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Sat Aug 27, 2011 12:06 pm

mrcole wrote: my seats are lowered beyond the bottom fo the frame (with hefty skids of course) - see my build thread for any pics.

I really like the way that came out. Since 95% of my rail use will be on the street I could see this set up working for me. It would also help lower my line of sight down. When I sit in it now, the beam that holds the windshield is right in my line of sight.

Great build thread by the way.

dixon_cass wrote: you could always lover the floor under the seats a bit. i cant find the thread but another member had the same problem so he modified the floor to lower the seats.

These both seem like feasible ideas that I will look into. Thank you.

Sun Feb 19, 2012 6:00 pm

So I haven't seen my buggy since I brought it home from Michigan. It is stored at my buddies house and I ran into some insurance and license issues over the winter. Since I have had the time I have been been lurking around here and doing some research.

My research has lead me to go with the following:
IRS conversion
b/j front end (I believe since it is a rail I can go with a stock and don't need the narrowed beam)
Corbeau Clubman seats with modified mounting to give me more head room
15x8 on all corners
I want to go with bead locks but they are not necessary and are a lot more expensive so I may run look a likes.
I want to install cutting brakes but haven't fully decided on a 1 or 2 handle system. that will depend on how much room I have left in the buggy.
Staying with rear drums and installing front discs (required to be street legal in NY)
We will also be installing a removable roof rack for extra storage during camping a kayak trips.
The only things left I have to decide on is
1) instrument/switch cluster. Another thing to be decided when I figure out how much left is left over.
2) Ride height, I want to get as much lift a possible without being a detriment to adjoining components. I haven't quite figured this out yet.

It's going to be more of a woods buggy than dune buggy, no sand in upstate NY. Any hints and tips on parts or suggestions are always welcome. My plan is to start work in March and have it on the road by June. From reading all the posts, that time frame seems a bit lofty but my build buddy seems to think we can pull it off.

Mon Feb 20, 2012 10:54 am

Where in upstate are you?

Mon Feb 20, 2012 12:15 pm

Bashr52 wrote: Where in upstate are you?

Albany area.

Tue Feb 21, 2012 10:20 am

Ahh ok I'm in the Binghamton area

Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:14 pm

So I found my donor car today, a '71 super beetle. A co-worker told me his brother had just pulled it out of his yard over the weekend and was thinking about parting it out. I called him after work and had the title and would be willing to let go if it for $150. I couldn't resist so I ran over there and paid the man. The main things I wanted are the IRS, tranny, rear brakes with e-brake and the title. I knew trying to register the rail in NY without a title or bill of sale was going to be a huge pain. Now I can avoid all that hassle.

He knows I would not be able to use the front end on the bug because it has a Mcphearson strut front end. He's not sure if I can use the front brakes or not because of the different front ends.
Can anyone give me some insight on this?

Even if I can't use the fronts I certainly got my monies worth out of it, esp for the title alone.

He purchased this car in Wyoming rebuilt the engine and tranny for a college project then drove it to NY. He was going to turn it into a Baja project but found another one that he wanted to restore instead.

Sun Apr 08, 2012 6:53 am

I probably should have looked at a few more rails before buying this one. I haven't seen mine since I bought it home from MI. Yesterday I dropped the bug off where my rail is and sat in the rail for the first time since August. Damn that thing is small and cramped. There will be a lot of modding so I can fit in that thing. The steering wheel was practically sitting on my thighs and the "center console" was rubbing on my right leg pretty badly.

Sun Apr 08, 2012 6:56 am

I probably should have looked at a few more rails before buying this one. I haven't seen mine since I bought it home from MI. Yesterday I dropped the bug off where my rail is and sat in the rail for the first time since August. Damn that thing is small and cramped. There will be a lot of modding so I can fit in that thing. The steering wheel was practically sitting on my thighs and the "center console" was rubbing on my right leg pretty badly. It should be a fun and interesting project.

The worst part about it is that the rail is currently stored an hour from where I live. So its a pain to get over there and do any work on it. I need to get it done enough so I can bring to my place and continue to work on it. I am gathering a lot of resources locally so I don't need to keep it out there to work on it.

Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:01 pm

Cleaning and re-habbing those old, crusty trannys can be a real bitch. I just tore out my cv joints from a 69 type 1. They seem simple to disassemble and clean but every part of them is tightly wound. Assembling the joints/ball bearings/cage can be like keeping dogs in a bath tub, and the c clips on the end are a pain to remove. My point? If you have the cash, buy new drive axles and save yourself the trouble.

Wed Apr 11, 2012 10:55 am

the process has already started. My friend that is storing both rides for me decided to do some work yesterday and cut the rear out of the SB.

Sat May 12, 2012 7:41 am

I decided to order some parts to start my build today. I called partsplaceinc.com. I want to replace the king pin front axle with a ball joint, and add disc brakes so I was going to do the order everything all at once from one place.

The guy that answered said that if I currently have a kingpin front end, the ball joint would not fit. As this is my first build I really have no idea. Can someone give me hint?

