This going to take a while

[LifeAsASuffix]

I'm finally back working on a Buggy. It's been about 15 years since I had one, and I regret ever selling my last one. Thankfully this time around I'm older and in a better position to do things right.
I bought the body in '98 somewhere in PA with the intention of building it from scratch. Though being 16 it was more than I was capable of handling so I found a more complete Buggy and shelved this one for a later date. It has spent the last 19 years in a field at my families farm. A few weeks ago we pulled it out and brought it down to my home in NC in the bed of a pickup. It got a little banged up in the extraction, the forklift popped a hole in the side (Thanks Dad). I plan to build this with my Daughter and Son when he's old enough. Hopefully i can instill the love of cars and tinkering that I got from my Dad.
Currently the body is sitting on a '67 chassis that will be shortened. I picked up the '67 from a co-worker and the body was too messed up from botched repairs for a reasonable restoration, so it's parts when to keep other cars on the road. I currently do not have a motor, and still have to decide which direction I want to go there.
The first plan is to get the chassis shortened. Then to clean up the body and get it fitted. Once I'm there I'll make a final decision on the motor. Hopefully I can get this to a drivable state before the kids are grown.
I'm sure i'll be asking lots of questions, and welcome any advice you may have. Now to research Z-cuts and Fiberglass repair.

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[wythac]

Congratulations. It appears you have a Sears Rascal, same color mine was when I bought it. I swear to god it had 5000 extra holes in it. Looks like you have a similar challenge.

You'll find that as one of the early "clones", I'd guess early 70's, the fiberglass work on these bodies is substantial. This means it's worth the time you spend repairing it. The body mounting sills on mine had curled upwards on the inside, I had to cut them off and reattach them flat. Your's don't look as bad, you might just be able to "teach" them to return to flat with a sill plate of some kind and some heat.

Take a look at my gallery pics, it shows my restoration/fabrication in stages and might help, though most of the stuff isn't particular to Rascals and there are others here with very well developed skills in specific areas whose work is far superior to mine.

I would double check the shock tower height up front...most Rascal bodies have a real tight fit over the top of the towers. I solved that issue on mine with a lift kit (that I was going to build anyway) but if you are looking for a lower slung car you'll need to come up with a solution to access the bolts on the top of your front shocks.

It appears yours is a swingaxle pan. Make sure you check the stops on the bottom of the rear spring plate housing, they get cracked and dog-eared with time and rust, you may want to gusset and rebuild those stops to keep your spring plates from overtravel.

Good luck with your build.

[LifeAsASuffix]

Thanks for the input. That's a great looking rascal!
I spent a little time getting the pan prepped, and removing the tar sound deadening. Wasn't too tough a project, I got through all behind the parking brake, haven't tackled the front section yet. It took about an hour with a heat gun to get this far. I expect another hour or so to clean the rest off. Then I'll start with the wire wheel to get the rust off and some primer down. Once I get it cleaned up a little I'll start cutting it down. I'm a glutton for punishment so I've been researching the Z-Cut method. Hopefully it won't be so bad once I start diving into it. I've been trying to read as much as I can on different methods of shortening the pan, and surprisingly there are few resources. It appears most info published online is gone.
I am pleasantly surprised. With the condition of the chassis, There is only rust on the battery tray. I should be able to repair it while shortening the chassis.

Now a question; What is this structure on the Rascal? It doesn't appear to serve any purpose.

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[didget69]

Looks like you're off to a great start!

The 'pimple' on front firewall may have to do with body being supported in mold.

Bryan in Raleigh
_________________
I never found the need to impress people with any mechanic certifications, trophies or track wins... unless it was for Mom to post on the refrigerator door.

[bullnerd]

Check this out,

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=548848&highlight=

[LifeAsASuffix]

Still collecting parts and trying to keep the project moving forward. I purchased another Donor car yesterday. Listed as a '72 but it turns out to be a '73 body that's been Baja'd on a '68 Chassis. Still works as I bought it for the motor.

Unfortunately I don't have much info on the motor. It turns over and has compression, it's fitted with a Weber IDF 44 but I don't know the engine size or much else.
I had a buddy come help get it pushed into the garage, which was a feat. The Steering is disconnected, the front left drum is seized, and none of tires hold air. We removed the seized wheel and pushed it with 3, the rear left was binding on the brake shoe, but it came loose after a few forced turns. But we got her into her short term home.

I spent a few hours clearing out the junk and puling the motor to see what I bought.

And here's where we are, ready to get the engine on the stand, and breaking down the '72 body to sell.
Is there a way to determine the displacement of the Motor without tearing it down? I am hoping it only needs a refresh and not a rebuild.

