TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri Nov 01, 2013 10:21 am

This a long running project for a few years, finally started to get serious with it.

Definatly will have a few questions alongthe way

Currently back in the garage, old 1640 DP frozen solid is out and newer running 1600 SP is in. Actually its an old 126 motor from an SPRA Coupe. (an agricultural industrial field spayer) Have a three rib bus tranny that came out of the spra coup as well, that will eventually end up in there afer a lot buggs get worked out.

Have all new front brake componets to get on it, All new rear brakes, bus master cylinder. new lines ffront to rear, and a new cutting brake. CV rebuilds.

Plan is to have it completly done by new years.

Now Ive had this frame for about 5 years and dinked around with it, lost interest ect finally got all the parts to get after it all at once saved up and ready to go in. But the frame is maybe questionable for long term. So the bigger plan is to find a 69 and later bug and transfer everything over all at once maybe next winter. But those explorer frames keep tugging at me as welll....

heres a pic, we all love them.

Yup its all OD green. No sand or dunes around here in montana, so its built to run National forest roads and trails. Appied for my Vin number, peice of cake here. and it should be street legal by spring.

Fri Nov 01, 2013 10:28 am

So heres one of my first questions why would you want to cut and turn only one beam and not both? or has something else been done in there?

Sat Nov 02, 2013 8:26 pm

todays work progress:

New master cylinder on.

Gen to alt swap including the fans, the 126 fan housing is significantly narrower than a reg dog house.

tore the air cleaner down, sanded and painted OD green.

got the headers on

still have this pesky extra pulley to do something with, It ran the hydraulics on the spra coupe, but for now is ok.

Sun Nov 03, 2013 6:47 am

maybe some one decided half way through the job not to do a cut an turn and welded it back where it originally was?! how hard is it to get into passenger side seems to have a bar mounted pretty high?

Sun Nov 03, 2013 3:13 pm

pretty much impossibe for me to get in out from the sides. I go in out from the top or the windshield side. Thats one of those issues that this frame has that Im not sure of keeping it long term for.

Sun Nov 03, 2013 4:54 pm

That unused small pulley looks like the one I use for the A/C on my sedan. :)
Marvin

Mon Nov 04, 2013 11:23 am

Wangchicken wrote: maybe some one decided half way through the job not to do a cut an turn and welded it back where it originally was?

cut and turning preloads the springs which make the suspension stiffer even with a full bodied car. cut and turning one tube will give you the lift but not make the suspension too stiff and beat you to death on a rough road since you don't have a lot of weight up front.

Mon Nov 04, 2013 5:51 pm

that makes sense on only one beam, as the car sits pretty high, Thank you

Havnt done anything in day or so, work and school got in the way.

Fri Nov 08, 2013 11:09 am

Just a cool tag you don't see on many motors,

Changed over the drain plug cover to something a little more user friendly for me

Got my air cleaner mounted. With a new filter inside. This is the original filter setup from the SPRA Coup. A little bit higher than I wanted, as their are "plans" for a cargo cage and spare tire rack to go on top of the motor area. Somewhere along the time lines of this monster I lost the original carb to hose adapter so have something temporally rigged till I can figure out how I'm going to make this more perm solution.

Putting the air filter box there, loses the spot where the little dinky buggy style aluminum gas tank was. There is enough room between the seat backs across the top of the tranny to the motor to mount a fuel cell or a stock tank.

Lots of research on the foam that can be added to a tank for some of the safety issues of going that route.

Next I need a carb spacer kit so it will clear the Alternator. Right now the e choke and the idle shut off solenoid? hits the case and cant tighten down the manifold.

Sat Feb 14, 2015 9:57 pm

Almost done, its come along way, for a project for me, going to school full time, working full time, sleeping sometimes....

Went out this AM for 30 miles of gravel loop run, basically a good solid shake down run.

Overall went really good. Need some goggles. Extreme winds and open buggies, that sucked!

One flat on the front no worries, just slow way down, 10 ply tires don't need much with no weight.

Things to fix, figure out. Bad icing on the intake carb, if I want to run at 40 degrees. Minor brake line leak, enough to lose half a cylinder of fluid. easy fix. And one wheel stud popped on the right rear.

Fun but cold day.

