Kids Buggy Build

[AirKooledGarage]

We're a household of old VW builds with both sons involved and a handful of cars in play at all times!.

This one actually started a while back and just getting around to starting a thread on it. Our long buggy, bus and vert have threads on Samba already.

Kid was 14 and change when he dragged this car out of a shed. Actually dragged as only one wheel rolled. From what we can tell, someone started this 20 or more years back and never finished it. Gauges have not even been cut in the dash, so we believe the body was never on the road.

Pan/engine are 65 and matched, although front end looks to have been repaired (frame head is slightly bent and beam spaced to compensate). So, kid is doing this with mostly his own labor and cash and I'm helping when I can. Build is a year and change in so we'll get caught up and do updates from there.

Buried in a shed for decades, the little blue car was kept company by an equally forlorn kit car (we're still trying to buy that one!).

Took us 45 minutes to drag it (downhill!) out of the shed. Wheels were completely locked up. The quad saved us. Wheels are a goofy combination of offsets on Chevy adapters and the car is wired (sorta) with a single color house wiring.

Love that the dash is uncut!

Kid was stoked on the score and has learned a ton in the process. Not a lot of high schoolers can say they built a car.

We blew it apart to get a better sense of what issues it had. Pan was covered in surface rust, brakes locked, brake lines toast and all the electrical was bad. Trans seemed dry and pan shortening look to be pretty solid. It's a good foundation, but will need a ton of love.

Kid pulled his first motor and was blown away that it was only four bolts. Loved the look on his face when he realized how simple these things are.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=1855116
Car is going to require a ton of blasting and sanding to clean up the pan. Upside is only a small part of it is rusted through, balance is surface. Kid not stoked on small motor and it's pretty rough.

Scouting colleges for my daughter and found a really decent dual relief motor out of a Ghia. Downside is it was an Autostick, so carb, dizzy and oil pump are questionable.

A summer of blasting with a HF sandblasting kit (keep in mind, he's doing this all with his one $$) and finally ready to patch in the rusted panel. Also learning to MIG weld.



https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=1855112
Flipped it over to do the work on the underside.

POR15 layed on nicely and should be pretty durable. Took a couple of weeks to get it off the kid, though.

Kid scored this 66 in town for a few hundred bucks and we dragged it home. He did brake and fuel lines and eventually drove it. Love seeing him figure stuff out.

Now pushing 16, he has the custom bug pretty bad. Made his mom drive across the state to score these crazy wheels.

Built up a 1/25 version to help keep his eyes on the prize.

Here's where we are sitting today. Pan is wrapped, brakes are done and seats are sorted. Motor is coming part to make it pretty, but bottom end seems solid. Plan is to have it wrapped for show season in June.
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1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug

[AirKooledGarage]

Kid is hardcore into it now and spent the summer flipping cars to help pay for his obsession.

Picked up a 77 vert, amazingly complete but rusty. He flipped it pretty quick and used the $$ to buy parts and another car.

This one only lived in the driveway for a week and went to another father/son team that planned to put it back on the road.

That brings us pretty current. Need a narrowed beam and kid is sorting the motor over Christmas break. Stay tuned!
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1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug

[oprn]

Looking good!

[winddude]

lucky kids! looks like a good size shop, and lots of projects too choose from!

[Rex lucy]

bet lucky dad is thankful.

[Rex lucy]

bet lucky dad is thankful.

[aluk]

Nice to see kids without their faces buried in a video game. Good job, Dad. Parenting done right!
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"It's all a matter of what you like. That's the great thing about buggies and kit cars. I'm going for a pseudo/updated/old school/semi-clean look".

[AirKooledGarage]

Finally back to this one. Have had a handful of other builds get in the way (5 ATC's have cycled through the garage since last post)


Kids engine is coming together. Nothing fancy, just a solid 1600 with Pertronix ignition and a header to be named at a later date.

Wrapped up the brake lines, boots, mounted trans, added ground strap and messed with ride height. Kid is using black Chevy wheels so the adapters had to look slick through the spoke windows.

First test of ride height (two splines on the outside) was too much. Rear wheels are his, the front is from my bus build (his fronts have silly tall wheels on them for now). Ended up two on the outside and a couple raised on the inside for a roughly 3" drop. Next up is narrowed beam.

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1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug

[calebmelvin]

What a great project! I love that he really got into it and started flipping to make some money for the project. I did that when I was his age, taught me a ton about making money and being self sufficient.
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Caleb
'68 Tagged Manx | My Wanted Ads
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[cdnltded]

what's the orientation on those boots.
looks a bit to vertical, but cant tell for sure from the picture.

