George's Cars

Unfortunately this is not mine but a body that Mel Hubbard did for one of his customers but its exactly what I’m going to have to do for the buggy. Looks good.

I got some work done on the buggy last night. It was one of those nights that could derail a project completely! Firstly I spend 2 hours fixing a problem that should not have been a problem and it felt I was going around in circles.

I did get the chassis on all 4 wheels for the first time and I have a bit more suspension travel at the front. I put the body on the chassis to start the mock-up and came up with a little surprise. I knew my wheels where big but jesus christ, I don’t think the boys in blue will let me away with this much rubber out past the arch.

There is about 3″ on the front and 6″ on the rear.

Front:

Rear:

Now before I go any further I know I could choose a different set of wheels but I’m not going to, I love the huge slot-mags. I know I could also change some of the mechanical components, for example at the front I could use a 3″ narrowed beam, then get the discs machined instead of using adaptors but being honest, the project doesn’t have the budget for that at the moment. So the solution to the problem? I’m not 100% sure yet, I think the best thing to do is to reshape the body and widen the arches to cover the wheels. I’m not sure how I’m going to do this yet but one thing I do know is it will have to be sensitive to the original lines of the buggy. I’m using one of Mel’s sidewinder bodys and the reason I selected this body is I liked the original lines.

I have been doing some googling and it doesn’t seem that people widen the arches on buggies, I got from advice from the Samba but I would love to see a picture of the final result.

Last picture for now, the dash, I’m still not happy with the steering column support but with a bit of fiddling it will come good.

So basically I thought i was getting to the end of the bodywork but it looks like I’m only just starting.

Well so much for the best main plans etc etc. I decided not to start work on the buggy last night. I was working yesterday during the day when the Lions match was on so I recorded it. Watching the match took priority last night, I wanted to watch it before someone told me the results, mind you I should have started work on the buggy, it was one of the most frustrating matches I have watched in a long while. The refereeing was crazy, Nigel Owens is normally a good referee but I think he was trying a new refereeing style last night, it involved he not watching the game!

Anyways I’m going to start the mock-up tonight so hopefully it will go well.

We both gave the car a few hours this evening and decided to concentrate on the small jobs that have been overlooked for a while. The handbrake cables where shortened and the handbrake connected, not adjusted yet but i have to adjust the rear brakes before i can finish the handbrake.

I also did the accelerator also and connected the cable to the carb.

The only cable i didn’t do was the clutch cable, i couldn’t figure it out so I’m hoping that one of the experts on the buggy club website might be able to help.

Dad got the rear bushes finished also. HE also started mounting the coil, I don’t want to put in on the front of the tinware where it should go because it will look strange on the chrome fanshroud. So not a huge jump forward but small steps in the right direction.

I also made a few decisions, I’m going to build the buggy as is for the roll cage. I was going to perfect the bodywork and then trial build the buggy but the chances of it getting damaged it high so i might as well leave the bodywork until it comes back. No disrespect to the guy building the cage, or the guy i hope is building the cage once his price is right, with the cage being lifted in and out the chances of it hitting the bodywork is high. So trial build begins tomorrow night. I’m still waiting for my brake disc and front wheel adaptors to come back from the machine shop first. So thats where things are at the moment.

Well over the last 2 days i made some good progress with the buggy including one big landmark. Last night I started cutting holes in the dash. I have 4 gauges, the speedo and the radio to cut into it. The speedo and 2 of the gauges went well. When I cut the holes on the left the first one was low. No one else would notice it but i would always notice it so I re-fibreglassed it and started again. It was worth the effort as its very close now. Thats about all i got done last night.

This morning was all about preparing for primer. I had to finish the dash, i had to re-enforce the radio so there will be no problems once she hits the road. I also trimmed the dash a little so the roll cage can sit closer to the dash. Next it was just as small matter of sanding the body to get it ready for primer.

Primer went well, it was the first time i have sprayed a whole car at once and I’ll happy enough, I have 3 small runs, nothing a little sandpaper wont take care of.

Just as i finished primering a massive rain shower came down but the buggy and dash where positioned under the only two leaks in the roof. Thankfully the primer had dried before the water hit it!!

Right, its time for an update. Last weekend i didn’t get much work done on the buggy. Saturday I spent with the family plus the Lions match was on Saturday morning. Sunday Alma and Evin went off to lahinch for the day to allow me to get some work done, it lasted about an hour before i got sick, that was the end of that.

The start of the week was very busy with work, thankfully, so there wasn’t much work done of the buggy but I did get a couple of hours last night. Dad got home Tuesday and yesterday was our first day back in the garage. We did a lot of cleaning up first, to be fair its one of biggest clean outs we have done in the garage, its not 100% put its getting closer.

