New CMC owner

Welcome to the fray we call "The Madness". There is A LOT of information on this site. Use the search feature above. It is the magnifying looking symbol in the top banner to the left of your avatar. As a "Supporting Member" there are areas of the site open only to those such as yourself.

Feel free to ask all the questions you need to ask. But be careful what you wish for. There may be more answers than you want. LOL

Did it come with the build manual? -- if not down loaded one here.  A standard bug pan (shortened) about 10" - see manual) is simplest for the pan/chassis.  Be sure to get one with the title and save the extra VIN (chassis) plates. The manual has the other parts you need to save from the donor - steering column, transaxle, engine, wheels. Try looking on local Craigslist for entire rusted/abused/battered VW - a Super Beetle is not a first choice.

I'll build the whole car for you unless Greg wants me to do his first

Alan Merklin posted:

I'll build the whole car for you unless Greg wants me to do his first

Unless you really want to do it yourself this is an offer you shouldn't refuse.

Here' donor body with air suspension in Louisville's CL.  Geeze used to be you could get a whole beater VW car for $300.  Has title but no engine.  Body & parts could be sold off to recoup cost. Asking $1500. HA - like in 1992 - you soon will have no money again!

https://evansville.craigslist....ride/6874829190.html

There also is a list for front suspension and rear IRS - but no pan/center tunnel so lots of fabrication required.

https://bloomington.craigslist...uggy/6871036391.html

Lane Anderson posted:

Alan Merklin posted:

I'll build the whole car for you unless Greg wants me to do his first

Unless you really want to do it yourself this is an offer you shouldn't refuse.

I second that emotion..

Alan aka Dr. Clock, will look after all your needs.  

Not for everyone, but something to consider- If you want to make your car as light as possible, think about having the frame that sits on the pan made in aluminum. I don't know what the frame itself weighs (if you get the chance to weigh it I'd really appreciate it!) but with aluminum weighing 40% of what steel does, the opportunity to drop 100 lbs or more from the car's weight is very tempting. Performance, handling and even braking will all benefit.

If I'd only had the option... Al 

With as costly and scarce as VW pans are becoming - it's ashame the superior MetalCraft frames are no longer available.  Think DRClock knew of someone near him that had one but that was years ago.

 racedog911  .........Metal Craft chassis: David Bayne has one under his flared CMC

Sources:

Pan based chassis: Can be done by Bug Stuff W Brownsville PA

Pan based can be done by Acme in New Cumberland Pa. 

Custom chassis can be done by V Dub Store Drums PA 

Welcome to the madness. I live near you and have sent you a PM. Give me a call, I would love to bring my Speedster over and take a look at what your project looks like. If nothing else we can take a ride in my speedster while I share the info. I have learned along the way. I look forward to meeting you.

Acme showed up at Carlisle a couple years ago with a chassis on display.  They may be there in a couple weeks?

Racedog911,  Best wishes on your CMC build.  I am in the midst of rebuilding the one that I built in early 1980's.... I am happy to help you with info on the details and the many things that I did wrong back then..... ;-(      Hopefully I am fixing those things and bringing this little red speedster back to a new life for many years tooling around Buffalo NY. Let me know if I can be of any assistance and try to make it to Carlisle PA in a few weeks to meet some of this sites fantastic resources!!!  Amazingly, everyone on board here is eager to help this hobby! And, I agree that the good Dr. Clock is a truly vital source of required data and skills! 

Race:

I, too, have a CMC that I built in the late 1990's, then re-did this, re-did that, added this, added that  - it just goes on and on.  Whenever I get back in there to add or upgrade something I always end up thinking:

"Wow....I did THAT?  What the heck was I thinking??"

And then I get to work making it better than before, based on what I've learned on here.  More than a "Madness", more than a sickness, but it's a good Sickness/Madness to have, believe me.

I have built 1-1/2 CMC's (Alan Merklin finished my last one) and there is a wealth of information on here to point you in the right direction (once you sort out the chaff) and no lack of opinions on what you should do and how you should spend your money.

Take your time, search a lot - whatever questions you have, they have probably already been answered so learn how to use "Advanced Search" and don't be afraid to ask questions.

Best of luck on your new adventure!

Gordon

The Speedstah Guy from Massachusetts

Alan Merklin/Dr. Clock has built 43 of them - he's the best.  I have mine on a Metal Craft Frame but have never seen another MC Frame and that company is out of business.  Here's a pic of mine.  I'm in Camp Hill, PA. - David Bayne

Oops - He built 48 of them.  My bad.

