HELP With Acme Berrien Buggy Build

[JESFromASC]

I'm building an Acme/Berrien Buggy Nostalgia buggy on their custom chassis.
Although I have been playing with VWs for 40 years and built a few other cars I could still use some pictures from other's builds.
In particular your brake line distribution.
And - I'm guessing they think the floor pan is rigid enough to hold the gear selection lever and emergency brake? I was expecting those to be chassis mounted not pan mounted.
So any build pictures, advice, lessons learned etc. sure would be appreciated!
I'm taking a bunch of pictures every step of the way and will create a build image site when I'm done.
Thanks

[aircooledmark]

The Acme tube chassis is nice, but not perfect. The overarching theme as you go into this build is TEST FIT EVERYTHING! I've built my entire buggy several times now, in different stages, just to make sure everything is fitting properly because holes in fiberglass are kinda permanent!

The pan is plenty strong enough for the shifter and e-brake. The fiberglass is extremely thick in those areas. Use decent sized washers on all of your nuts to distribute the load a bit more.

Brake line distribution will look similar to a Beetle. Depending on what hard lines you use, you might find yourself needing to make an extra bend or loop in a line to accomodate the shorter chassis. This is a really tough thing to explain because there's too many variables. Disc brakes, narrower/wider than stock beams, swing axle vs IRS, drop spindles, etc etc. I ended up fitting up my front beam and transaxle, then measuring and ordering custom hoses and hardlines to get everything tidy.

Lessons learned on the Acme tube chassis:

- Look closely at the torsion housing upper shock mount area. My right side was REALLY twisted (over an inch inward). I didn't notice it until I got the chassis home - and MN is a long way from PA so I am stuck with it.

- The tubular frame horns look cool, but add complications (no brake tee bolt, no brake hose brackets, and my frame horns were not aligned properly). If you want to keep it simple, have them leave the stock frame horns on.

- You can almost bet on having to add some more seat mounting brackets/braces. I don't know what kind of seats you'd have to use in order to make use of their brackets. Think about how you're going to mount your seatbelts while you're welding.

- make sure you clear out the ends of the clutch cable tube, accelerator cable tube, and e-brake cable tubes. They will have burrs.

- Examine your spring plates. I ended up with one OEM and one aftermarket. The aftermarket spring plate is considerably thinner. Also check the rubber bushings - they may or may not have been replaced. Throw away the chrome torsion caps, or sand blast and paint them. They'll look like garbage in 6 months.

Things I found out about the body:

- A 4 inch narrowed beam with shock towers will hit the body. I had to remove an inch from the top of the shock towers.

- A 1 inch tranny raise (swing axle) is the limit for the Nostalgia body, if you don't want to start cutting the body.

- The side pods WILL require some trimming. This is to be expected.

- The "show cage" kind of fits. It won't line up very well with the frame bolt holes, but you can bend the legs to make them reach. If you don't position the body on the frame properly, the cage will hit the dash and/or the sides of the body. Test fit before drilling!!

I'm still building... but I am sure I will find more interesting stuff.

[JESFromASC]

First of all - Thank you for taking the time for the thoughtful reply.

Yeah, this isn't my first rodeo.
I've been playing with cars for 40 years now.
I built a sand rail twenty years ago and had exactly 0 parts (out of 100+) that came out of the box and fit like they were supposed to.

So far I've avoided most of what you have experienced.
My pan came pre-drilled with 4 alignment holes and marked for the gear lever and e-brake cut outs.
That doesn't mean I won't be checking twice and cutting once.

I really like your torsion cap note!
Done and done.
Yep no chrome on this build.
A lot of powder coating!

Anyway - I'm taking pictures as I go. Maybe I'll do a Shutterfly album or have my buddy toss together a website so I can post them and help others.

Last thought - it might help to think of your build as being done to the standards of the times? 1969 and tolerance was in millimeters. Don't be so hard on yourself.
In some cases close has to suffice.
(you should see what I had to fabricate for my transmission mount)
But - I get it.

FWIW: I'm not exactly thrilled with the support from ACME/Berrien. Seems like at the very least they should help people connect and help each other out. There should be a ACME/Berrien forum. People have been building these things for 50 years now - imagine the wealth of information that could be gathered. Oh well...

Thanks again,
John

[sshae]

I had a pretty similar experience to ACMark.

I removed the stock seat mounts and added a couple of C-channels for the PRP seats & seatbelts. I cut the floor for clearance.

My welded show cage did not fit well. I ended up cutting the rear tubes off and replacing them with longer ones. Mine still hits the dash on the passenger side.
Check fit before paint...

