IRS's build thread

I Ride Sand · Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 11:46 am Post subject:

Been a while since I have been able to make any progress on the rail, but in that time its got a few things done and a new nickname. Its called "The Bomber". I screwed up making the floor and used some quite expensive alumiclad 2024 alloy sheet on accident. luckily, I'm only being charged for normal 6061 t6 instead. so I have that going for me, which is nice. I ended up flat towing it for 400 miles to Bozeman, Mt, from Brigham city, Ut.

Once I got it up here I was able to start working on it on the weekends. I now have a start on the engine cage and added two more tubes to the cargo rack. Its starting to look like an old racecar now!

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

dustymojave · Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2015 3:33 pm Post subject:

While the Alumiclad coating will help retard corrosion of the aluminum sheet, that really should not be an issue unless you take it out to the salt flats at Bonneville. The 16 ga 6061 T6 floor of my Hi Jumper that I installed in the 1970s is still fine. It's far from new looking, scraped, scratched and in a couple places has small dings, but it's not noticeably corroded. In those decades it has spent quite a bit of time outdoors, including right now.

While the coated 2024 might price out more expensive than 6061, I would choose the 6061 for the floor of a buggy. The 2024 is more susceptible to corrosion than the 6061. It's also not considered weldable except by friction method (ie spin-welding). Other than that the 2024 is a pretty fair material for the task. It DOES have good toughness and tensile strength, which are good properties for a buggy floor. But since that was what you were given when you ordered 6061, I 'd accept it.
_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

Vanapplebomb · Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2015 7:34 pm Post subject:

Richard, 16 Gauge flooring you say you have? For the full length, or do you have some thicker stuff under the pedals, feet, and what not? Just wondering, cause I was going to use 1/8in diamond tread, but if 16 Gauge holds up I would be tempted to use it wherever my feet wont rest to save some weight.
_________________
1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

dustymojave · Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2015 10:40 pm Post subject:

16ga aluminum from the beam to the torsion housing.

The master cylinder needs to mount to something much more solid than the floor. Mine has a 65 VW pedal assembly. That's mounted to an old-school pedal mount bracket. Lots of newer ones are made of thinner, weaker steel and may need to have additional support.

I DO have a small section of 1/8" diamond plate under the pedals. It's been so long since I put it there, I honestly don't remember why I did.
_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

I Ride Sand · Posted: Sat May 02, 2015 3:14 pm Post subject:

GoMopar440 · Posted: Mon May 04, 2015 8:07 pm Post subject:

Very cool looking build! I generally don't like most home brew frames from an aesthetic point of view, but your buggy looks like a legit pro quality build. Being new to buggy's and VW's in general I'm probably just going to buy a pre-engineered frame kit when I get ready to replace the twisted and bent frame on mine. Probably going to stick with the pickup style rear since I'll mostly be using it on the street and twisty mountian roads. The cargo space is a major plus and I don't need the extra strength since I don't plan on getting crazy when off roading it. Here's a link to the pic album of mine (when I got it) if you feel like taking a look at it. http://s326.photobucket.com/user/GoMopar440/library/VW%20Sand%20Rail I need to take some updated pics of the recent repairs/upgrades I've been doing to it lately.

This is my first post here on TheSamba.com, but I've been lurking since I got my buggy about a month ago. Ironicaly, I traded my supermoto'd WR450 to a guy in Bozeman for the buggy. Give me a PM if you ever plan on heading out this way. I'm trying to get this fixed up and street legal before Evel Knievel Days over the last weekend of July in Butte.

So what's the buggy/rail scene like over around Bozeman? I'm a little west of Butte and hadn't seen hardly any buggys around here until after I got this one. Ever since then it seems like I'm spotting another rail or Manx clone about every other day.

dustymojave · Posted: Mon May 04, 2015 8:55 pm Post subject:

I haven't finished looking through the photobucket.

I saw the pedal mount picture and I see that that is one of the newer cheezy weak ones. Somebody oughtta get sued over those. They're dangerous!

That should be the 1st thing I would address. At least you can replace that bracket with a new one. But make sure the new one is strong. It needs to be thicker metal (that one looks like 14 ga at the most) and stiffer metal as well. It IS possible to add metal to the sides of the bracket to reinforce it. It should be at least 3/16" and 1020 CR at least. 1010 hot roll is too soft. I also suggest to extend the left gusset to near even with the pedal pivot.

And I hope there is some frame structure under that floor panel right under the pedal mount. The floor alone is not enough.
_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

GoMopar440 · Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 12:11 am Post subject:

That was one of the first things I changed. It looked sketchy at best and outright dangerous at worst. At least there IS some square tubing bracing it under the floor. I already swapped it out for this aftermarket hydraulic pedal setup. The 7/8 M/C should work well with the planned disk brake swap to come in the near future.
http://www.mooreparts.com/2920-LR3-798511/
I didn't see a brand on the new one so I'm not sure if it's a Latest Rage, EMPI or something else. When I got the new pedals I noted a few minor issues. The roller pedal didn't roll, and when I loosened the mounting nut it flopped all over the place. It turns out the hole in the roller was about .050 larger than the bolt it was on. I machined a new sleeve for the roller bore and it fits much better now. The Clutch pedal was binding and wouldn't return after being pressed in fully. Fortunately that was just the slot being too tight in the yoke connecting the pedal arm to the actuating rod. I spread the slot open a little and now the clutch pedal moves freely again. I also greased all of the pivot areas on the main hinge and roller shafts and everything works smoothly now. I made my own throttle arm yoke for it since I forgot to order one when I bought the pedal assembly.