You should come to Carlisle Imports May 17, 18 & 19.  You'll learn a ton from 40 to 60 Speedster Replica owners who are in this club.

THAT ^^^^^^^

Is really important.  You really can't get a great feel for how these cars go together from the build manual - It REALLY helps to see what others have done for good or worse and decide how you want to build your car.

Spending a weekend at Carlisle with a ton of like-minded people who work on these cars all the time is like gold and the friendships you will make are priceless.

Come to Carlisle.

Welcome To the Madness!  Per the CMC advertising it should only take you 40 hours to complete the build.  That should give you plenty of time to finish it and take it to Carlisle. 

After a detailed  study of the 40 hour claim I have concluded that the 40 hours is the time spent running to the hardware and parts store.

Ouch the chassis from Acme is $2300 plus $350 core for rear torsion tube section.  They have stock 95" wheel base and 80" - but not 85-87" req;d for a Speedster.  Plus you still need a lot of bits of a VW donor car.  I like the fiberglass floor and stating with no rust but a VW pan is cheaper alternative -- plus you get a title and can possibly register it as an antique with antique plates!  Guess that CL VW for $1500 is not a bad price after all.

https://acmecarco.com/store/in...3f095ae1ec5115eb7be2

It would not surprise me to discover that a complete resto'd VW pan chassis with suspension and brakes could cost $ 4,000 parts and labor....Save  grand by doing the work yourself.

Estimate : WV chassis w/ torsion and  title  $800

Replace pans, tubes, shift rod , coupler  bushings etc  w/labor  $1300

Adjustable beam spindle to spindle  $500

Steering box, tie rods,  damper w/labor $500

4 wheel disc brakes , wheel bearings,  seals etc w/ labor  $1,200

The frame option seems too expensive since all the other components are still needed. I will start the search for a chassis locally that can be the starting point.

The 40 hour assembly must be a team of 10 people working 40 hours.

Race:  See what I meant about everyone helping to spend your money?

Nothing wrong with refurbishing a VW pan for your project - the vast majority of cars on here are pan based.  If you’re searching for a pan anyway, do yourself a favor and find one with IRS rear from 1969 or later with a beam front end (many Later cars had MacPherson strut front ends which won’t fit under a speedster body).  The later pans with IRS rear suspension improve handling quite a lot with negligible cost difference to an earlier swing-arm rear suspension.  You should be replacing the transaxle as part of the project (engine too) and, again, the cost difference to a swing-arm  version is negligible.  If you find a donor car/pan with no engine that’s OK - you probably won’t want to use the donor engine, anyway.

The vast majority of our cars have disk-front, drum-rear brakes as well.  Most have aircooled VW engines but the trend toward Subaru water-cooled is inevitable over time.  Almost everyone runs a beefed up VW transaxle, many from Rancho transaxles but a number from local builders, too.  

Those prices quoted by Alan are reasonable but where you get your parts makes a difference - some are much better qualiy than others.  We can help with that (especially Alan) so don’t be afraid to ask.  

It is also a good thing to join a local Aircooled VW club for tips on part sources and build tips.

Lastly, while we all joke about the ridiculous claim of 40 hours to completion, you should expect at least a couple of years of part-time work to get it on the road.  Mine took seven years, but was slowed significantly by work issues and business travel.  Alan Merklin has built never-started CMC kits in 6 - 10 months, but having done a number of them he knows a lot of shortcuts.  “Wolfgang” started his kit in 1988 and he’s still working towards getting it on the road so you can see that there are a lot of things that can get in the way as you go along.  

Best of luck with this project.  It can seem daunting at times but can also be a LOT of fun if you don’t get too frustrated with slow progress.  I was OK with mine taking years because I used the build as a way to forget work when I got home.    Enjoy the build!

I have a couple of Swing axle trans. if you need one Dan.

Here's IRS from a '71 Super in KY for $250 + $ for trans.  You will have to replace from popes hat forward (i.e. cut off and weld on new st from beam piece). No mention of title though.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/cl...etail.php?id=2248785

Part that would be required in addition an adjustible beam and a disc brake kit is $199 (on sale in may for $179) -

https://www2.cip1.com/ProductD...ductCode=TAB-400-040

Replacing the entire frame head is not for a person with mechanical skills it is labor intensive and must be exact . I did two by making up a temp metal jig . A body shop with a Dataliner table or like laser frame table would be the right way to go.