Dune Buggy Build

Alan, interesting comment on the frame, how much do those frame cost from them, ball park?

Frame runs about $2500 including the torsion housing core charge . The 1 piece fiberglass buggy floor would not be long enough.

Thanks for starting this thread, Alan.  Should be lots of fun to follow along - probably more fun for us than for you...

Following. I'm certain to learn something. 

Buggy build update: I did some rethinking and changed from the epoxy DTM chassis paint to self etching primer and VHT Chassis roll bar paint.  I first did some measurement checks on the chassis ACME's jig is spot on and after following ACME's instructions to remove the steering box locator pins ( will drill, tap and use  short set screws once repositioned) the adjustable axle bean dropped right into the front mounting brackets... the orange straps were used to hold it in place until I have absolute center position. It comes with the clutch cable tube welded in place ,  I had to add the supplied accelerator tube also installed a hard fuel line.  Pre-paint..... I scuffed the entire chassis with 120 ,then washed the chassis twice with lacquer thinner and applied two coats of self etching primer ( zinc / acid) and two  coats of  VHT Chassis roll bar satin black paint. This was done with the chassis on extended jack stands and I suited up in an old long sleeve shirt , gloves and a good mask...  by the time I was done I was covered in primer and black, the blue tarps saved me a ton of time cleaning .  Allowed the VHT black top coats to dry for two hours then tried to scrape it with a flat blade screwdriver ( it barely left a mark)  the self etching primer and VHT paint is  a durable combination. Installed the steering box, pitman arm , tie rods, steering damper and oil filled shocks. Prepped the  disc brake specific master cylinder with the brake light switch and pop in reservoir, found that  that the welded chassis mounting plate had SAE nuts welded in place and of course the master cylinder is M-8  I had to run a tap to open up the welded in M8 nuts. Next morning I cut off the welded nuts and bolted the master cylinder to the mounting plate using the threads on the M/C. Bedded the front wheel bearing races into the rotors, test fit the bearing onto the spindles  had to take a .002 off the spindles with Emery paper to get them on,  packed the inner and outer wheel bearings and installed the rotors & calipers. Followed that up with front hard lines and braided brake hoses.        Today installed the shifter - bushing bracket,  E' Brake bracket and the wishbone shaped E' Brake tubes to the one piece fiberglass floor, opened up the pedal to tunnel area only to discover I need longer bolts than I have in stock. Installed the roller pedal to the pedal cluster and that flopped L to R as the opening for the roller pedal arm is way too wide and had to make up a tapered spacer. Bolted in the transmission cradle and installed the rear tunnel cover plate. Cleaned primered and painted  the CV axle bolts and cleat washers, installed the forward transmission mount o the chassis.  I'm waiting on a few misc. parts that hold me up until next week..... I expect to have the chassis done, reman transmission and fresh engine installed by later next week.

Beautiful work, Alan.

How difficult is it to license/register one of these beasts these days?

Where did you get that primer?

VHT and Rustoleum both make readily available self-etching primer.

I have also used the VHT Chassis and Rollbar Black and like it as well.

Carry on, Alan, looking NICE!

Very impressive work!

frickin amazing

Dune buggy build update & photos:  It's been a few weeks and received the custom harness I had made by Mike at Dune Buggy Brothers - eBay ) and every single request I made was spot on , every harness break out section and item is labeled, all grounds are included, it's a bargain at $300.  I ran the tunnel fuel line and shifter rod welding an adjustable end to dial it in. The steering box, tie rods, damper, pedal assembly are all installed & the front disc brakes, master cylinder, lines and hoses. The Berrien chassis design doesn't allow for the chrome hoop style front bumper clearance so I fabricated 1/2" stand off brackets to resolve that issue. Clutch and accelerator cables and tubes, fuel lines and filters are in place too.  Installed the reman ( John Brown) IRS transmission and clutch set. Assembled the engine and that's hanging off the trans and now done. Everything is here except a choice of shifters and seat belts. They sent the wrong adjustable torsion spring plates so I am waiting on that until Thursday's ...Brown Truck. The tape measure tells me the suspension seats and custom Acme seat brackets may be a bit of a height issue, that remains to be seen after I set the body on the chassis. Yesterday flipped the body over onto saw horses to run a harness conduit, I used a  1.25 ID grey electrical conduit that I heated and bent to follow the body underside contour and glued that in place with exterior grade expansion foam,  pulling the harness with some soapy water was easier than anticipated. This coming week I'll wire most of the dash and lighting before setting the body to the chassis after the torsion spring plates get here.