The slave cylinder I bought at the same time has had it's own issues as well.
http://www.mooreparts.com/2931-LR-798560/
Everything that was threaded in or on the slave cyl needed to be tightened and locktighted. After installing it and bleeding the system I found a small leak in the middle main body to end cap threads so I have to go back into it and seal it up better.

I kind of expected to have a few chinese QC issues with these parts given the price I paid for them, so I wasn't surprised with any of this. I was a machinist in the Navy for most of my 20 year career so I was pretty sure I could handle any quirks that popped up.

I Ride Sand · Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 12:46 pm Post subject:

GoMopar440 · Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 10:52 pm Post subject:

I'm about 20 minutes west of Butte near Anaconda. I just moved up here a few years ago myself in 2010.

It's about the same around here as far as finding places and people to ride with. It has a lot to do with the generally introverted MT mentality I think. A lot of people here don't seem to want to open up to you until after they get to know you for a long while. Most of the locals I've run into just keep to themselves around here.

Since I'm not originally from MT I have a different outlook on things I guess. I was a Navy brat growing up and then joined when I turned 18 and did 20 years in the Navy. As a result I traveled around the country a lot and had to learn how to get out there and just go ahead and do what I wanted to do, with or without help or friends. Funny thing is, when I did that is usually when I bumped into other people doing similar stuff. That's when I wound up getting to know a lot of people and making a lot of friends. Funny how that just sorta works out like that... Wink

On another note, I just found out that the Evel Kenievel Days event is going to be called something else from now on. That's if they even have it at all anymore. Apparently Robby Kenievel sued the event organizers recently to get them to stop using his dad's name. Kinda sucks since it was a pretty fun event that ran for an entire weekend with different (usually motorcycle related) stuff going on on every street corner in the old uptown area of Butte. Sad

BTW: Sorry for the thread hijack.

I Ride Sand · Posted: Mon May 18, 2015 12:37 pm Post subject:

So, quick update. After living here in bozeman for a couple of months, I ended up puting in my two weeks notice at dark horse. the job is awesome, but I gave up too much to come here. So, after all the time and effort, im heading back to the desert. Too many trees here anyway.

GoMopar440 · Posted: Wed May 20, 2015 11:18 pm Post subject:

That sux that you're not going to be sticking around. I still haven't met any other actual buggy/rail people around here yet (other than the random drive by spottings).

I hope the move back doesn't hold you up on your rail for too long. I liked seeing the progress you were making on it. Your rail, and a lot of the other builds here, are giving me a lot of good ideas for what I'd like to do with mine.

I Ride Sand · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 5:22 pm Post subject:

Its a bit to hot to work right now, so a few photos are in order!

MMMhhhh... night rides should be fun!

Guess which one was my day job and which one was a hobby?

The truck is sitting at ride height, 40 inches off the ground to the bottom of the rocker panel...

one of the truck, just because. Rolling Eyes

I Ride Sand · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 5:29 pm Post subject:

did i say night rides will be fun now?

well, fun for me... I feel sorry for oncoming traffic....

Back in Utah, a gauge cluster was built...

As well as a switch panel and roof.

man this place looks familiar...

I Ride Sand · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 5:33 pm Post subject:

So thats what i have for photos at the moment. I will grab another round tonight as i finish up the last few tabs, then start to tear it down for paint. i ended up choosing a standard gmc dark metallic blue for the chassis, and everything else will be silver or polished. I have a TON of parts floating around waiting to be installed.

I can almost see a light at the end of the tunnel! Very Happy

GoMopar440 · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 6:15 pm Post subject:

Good to see you making progress on it again! It's looking pretty sharp so far. I've been slowly tinkering on mine and need to do an update to my build thread soon (link in my sig).
_________________
Homemade rail for street & off road: BJ front beam (bent), IRS rear (boxed/maybe bent), stock T1 DP 1600, 009, 34PICT-3 (soon to be dual 40HPMXs), 4-1 glass pack exh, T3 brakes (F disk, R drum & Dual MC), Bug trans (002, 5 rib going in soon).
Link to my rail (re)build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=629493

I Ride Sand · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 11:59 pm Post subject:

MORE PICS!!!!

I Ride Sand · Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 12:10 am Post subject:

... more pics! again!

The project for winter. shift linkage was too problematic for this go-around so i will stick to the type one for now...

the rear boss for the roof rack...

... and the front boss

the little details count!

Like this turn signal! its stupid bright, they are used on the back as well.

new trailing arms.

you can see the on-off-on switch placed low and alone for the turn signals

And there it is! tons of photos to look over and see whats been going over the last month. It is nearing time to strip it down and start prepping for paint. just a few little tabs and gussets here and there, then welding. so. much. welding. then cleaning..... oh god the cleaning...... Shocked

I Ride Sand · Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 12:24 am Post subject:

Quick update: 99 percent of the fabrication is done, and I have tore it down for paint. Pics will be added tomorrow.


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