Installing OMP Seat Sub Frames

7 Nov 2005.
The OMP seat sub frames where constructed from two aluminium right angle s and four aluminium posts each had a series of different bolt holes to take the supplied bolts. I had additionally purchased an OMP sliding mechanism for the seats, which would allow the seats to move forward and backwards when in situe. It was clear early on that the original seat runners were in the way and would have to come out. The only questioned seemed to be how? Without having any gas cutter in the garage the only other option seemed to be an Angle grinder. I ensured that the brake line on the drivers side was tucked up and away from damage unclipping it through its section. Always ensure you use protective equipment with an angle grinder leather gloves , ear defenders and glasses are a minimum as this is a very confined area and the sparks from the steel bounce around the body. It is also quite helpful I have found in the past to have a fire extinguisher close to hand.

I started by using a metal cutting disk to cut off the majority of the seat runner. A new cutting disk gives quite a good bit of reach and working eliminating section by section you can gain access to other parts that are hard to get the grinder into.

The next section is the arduous one. It took about a day to grind the rest of the material out and off the chassis. It is also important to stress here that even if its a sunny day when doing this ensure your skin is covered, my girlfriend said she was finding small lumps of metal in my necks for months afterwards.

Two days later and I had removed the seat runners from the floor pan. I had not envisaged how strongly they had been attached, this was something to remember when fitting the new sub frames.

With the runners removed the area was painted in red oxide paint and then a gray primer. The heat transfer through the floor pan had removed the paint from the underneath as well. This had to be cleaned up and was painted the same as top. A top coat paint was added and the runners looked like they had never been there.

The new OMP runners seemed very odd in construction as all the pictures I had showed the alluminium posts facing downwards. This meant that they was impossible to fix to the seats and I soon realized that they were shown in the pictures upside down, after figuring that out they bolted together very easily, there were some questions about the heights of the posts but I figured out the best method was to bolt everything onto the seats and they try fitting the seat/OMP Runner into the floor pan area. The Area is quite tight and you must pay attention to the brake line that runs through and along the tunnel. The Seats needed to be placed quite far back as I am 6ft 2" and the rear inside post needed to be shortened to allow the seat to fit into its proper positions. Unfortunately I felt it necessary to shorten the front posts as well as I was not aware that a reclined seat position would give better control of the vehicle. This would mean I need to revisit the seat installation at a later date when I had purchased another set. In the mean time not knowing this vital information The seats bolted in solidly with a large metal washer on the other side of the chassis.

Parts Used:
OMP HC655 Seat Runners
OMP HC654 Aluminium Seat Subframes.
M8 x 50 , 8.8 Gauge Stainless bolts and nyloc nuts.

The new garage

1st Nov 2005
The garage in Bexhill was much smaller than the garage that I had been working in as it was a single garage and I had been working in three. However it was a very appreciated new home for the buggy. I had been used to a work shop were I could cut/grind parts to fit the buggy fortunately the buggy was shorter than the garage and this meant that I had room to construct a work bench.

I built a work bench by firstly fixing three over sized shelf brackets to the rear brick wall. I had found a piece of wood 3" x 2ft x 4ft The (sorry imperial measurements) wood was going to be the surface of the work bench. It was soon obvious that I would need to support the front of the bench. I purchase two 4" x 2" x 5ft timbers and cut these to fit under the front of the bench. This strengthened it up and made it solid. I was then able to fit the vices to the work bench and the garage was ready to go.

My new mini crystal halo halogen headlights had turned up during the move on the 28th Oct 2005, So I was eager to see what they looked like fitted. I managed to get them fitted quite easily but would have to wait for another day to do the wiring.

I transported the OMP seats down with the buggy and they sat in the car whilst I tried to order the OMP seat rails.

My move had been successful and I had moved house and relocated.

Selling up the bits and bobs

Items that sold out of the garage

These items where sold on eBay shortly after the low loader was booked to move the buggy to its new garage in Bexhill. The items went to a man that drove down from North of London . I hope he enjoyed them.


some items did not sell
The old brake drums and spindles where not sold on eBay even though they where in very good condition. They where dumped in the local dump as not one bid was entered.

The Moving day

26th October 2005
The buggy was moved to a different garage in the Bexhill area on the 26th October 2005. I had succeeded in some of the goals but failed to get the buggy finished by the deadline of the move. In three months I had managed to get the chassis cleaned up and fitting the chassis. I had wired enough of the ignition system to enable the car to propel itself with a speedometer and rev counter working. Some items were still out being finished. I had taken the windscreen to a cleaning company after getting a friend to weld the holes in it up. It had not been returned and I knew that I would have to pick it up after the buggy was moved.

I was very pleased that the chassis was now rolling as it could easily be positioned onto the low loader that I had organised to come today. There was two weeks left before we finally moved and this was a huge hurdle moving the buggy out and leaving about two weeks left for me to pack. I new that I would have to pack solidly for two weeks to ensure everything I had was packed into cases. I had purchased the seats but had still not managed to fix them in place so I used the Child's car seat again to sit and drive the buggy out of the garage. The buggy ran out of the garage and I parked it on my driveway so that I could clear the garage. three months of fibre glassing and general car workshop 101 had left the garage needing a tidy up. Additionally this gave me the option to ensure that nothing important was going to be left at the old site.

The low loader arrived at about 9:00am and I was happy that my partner had stayed over to help with the move I asked her to take some pictures of the move and I gave her the camera for the day. I ran the car out onto the road as the low loader was unable to fit through the drive way entrance. I had inadvertently given her the camera knocking the automatic switch off its setting therefore the pictures are all a little over exposed. The buggy was wheeled up onto the ramps of the low loader and with its wide gate just fitted across the low loader. It had not gone up quite straight so I had to push it over on the back of the lorry with the driver. The buggy was secured to the low loader over its axle with large straps running under the lorry. I loaded the tool boxes onto my car and we set off to the new garage. I was glad that I had had time to clean out the garage as I would not have time in the following two weeks to get back to it as my packing schedule was already fully booked.






