Gecko Green Manxter 5083 - Frame Preparation

[Atomic Aerospace]

"A special thanks to all who share their knowledge in these forums. I have found people's posts, knowledge and pictures quite helpful. Reading through people's build posts has helped me prepare for my build. I am hoping to document my build on here and, in turn, perhaps be of help to future builders too. This community is a wealth of talent and information."

I was able to obtain a 1971 VW Bug chassis locally which is in very good condition and has all the paperwork. Someone had restored the frame, then sold it, where it remained outside for a few years. The first step will be to strip all the components from the chassis so only the bare frame remains. Once the components have been removed, the restoration work can begin.

Luckily for me, the underside of the frame is completely rust free. On the top of the frame there is some very minor surface rust (a lot of what you see in the pictures is residual dirt). Because the bottom is spotless, and there is only very minor surface rust, I plan on buffing out the surface rust spots with heavy duty scotch bright / emery cloth, cleaning the whole frame, and applying some rust reverser from the hardware store. I think this is a much easier, more cost effective method than hauling the frame to be sandblasted and powder coated ($$$). It really doesn't need to be blasted and powder coated given the condition its in.

Once the surface rust is removed and old gaskets scraped away, the whole frame will then be coated in bedliner. I'm debating on which bedliner is the best to use. I've seen a few different brands on the market, does anyone have any suggestions? Seems like many people talk about Rhinoliner, but I have no experience with it. I plan to coat both the top and bottom to minimize effects from moisture and sound.

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Gecko Green Manxter 2+2 (#188) "The Last Manxter"

"Meyers Manx embodies the spirit of freedom, creativity and fun. No other car gets more smiles per mile than the Meyers Manx!"

From homeless to homeowner.
From uneducated to an MBA scholar.
From a nobody to a corporate aerospace manager.
From a boy to a self made man.
From a dream to reality.

[halfassleatherworks]

What are yours plans for the pan??
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Halfass Leatherworks*****GOT LEATHER Made to order Leather crafts, you can find us on that face book thing

Belts, wallets, mouse pads, drink coasters, Engraving, most things made in leather.

personal items if you want it in leather in Reno Nv, *****

[Dale M.]

Long wheel base body or short wheel base?..

As for liner I had Rhinoliner professionally put on my PU bed 15 years ago, its held up well... I would use it again if I get my new dream PU....

Dale
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“Fear The Government That Wants To Take Your Guns" - Thomas Jefferson.

"Kellison Sand Piper Roadster" For Street & Show.
"Joe Pody Sandrover" Buggy with 2180 for Autocross (Sold)
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All suggestions and advice are purely my own opinion. You are free to ignore them if you wish ...

[andygere]

I would use POR-15 on any rust spots and then paint or bedliner on top. I have been underwhelmed with hardware store type rust reversal coatings. Many are just a mild acid metal prep, and don’t do much to stop rust from progressing. POR-15 is really good stuff. It does need to be top coated however. Looks like a great starting point with the pan that you have, condition is way above average.

My Manxter pan was Rhinolined, and it is very durable and looks good. It holds up much better than paint, but adds some cost and many do just fine with paint and some decent floor mats. I use the ones made by Kuhltek, and they are excellent and fit really well.

https://www.jbugs.com/product/AC863910.html?utm_co...gLmLvD_BwE

[weasel_ugs]

I hope that works out well for you, at least it will get used now. Good luck on your build!

[jspbtown]

I have used Herculiner and have really been impressed with it.

[Atomic Aerospace]

halfassleatherworks: This is going to be used for a Meyers Manx 2+2. It's been a long time coming!

Dale M: It is long wheel base body. I tend to agree, I think the Rhinoliner is the way to go. That's probably what i'll end up doing!

andygere: You have a good point! I had actually heard great things about POR-15 and forgotten about it! I think that's what i'll get instead!

weasel_ugs: Thank you so much for the frame, I can't wait to show it to you once it's all restored!!
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Gecko Green Manxter 2+2 (#188) "The Last Manxter"

"Meyers Manx embodies the spirit of freedom, creativity and fun. No other car gets more smiles per mile than the Meyers Manx!"

From homeless to homeowner.
From uneducated to an MBA scholar.
From a nobody to a corporate aerospace manager.
From a boy to a self made man.
From a dream to reality.

