp is only $12.99 FREE SHIPPING


So my total for this quieter exhaust system is $205.99

Here is the video of a friend Stacey White who has this same setup
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztrgd8Sgz2I[/youtube]

On Thursday August 25th , 2016 i went to Bullseye Powdercoating to pick up the Roll bar and end castings.

The Rollbar bottoms were rusting out and the chrome was peeling off so it was sanblasted and ceramic coated silver in the areas affected.

Here is the before shot of the roll bar
BEFORE:


AFTER:


I also had the end castings done for the new motor that is being built.