I know. Go figure.
Manx Buggy build thread!
- Thread starter Phil513
- Start date
I know. Go figure.
So, i did a few more little things after work. Even if its small, i figure its one less thing i have to do tomorrow, so i keep eating the elephant. haha.
First i took the pedal assembly out of the beetle. Its held in by four bolts, two into the tunnel, two into the firewall. The brake plunger just comes out, unhook the throttle and clutch cables, and out it comes.
And its out, laying in the pan. I have to shorten the clutch and throttle cables by 14.5 inches before i can hook it all up.
Steering wheel and column, two bolts into the bushing assembly . . .
And two socket cap screws inside holding it into the dash, and out it came.
And i pulled loose a bunch more of the wiring harness under the front end, took the speedometer out, and other stuff. Here is a 40 year old horn.
Thats it for tonight. To be continued.
First i took the pedal assembly out of the beetle. Its held in by four bolts, two into the tunnel, two into the firewall. The brake plunger just comes out, unhook the throttle and clutch cables, and out it comes.
And its out, laying in the pan. I have to shorten the clutch and throttle cables by 14.5 inches before i can hook it all up.
Steering wheel and column, two bolts into the bushing assembly . . .
And two socket cap screws inside holding it into the dash, and out it came.
And i pulled loose a bunch more of the wiring harness under the front end, took the speedometer out, and other stuff. Here is a 40 year old horn.
Thats it for tonight. To be continued.
Didnt do too much interesting stuff yesterday. Took the seats out of the beetle.
I'm not going to use the seats, im using low back fiberglass buggy seats with padded covers, but i want to use the factory seat sliders.
However, my pan is a '73, and the donor car is a 70, and apparently they changed the sliders a little. UGH! Im going to try to fiddle with them and see if i can get them to work anyway.
I'm not going to use the seats, im using low back fiberglass buggy seats with padded covers, but i want to use the factory seat sliders.
However, my pan is a '73, and the donor car is a 70, and apparently they changed the sliders a little. UGH! Im going to try to fiddle with them and see if i can get them to work anyway.
A little more progress. . .
First, as i showed long ago, the buggy pan, when they took the transmission out they just torched the axles off.
I removed the old axles. I have the ones out of the beetles with me, i hope to repack them with grease and install them soon.
The front suspension on the buggy pan was pretty old and beat up. The one in the beetle is in better shape, and has been converted to disc brakes, which are much better. so i removed the front from the beetle this afternoon.
Its easy to get to the front end after the gas tank is out, the hole you see is where the gas tank used to be up front.
I had to take one tie rod end off to get it out. I used a picklefork i bought today. Its a wedged shape doohickey that you bang with a hammer or other heavy blunt object that drives them apart.
After the tie rod was taken apart, four bolts hold the front end on, took them out and off it came.
First, as i showed long ago, the buggy pan, when they took the transmission out they just torched the axles off.
I removed the old axles. I have the ones out of the beetles with me, i hope to repack them with grease and install them soon.
The front suspension on the buggy pan was pretty old and beat up. The one in the beetle is in better shape, and has been converted to disc brakes, which are much better. so i removed the front from the beetle this afternoon.
Its easy to get to the front end after the gas tank is out, the hole you see is where the gas tank used to be up front.
I had to take one tie rod end off to get it out. I used a picklefork i bought today. Its a wedged shape doohickey that you bang with a hammer or other heavy blunt object that drives them apart.
After the tie rod was taken apart, four bolts hold the front end on, took them out and off it came.
Yeah, that facilitated things quite a bit. 
I worked on it today, but wasn't anything photo worthy. Just had to fiddle with the tubes that the clutch and gas cables run through, because the pan was shortened so they had to be. I did some stuff to the carb, yanked a bunch of the smog stuff off. I got things done, but little piddly stuff.
I worked on it today, but wasn't anything photo worthy. Just had to fiddle with the tubes that the clutch and gas cables run through, because the pan was shortened so they had to be. I did some stuff to the carb, yanked a bunch of the smog stuff off. I got things done, but little piddly stuff.
Sir JJ Pistols
you can call me sir
thanks for documenting all this - it's fun to look at the pictures
I got all excited last weekend and searched buggies on the local CL - brought up a running and a project manx, and a couple old rail buggies - a couple grand more than I got in my pocket
maybe I'll take the doors and windows off the civic
I got all excited last weekend and searched buggies on the local CL - brought up a running and a project manx, and a couple old rail buggies - a couple grand more than I got in my pocket
maybe I'll take the doors and windows off the civic
Heck, take a sawzall to the roof while you are at it.
VWs are getting rarer and rarer, but if you are patient deals do pop up.
Prages
User Error
Heck, take a sawzall to the roof while you are at it.
VWs are getting rarer and rarer, but if you are patient deals do pop up.
Do you ever listen to Car Talk on NPR? It's an excellent show.
One week they had a woman call in and the conversation went something like this:
Caller: Hi. I've got a '72 Volvo station wagon that's been my husband's project car for a few years. A week or two, I went out to the garage, and my husband had taken a saw and cut the roof off of the car.
Car Talk guys: EXCELLENT. But, the answer to your question is no, the car isn't safe to drive.
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Do you ever listen to Car Talk on NPR? It's an excellent show.