[jsturtlebuggy]

You may want to reinforce the area around the E-brake area before you coat the chassis. The chassis are known to crack on the ones like yours because of the slots for the heater control levers.
My Dad found this out when we built our first buggy back in 1970 after using the buggy for awhile. He welded steel plate around the opening to fix it.
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Joseph
Fair Oaks/Orangevale, CA
Elrod Motorsports
Motion Tire Motorsports
Having fun with Dune Buggies since 1970
Into Volkswagens since 1960

[Atomic Aerospace]

After dismantling the front end and some other components, the frame was prepped for POR 15. The process wasn't too bad, because of the already good condition of the frame. It was pretty straight forward:

o All surface rust was scrapped off and scrubbed with scotchbrite.
o Seam sealer was all scrapped off and paint edges sanded down. All flaking / chipping paint was removed and edges sanded
o Smooth surfaces were scuffed and cleaned
o Degreased, washed with water, applied metal prep, washed off again, then 2 coats of POR 15 per the instructions

Will be accomplishing minor touchup wherever needed. Only one small bubble too, not a big deal. The rear trailing arms and the front beam will be powder coated. The undercarriage will get a coat of truck bedliner (most likely Raptorliner).

On a separate note, the axle seals gave me way more trouble than i'd like to admit! Those things were practically welded into place. In the end I had to purchase a nail puller to get them out after a 24 hour soak in WD-40. They did their job well, no leaks!

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Gecko Green Manxter 2+2 (#188) "The Last Manxter"

"Meyers Manx embodies the spirit of freedom, creativity and fun. No other car gets more smiles per mile than the Meyers Manx!"

From homeless to homeowner.
From uneducated to an MBA scholar.
From a nobody to a corporate aerospace manager.
From a boy to a self made man.
From a dream to reality.

[weasel_ugs]

Looking pretty good!

[Atomic Aerospace]

Undercarriage preparation:

Unfortunately for me, I had an entire novel typed out about the work I did, and when I hit submit, an error occurred, and my novel was lost to the online cosmos

Here's a quick rundown of the bottom of the underframe work:
o Jack handles were removed
o Scratches / exposed metal and the seams were all scuffed and POR 15 applied
o POR 15 was then scuffed, along with the rest of the frame
o Seam sealer was applied to all welds, rivets and corners (luckily I had some extra aircraft sealant from work which does an incredible job!)
o 2 coats of Raptorliner was applied via spray gun

The bedliner looks incredible. I'm toying with the idea of applying a clearcoat over it. I'd have to scuff up the bedliner before applying a clear coat. I've read that clearcoat doesn't do much good in the bed of a truck, because it doesn't hold up to heavily scratching, like what a truck bed gets used for.
But for the underframe of a VW, it might be a good idea. Besides, how often is the undercarriage exposed like this? It's not every day i'd have such easy painting access to the underframe.

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Gecko Green Manxter 2+2 (#188) "The Last Manxter"

"Meyers Manx embodies the spirit of freedom, creativity and fun. No other car gets more smiles per mile than the Meyers Manx!"

From homeless to homeowner.
From uneducated to an MBA scholar.
From a nobody to a corporate aerospace manager.
From a boy to a self made man.
From a dream to reality.

[andygere]

Really nice job on the pan, the raptor liner job came out great. I have not heard about putting a clearcoat on top of the liner, what's the theory on that? Also, curious about what you will top coat the POR-15 on the topside with, my understanding is that it needs something for long term UV protection. In any case, you have a great chassis to start your build with. I'm looking forward to seeing further progress. BTW, I have a Manxter 2+2, however someone else did the original build. Feel free to hit me up with any questions as you move forward. One tip is to think ahead about how you plant to install seatbelts or harnesses. The build instructions are silent on this, and if you decide to weld bungs into your roll cage, it's best to do it before paint or powder. The same goes for the backseat set up.

[Atomic Aerospace]

[andygere]

The previous owner did not do a good job of fastening the retractable shoulder harnesses to the roll cage. The receiving end and mount of the retractor to the pan is solid. I will retrofit the shoulder mounting point by having a threaded bung welded in. I purchased them from this company, and will have them welded in by a qualified fabricator. https://shop.poisonspyder.com/Machined-Steel-Seatbelt-Bungs-p/14-19-031.htm Unfortunately, this will mess up my nice powdercoating, but I have a yet to be installed bar cover kit from Meyers Manx, so it will be covered from view.

