My Daily "Commuter" Rail Build

[XCRN]

Hello everyone! I am new to this site and new to air-cooled VWs in general so I signed up for a great wealth of knowledge. I have recently picked up a rail for $300 that is missing a lot but is complete enough to give me a good start. How I see it, this is a canvas to make what I want, which I am not really sure what that is yet, but I have the title for it so it will be something I plan to commute to work with. I have spent the last week stripping the old paint off and disassembling it for repaint when the weather gets warmer again.

Here is day 1. Btw I like Euro cars, alot.

Day 2 I start assessing what I have and do some research. There are a lot of welds needing fix'n.

Day 3 and 4 is dissassembling.

Day 5 and 6 is stripping all the 5 layers of paint. I tried using paint stripper which worked great up to 2 layers at a time, so I said screw it and got the angle grinder out with the wire brush attachment and went to town on it.

I let it sit for a week and get back at it this past week. I start disassembling the front suspension. At this point I decided I want to go 4 wheel disc brake, rack and pinion since the old steering box is loose, and RHD because at this point I only need to weld tabs on the other side and because "take that society!".

This weekend I started cutting out the old expanded metal floor. That sucked, ALOT!

It left me a lot of welds to grind since I plan to go solid floor. This sucked even more than cutting it out. I did not have a great way to get under so I improvised.

I also put on a coat of undercoating while it was up.

Today I was very sore so I decided to draw up somethings of what I want. Here is about what I would like to paint it.

And I decided I would rather design my own pedals the way I would prefer. Tall pads and close together with the throttle sticking out a little closer to the driver. There are some assemblies like what I want, but cost way too much for me. Plus I am an enginerd so I enjoy these projects anyways. I plan on using stock VW MCs for the clutch and brakes. I am trying to figure out which ones would be best suited for my application. It will have adjustable return spring and nylon bushings at the pivot points. I am trying to find a suitable push pull cable for the throttle pedal.

So that is where I am at currently. I mainly bought this to occupy my time during the winter and will hopefully be streetable by this upcoming Spring.

[Krochus]

I really enjoy commuting in my rail when the weather permits. IMO you should look into skinning the forward framework. Makes for a much more weather friendly drive

[XCRN]

[Axitech]

I mounted a 2500lb Harbor Freight winch on mine. Toss the hook over a stout limb and winch the nose up almost vertical to work on the underside.
Lessons learned : find a STOUT limb! Nuff said!
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He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. Luke 22:36


The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.-Thomas Jefferson

[pullstart]

Cool start to a fun project! It's a little chilly to be daily commuting right now in a rail, but summer will be a blast! I'm not positive, but I think RHD cars still have the gas pedal on the right... It might be worth checking into - but it's your creation, do as you wish! With safety in mind and muscle memory playing a part, it might be safe to stick with gas on the right, brake center and clutch left.
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4 seater Appletree buggy, road legal with 002 IRS, 3x3 Appletree kit, 6" over Dan's beam with 10" towers and Fox 2.0 shocks, '00 Subaru EJ25 with KEP stage 3 clutch and KEP adapter plate.

my build page: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=662104&start=0

[XCRN]

[XCRN]

Just more engamaneer work today. I was going to start taking apart the front suspension but today is probably the last day I had to hand wash and wax my 335i before it really starts getting cold. I am looking into doing dual wishbone suspension up front to make it more competetive vs the old 60s VW suspension. Right now I am looking at utilizing the King Pin parts for it. I was thinking rotating the king pin 90 degrees and connecting the A-Arms through thoes holes. Might be a bad idea or could work, but I would do some reinforcememt on it to help with the forces going 90 degrees from what it was desigmed to take.

Would any one by chance have one of thoes dual circuit master cylinders lying around? I am not sure if they are the same dimensions here as the single circuit MCs.

[cbeck]

sometimes it's just easier.

I also tried to show off the tubing.

[XCRN]

[cbeck]

Spray bomb. With the drips and runs it's a 10 footer.

[Fenix]

[pullstart]

[cbeck]

My rail and woodson terrace, both look better from a short distance

[XCRN]

So I have decided to use Mustang II spindles and ball joints for the suspension. Pretty much dirt cheap. These pictures are what I ended with but I will be cutting down the length of the arms by almost half. The width from edge to edge of the tires was around 78"! Amazing how things don't look so big on the computer. But I dialed it in where I want it and got the static camber pretty close to 0 degrees. Right now trying to see if there is something that is pretty much just the hub so I can mount what ever rotor I want and preferrably with 5 on 4-3/4"

[cbeck]

Have you figured out how much wheel travel that will give you?

[XCRN]

[XCRN]

Got back at it after the holidays and being sick. I welded in the holes throught the frame and grinded them down. I also fixed some ugly welds while the welder was out. There was a lot needing fixed.

I was able to primer some areas. I figured get what I can on the last warm day of the season. I was going to use my spray gun but it was not working so I just used some rattle cans I had lying around.

I then moved it back in and continued stripping everything off. I am trying to get the rear comtrol arms stripped down so I can get them shot blasted at a vendor I use. I was pleasantly surprised to findout there are welded on reinforcements and poly bushings.

But I am having so much issues with a bolt. I had to grind off 3 heads and one just wont budge.

I also got more headway on my sport suspension design. I decided to go back to VW parts and found an axle for cheap. Not much good on it but the spindles and the torsion tubes, but it will do. I also took the spindles into work and used our blasting cabinet during lunch.

So here is where it sits until next time.

[heywebonya]

Good work, keep at it. Thanks for sharing
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If I knew what I was doing; I wouldn't be building a buggy!

[dustymojave]

Most rails have the upper and lower frame rails vertical from each other, tapering outward evenly; or the uppers taper out from the top of the bend coming up from the top tube of the front beam, while the lowers go straight back a foot to foot and a half before tapering out at a more rapid rate than the uppers. Yours seem to taper out pretty evenly from the beam to the a-pillars, but they aren't parallel front to back.

So the rails are RARELY parallel with the uppers slightly outboard of the lowers as would be needed for the inner a-arm pivots to provide the correct geometry like your Solidworks drawing shows. Are you planning to cut the rails off at the 1st upper crossmember and continued straight forward?
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Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[XCRN]