[clonebug]

[wythac]

When you get it apart, clean the top of one of the pistons and you'll likely see the barrel size stamped on the top somewhere.

A few things that I see on that engine tell me you should take it apart;

It appears it may have been run without cooling.

The intake(s) aren't capped and you could have all manner of rust and FOD inside the cylinders.

This doesn't mean the parts are no good....but if it were mine I would want to get an eyeball on everything and clean it up before reassembling and running it.

[Bashr52]

The smaller power pulley, no tins, single weber setup, big Accel coil, and merged exhaust tells me that was either used as a drag car for short bursts down the track, or owned by a complete moron who thought that it would run just fine that way for around town cruising

Either way I'd be pulling it down to at least a short block, but more likely all the way.

[LifeAsASuffix]

[ALB]

As was mentioned, there's really no way to know piston size without taking a head off. You can measure the stroke with a stiff piece of wire down a spark plug hole, though. You're looking for the difference between bottom and top dead center.

Hope this helps. Al
_________________
On a lifelong mission to prove (much to my wife's dismay) that Immaturity is Forever!!

[LifeAsASuffix]

I finally got around to breaking the motor down to see what I have. The Oil was quite dark, but there didn't appear to be any sludge, or metal in it. I took the heads off and the pistons appear to be 87mm. They are clean, and the cylinder walls are clean and smooth, no signs of wear. It looks like the engine may have been rebuilt rather recently.

My only concern so far is it appear the heads have been repaired at some point. There appears to be some work done between the valves on both heads.

The case is a mess, and has at least 2 coats of peeling paint. I was hoping to not tear it down any more, but I may take the cylinders and pistons off and clean the case up. Or should I go ahead and tear it the rest of the way down and build up from scratch? I'm hoping to get the car on the road next spring, so I have a little time if a complete rebuild is the best move.
The cylinders and heads appear to have paint on them too. I'm under the impression that's not a great idea as it can inhibit the dissaaption of heat. Any ideas on getting all the paint cleaned off? Will a nice bath in some paint thinner, or mineral spirits damage the metal? I'm open to advice, it looks like they used spray paint.

[LifeAsASuffix]

Side Note; What's with this notch on the top of the case? Anyone seen anything like this before?

I'm guessing somehow this broke and this was a fix, or this was for access to the flywheel, maybe a Tach? This was a dragster for a while.
Any ideas?

[vwracerdave]

Notch on top was to clear a starter probably bolted to a powerglide transmission on a mid engine sand drag ster.
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[wythac]

Not unusual to see small cracks between valve seats....unless you beat it and overheat it, they can stay benign for a long, long time. I wouldn't sweat those.

The rest? I'll give you a few reasons to complete the disassembly:

Its already out and mostly apart.

I doubt you ran it so you don't know if it even makes oil pressure. Inspecting journals and putting some new bearings in isn't that much more work than you've already done. It doesn't look like it was a well cared for engine. You might discover something ugly. Best to see it now.

Complete disassembly also allows for complete cleaning and resealing. The engine is essentially a part of the exterior of any dune buggy. If you have to look at it, it should look good.

I'd strip the paint myself, but there is evidence stated elsewhere on this site that the impact of paint on cooling surfaces is neutral or positive. I don't put paint on my cooling surfaces or case, only tin.

The carved up case would be a deal breaker for me...but I don't know that it would effect the performance outside of the fact that it is a potential path for FOD to get into your flywheel assembly.

[LifeAsASuffix]

I can't believe it's been nearly a year since my last update on this thread. With a young family it's hard to get more than an hour or 2 of work a week in. I've been working away on the chassis and getting the rust repaired and the chassis ready for sandblasting and paint.

The battery area was rusty and needed a patch.

The driver's side needed some attention as well;

The back of the chassis is done;

The front has a few areas to address at the bulkhead, and some rust under the pedals. I am currently tackling those spaces.

I have also sent the motor off to be cleaned, align bored, checked and tapped for full flow.

I taped it up and gave it a fresh coat of flat black paint.

I haven't started the rebuild on the motor yet, I'm still collecting parts and will hopefully get it started once I have the chassis finished.
I took some time to clean and rebuild the carb,

I'll try and not wait another year to update, hopefully I'll have progress to show on a more regular basis.
I'm still learning and always open to advice, I hope you enjoy my progress
-Ed

[rodjr]

Love the pan work, VERY similar to the way i did mine. It is more work than just cutting it in half, but it sure looks right when you are done, NICE job!

[vponder]

Nice work on the pan, that spot on the outside of the fire wall is a lifting block to get it out of the mold from what I learned through the years of reading about buggys.

[LifeAsASuffix]

[oprn]

Good start!

Any luck finding the engine tinwork?