Spatz buggy build with my son

[sbussard]

Ok, this one will be a slow/no money build. The Manxter was originally supposed to be a father/son build, but my kids were just a tad too young then and I think my expectations were too high. They helped, but no where near what my pipe dream was.

Round 2. My son James is now 16 and highly motivated to help build his buggy. We picked up a Spatz buggy (didn't know what it was then) on the cheap. We traded a 50cc China motorcyle that the kids had outgrown, and $96 cash.

Drug it out of the weeds and towed it home.

Parked it behind the garage and James got busy on it.

Survey of the rust.

I posted a picture on FB and a fellow buggy enthusiast I'd never met offered a frame head for us! Thanks Dave! Now all we needed to do was get it from CA to PA.

In steps Tom, who was headed to CA for Big Bear! He picked it up in CA and I met him on the highway in PA on his way back, 15-20 minutes from my house. Thanks Tom!

Here's how it sits today, only on sawhorses in the garage. It's rough, but repairable. James wants it ultra blue with white accents. Low back seats. Simple style. Might take us awhile, but we'll get it done.

Buggy people are the best!

Scott

[Bob Elgin]

Congratz on your Spatz. Nice to have more spatz buggies. We climb mountains with ours. Please post pics as you go

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[wythac]

After seeing those frame head pictures, I'm surprised that you didn't pull the front beam and frame head off while towing it home!

Great thing about a complete teardown is that your son will get experience with many more skills and procedures than he would if it were a complete and ready to go runner just requiring maintenance. This way it will definitely be "his" car when he is done. I'm sure you are both going to have lots of fun. How cool.

[truckdude]

Great father-son project! I'm redoing a Spatz Long right now, it also was pretty nasty when I got it but at least the pan was in OK condition. The Spatz bodies seem to be of very decent construction with thick glass. Good luck!

[sbussard]

It's been a long cold winter and not much has been done, but it's time to come out of hibernation. We decided the orginal link/swing tunnel was beyond what we wanted to try at this time. The frame head Dave sent, and Tom delivered, will be used on a future build or gifted to someone in need of one.

We started looking on Craigslist and found a 1974 BJ/IRS chassis for sale in Ohio. A couple of phone calls and a short trip, and it's ours. James (my son) put up most of the money, so he now has a stake in the game. Best part is that it came with a title and the PO had already started to strip it.

We finished stripping it down to nothing left but the original fuel line, which looks in great shape.

Last weekend, we dug the body out of the ice. The Harbor Freight tarp we put on it last fall did a SUPER job holding water, which then became a 3 foot thick slab of ice. About 1/2 hour of picking away at it and it was freed.

We had taken the frame, diagonal arms, roll bar, link pin front beam (for a future project?) and link frame head (previously mentioned) to be sand blasted a few weeks ago.

We loaded up the de-iced body, picked up the clean parts from the blaster, and trucked it up to my brother's house. He and I will be shortening the chassis once we find a weekend where we all are free. At least it's there for now.

We also made 2 runs to Jarrett's (scooby223) and bought his left over floor and perimeter steel. He also generously gave us a BJ front beam that was much needed. It will need rehabbed, but is in great shape. We can not thank him enough. I can't wait to go riding together this summer. Buggy people are the best!

Soon it will be time to start putting things back together. But next project is changing the motor in the Manxter to a Corvair. So many projects, so little time. And this thing called work gets in the way of them all.

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

[sbussard]

Still making some progress, although slowly. The chassis is currently at my brother's house, about 1.5 hours from my house, so we haven't had much time into it yet. I don't weld, so I'm fortunate to have a brother that does. I can't thank him enough. Possibly one more trip to his house to make the body lift and weld adjusters into the front beam and we should be ready to bring it home and start putting parts back on it.

Here's what the chassis looked like stripped down to nothing.

We ended up shortening it 15.25 inches. It was what fit the body best. We did a staggered cut as I think that makes for a stroger joint. My bother also welded a second 2" wide strap over the entire length of what was welded. This is my son James and brother Dave.

Starting to make the perimeter for homemade floor pans.

James did what he was capable of doing. Here he is cutting/grinding off a plate that was on the beam for mounting a winch. It would have been in the way to put in adjusters, so out it came. Someone didn't want it to break, it was welded well.

And how we finished the day. I'm happy with the results. Not too shabby for not knowing what we were doing.

And Dave did the seam sealer and primed it a few days later.

Thanks for looking.
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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

[scooby223]

need new pics I know you have them...

fyi the plate was welded on that front beam by the guy who welded my roll cage and pan when we shortened it. He is a great welder. I am looking at a disk brake and drop spindle kit for my buggy now so if James is going to run drum up front I will have a complete set up for him with less than 500 mile on them.
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[sbussard]

Scooby - No new pics since I switched phones, but his buggy is now sitting in my garage. We got the 2 inch body lift done and now need to Raptor line it. But James is out of town until MOTF, then home for 4 days, then 2 weeks of family vacation. I think the next opportunity to work on his buggy will be on July 20th! I'll try to get some new pictures up this week.

He does plan on drums up front, so we're interested in what you have to sell! We have spindles, but they still need cleaned up. Other than that, we have nothing. Let me know what you have and what you want for it.