Dune buggy project update:  After a 2nd set of wrong adjustable spring plates I finally got the right set last night. Waiting on that at had the entire rear section on the chassis assembly on hold so I've been doing odds and ends and will update progress next week.

Another buggy project:  I found a previously used older version of this same style fiberglass buggy body and a solid IRS chassis with 4:88 R&P trans but minus anything that resembles floors for $500 in Kentucky. I bought it , but didn't feel like doing 800 miles round trip to get it so I listed it on U Ship, a guy with a jeep and trailer delivered it the next day for $350... Chassis needs to be rebuilt and the body will go to my body paint guy in PA to get the holes from previous light holes etc. repaired and  then decide a paint color.  Should keep me in the garage over the winter .

months.

4:88 Rear?

Were they using it to pull stumps?  Pull wheel stands out of the stoplights?

The one in progress is coming along nicely - nice Bling, too.  The very last buggy I built, I went with chrome everything on the 1915 engine for the bling factor (Everybody was chroming everything in sight back then) and I ran a small single Holley carb and loved it.  Never really had any cooling problems with chrome tins but only had it in the sand twice and then it sold.  

That electrical conduit to run the harness is really cool - that stuff bends nicely with heat and I did that around corners of a pergola we once had.  I'm surprised the wires pulled through easily - never happens for me!  We used to use a silicone grease for pulling bundles of wires in data centers and it made a YUGE! difference, but Dawn dishwashing liquid works almost as well for small jobs.  Smells better, too.

I remember buying a used '69 transaxle (synchro first and IRS) at a junk yard for that buggy.  Cost me all of $25 bucks.

I like your idea of "slowing down" in retirement, too......    

All you need is Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway and a beach somewhere...

A "scuz a'me" 3:88 R & P....thanks for catching that.

No ‘scusa necessary.  I’ve seen a few buggies with bus transaxles because of the gearing in them.  They pulled great in 2’nd and 3’rd (where you spend all your time in the dunes) but they strained to get up to 70 to and from the dunes.

Still, ‘atsa one bee-u-ti-full Doona Buggy, Mr. Merklinini!

I see. When you said you were retiring AGAIN, you meant retiring from 356 builds. Not builds all together.

Dune Buggy: no doors, not much for interior. Less bending over to work on it too. No closed and tight engine bay, instead it's wide open.

Yeah, I can see why Alan is going this way. It keeps him busy and uses his skill set very well.

Nice job Alan, keep going.

Some progress on the first buggy build, adjustable spring plates, trailing arms and rotors, wheels and tires on , checked the ride height and need to go up one notch on the inner torsion bar. Back side of the Cragars barely scrape against the calipers, Speedway's 1/8" wheel spacers will take care of that

Looking spiffy!

Dune buggy project update : The latest speedster project left today for the new owner, it's great to have some room in the garage. With no speedster projects available . The Berrien dune buggy chassis is now complete but required a good number of time consuming fabrications, it's now done and  ready for the body on Friday. Target completion date is 12/15 The next buggy build's chassis is already at Bug Stuff in PA getting floors and a Napoleon hat and the used body is at my body guy getting filled smoothed and primered.  I hope to have this one on the road for Spring.

I'd be tempted to slap a seat and steering wheel on and go for a test ride.

This makes me want to build a sand rail so I can brapp the gravel around here.

Dune buggy project update : Body and  windshield are on, wired, plumbed, chrome roll - show bar installed, all electrical is alive too.  new chrome alternator was a dead horse and had to get another, that goes in tomorrow. I still need to install the seats, bleed brakes, check every item over and dial in the engine, will probably will done by mid week.  The second Buggy project in que is back from the body and paint shop finished in Porsche Seal grey and we added some medium size silver and blue flake that looks great in the sunlight.  Tom my painter was gracious by hauling it two hours from PA meeting me half way. The IRS chassis has a front new hat, German floors, rebuilt rear torsion arms and new tunnel tubes. That will sit a bit before I start on assembly until mid January....photos in the coming days.  I tried but failed to buy a Street Beasts flared Speedster that has some assembly done to it.  The car is in NV... shipping would be at least $1,200 and the seller is sitting firm on the high asking price.

Way to go, Alan - another Dr. Clock creation takes shape.

I'm so glad to see that you've slowed down on the project builds
in your retirement.    

