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KAmes
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2014
Posts: 877
Location: Illinois
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 Posted: Fri May 12, 2023 7:01 pm Post subject: Sand Shark "fix up" |
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Not a rebuild by any means. I'll call it a minor-ish overhaul after a few years sitting dormant in the garage. I have too many projects, I just want it to be a car again! I stripped the interior out and found the pan in pretty good shape. Whoever shortened it years ago did a pretty competent job, looks good. A win right up front!
Some things I did:
New brake hardware, master cylinder, wheel cylinders, hard lines, hoses, shoes, reused the drums and the parking brake cables.
New Rebel Wire kit installed.
New steering box, damper and tie rods.
New Procar seats, sliders and bases.
Replaced the horrible thin, cracked and extensively hacked original dash with the really nice quality Manx unit, new steering wheel with quick release, Vintage Speed shifter, and rebuilt pedals purchased from a Samba member. I took some inspiration from WesleyGarrard's Sand Shark thread.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
I still need to do something about the carpet on the floor.
Before:
After
Went from two tail lights to four in order to correct (hide) some layout problems (spacing). Also did some cosmetic stuff on the engine, bought repainted cylinder tins from a Samba member, old school cast aluminum fan shroud from ebay, rebuilt carburetor from Volksbitz. Serpentine pulleys. New stainless steel exhaust (loud).
Before
After
I installed a new (working) wiper motor and monkeyed with the mechanism, ended up with a single wiper with a wide sweep. You don't need wipers on a buggy, until you do.
Just in time for summer! Next project is fixing that F-100...
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oprn
Samba Member
Joined: November 13, 2016
Posts: 12730
Location: Western Canada
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| Posted: Sat May 13, 2023 5:00 am Post subject: Re: Sand Shark "fix up" |
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Nice Buggy!
I would think long and hard about putting carpet in any open car. That is a recipe for rotted out floor pans. I have rubber mats in mine. You can flip them out and let the floor dry.
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age) |
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KAmes
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2014
Posts: 877
Location: Illinois
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| Posted: Sat May 13, 2023 6:45 am Post subject: Re: Sand Shark "fix up" |
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| oprn wrote: |
Nice Buggy!
I would think long and hard about putting carpet in any open car. That is a recipe for rotted out floor pans. I have rubber mats in mine. You can flip them out and let the floor dry. |
I think you are right about that. I'm thinking maybe just some cutouts in front of the seats not glued down. I did stick kilmat insulation to the floor, in itself waterproof but could provide places to trap water. What's there are throw rugs cut out but I don't like them. I might not have glued the carpet on the sides myself but it was already there and it does look nice. |
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EVfun
Samba Member
Joined: April 01, 2012
Posts: 5481
Location: Seattle
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| Posted: Sat May 13, 2023 7:53 am Post subject: Re: Sand Shark "fix up" |
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I used some ribber rubber mat, like this, to line the floor of my buggy. I ran the ribs front to back and attached it in front of the seat with some reusable plastic rivets, like this, to insure they couldn't slide forward.
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| Wildthings wrote: |
| As a general rule, cheap parts are the most expensive parts you can buy. |
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KAmes
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2014
Posts: 877
Location: Illinois
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| Posted: Sat May 13, 2023 8:18 am Post subject: Re: Sand Shark "fix up" |
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| EVfun wrote: |
| I used some ribber rubber mat, like this, to line the floor of my buggy. I ran the ribs front to back and attached it in front of the seat with some reusable plastic rivets, like this, to insure they couldn't slide forward. |
I kind of like that, I also like that it comes on a roll in different sizes. I even like the plastic screws, that could be a winner. If I do it I'll let you know, thanks for the idea. |
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KAmes
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2014
Posts: 877
Location: Illinois
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| Posted: Sun May 14, 2023 5:10 pm Post subject: Re: Sand Shark "fix up" |
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After some experimenting I put in this strut to triangulate the dash frame to the floor in order to combat the steering wheel shaking on rough roads.
The body is bolted to the pan, and the dash/windshield mounting support is bolted to the body. It all flexes quite a bit, the strut improves the situation in a huge way. Visually it intrudes into the space but is actually completely out of the way of driver and passenger feet. In a do over it needs a stiff structure around the sides down to the pan but I can live with this.
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EVfun
Samba Member
Joined: April 01, 2012
Posts: 5481
Location: Seattle
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| Posted: Sun May 14, 2023 10:49 pm Post subject: Re: Sand Shark "fix up" |
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That brace is ingenious! Your right hand drive conversion is interesting too. Was there any particular reason to choose to do a RHD conversion, or just the desire to be different?
When I got my Berry Mini-T buggy body it had never been mounted. I did consider building it RHD just to be different, but decided to retain the stock LHD setup.