[MrGoodtunes]

[AirKooledGarage]

They are not vertical, but good catch, may be a bit too close to the top. Will cycle suspension and look for boot deformation.
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1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug

[AirKooledGarage]

Finally back to this car, kid picked some crazy wheels, so it requires a narrow beam to fit under fenders. He's 16, so budget is pretty tight. Scored an Empi 4" narrowed beam from CIP1 on the cheap. Not a bad piece for the price.

Fought us entire install. Looks like car was crashed, stock beam was tweaked and frame head a little off. Hammered frame head straight and finally got beam in. Next challenge was drilling out springs for set screws and fixing the broken stud on one of the lower shock bolts. Way too many hours into this thing! Empi beam fit in nicely once we fixed all the tweaked vintage VW parts around it.

Set the body on and were immediately stoked on the fit. Front tires tuck perfectly under fenders. Had to trim body a little to clear narrow shock towers, but only a small amount

Loving the stance. Likely have to raise the rear a tad to compensate for weight of engine, but we knew that was likely.

Really happy with the height! This thing's two clicks away from being a go kart and should be fun as hell to drive! Next up is wrapping brakes and mounting up the engine. Should be a driver before end of the summer and kid is stoked on his first car build.
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1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug

[AirKooledGarage]

This project has been back burnered so many times we've lost track. Hope is to drive it this coming summer and we're making some big moves to make that happen.

Motor nearly done and kid clearanced the trans for larger flywheel.

Motor is in and stance is just about right. Not sure about that header, but everything else seems to be working out. Next up is cage build.

This is why we have never been able to finish the blue car. Semi retired 67 Drag Bug rolled into the garage and makes our 12th car in the last 24 months. Car has issues, but kid wants to race it this summer, so more scrapping in our future.
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1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug

[rayjay]

I like his foot gear in the first pic. Real boots.

When the drag car gets close he needs to do some 'visualization' to get himself ready to drive the car on the track. He should watch a lot of the youtube channels that have VW drag racing. Mason Dixon drag racing should get you some good vids.
He will see what a burn out in a VW looks like.
How the tires quickly grab the motor.
How the motor sometimes wants to stall after the burn out.
How difficult they are to stage.
How difficult it is to cut a light while at the same time having
the rpm where you want it without having the motor revved up high for too long.
How the motor will bog if you don't have everything just right. Launch RPM, tire pressure, carb and ign tuning, how much torque the motor makes, etc.
How the car sometimes darts left or right due to the alignment, tire pressure, left to right weight distribution, etc being out of whack .
How quickly the 1>2 shift comes up.
How often they break $$$$

Hopefully he can do some test and tunes before actually entering a race.

[AirKooledGarage]

He's 17, in spite of guidance from more experienced people, he's more than likely to sneak it out, do some test launches on a rural road and hit the local "run what you brung" 1/8 mile with his equally inexperienced buddies. Upside is the car is caged, has a new harness and is two stepped. He also has some experience on the strip in an under powered flat four (WRX).

Kid does recognize he has a ton to learn, but teen impetuousness will likely come at the cost of broken metal and a sad bank account.

I do like your perspective and he has watched a zillion bug launch videos, so maybe there's hope!

Stay tuned!
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1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug

[rayjay]

[AirKooledGarage]

Buggy build is moving along. Built a really solid windshield/column mount Pic does not do it justice.

Mocked up and tacked cage. 1.5" tubing 1/8" wall mild steel.

Kid doing all the tacks. WE'll pull it out later and do finish welding.

May add some more triangulation once we have it out of the car, but really happy with the results. Cage sits on landing plates that bolt through body and pan as well as square steel tube that runs length of body mount pocket under pan.


Need to wrap column details and quick release steering wheel next as well as mirror & harness mounts and a few other details and then we'll pull the cage out, finish weld it and lay on some paint. Next up is harness.
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1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug

[slalombuggy]

When getting a quick disconnect get a good splines one from Speedway or somewhere else. The hex ones are horribly sloppy, it's amazing how much a little play in the wheel will drive you nuts.

Your lucky to be able to build a buggy to drag race. The NHRA safety nazi at the local track views dunebuggies as 8.50 altereds and require a full NHRA funny car cage and all the safety gear. There is also a minimum wheelbase that the car has to meet, if think its 4" longer that a standard buggy.

brad

[AirKooledGarage]

We're not drag racing the buggy now that we picked up the race car, just want it to be safe for a teenager!