Anyways after the big clean out we did get some work done on the buggy. I sorted the problem with the steering column, in the end I shortened it by 4″. I i just need to cut the holes in the dash for the speedo and gauges and I’ll be ready for primer. I’m hoping that by the end of the weekend she could be ready for primer, that way i could bring it to the roll cage guy next week, I need to bring it out before I can get a price, if he is reasonable i’ll let him off, I have enough work to be doing!! If he is expensive I’ll add it to my todo list.

i got a little more work done tonight, i got the fuel filler fitted, i also repaired the enlarged hole mistake from last night.

i also started with the steering column, i cut the hole in the dash for the steering column, i wasn’t as bad as i thought but its not finished, i have to cut the hole in the firewall for the column to the slip through

happy enough for an hours work

I got my new fuel tank in today. It wasn’t out of the box 2 minutes and I had the angle grinder to it. I moved the fuel filler from the bottom right to the top centre. So i had a hole to cut and install a new fuel filler, i also had the old filler position to weld back up. I used an early fuel tank in case anyone is wondering.

It turned out fairly well, the new fuel filler was the hardest part, i went to a smaller diameter fuel pipe to suit the areo filler i’m using. The fuel filler pipe of off a 1302 so its still german!!

I have 2 new problems to solve. Firstly i need to fix the fibreglass where i cut out a hole for the aero filler. I measured it 3 times but i was still 1/2 inch off. Its no big deal because i’m painting but its times like now i’m glad its not a gel coat finish!!! Next problem is the height of the areo filler and the length of the fuel filler. I have trimmed 3/4 inch off the aero filler i still have 1/2 to cut out so i’m going to try trim that from the fuel filler tomorrow and connected the two with the shortest piece of rubber ever!!

I also finished the rear lights, well at least they are finished for now. I’ll know for sure once its all primered.

I’m still no further along with the steering problem but thats a story for another day.

I’ll start bringing a camera again to the garage soon.

I’m putting this here for me more than anyone else but someone might think of things that i’m missing on the list

Body
1. Finish Rear Light Pods
2. Cut out battery box
3. Cut out fuel filler
4. Cut out speedo hole and dash gauges
5. Stereo mount location – fibreglass box dash mount?
6. Drill Holes for body mount
7. Cut out steering column hole through front firewall
8. Cut out steering column hole in dash

Paint
9. Primer
10. Top Coat
11. Wet Sand
12. Polish

13. Mount body with rubber gasket.

Chassis
14. Fit Checker Plate
15. Install Pedal Assembly
16. Shorten & Install Brake Pipe
17. Buy and Install Fuel Line
18. Shorten & Connect Control Cables
19. Install gear knob.

20. Remove torsion arms and redo balljoints.
21. Change steering column.
22. Mill adapters to fit disc brakes

23. Build roll cage
24. Primer, Paint and polish Roll cage

25. Reshape seats
26. Mount seat runners
27. Install seats

Fuel
28. Move Fuel Filler
29. Tweak Tank for fitting
30. Cut hole for Fuel filler

Wiring
31. Front Lights
32. Rear Lights
33. Engine
34. Dash
35. Radio

36. Final Assembly

I have been doing a bit of work on the buggy over the weekend but its one of those weekend where there isn’t much progress to report. Its a beautiful sunny weekend, the perfect weekend for a beach buggy which does help inspire me to get into the garage and try get the buggy out. At the moment I’m still on body work, I have spend most of the weekend getting the rear lights sorted out. I’m 98% there at the moment. I have the 4 indicators done and complete, they where a absolute pig to do. In the end I decided not to recess them into the body but to just have them flush with the rear bodywork. With the angle of the arrows it just wasn’t working to have them recessed and it didn’t look good.

Its the rear light pods for the tail and brake lights i have to finish. The are both done but they are not. If you look at each one on their own they look good, its when you start comparing them side by side they the problems start. They are close but they are not close enough, you do notice a difference. I’m going to spend a few more hours today trying to get the 100% or close enough so they don’t look out of place.

Anyone reading this thinking of building a buggy, not do rear lights like mine. I think they will look good when finished but I have put about 30 hours into them and its not worth it. There are nice options out there which you can just bolt one, 30 minutes later, job done. At this stage I have to keep going and finish it.

I have decided not to primer the body yet, i was going to do to get a more finished look to the buggy but I will end up primering it again anyways. I’m finish cutting the holes first then I’ll primer it for good. I have the steering column to mount, all my dash gauges, the fuel filler and the battery box.

I also got another contact to build a roll cage for me, I’ll ring him tomorrow and see what he says. I also got an offer of a lend of a bender so if the new guy can’t do it I’ll start thinking about doing it myself again. So that where things stand at the moment, as i said a lot of work but not much i can tick off the list and say DONE. oh well