_________________
| Wildthings wrote: |
| As a general rule, cheap parts are the most expensive parts you can buy. |
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KAmes
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2014
Posts: 877
Location: Illinois
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| Posted: Mon May 15, 2023 4:41 am Post subject: Re: Sand Shark "fix up" |
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| EVfun wrote: |
That brace is ingenious! Your right hand drive conversion is interesting too. Was there any particular reason to choose to do a RHD conversion, or just the desire to be different?
When I got my Berry Mini-T buggy body it had never been mounted. I did consider building it RHD just to be different, but decided to retain the stock LHD setup. |
I did do the RHD just to be different really. I had done it once before many years ago with an MG Midget so there is a nostalgia effect for me also. With the MG it was nearly as simple as unbolting things from the left side and bolting them up on the right, then I made a dash. In this case the dash is symmetrical so it was a perfect candidate. It's entertaining to drive, shifting with the left hand etc, but surprisingly intuitive. The down side is It's hard to see to pass, but let's face it It's a stock single port 1500 it's not passing anything except farm implements. Besides, why the hurry? |
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KAmes
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2014
Posts: 877
Location: Illinois
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| Posted: Tue May 16, 2023 4:36 am Post subject: Re: Sand Shark "fix up" |
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I'm putting this one in the "experiment" category. After driving the buggy a couple days I've noticed the exhaust is loud as... a duck. Car alarms go off and small children cry. Here's what we have:
I bought the ones with baffles in them. Not working. Here's what I did:
Yeah that's a pea shooter. You can laugh now. In my defense it's a stainless steel one that doesn't sound as "beetle-ly".
So far so good, not too fweem-ish at all. I need to drive it around some and see if they will stay in with one retaining screw. |
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oprn
Samba Member
Joined: November 13, 2016
Posts: 12730
Location: Western Canada
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| Posted: Tue May 16, 2023 5:07 am Post subject: Re: Sand Shark "fix up" |
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Only so much you can do to make dual cannons livable on the noise side without excessive restriction. It's all about muffler volume and a compromise between noise and back pressure. Put a pressure port in the system. I recommend an O2 bung just before the muffler, that will give you a spot to check and tune your mixture too.
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age) |
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KAmes
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2014
Posts: 877
Location: Illinois
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| Posted: Tue May 16, 2023 6:43 am Post subject: Re: Sand Shark "fix up" |
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| oprn wrote: |
| Only so much you can do to make dual cannons livable on the noise side without excessive restriction. It's all about muffler volume and a compromise between noise and back pressure. Put a pressure port in the system. I recommend an O2 bung just before the muffler, that will give you a spot to check and tune your mixture too. |
You mean to measure the back pressure with? That's interesting. What kind of number is desirable? As far as it goes I've been thinking about buying an AFR meter, haven't ever had one before. Regarding the sound, I just now drove it in to work and it's like I hoped it would be. Much quieter and sounds like a VW without being cutesy. It ran really good except I totally got caught in the rain. |
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KyoteII
Samba Member
Joined: May 27, 2018
Posts: 14
Location: salinas, ca
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| Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2023 9:43 am Post subject: Re: Sand Shark "fix up" |
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hi! love the RHD conversion. curious how you like the quick release steering wheel? what brand did you use? im looking at a Sweet MFG sprint car column that uses a quick release. kind concerned about the slop in the splines, ive heard horror stories about the Speedway copy of the one im looking at.
thanks in advance
matt |
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KAmes
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2014
Posts: 877
Location: Illinois
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| Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2023 12:54 pm Post subject: Re: Sand Shark "fix up" |
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| KyoteII wrote: |
hi! love the RHD conversion. curious how you like the quick release steering wheel? what brand did you use? im looking at a Sweet MFG sprint car column that uses a quick release. kind concerned about the slop in the splines, ive heard horror stories about the Speedway copy of the one im looking at.
thanks in advance
matt |
Hi Matt. I do like the quick release a lot. I don't use it all the time, but it takes a certain "technique" to enter and exit with the wheel in place. It's nice to be able to put it out of the way if I'm feeling lazy. I used a release like this one
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007ZG6TUC/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_8?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1
in conjunction with this adapter on my stock column.
https://www.jbugs.com/product/STH1028B.html
It uses ball bearings that latch into divots instead of splines, bearings are in an asymmetrical pattern so it will only latch in the correct position. Put it on, rotate until it clicks in. Pull back release ring to remove. There is no slop and the horn works through it. It's likely not as strong as the Sweet MFG units, those do look really nice. My original purpose was to use it as a spacer to get more leg room, and it also serves as a bolt pattern adapter to my steering wheel which I already had from another car.
