Building our Allison Daytona Dune Buggy

[herkster]

This is what the car looked like before the theft 20+ years ago. It had a custom tranny and 2180 engine. It was pretty quick and a full length car. Since the Body is an Allison, the fiberglass is thick. For the new build we moved up to 14s in the front and 15s in the rear. It originally had 13 and 14 inch wheels. Oddly we recovered the car (body and other small parts, no chassis, engine or Transmission) and now I am rebuilding it with a IRS chassis. I'll post some more pics of the build later. We are planning Subaru power for the rebuild.

[sbussard]

Looking forward to the build pics. What are the details on the theft? How long was it gone, damage, how it was stolen, etc?

Thanks,
Scott
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Manxter #122
First time, garage built, and living out the childhood dream of owning a life-size Hotwheel!

Check out my build thread-->My Manxter 2+2

[herkster]

It’s a sad story. The car was purchased by my dad and built by him on my mother’s 1966 VW. Growing up I rode in the back of this very car on Daytona Beach and dad used to cut “Donuts” with it in the sand. I later convinced my dad to let me use it in high school and the car was crunched by me. Dad and I rebuilt it to what you see in earlier pictures here. After high School and during community college years it was at my apartment covered up outside when the next morning I came out and it was gone. My VW GTI was also broken into and the stereo gone.

Probably 5 Years later I was at a bug meet in Dade City with a sedan I had rebuilt and found the body, roll bar, gas tank, front cowl, windshield and rear seat. That was about it. No Chassis, Motor or transmission. I was floored but knew it was mine from the turn signal holes, interior speaker grills and such. The guy selling it didn’t believe me and I got the cops at the meet involved and he offered to give it up. Of course he got it from a buddy who knew about it from another guy who saw it behind a house etc. I couldn’t get any one on the hook for the theft, the cops really weren’t interested anyhow. The thieves spray painted it black and it looked like total dog turds but it’s an Allison and its rare but they were more interested in the car and what it had rather than what it was. The loss was over $10,000 in parts and of course the insurance didn’t want to have anything to do with it. What I found and later purchased ($150 IRS pan ) I put in an airplane hangar for storage and covered it up…until now.

Here I am near 20 years later we are getting it into condition to restore. The chassis is nearing roller status and we have yet to buy the transmission, CVs and the motor. The rest I have purchased through samba members, ebay, and various parts warehouses. The people have been great and when we did this years ago we didn’t have the Internet and other avenues to get parts and pieces from.

Here’s a few pictures so far…

Pulled from the Hangar

Getting ready to move the whole mess to my home garage on the East Coast of Florida

Painting parts and cleaning stuff up...

Bare bones inverted and being cleaned and protected.

Test fit of new front beam

Test fit of wheels after preliminary disc brake install.

wheels and tires mounted and polished...pans fitted and getting ready to go in..

Stiffy brace being fitted

[Manx102]

Wow....a tough story but it sounds and looks like it is going to have a happy ending.
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"The simplest of outdoor adventures - the most treasured memories." - Bruce Meyers
54 years of "outdoor adventures" and "treasured memories" with our Manx in my gallery.

[herkster]

did a roll out sunday of the chassis...pans in and wanted to do some fitting of the rear Stiffy Bar.

started to see some clearance issues for the rear seat lower pocket area and realized some cutting would be required

Body inverted in the garage on a tarp for fiberglass cutting and trimming.

body originally had a recessed pocket for the battery in the rear but had to trim that out too to clear the bar that is crossed between the rear shock towers.

After cutting,

[herkster]

So we then fitted the body on...the chassis has 4 wheel discs and also narrowed and lowered beam as well as Atom Werks rear drop plates for IRS. They are pretty slick units not to mention very pretty. We fitted the seats to see how they's look too...(smart car seats)

Lots of fiberglass work to do but we want to get the chassis as close to done as possible first and still need to refit and finish gas tank setup and gas lines and brake lines and ....does it ever end?.

dog approved...

[Humdinger]

Very nice! I've been holding on to some Smart seats for a few months now... how did you end up mounting them? Did you hook up the seat warmers?

[herkster]

Hoping to use them...they look to be just slightly wide...looks like we will fab a plate on the pan and bolt through. No seat warmers in Florida!

[911GT2]

[herkster]

A buddy of mine told me that Recaro makes the seats for the Smart car folks...dunno if that is true but they are comfortable! I'll have to look into that.

[911GT2]

[Humdinger]

Mine have the Mercedes logo on the bottom of the seat and on wiring stuff too... The seat warmer setup is a little over my head right now. Been trying to find out how to use and regulate them since i got the seats this past winter!

And yes they are VERY comfy! My wife and I used them as temporary living room furniture when we were renovating our house!

[herkster]

All the brakelines are done with exception of the main chassis line. That will need to be cut for the brake proportioning valve.

The rebuilt pedal cluster and clutch cable are in now too.

hoping to bleed brakes soon!

tonights reward!

[MOON BUGGY]

Hold up!
Think about where you are going to put the proportioning valve.
If it is in the chassis line all you can do is decrease the rear breaks.
you need to put it on the front breaks.
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"Dune Buggies and Watermelon Rock! .” (MOON BUGGY)

[MOON BUGGY]

Take a look at this video.
it shows where to locate the proportioning valve.
(4:20 to 5:15) shows proportioning valve.

Link

_________________
"Dune Buggies and Watermelon Rock! .” (MOON BUGGY)

[herkster]

Interesting. He only uses one side of the master then splits it to the front. I do like the pressure hold inline valve. I'm guessing the fronts will lock first?

[joescoolcustoms]

[herkster]

Guess I'm laying the rear line and redoing the fronts. I need to learn how to use a double flare tool!

[herkster]

Hi all,

Another part in the car. The transaxle went in the other night with all new mounts and grade 8 hardware. Pierside parts had all the correct stuff. The Transaxle was built by Rancho and looks good. We also upgraded to Type 2 CV flanges on the transaxle and have already installed Type 2 Cv Stub axles at the other end. Rancho just sent the new axles and I have to rebuild 4 cv joints and install on the axles. I also have the elusive bolt for the starter to install with the new Hi Torque unit. IN the process we hooked up the Billet shift coupler. Pretty trick.

The under brace is mounted crossways to the car and prevents the nose cone and front mount from getting tweaked upward under accel. I had to install longer studs into the front of the trans to mount the brace. Further the brace required some fitting to the trans in place.

[herkster]

By the way I got another brake line tee and redid the front brakes with the valve in the front. Good call there guys! We pressurized the brakes and they had a couple small leaks but over all that was easy to fix with a bit more tightening on the connections. We bled them down and they are good to go!