Fix before Somebody Gets Killed
Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2015 7:16 am
Hello All,
I am a new member to the club, and this is obviously my first post. I recently acquired what I thought was going to be a Manx. It had all the tell tale signs. Raised area on the hood for the badge, re-enforced fiber glassed tubing running under the both side of the body, spare tire and battery wells, etc. Anyway, I bought it, and after sending in pics, Winnie determined that it is a "Son of Manx", one of the many clones of the era.
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Anyway, the buggy needed work, floorpan replacement, fiberglass repair, gas tank had rust, the typical things from sitting around not being used. I started to tear into it last weekend. As I did, I did notice some welds that looked like a person just learning to weld had done. That made me a little sceptical about the whole chassis, so, after I lifted the body and cut out the floorpans, I ground away some of the "weld" material around the cut area of the tunnel. As I was grinding, a powdery substance was coming off instead of sparks. I finally got sparks when I had ground down to the level of the tunnel metal. To my dismay, the whole area was saturated with JB Weld to hide the HORRENDOUS weld job. This is what I found:
[url
Buggy Tunnel by l8ndeb, on Flickr][/url]
I can't believe somebody would have put this on the road. And that is just the drivers side. I haven't dug into the passenger side yet. Anyway, I am looking for some tips on how to handle this. The measurements are off when taken in a criss cross pattern by more than 3/4". So......it needs to be taken apart, squared up, and re-welded. BTW, the tunnel is not level as well. If anybody has any step by step procedure, especially on how and where to take the squaring measurements, then, how to hold everything together while welding.
This is my first buggy, and I want to make it right and safe. Also, $2K for a Berrien chassis is out of my league, since I used my saved $$$ for the purchase of the buggy.
TIA
I am a new member to the club, and this is obviously my first post. I recently acquired what I thought was going to be a Manx. It had all the tell tale signs. Raised area on the hood for the badge, re-enforced fiber glassed tubing running under the both side of the body, spare tire and battery wells, etc. Anyway, I bought it, and after sending in pics, Winnie determined that it is a "Son of Manx", one of the many clones of the era.
-Anyway, the buggy needed work, floorpan replacement, fiberglass repair, gas tank had rust, the typical things from sitting around not being used. I started to tear into it last weekend. As I did, I did notice some welds that looked like a person just learning to weld had done. That made me a little sceptical about the whole chassis, so, after I lifted the body and cut out the floorpans, I ground away some of the "weld" material around the cut area of the tunnel. As I was grinding, a powdery substance was coming off instead of sparks. I finally got sparks when I had ground down to the level of the tunnel metal. To my dismay, the whole area was saturated with JB Weld to hide the HORRENDOUS weld job. This is what I found:
[url
Buggy Tunnel by l8ndeb, on Flickr][/url]I can't believe somebody would have put this on the road. And that is just the drivers side. I haven't dug into the passenger side yet. Anyway, I am looking for some tips on how to handle this. The measurements are off when taken in a criss cross pattern by more than 3/4". So......it needs to be taken apart, squared up, and re-welded. BTW, the tunnel is not level as well. If anybody has any step by step procedure, especially on how and where to take the squaring measurements, then, how to hold everything together while welding.
This is my first buggy, and I want to make it right and safe. Also, $2K for a Berrien chassis is out of my league, since I used my saved $$$ for the purchase of the buggy.
TIA
NOT... The Manx Club site use to have a resource article describing how to fix stress cracks in the pan (no longer on the site). We did this on our buggy 10 years ago to fix the stress cracks that can occur near the heater handle slots by the e-brake. You could try asking the web master if that article is still available. If not, sounds like a body-off resto is in order. Once you get the pan squared up and re-welded, you can put I believe 1/8" x 2" steel straps over the welds (bent one into a 'U' shape to fit over the tunnel weld etc) and weld them into place to strengthen the existing welds. Also, there are several members in your area that might be willing to give you a hand. In the mean time, try this article. 
