Deserter Series 1 build

[BIGMIKEY]

In 2011 I found this Deserter buggy locally. A unfinished project. It came with an engine, transaxle, and many boxes of parts. Many of the parts were still in the packaging. I began work on it then but some life happened so it sat covered in my shop. I got tired of tripping over it so it's time to finish it.

Mike T
_________________
BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[GS guy]

No time like the present! ANY progress is good progress.
Jeff
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70's vintage Deserter GS buggy - undergoing transformation to Super GS!

[BIGMIKEY]

I began by taking the body off the chassis to inspect both moore closely. The body was in decent shape. The green appears to be paint as there is overspray under the fenders. There are 2 old repairs. right rear and left front. The battery wells have the bottoms cut off presumably to clear the IRS semi trailing arms. Also the tail box over the engine has a very ill concieved cutout for engine access. Need to do something about that. I have all the pieces.

Mike T
_________________
BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[BIGMIKEY]

One thing that I noticed was the holes in the body. There weren't any extra ones from multiple previous builds.

I inspected the chassis next.

Mike T
_________________
BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[BIGMIKEY]

Continuing the evaluation I dug in to the chassis to see what I had to work with.
The chassis was already shortened when I got it from the PO. The tunnel was welded well but the floorpans were a disaster with uneven outer rails.

Deserters have an 84" wheelbase. Longer than the usual 80" length. Instead of removing the 10.5" section to shorten the floorpan, whoever did the work overlapped the ends. Rust formed between the layers. Not good enough for me. This would have to be redone.

Whoever cut the tunnel sawed right through the clutch and throttle tubes.

I guess as long as he had the sawsall in his hand he decided to cut this off. Oops.

Mike T
_________________
BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[BIGMIKEY]

The first thing I wanted to correct was the hacked through clutch and throttle tubes. Also to run a new fuel line.

I stripped the pan and flipped it over on supports. I drilled out a few hundred spotwelds and made a few cuts to reveal the stuff I needed to fix.

The parking brake tubes, clutch tubes and throttle cable tube were severed. The fuel line was mostly gone. I removed the tubes for the heater cables and set about splicing the ends together.

I used short lengths of tubing to connect the ends and welded them in place. I ran a new fuel line too. 1/4" coated steel.

I replaced only the rear half of each floorpan as the front half was good. I shortened each pan quater the way the Deserter build manual shows. Lots of carefull measuring and cutting but they turned out well.

Mike T
_________________
BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[BIGMIKEY]

My vision for this Buggy build is something like this; Summer of 1971, an 18 year old kid decides to build a dune buggy after meeting a guy a with a complete Sears buggy. He scrapes up enough money, buys a kit from a local dune buggy dealer and stashes it in the chicken coop where the work will be performed. He buys a burned 1969 bug from a local VW guy and uses that as a donor to build the Buggy. He farms out the welding but turns the wrenches himself. In the spring of 1972 the completed buggy hits the road.

However:

The actual story was somewhat more disappointing. I did meet a guy with a Sears buggy and got fired up to build my own. Reality was I didn’t have a good enough job to save enough to buy the kit. There was a local buggy dealer, Jack’s Dune Buggies, but I couldn’t afford a kit. All I recall from that place was seeing a stack of many colored buggy bodies in his barn. No idea what manufacturer the bodies were. There was also a local VW guy that I used to buy parts from. He had a burned VW but it was actually a 1967 and all I bought was the engine. I stuck that in my 1963 beetle to replace the leaky 40 horse. I was happy with that setup so interest waned in building a buggy. A few years later I had a better job and more income. When I went back to the buggy Dealer he was out of business. So the dream buggy never got built. By 1974 I was married. There was a happy ending though. In the spring of 1975 I found and bought a Meyers Manx built on a 1965 chassis. I restored that and drove it for 3 summers and had the best time driving that all over upstate NY with my wife next to me and dog in the back.

This Deserter Series 1 build will mirror that Buggy dream of long ago, the buggy that I never built, and this time it will get built. Nothing fancy just a good basic buggy.

Mike T
_________________
BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[Dangib]

Hell ya sweet build looks like a really nice solid body, gotta save these. cant wait for more brother, quick side note ditch the coilover shocks asap.

[NJ John]

That’s what it’s all about.
_________________
1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage

[BIGMIKEY]

[BIGMIKEY]

While the bottom plate was still off I installed new shift rod bushing and shift coupler. I shortened the shift rod and installed the adjuster. I had to flip the pan over and install the transaxle to make sure the shift rod was adjusted correctly. Tested and it shifts great.

While the pan was right side up I welded in the newly shortened pan quarters to replace the terrible crooked pans that it came with.

Next I flipped the chassis back over and welded the bottom plate back in place and applied seam sealer.

_________________
BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[BIGMIKEY]

I added 1.25" square tubing to the pan rails to stiffen up the chassis. I welded in short lengths of round tubing to recess the bolt ends so they don't show under the frame.

Paint for the pan is Black paint from Tractor Supply. A little more glossy that I realized it would be. I used a brush but the paint leveled out nicely. It dried rock hard.

For the inside I used the Internal frame coat from Eastwood. Covers pretty well.

That finishes most of the heavy lifting for the chassis. Next will be suspension, brakes etc.

Mike T
_________________
BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[BIGMIKEY]

I wanted to be able to adjust my front ride height. A set of Sway-a-Way style adjusters were purchased and installed.

Following the instructions I scribed the cut lines using a hose clamp as a guide to ensure they were straight.

Used the same hose clamp to hold the adjuster in place for tack welding.

Finish welded adjusters. I had to crank my Lincoln 110 welder up all the way to get good penetration. I put a healthy bevel on the ends to make sure.

Pretty happy with how it turned out. This was my first time installing adjusters and the instructions were a bit hard to decipher.

Mike T
_________________
BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[NJ John]

Are you going to auto x it?
_________________
1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage

[BIGMIKEY]

[GS guy]

Looking good! Based on the the new "bottom" position of the torsion anchor bolt you're going to a raised over stock ride height adjustment range? Keep up the nice work!
Jeff
_________________
70's vintage Deserter GS buggy - undergoing transformation to Super GS!

[BIGMIKEY]

[BIGMIKEY]

Here is the finished chassis with new brake lines, rubber lines, urethane spring plate and semi trailing arm bushings.

New fuel line, clutch and parking brake cables.

Brake master cylinder, Volvo reserviour. new ball joints tie rod ends. Also a set of caster shims.

The shocks are those phony coilovers that seem to be so popular. I removed the springs and perches and gave them a coat of Chevy Orange engine paint. Instant FONI shocks.

Mike T
_________________
BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[NJ John]

Looking awesome.
Back to the adjusters. I guess the beam assembled without any binding. Hopefully the adjusters are in sync. It’s easy to get confused with them.
_________________
1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage

[slayer61]