FibreFab Rat Beach Buggy - Rebuilding Fuggy...

[SamJ]

So, the time has come for my buggy to get some attention.

It's a FibreFab RAT long wheel base body on a 1959 VW Beetle pan. Currently looking something like this...





Now the plan is to swap the body on to a later pan, and in the process change from RHD to LHD, and from UK registration to Dutch. So, in comes the donor...



Which is a 1974 Semiautomatic beetle thats been off the road as a stalled project since 2007. They key thing is semi-auto, means IRS instead of swing axle rear end, and ball-joint rather than link-pin front suspension.

Plan is to do the minimum to get it legal and on the road, so as well as swapping the body to the new chassis, I will need to do things like fit seat belts (and fab the mounts to fit them...). Once it is legal and I have more time it will get a few more bits done, like a body lift, disc brakes all around, upgraded suspension and a bigger engine.

Realistically I have have a few weeks whilst another car is away having some work done by someone else, once that comes back the buggy has to be out of the garage again.

Let the fun begin!

[johnthesparky]

Watching with interest!

[Mark]

Always wanted a beach buggy. I had one for a few weeks when I stayed in Rhodes island and it was just great fun. There were loads available as hire cars! Wonder where they all went?

Anyway, look forward to seeing how this goes.

[SamJ]

Cheers guys. I've grown up around buggies, my father has had his buggy since before I was born, the exact same body type as my one. They are a good laugh, and simple (relatively) cheap fun.

[SamJ]

So, first job: get the body off the pan. Pull the bolts out, and use the winch in the roof of the garage to support the front end, engine hoist to support the rear.



and up we go...



then a couple of bits of 2x2, chop up a cheap removal dolly, and we have a frame to out the body on and push it out the way.



Now I am glad I don't want the body, some of the welding is, well, interesting.

[SamJ]

So, with the body off and out the way, first job was to get the chassis on stands and strip the suspension off, checking the brakes over on the way. Bit of work needed to the front brakes, its had new cylinders, shoes etc fitted but the cylinders have been left with neither pipe nor blanking plug fitted to the inlet, so they have since corroded rather nicely.

One stripped chassis...



Given the state of the welding on the body I thought I would have a look at what has been done to the chassis. Hmm, lots of seam sealer...



And hiding underneath? some rather curse word tack welds, nice and porous with little penetration... joy!



So, current jo is now to strip all the sealant off the joint between the pan halves and the spine of the chassis, on both left and right pans, on top and underneath... What a fun job... Then I can reweld it all, reseal it, and get the thing painted ready for the rebuild to start.

[SamJ]

Oh, and got the body sold and out of the way

[SamJ]

So, where was I... Oh yes, curse word welds. In the end the welding was so bad, and the amount of sealant gobbed everywhere meant that I couldn't get the joint clean. So pulled the pans off completely and welded new ones in.



And when I say pulled the pans off, it was so bad I could pull half of them off with bare hands, didn't even need to use a hammer.

So a couple of days later, lots of welding and grinding, and we have a chassis with two new pan halves.

At this stage a nice big box arrived with my body lift kit I have always struggled with clearance between the front wings and the large tyres I want to run, so I thought a 3" lift would help. Nice bolt on kit, at least that was the idea. Offered up on the new pans and, hmmm...



So that went back in the box, and was returned to the supplier for them to investigate.

[SamJ]

Next job, strip the body off the old chassis, and the chassis down to a bare pan for storage.





and glad I did, the old pan has got rather crunchy in places.

[SamJ]

This was the end of april, and a short brake was taken whilst I travelled over to the UK to run a 100 mile ultramarathon along the Thames.

I got back in the garage this weekend just gone, and turned my attention to adding some strength back into the cheap and nasty floorpans. So, a couple of metres of 30x30x3mm box section, some slicing, bending and welding:



and you end up with a nice reinforcing beam to go on the underside of the pan (chassis has been flipped over here)



Tonight I shall get the other side done I hope.

I also managed to get the supplier to finally agree to refund me on the lift kit, apparently they are all just as bad and the suggestion to cut it up and reweld it to fit was not what I had in mind. So, time to make my own I think.

[eurogranada]

Hey Sam,

So this is the thing you were talking about when we last spoke. Looks like it can be quite a fun thing. To me it screems for different style headlights though! Something that makes more use of the rather rectangular panel they are in anyway...

I see you've got your work cut out for you! But you seem to be doing rather well. Is there anything you cannot do? I see very nice welding and I know you're good with the electronics as well...

If you ever fancy a hand, give me a shout and I'll come out your way (for a change)!

[SamJ]

Its a lot of fun, when it's working! will be nice to get it out on the road this summer I hope.

As for the headlights, well I need to change them anyway, it's just a question of what to. My dad has one the same design of buggy that he built a long time ago (before I was born), with rectangular headlamps, but he can't remember what off. Something in the way of 70's ford he thinks.



So if you have any suggestions as to lights that a) are easy to get hold of, b) easy to fit, and c) will pass an APK, I'm all ears

[dadstaxi]

Looks like they could be Saab 99 or earlier?

[SamJ]

I'm fairly sure he said Ford, but couldn't be sure, will have to ask him.

In the mean time I started a thread on headlamp recommendations here - retrorides.proboards.com/thread/197511/square-rectangular-headlamps

[neilsdavies]

I remember a red Trekker that had the small rectangular headlights off a bus, possibly a Dennis. Really changed the look of it.

[SamJ]

So, slow progress is being made.

Second reinforcing beam was finished up and drilled out:



Whilst I've been at work, Raemond (my OH) has been busy cleaning up parts for me, Brake backing plates and stub axles were cleaned up and given a lick of paint

[SamJ]

Raemond also started on cleaning up the beam and she got a coat of paint on that last night,



I have done some work myself also Spent way too long getting the track rods apart, one rod end did not want to come free, but the rods are now all cleaned up and painted. Started on cleaning up the torsion arms as well. I need to get one ball joint changed, which I hope will be done this afternoon. Last few bits to be painted this evening and hopefully tomorrow I can start putting the beam back together.

Oh, and I took a punt on some rectangular(ish) headlamps from ebay.de, I think they will be more in keeping with the front-end shape than the current round ones, plus LHD.

[SamJ]

Front brakes have all been rebuilt, I do hate those bloody springs and keepers



Bit of red paint, because well, it's the only brake paint I had to hand.



Just got to get the upper ball joints changed and then the beam can go back together.

Got the new body lift kit in as well, fits as well as the EMPI kit did



So, time to cut, weld, grind, rinse and repeat.



That was the end of saturday. Sunday was taken up by helping out on a trail race.

[SamJ]

A day at the beach, and a rather large bill from the vets have made for slow progress of late, but making progress at least. And well a day dossing about in the sun was needed (the large vets bill really wasn't...)



Getting those curves right kicked my , but I think they are good enough for this buggy

In between welding / waiting for stuff to cool I made a start on rebuilding the pedal set. Needed some serious heat to get the clutch pedal off the lever, but I won in the end! Should be pack in one piece today, but hopefully it will all move now



Still need to change the upper ball joints so I can get the beam back together. I agreed a price to buy a second hand garage press, but the seller went quiet as soon as I tried to arrange a time to pick it up...

[jamesd1972]

Not sure you have enough strength in that floorplan !
Nice work, do you need to raise the seats to match ?
James