One week they had a woman call in and the conversation went something like this:
Caller: Hi. I've got a '72 Volvo station wagon that's been my husband's project car for a few years. A week or two, I went out to the garage, and my husband had taken a saw and cut the roof off of the car.
Car Talk guys: EXCELLENT. But, the answer to your question is no, the car isn't safe to drive.
Wouldnt be bad if you just weld the doors shut.Thanks guys. Today the plan is (hopefully) get a bunch of grinding wheels at lunch and do some things with a disc grinder after work.
OK, another update.
FIrst, the fuel tank. The one on the left is the old rusty one that was in the buggy, the one on the right is the nicer one out of the beetle, complete with sending unit. Problem is, the buggy's gas filler is in the middle of the hood, as you can see in the tank on the left.
So, i used a die grinder and cut out the filler to be welded later into the beetle tank, and the filler on the side will be capped off.
Now, on to the front end that came off the beetle. First, i wanted to take the anti-sway bar off, the buggy is so light in the front it doesnt need one.
Its held on by these big hulking clamps that are a real pain to get off . . .
unless you have a die grinder handy.
And its off.
Then i pressure washed it and started to work on it. Here is the deal. The beetle front end was in better shape, and had a disc brake conversion. Problem is, it had 2 inch dropped spindles in the front, lowering it. Which can be cool on a street bug, but i want my buggy to be off road as well as on. So, i have to take the spindles off the beetle front end, take the spindles off the buggy front end, swap them, then put the disc brakes back on.
So using the pickle fork doohicky, i took off the tie rod ends, and took loose the upper and lower ball joints so the spindle and brake rotor came off.
So, the beetle front end has the brakes off, and i got the wheels off the buggy front end to get ready to take the ball joints off.
By then i was hungry and came home. I'll do more tomorrow.
FIrst, the fuel tank. The one on the left is the old rusty one that was in the buggy, the one on the right is the nicer one out of the beetle, complete with sending unit. Problem is, the buggy's gas filler is in the middle of the hood, as you can see in the tank on the left.
So, i used a die grinder and cut out the filler to be welded later into the beetle tank, and the filler on the side will be capped off.
Now, on to the front end that came off the beetle. First, i wanted to take the anti-sway bar off, the buggy is so light in the front it doesnt need one.
Its held on by these big hulking clamps that are a real pain to get off . . .
unless you have a die grinder handy.
And its off.
Then i pressure washed it and started to work on it. Here is the deal. The beetle front end was in better shape, and had a disc brake conversion. Problem is, it had 2 inch dropped spindles in the front, lowering it. Which can be cool on a street bug, but i want my buggy to be off road as well as on. So, i have to take the spindles off the beetle front end, take the spindles off the buggy front end, swap them, then put the disc brakes back on.
So using the pickle fork doohicky, i took off the tie rod ends, and took loose the upper and lower ball joints so the spindle and brake rotor came off.
So, the beetle front end has the brakes off, and i got the wheels off the buggy front end to get ready to take the ball joints off.
By then i was hungry and came home. I'll do more tomorrow.
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telecaster911
Kick Henry Jackassowski
Wow Phil, very impressive progress. 
Wow Phil, very impressive progress.
Thanks! I had a minor setback today, the 2 inch drop spindles are different than the stock ones, so the disc calipers wont fit the stock spindles. And i REALLY dont want a lowered car, not my style. So i have sent the manufacturer an email to see if there is an adapter kit, if not i'll have to pop for a whole new front brake set up, prolly about 200 bucks. Like this.
http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=ACC-C10-4124
So thats a bit of a hang up. In the meanwhile, as i mentioned the stock seat sliders from the beetle dont fit the pan of the buggy, so i will have to grind out the old ones, grind out the matching ones from the beetle, and weld those into the pan. Ugh. That much grinding on metal is a bit draining, but if i want nice, stock adjustable sliders (which i do) then i have no choice. So tomorrow i guess thats my mission. Probably a coupe days worth of grinding though.
Update! The moderator of the VW forum i'm on has a pair he'll sell me for $90 shipped. Yay!
Well did a little more work today. When we left off, i was about to take the front end off the pan, and replace it with the front end out of the beetle i bought.
I removed the old one, and painted the front end up before putting the other one on. Just rattle can flat black, im not going for a show car, i just want all the "underneath" stuff to look kinda clean and black so it wont look too ghetto.
Then put the beetle front end on, and painted it up a bit.
I took the shocks and steering stabalizer off and painted them silver for a little bit of contrast.
And that was pretty much it for today. The guy that owns the property i'm building it on asked me to help him pick up a tractor from quite a ways away, so that sucked a big chunk out of my day, otherwise i would have made more progress. But hey, it's rent for using his yard i suppose.
Now i need to wait for the disc brake spindles to come in the mail, then i can finish putting the front end together.
I removed the old one, and painted the front end up before putting the other one on. Just rattle can flat black, im not going for a show car, i just want all the "underneath" stuff to look kinda clean and black so it wont look too ghetto.
Then put the beetle front end on, and painted it up a bit.
I took the shocks and steering stabalizer off and painted them silver for a little bit of contrast.
And that was pretty much it for today. The guy that owns the property i'm building it on asked me to help him pick up a tractor from quite a ways away, so that sucked a big chunk out of my day, otherwise i would have made more progress. But hey, it's rent for using his yard i suppose.
Now i need to wait for the disc brake spindles to come in the mail, then i can finish putting the front end together.