A few pictures

Ice on the manifolds

Picked up this towbar this past week. not sure if it will work just yet or not, will need some fabbin either way.

Sat Feb 14, 2015 10:32 pm

Wow, that is a really sweet rail! I like how raw it is. It makes it look mean. 8) 8) 8)

Sun Feb 15, 2015 9:25 am

It looks like you have the heat riser tubes on the intake manifold, but their not hooked to anything. Get that working correctly (there's a few good posts on here showing the best method with an aftermarket exhaust ) and your icing problems should go away.

Sun Feb 15, 2015 9:58 am

Yeah the risers arnt hooked directly to the headers, Ive thought about taking some factory connections, drill the headers, set them in the holes then weld them in place after all the bolts are lined up.

Also studied on running the engine oil through the manifold way as well. Its all about the same amount of work in the end it seems.

Either way should solve the problem. (or just wait another couple of months when its 90 outside lol)

Im thinking the next biggest concern to fix is the way over shocked. Nothing in the suspension actually "moves" I let all the air out of the front shocks that just lowered it an inch or so, but no change in ride. The rear I need to do something else with. They have air valves, but marked nitrogen? without a full overhaul on the rear suspension no way to put some stockers back in place.

Sun Feb 15, 2015 10:32 am

As for the air valves marked nitrogen, nitrogen is no different, but it is drier, and more stable than air. Air is made up of 79.5% nitrogen anyway, so you could refill with nitrogen or air, I doubt you would notice a difference. Now, if you were going to run 500 miles in a couple of hours on concrete, yeah, you'd know there was a difference.

Sun Nov 01, 2015 10:02 am

buggy still rolling along, this winter thinking of some side baskets ala DPV and a better way to carry a spare

these pics out calling and hunting coyotes

Sun Nov 01, 2015 2:11 pm

Don't know how I missed this thread until now. Your rail looks like you've got it working good now. Mine was OD green when I got it, but it's blue and gunmetal grey now.

How did the VIN process go for you here in MT? I still need to get mine inspected and have a state issued VIN applied to the frame.

Link to my build thread is in my sig line below if you're interested.

Mon Nov 02, 2015 12:20 pm

Don't know how I missed this thread either.

What have you done about the suspension stiffness?

The beam on the offroad race buggy you see in my avatar was cut and rotated only on the bottom tube like yours. It provided a good spring rate and ride height for it. But you aren't racing your buggy and probably not driving it as hard as I drive mine. Your ball joint beam also has stiffer leaves than my link pin beam had.

Mon Nov 02, 2015 8:09 pm

DM
havnt done anything with the harsh ride other than just put up with it, I did let all the air out of the shocks, that helped some. BUT...
I have been researching pulling a leaf or two out of the front axels. but that's about as far as Ive gotten just reading lol.

GM440

the vin process is pretty easy
real easy if you just get another bug and title...
or
DMV online has all the forms. needs a visual inspection that the new vin is perm in place. and has at min hi/low beams, brake lights, horn, and rear fenders/flaps. Can go OHV only or plates, I went plates, OHV only has to many restrictions, on where can drive, but dosnt need insurance.

eta have recipts for everything esp the motor and frame. That's all the asked for but looked at the shoebox overflowing and said ehh put it away....

the original colors were lime green, red white and blue, Barfffff.

Tue Nov 03, 2015 12:15 am

Tetonrvr wrote: this winter thinking of some side baskets ala DPV

I'm thinking of doing something similar with mine. I'm not sure how the DPV racks/pods were built, but I was planning on making mine with full sheet metal coverage on the bottom and sides with a hinged and skinned top. I also want to put a small toe pocket on the sides to help with getting in and out as well. In your case you might need to add a ladder if you come in and out from the top a lot.

For the spare, what about putting a mount on the hood? The roof seems like it wouldn't be very user friendly place for the spare if you use it to get in and out all the time. In the back over the engine would block you from using that area for a bed/rack setup. Another option would be to build a tire rack into the forward section of your pods. An upright mounted spare might be feasible if you include it into your plans when building the pods.

Tue May 31, 2016 8:13 am

spent the long weekend up in the mountains close to hundred miles

one busted shock mount, both rear wheel cylinders leaking good.

decided I want more exhaust muffling....

the side pods have got to get done here soon