I put the body as far to the rear as possible, and it still would not clear 3" high air filters. I now have much less quality 2" filters installed.

I agree that the fiberglass floor pan works well for the shifter and E-brake. It feels plenty solid.

I had trouble getting the right rear wheel aligned. Not sure why, but I couldn't get it to slide back far enough. Its on my MN winter project list to get that corrected.

I ran the brake lines through the center of the floor pan, and they follow the traditional routing as they get to the suspension area. I used a check valve - not sure if it is needed, but my brakes work well.

I have a dual exhaust, and it hit one of the diagonal brace tubes on the frame. I cut out a portion of the tube and welded in a curved piece of steel. Again - check fit before paint..

The front torsion clamps cover up the grease zerks. I drilled holes in the clamps. The holes are located in a slightly different place on each clamp.

The clamps also interfere with the steering stop on the torsion housing. I just removed the stop and run without it.

I also removed and replaced the torsion bushings. The ones it came with were in decent shape, but obviously used.

I bought the rear cage for dual exhaust, but got the one for single exhaust. I didn't want the extra space behind the engine so I cut the tubes and welded the flanges back in place.

I messed with the cardboard templates for the steering support, but didn't like where it ended up. I cut the hole in the dash for the column, mounted the steering support to the column, and drilled the holes for the support in that location. I also cut off the hose clamp style column mount and welded the nut side of a muffler clamp to the support. While I had the welder out I welded the sliding portion in tight to increase rigidity. IT does the job, but still flexes. If I had it to do over I would make this part out of a larger diameter tube.

I enjoyed the build, and did not take time to take photos as much as I should have...

[JESFromASC]

LOL
"The front torsion clamps cover up the grease zerks. I drilled holes in the clamps. The holes are located in a slightly different place on each clamp."

Yeah I got 3 of the holes spot on and one is, well, let's say a wee bit oversize now.

Also found that a pneumatic grease gun (Harbor Freight) works much better at filling the axle tubes than trying to do it by hand. I don't think it is an exaggeration to say I had spent nearly an hour by hand and still didn't have push out. The air gun took all of a 1/2 minute per fitting.

If you could/would grab a few pictures of your steering column mount that would be great. I was supposed to get one from ACME/Berrien but never did. I asked them to just send me their "blueprint" so I could make one but never heard back.

These builds are pretty much the definition of one step forward - two steps back, but wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Only time I'm 100% content and in the moment is working on a car project.

[aircooledmark]

[sshae]

I wish I took more pics during the build... I don't have many of the steering support, and it is really hard to see with the hood on. You can probably figure most of it out from the images below. The side brackets are near the green tape. They sandwich the lower part of the hood, so I used washers when the hood was not in place. The ends of the cross support tube have a bushing that is fastened with the bracket bolt shown loose in the photos. The end of the support tube not shown is made up of a rod that inserts inside the tube so you can adjust the length to suit the body. There is a nut welded to the OD of the tube with a bolt used to tighten to hold the rod in place. I adjusted it, then welded it. If I made this on my own I would just make it a one piece tube of the correct length. The tab on the cross tube is used to help support the wiper motor. If I had it to do over I personally would not install wipers... A very similar tab was located where I welded the muffler clamp, and the idea was that you used a hose clamp to fasten this to the steering column.

The bracket on the "firewall" is something I made to install an EZ steer electric power steering unit.

I didn't have any trouble with the shifter. I did take it apart and "blueprint" it by cleaning up the rough edges and such so it operates a little smoother. I used an adjustable end in the shift rod, and there is a "sweet spot" measured in the flats on the jam nut that makes everything work as it should.

Hope this helps some...

[JESFromASC]

Hey y'all while we have a little traction with this post ---
Any tips on getting the rear torsion arms setup?
ACME/Berrien suggested 2 splines softer than stock?
That appears to be about torsion arm just above the lip on the frame notch?
[since stock you have to pry just a little to have it clear the lip]

AND

Everyone running stock leaf stack up front?
I have a fully assembled front end and it still hasn't compressed enough to slip the shocks over the lower mount.
Seems a bit on the stiff side - or - just keep adding stuff and you'll get there eventually.

On the rail I recall needing to pull a few leaves out to soften things up.

Thanks

[EVfun]

Up front you will need to lower the suspension. Stock was fully topped out on my buggy and that's a bad ride. I cut and turned both beam centers 1/4 inch and the result was still slightly higher than stock. I ended up eliminating all the small bars and replacing them with spacers. My first buggy was a Manx clone with a '64 chassis. The competed buggy weighed 1100 lb. The front was 370 lb. The back the other 730 lb.
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