TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Apr 30, 2019 10:23 am

Hi. I am a new user here. I have been looking for a while and gather a lot of information. It is a great place to learn and see what others are doing with their VW's.
I have worked on VW's many years ago when I had a 72 Super Beetle. Back then I also did some work for my friend's cousin that had purchased a dune buggy; that was back in 94. We lost contact and the car sat for many years in South Florida. Long story short I picked the buggy up this past weekend and am hoping to revive it.
Back in the day it was shown in many car shows in South Florida and I am curious if anybody might recognize it or have any info on this one.
Thanks

Tue Apr 30, 2019 9:56 pm

That is one unique buggy! Someone must have seen it before. What are your plans for it?

Wed May 01, 2019 4:33 am

I'm not a fan of that particular bodystyle, but the pinstriping is killer!

Wed May 01, 2019 6:40 am

I would like to bring it back to life. Right now I have it in my garage, away from the elements. Before I do anything to the chassis I would like to fix the engine. It has been sitting for about 20 years and had some water in the sump pan. I pulled the engine and am in the process of disassembling it. I do not think that it is a stock motor.I think it is possibly a 1835 ( what is the best way to find out what all is modified on it?). It has the forced air shroud, dual 40 IDF's, external oil cooler and remote filter fed from adapter under the shroud.

Wed May 01, 2019 6:59 am

I cleaned up a small section of the paint and it seems to polish up somewhat. I do like the pin striping a lot and would like to safe it if possible. There are some small areas wit bubbles and some spider cracks.

Wed May 01, 2019 10:16 am

I like the neon ant behind the clear plastic grill. Cool feature.

Wed May 01, 2019 1:58 pm

Man, that's an old school paint job. Personally, I'd clean it up as carefully as possible and leave it as-is. What you did in that one section looks damn near perfect - and that's hard to do with a single stage paint pinstripe. Just be cautious. If you happen to burn through one, there's probably a guy near you that could mix up the right color and blend it back in.

As for the bubbles.. I guess that depends on how large and where. If they aren't anywhere near a stripe, it's possible to blend them back in, even with that paint job. Spider cracks... get underneath and reinforce that area with more glass or even a bedliner to keep them from spreading.

Thu May 02, 2019 5:17 am

Find a high end "paint correction" or paint detail shop near you and have them look at this......Old paint jobs can be conserved, corrected, and protected. We do it with much more fragile furniture coatings everyday. A good shop should be able to tell you what you can do and then outline what they can finish up for you. From just what you've done there I would consider this very doable. If I can save a 400+ year old coating on a monastery kitchen server I think you can save this........ :lol:

Thu May 02, 2019 7:08 am

Its a Citation, made by Bremen Speed Equipment of Bremen, IN

Thu May 02, 2019 7:24 am

If you have a Bremen product that is good news....fiberglass thickness on average about 3/8 inch thick with a combo of roving woven cloth and chopper gun glass work. There original gel coats were up to 20 mils thick. I would guess that the gel coat might have been fading and the owner figured it was time for paint..... That gel coat was a perfect base to build paint up.... When I did my last Bremen Sebring we sealed over that gel coat with epoxy and then went base/clear. That paint job was 26 years old when I sold it and did not look much different from the day I did that paint work.

Thu May 02, 2019 7:33 pm

Thanks for the info on the make and which direction to go on the paint. I do like the look alot.
I will look inside and under the dash to see if there are any markings in it. I am in the process of tearing the engine down and rebuilding the carbs. I am going to tackle that first and then work on the chassis and running gear. For sure it will need new electrical, floors, brakes and probably bunches of other stuff.

Sun May 12, 2019 6:51 am

I have a rear engine/transmission mount question. While waiting on stuff i am changing the rear mounts. It has a axle trap plate and the passenger side mount has 2 shims. Are they supposed to be there or is it one per side? Is there some info on this where i can educate myself on?

Fri Aug 09, 2019 11:11 am

Ok. Here is an update. I have been busy. I took the body off and disassembled most of the car. Have been fixing rust on the tunnel and working on replacing the floor. Using 1x2 steel for the side rails and 16g for the floor with some reinforcements. I had some parts made at a local place. Still working on the engine and brakes and waiting for more parts to arrive. It's a slow but fun process.
I have been reading a lot of builds and got most of my questions answered but the good examples of excellent workmanship on this site. I need to take the camera down to the garage one day and shoot some updates.

Fri Aug 09, 2019 7:55 pm

Great. Looking forward to pictures, action and drama.

Thu Aug 15, 2019 12:13 pm

What they said

Tue Sep 17, 2019 1:45 pm

I have spent a lot of time working on rust control. I am at the point where I have floor pans now and a place to bolt my seats to. I am in the process to run my brake lines and read about the reservoir for dual masters that pops on instead of using the remote reservoir, so I have one coming.

When test fitting my body I noticed that the drivers side sits about 1/2" (need to measure exactly) higher than the passenger rear side. I think the suspension is not set up right. Do I take the driver side apart and re-index the torsion bar?

Fri Sep 20, 2019 7:41 am

Some progress. Sorry that they are not in build order. Been working on it a lot since may. I decided to mount the engine back in. Still need to finish assembling the carbs and sort out some things, but it is off the floor.
Before as I removed it from the car.
Before taming the rust gremlin.
As it is sitting now. I Have the brake lines in and received the direct mount reservoir. I hope to bleed brakes this weekend.

Fri Sep 20, 2019 9:37 am

Major clean-up, top'd off with that mezmerising spiral paint job on the crank pulley. Nice!

Fri Sep 20, 2019 10:46 am

Thanks. Its not running yet, but makes me smile when I look at it.
I try to do at least one thing for it every day to keep progressing.

Thu Sep 26, 2019 6:30 am

Last car show at about 1993 in Ft. Lauderdale before it was repainted into the current theme. Maybe someone had seen it like this back in the day.