Hope you heal quickly so we can go riding this summer!

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

[sbussard]

Well, I finished a couple house projects (fixed a heaved basement floor and upgraded the main electric panel) and am now back to helping James with his buggy. We now have 220v in the garage and can run a real compressor. We can now use the sand blast cabinet to clean up parts.

We started painting a few parts also. The diagonal arms we coated with a POR type product from a company named KBS called RustSeal. It was recommended over POR at the local paint shop. It turned out okay, but I thought it would flow out smoother. James did the final coat without my help, so it may have been the way he brushed it, but I don't think so. We'll see what the next pieces turn out like before I make a judgment.

We also started prepping the chassis for U Pol Raptor liner. I ordered the black kit and it should arrive this week. Hopefully we can spray next weekend.

That's it for now. I have all of the parts to make it a roller, once we get the raptor liner on.

Thanks for looking,
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

[didget69]

Nice work so far! Enjoy the build!

bnc
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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.

[sbussard]

Tried something new this weekend. James and I sprayed U-Pol Raptor liner on his chassis. $117 delivered for the kit, including the gun. I had the plastic from who knows where, and $14 for furring strips to staple up the plastic. The kit came with 4 bottles of liner and we used 3 1/2 bottles. It was much easier than I thought it would be, but we had a lot of the prep already done. Thanks to Joe Wheeler for the tips he gave me the night before spraying.

Not too shabby for DIY!!

_________________
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

[sbussard]

Still plugging away at it, and thought I should at least post a quick update. James is now a senior in high school, working 25 hrs/week, has a girlfriend, and a new daily driver. All that combined with winter blahs has hindered progress. We have been plugging away, but not as quickly as we could. I had to pull the chassis out of the garage at one point, and threaten to sell it after he hadn't worked on it for almost 2 months. We're finally back on track recently.

Here's where we are. Chassis is done, brakes are complete excpet for fluid and bleeding. Steering box is rebuilt, and thanks to Joescoolcustom's experience, we're close on getting the tie rods finished. Long story, but we have a miss-mash of different years on the front beam components, along with steering knuckles that have been drilled out at some point in their life. Joe "steered" us in the right direction, thanks! Joe also has donated a pedal assembly, and grubs screws that we destroyed when taking the old beam apart. Brian helped locate and is shipping us a steering column, turn signal assembly, and horn. We're buying seats from Rebecca and Craig at a great price. John sent James a set of mustang taillights. Scooby223 (Jared) gave us a front beam. A set of Dietz headlights are on their way from Marc, purchased at a fair price. And tons of welding done my my brother and his son.

If it wasn't for friends and family this build would never have got this far. We are eternally indebted and very thankful.

Without the front beam.

My nephew Scout welding in the front beam adjusters, correcting our first attempt. He's very talented and does really nice work!

Front beam installed

And James and his soon-to-be daily driver.

Thanks to everyone that has helped along the way, even the ones that have pushed James to get back at it. If I could get him back in the garage for a few more nights, we'd be driving it around the neighborhood soon, without the body!

Next challenge, learning to do FG repair, and then learn to paint.

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

[germanx]

Considering the numbers of cars around, I am undecided if you should post more pics from the Corvair than the Buggy:-)
Just kidding, you guys do a very nice job on the resto, and even more important is the deeper bonding between father and son which comes for free.
It eases my pain seeing there are others facing month, even years delay of the original timeline because life gets in the way...
But patience pays off in the end. Keep the pics coming, this 'first timer buggy built' post is very nice to follow....
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'73 Beach Buggy
'66 T1 Deluxe

[JBall8019]

Just read this thread! Did your boy get to finish the build? I occasionally drive my Thing in your area to eat at 4 brothers. I hope to see his on the road someday.
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John

[DirtGhost]

Please keep us posted with photos of build.
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Orange Boxx Design and Fabrication

[sbussard]

Life got in the way. My son James picked up a 1967 Corvair as a daily driver, and our focus shifted to that. Rebuilt the front end, fixed some wiring, replaced the leaking gas tank, and fixed the oil leaks.

And then he left for college.....

His buggy is parked in the neighbor's garage. It needs paint, wiring and glass. All the hard work is done. Brakes work, it steers, and the transaxle and motor are installed. Hopefully we'll get it complete next summer when he's home on break.

I'll be sure to update the thread when we get back to it.

Thanks for the interest. Maybe it will kick start him.

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

[joescoolcustoms]

James in College, dang Scott, you are making me feel old.

Next thing you will be telling me Jack is driving.
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Bad News Racing 2018 NORRA 1000 3rd in Class
Best Day Ever Racing 2022 NORRA 1000 2nd in Class and first All Female team to complete the race

Everyone is gifted. Some just do not open the package.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone

[dbsmith]

Joe.... Jack got a corvair
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dbsmith
SoCal
#127 Manxter - 99.5% done....

[jahshines]

Updates?

[sbussard]

So as I've been working without my son's help on the fiberglass patching on the Spatz, a Sears Rascal came up for sale about 30 miles from my house. The price was right, and the color was the same that we planned on painting the Spatz.

So we'll finish patching the Spatz body, get it in primer, and try to sell it to offset the cost of the Rascal.

Here's the new-to-us body. Never been drilled or mounted.

_________________
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