It's been solid and dependable so far. |
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oprn
Samba Member
Joined: November 13, 2016
Posts: 12730
Location: Western Canada
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| Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2023 1:54 pm Post subject: Re: Sand Shark "fix up" |
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| KAmes wrote: |
| oprn wrote: |
| Only so much you can do to make dual cannons livable on the noise side without excessive restriction. It's all about muffler volume and a compromise between noise and back pressure. Put a pressure port in the system. I recommend an O2 bung just before the muffler, that will give you a spot to check and tune your mixture too. |
You mean to measure the back pressure with? That's interesting. What kind of number is desirable? As far as it goes I've been thinking about buying an AFR meter, haven't ever had one before. Regarding the sound, I just now drove it in to work and it's like I hoped it would be. Much quieter and sounds like a VW without being cutesy. It ran really good except I totally got caught in the rain. |
Sorry about being so slow to get back to you! What kind of back pressure should you see? I asked that question too in this thread and the answer is far from clear but not very much it seems! This was my experience if it helps.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=758527&highlight=
_________________
We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age) |
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KAmes
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2014
Posts: 877
Location: Illinois
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| Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 6:36 am Post subject: Re: Sand Shark "fix up" |
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| oprn wrote: |
| KAmes wrote: |
| oprn wrote: |
| Only so much you can do to make dual cannons livable on the noise side without excessive restriction. It's all about muffler volume and a compromise between noise and back pressure. Put a pressure port in the system. I recommend an O2 bung just before the muffler, that will give you a spot to check and tune your mixture too. |
You mean to measure the back pressure with? That's interesting. What kind of number is desirable? As far as it goes I've been thinking about buying an AFR meter, haven't ever had one before. Regarding the sound, I just now drove it in to work and it's like I hoped it would be. Much quieter and sounds like a VW without being cutesy. It ran really good except I totally got caught in the rain. |
Sorry about being so slow to get back to you! What kind of back pressure should you see? I asked that question too in this thread and the answer is far from clear but not very much it seems! This was my experience if it helps.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=758527&highlight= |
That's some interesting information there. My personal experience with back pressure was with a moped I had when I was a teenager. It's meager performance seemed to be decreasing so I took it apart trying to figure out why. At one point I started it without the exhaust on and although it would start and idle it wouldn't move, it couldn't pull it's own weight. While off I saw there was a lot of build up inside the muffler so I banged it on the ground a few times and bunch of crud fell out. I put it back on and it ran great. Years later I put a glass pack on a FJ-40 Land Cruiser without a tailpipe and it ran terrible, the torque was gone. Changed that for a conventional muffler with some tailpipe behind it and all was well. Regarding my peashooter buggy, it's running really nice like this. It basically sounds like what it is, a beetle with newer tailpipes that don't whistle like they used to back then. In the end it's a stock 1500 single port exhausting through the same two tailpipes it would have originally. |
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KAmes
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2014
Posts: 877
Location: Illinois
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| Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 6:57 am Post subject: Re: Sand Shark "fix up" |
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I installed a filter pump, I like these things. CB Performance was sold out of the Maxi 2s that I'm familiar with, so I went ahead and bought the empi one. Installation was easy except for one stuck stud but then you expect that. It seems fine, no complaints.
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CapeBuggy
Samba Member
Joined: March 20, 2023
Posts: 24
Location: SE MASS
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| Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 1:55 pm Post subject: Re: Sand Shark "fix up" |
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Can you tell us where you bought the insert? Trying to quiet mine down as well with a similar exhaust. Thanks!
| KAmes wrote: |
I'm putting this one in the "experiment" category. After driving the buggy a couple days I've noticed the exhaust is loud as... a duck. Car alarms go off and small children cry. Here's what we have:
I bought the ones with baffles in them. Not working. Here's what I did:
Yeah that's a pea shooter. You can laugh now. In my defense it's a stainless steel one that doesn't sound as "beetle-ly".
So far so good, not too fweem-ish at all. I need to drive it around some and see if they will stay in with one retaining screw. |
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KAmes
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2014
Posts: 877
Location: Illinois
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KAmes
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2014
Posts: 877
Location: Illinois
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| Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2023 7:22 am Post subject: Re: Sand Shark "fix up" |
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New wheel and tire day! (NWATD) I liked the rally wheels, but it turns out they weren't round. The tires had flat spotted sitting in the garage for five years without moving and they just wouldn't come out of it. The steel rims didn't look very straight either when rotated up on a jack, so, NWATD. My head's all full of backspace and offset now, I need a vacation.
My wife says it looks like a hot wheels toy.
Last edited by KAmes on Sat Jun 10, 2023 8:12 am; edited 1 time in total |
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EVfun
Samba Member
Joined: April 01, 2012
Posts: 5481
Location: Seattle
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| Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2023 8:12 am Post subject: Re: Sand Shark "fix up" |
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I like that traditional look on your buggy. Plus, getting new wheels and tires is just fun! 
_________________
| Wildthings wrote: |
| As a general rule, cheap parts are the most expensive parts you can buy. |
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