The rears were easier. I chose to use manually adjusted (3-point) shoulder harnesses, and anchored the upper point to the rear roll cage mounting bolts, and used grade 8 seatbelt hardware to mount the other two points to the pan. I don't have photos, but can try to take some for you over the next couple of days. These are what I used: https://www.seatbeltsplus.com/product/CH256P-Tan.html

These kits are a good idea if you mount seatbelt anchors to the floor pan. From what I have read, they are superior to the large fender washers typically used. https://www.streetrodhq.com/detail/18117/Seat_Belt_Anchor_Kit_Deluxe.html

[Atomic Aerospace]

They say hindsight is 20/20, I guess this is another one of those cases!

I ordered custom seats and seat tracks from PRP, however I did not remove the original seat tracks before I prepped the frame. In hindsight, I should have removed the original seat tracks before painting the frame. I guess live and learn, right? Now comes the task of removing the tracks themselves. I've been browsing the forums, and aside from the standard answer of "purchase pans without the tracks installed", it seems there's not a whole lot of information on the best method to remove the tracks. I've started by sawing on the welded brackets towards the rear. I'm guessing the next step is to drill out the spot welds, then use a pry of some sort to pry the tracks off.

Once I get the original tracks off, I run into the second challenge: how to install the new seat tracks. As you can see in the pictures below, the new "Manx" seat tracks from PRP are significantly more narrow than the original seat tracks. The problem here is because the new seat tracks are more narrow, they will not sit level on the flat portion of the pan like the original tracks.
The original seat tracks sit level on the pan. In the space between the original seat tracks, the pan dips backwards, meaning the new narrow seat tracks would not sit flat. Any thoughts?

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Gecko Green Manxter 2+2 (#188) "The Last Manxter"

"Meyers Manx embodies the spirit of freedom, creativity and fun. No other car gets more smiles per mile than the Meyers Manx!"

From homeless to homeowner.
From uneducated to an MBA scholar.
From a nobody to a corporate aerospace manager.
From a boy to a self made man.
From a dream to reality.

[Pajero]

Weird, the seat tracks I have from PRP for the Roadster seats were wide enough to fit my pans. Yours look a lot narrower than I remember mine to be.

[Dale M.]

[Pajero]

Actually the seat tracks he is using are PRP sliders, and I would think they are the same ones I have for my PRP seats, and should fit.

[Pajero]

[/quote]

I see what your problem is. You have the Roadster mounts but you need the Manx mounts... https://www.prpseats.com/product/manx-mount/

The Manx mounts have the bottom brackets flipped so they are wider, with a tab at the back outside so it will ride on the outside edges of the pan seat depressions.

[Atomic Aerospace]

Thanks for the information Dale and Pajero. Dale is right, I think I will have to make some large shims to prop the back of the seat tracks to level height. I have to do that because Pajero is right, my seats are the roadster mounts. I initially chose the roadster seat mounts because I knew I was going to order the roadster seats (https://www.prpseats.com/product/roadster-adj-headrest/#). I wasn't sure if the Manx mounts would work with the roadster seats. PRP's website doesn't do a good job with specifying which seats and seat mounts work together.

That being said, I have two options: if the Roadster seats fit the Manx mounts, I can see if PRP will let me do an exchange of the seat mounts. The roadster mounts are still brand new with boxes. My other option is to use the roadster mounts and fabricate shims to prop up the rear of the mount so it sits level.

In the meantime, removing these seat tracks is a big pain the butt. Definitely wish i'd thought of this in hindsight. I've found the best way is to drill out the spot welds and pry off the seat tracks. This is destroying the surface paint, as well as the Raptorliner underneath on the bottom of the frame. I think my best course of action is: once I have the original seat tracks off, i'll need to spot weld any thin points in the metal, and fill any holes that were drilled through the frame. Then i'll need to sand, prep and repaint the area where the seat tracks were. I will also need to sand the underside of the frame and apply new Raptorliner as necessary.
A lot of re-doing work, but I suppose that's what comes with poor planning, and it's all part of the learning process. Hopefully somebody browsing the forums in preparation for their build will learn from my mistake.
_________________
Gecko Green Manxter 2+2 (#188) "The Last Manxter"

"Meyers Manx embodies the spirit of freedom, creativity and fun. No other car gets more smiles per mile than the Meyers Manx!"

From homeless to homeowner.
From uneducated to an MBA scholar.
From a nobody to a corporate aerospace manager.
From a boy to a self made man.
From a dream to reality.