I have been putting this build off of for far too long and I need to make some progress before I drive myself crazy. I want to get this on the road this year. In order to do this I need to rebuild the rear brakes with e-brake, add front brakes, replace the tranny. After that everything else is minor and cosmetic, which I can take my time on.

Fri Jun 08, 2012 12:26 pm

I finally got some parts in and now its time to get to work. Tomorrow I will be installing the new LP beam, and front disc brakes. Maybe I can con my buddy into welding in the IRS this weekend too. Once all of that is done I can bring the rail home to do more work on it at my house, no more need for an hour drive.

Next I have to locate a decent set of wheels, I dont want to run the skinnies up front. I have a couple of places to check in my area for those before I go out and buy brand new..

Sat Jun 09, 2012 3:35 pm

Today I rolled out to install the parts that came in this week, and thought it was going to be easy.. its never easy. First it took me for ever to get the original rusty bolts out of the front end and there was only 8 of them. I think I snapped half of them. Then I went to mount the new beam and found this.

All 4 of the grease fittings line up exactly where the beam mounts to the frame.

We had several options at this point. Remove the grease fittings cover the original holes and then drill and tap new holes for the grease fittings. We decided to drill holes in the mounting clamps just so we could get it mounted today and then find a permanent solution. Any suggestions?

There is not a lot of material left on the mounts so we will have to come up with another permanent solution.

Then I went to work on the brakes. The whole kit seemed to mount up pretty easily until we tried to install the bearing cups in the rotor. The first one ended like this.

Now I have to call the vendor and see if they will replace the rotor or tell me I fucked it up during the install so I have to buy a new one.
At that point I was done for the day because I didnt have any more parts that I could install. So I decided to take a look at the seats to see how the new ones will be mounted. The current seats were mounted directly to the mesh floor pan with a couple of pieces of metal. It looked like one hard hit and the whole seat would come dislodged.

Well now I am going to order the new seats and figure out how they will be mounted. Definitely a lot differently than they are currently.

This is how she sits now

Mon Aug 20, 2012 7:08 am

I am way behind schedule, but parts are finally starting to roll in. The floor arrived today 1/8" aluminum tread plate. Seats arrived alst Friday, Corbeau Clubman (and I fit in them). I bought a set of 14" wheels on ebay over the weeekend.

I have had the pedals, adjusters, and new shifter for a while. now I just have to schedule a welding weekend. After the welding is complete i will bring the buggy closer to home so I can go through the tranny, engine, and redo the wiring, lights, and insturment cluster in an enlclosed garge. (its currently stored outside an hour away from my house)

Fri Aug 24, 2012 1:09 pm

Wow the bearings should never be that tight to press in and break the rotor. Thed bearings were wrong or the rotor was not machined properly. There should be about .0005 to no more than .001 press fit. I hope they will replace that rotor.

Fri Aug 24, 2012 2:43 pm

They replaced the rotor at cost and pressed in the new races for me. They charged more than I wanted them to but I didn't feel like fighting with them, there are a bunch of other places on line to order parts from.

Mon Oct 01, 2012 7:04 pm

Got back to work on this project last weekend. We cut out the swing axle and welded in the IRS from the 71 Super. We also fabbed up new seat mounts and removed the extruded metal floor. Currently I am waiting on some tabs to arrive from Moore so we can cut and mount the tread plate floor. After that I will bring it home so I can rebuild the motor and tranny over the winter. With the new clubman seats I am severely lacking in head room so we plan to cut the cage off and raise it with extra reinforcements where we cut.

Old swing axle

Removed

Floor coming off

End of day one

Sizing it up

Welding almost complete

End of day 2

I jsut saw the thread about the Rebel Wiring kits. I will probably be ordering one of those this winter too. We cut out all wiring and the flimsy center console so I will be starting all over there too. The plan is to have it on the road next Spring.

There is a local guy that builds bugs and rails. I am going to see if he is willing to rebuild the tranny and or engine in trade for the swing axle and tranny I am not going to use.

Is it possible to identify this tranny from this pic? Or should I be looking elsewhere for identification?

Sun Oct 21, 2012 12:56 pm

I saw this for sale in the want ads. It is fully street legal and already registered in NY as a '71 Ghia. The price was too good to pass up for a completed buggy that is street legal, so I bought it today. Some head room adjustments and this thing will be perfect.

Mon Apr 08, 2013 11:02 am

As previously stated I scrapped the project of the red rail and bought the yellow one. Over the last week I got the yellow one insured, registered and inspected as a '71 Ghia convertible. I have been taking it out on the few days we have had here over 50 degrees, it has been a blast to drive. The looks and questions I get are awesome, I had it out of the garage for 10 minutes the first day I had it registered before someone took a picture of it.

As you can see from the pics there is some work that needs to be done so I can drive it safely, head pokes through the canvass top it came with, I have to take that off when I drive it. I had a welder from my company stop by Friday to look at it. He said he could raise the entire cage for me without a problem. He also inspected the current welds and said he would be correctly the original shitty welds. What should have been a 20 minute conversation, turned into 2 hours of making future plans for the rail. Currently I am shopping for an A/T tire and wheel combo, I am not a big fan of the street rod look it has now.