You had me worried that you might "overdo it".

Locked up new engine.... or so I thought. After installing the new engine in the dune buggy I found the alternator was bad, pulled that one out replacing it with another chrome one. Went to roll the engine over with a wrench to TDC it wouldn't budge not even with a breaker bar. Tried the starter and it barely moved ....^%(# !  .  I then had my wife Connie crank the starter while I watched the engine then saw aluminum filings flying.... Much to my relief it was just the back side of an aluminum degree pulley hitting the ( engine builder installed) Allen head bolts that secure the spin on oil filter. Replace the bolts with regular metric and all is good.

@Alan Merklin posted:

Locked up new engine.... or so I thought. After installing the new engine in the dune buggy I found the alternator was bad, pulled that one out replacing it with another chrome one. Went to roll the engine over with a wrench to TDC it wouldn't budge not even with a breaker bar. Tried the starter and it barely moved ....^%(# !  .  I then had my wife Connie crank the starter while I watched the engine then saw aluminum filings flying.... Much to my relief it was just the back side of an aluminum degree pulley hitting the ( engine builder installed) Allen head bolts that secure the spin on oil filter. Replace the bolts with regular metric and all is good.

Oh, man. Dodged a bullet. When I think about rebuilding my engine, I have nightmares about that happening.

I'm glad my local VW mechanic warned me about proper Shoud/Fan/Alternator alignment before I installed my Thing shroud. It turned about 3/4 of a revolution and stopped, cold. Luckily it just took lossening all the fasteners and tweaking it a bit to get it to spin freely.

I have had similar scares sometime real sometime easily fixed as with your deal. Never feels good at the moment trouble strikes. Nice looking buggy Alan. You are a true craftsman.

I look at what Alan does and marvel at my hubris thinking I could be anything like him. The speed and sheer quality of what he accomplishes is uncanny.

Dune buggy project update.....it's 98% done , all that needs to be done is fire up the fresh engine, dialed in and detailed. Then a cruise done the road before the owner comes to pick it up hopefully this weekend.  My wife and I switched things around in the garage today with a heavy snow storm headed our way tomorrow,  Moved the next buggy chassis I had shortened and the painted body off the car trailer and into the garage. I have an old office chair on wheels that makes for easy work - moving cart to support one end of a chassis to move it around .

Lovely buggy, Dr. Merklin!

Whose body is that?  I don't recognize it at all so it must be more local.  I love the pods on the sides.  Make it look much more "finished".  

Crager Mags, "Americans" or something else?  Finishes off the look nicely.

The photos bring back a lot of Buggy memories.   Thanks!

And you can go ripping up and down the street with a neighbor Cop?????

On my first buggy I had very similar parking/directional lights, but they were right on top of the headlights I pulled off of an old Autocar tractor and were parking lights only.  The directionals were marker lights tucked up under the fender lips at the corners.  

Thanks !  Body is a Berrien Nostalgia from Acme in PA . Pods are difficult to fit as  the right side of the body is a bit different than the left, patience while trimming a little off the top a few times works. Genuine and expensive Cragar's purchased by the guy I built it for.  I can get a away with a few trips around the block for test purposes (he's a good egg and looks the other way . The buggy buddy I just out in the garage is the father to the Berrien Nostalgia and is an original Bremen Berrien.

@Alan Merklin posted:

Thanks !  Body is a Berrien Nostalgia from Acme in PA . Pods are difficult to fit as  the right side of the body is a bit different than the left, patience while trimming a little off the top a few times works. Genuine and expensive Cragar's purchased by the guy I built it for.  I can get a away with a few trips around the block for test purposes (he's a good egg and looks the other way . The buggy buddy I just out in the garage is the father to the Berrien Nostalgia and is an original Bremen Berrien.

Funny thing, besides Berrian Buggies, Raymond Lowey-design Dorsette Boats were made in Bremen, too. Although my Catalina was made in CA.

Excellent jib job on the Buggy Alan.  I hope the owner has a blast with it.  

What a cool looking little cabin cruiser!

@edsnova posted:

What a cool looking little cabin cruiser!

Yep. Old Ray had it all going for him.

Looks great Alan!  Love the color (turquoise? teal? ???) and the metal flake.  Street buggies look really good with side pods.  Most off road buggy owners don't run them as they can get pretty beat up on the trail.

Pardon me- aqua metallic...

Sweet ride Alan. Congrats.

Really nice.  A little nippy today, eh? and snowy too.