We followed the buggy all the way down to the garage it was some 15 miles or more and we both watched eagerly as the buggy wound its way through the lanes. I new I had more time to get the car on the road as the garage was going to be a new work shop. My father had been finally diagnosed as having cancer of spine and he was getting regular treatment. It was possible that I had a new alarm clock and surely would be able to get the buggy on the road from the new garage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ugpmx0N8RQ

Fitting of the petrol tank.

One day later.
The tank arrived finished a day later pictured left. It was cleaned up and hot flame zinc sprayed all over with a non corrosive finish. I was happy with the item especially as I was told that there where some holes shown up by the blasting process. These had been welded by AC Blastings and then the zinc spray finish had been applied. I expected the tank to fit straight into the chassis but was surprised to see that it hit the lower steering column and would not sit in its location flush. I had made some adjustments to the tank before sending it away. The GP manual states bash it with your largest hammer, I would suggest get really annoyed then take your largest hammer to it. Obviously you need to find a hammer with a good round surface something like a ball pane hammer. It is best to use a plastic one as you will find that it will not mark the tank so easily and leave a finish somewhat similar to panel beating. The process involves a lot of trial and error and finding the amount the tank moves each time it is hit . I had to ensure that the tank had at least an inch of free space. After an afternoon of hitting the tank and several beers, the tank eventually took shape and fitted.

The tank was bolted in with two bolts either side of the tank through the fibreglass. The front of the body work was situated at least 4" above the front beam axle. The tank sat just above this and it looked as if a bracket was needed to take the load of the tank onto the front beam axle. The GP manual states you need to make up two Z shaped brackets and they need to be bolted onto the front beam body mounts and then onto the bodywork. I decided that it would be a better solution to create a long beam with z brackets underneath to spread the load of the body and provide a stronger anchor point for the tank.

Cobra or OMP Seats

One Day later.
I found what I thought where Cobra 4x4 seats on eBay. They where located in the basement of a shop in London as they had been used once for a display. They turned out to be OMP seats , which where Italian in origin and very similar to the Cobra ones. The mounts where slightly different as they bottom mounted. I arranged to go up and get them and brought them back. I decided to try to convert the existing seat mounts by getting hold of two seats and converting the seats into seat sub frames. The process involved trying to brace the runners so that they where parallel and would not move the seat structure could then be cut away with an angle grinder and a rigid frame could then be welded onto the runners to allow the seat to be mounted.

I had made one up showing my friend Ben the process he set about using the angle grinder and the welder for the first time. He did a fabulous job pictured right.

The process seemed simple enough to do but initial testing showed that the seats that we purchased could not have fitted as after the process the bars where to tight to work or be usable. Both seat runners one made by me and one by Ben did not fit it was obvious that I needed to buy the OMP runners that matched the seats and cut the old runners out of the chassis.

Paint

Three weeks before we moved.

The clean down of the underneath of the chassis went quite well and was achieved with 160 sanding disk. the resulting finish was a little colourful in the picture opposite, but this picture does not only show this. During the clean down several bits arrived back from the blasters 'AC Blastings' The Roll Bar and the front bumper were tested for fit so the body had to be transferred back onto the chassis for alignment purposes. The buggy body was then removed and the rest of the bottom was finished returning it back to the fibreglass. It was then painted all over with a combination of Gel coat and other chemicals which would allow the Gel coat to set without being inside an air tight wrap. The finish provided a clean gray colour. next the body work was prepped, primed, and painted with spray cans. This was intended as a sealant to the bodywork that would last until the finances for a full respray was available. The finish came up pretty good considering it was sprayed by unconventional means. Obviously it did not have the high gloss finish that comes from two pack paints but it gave the project a more finished appearance that pushed the build on. The dash board was also Gel coated and then primed and sprayed. Once the paint was dried the parts where re-assembled and the bonnet was primed to be painted. The buggy was starting to become mobile and was now a rolling chassis. I was starting to see what my dream may look like. The final paint was applied to the bonnet and the paint work was finished. The bonnet had not been fixed in place as the tank was still at AC Blastings being zinc coated. This was necessary as the tank was showing some signs of rust and I wanted to be sure that the tank would not leak. Would the tank come in time and fit correctly so that the rolling chassis could be moved.

Redline Linkage Saga

Wednesday July 2005
My Redline Linkage kit was on order from Weber I was excited about receiving the new one as the old linkage kit transversed the floor of the engine compartment. This used a poor bolting system to bolt a vertically mounted bearing. Pulling on the throttle would pull the vertical bearing over making the accelerator stay depressed. Clearly this was a poor design and the Redline one transversing across the carburettors was much easier to set up.

The kit I had purchase came with the manifolds as part of the kit so I removed my manifolds that where short and touched the exhaust and replaced them with the Redline ones ensuring that the gaskets where seated well. I replaced the carburettors ensuring that the gaskets where oiled before the carburetors where seated onto the manifolds. The linkage kit was next and the top bar went on easily. However for some reason the linkage kit was too long to fit.

In error I tried to shorten them believing I could re tap the threads. This in theory was not so bad if I had picked the correct end to shorten. Opposing ends of the bar had left and right wound threads so that you could twist the rods to increase or decrease the bars length. I picked the left hand thread to shorten and only had a right hand tap to re- thread. As you can imagine this did not work at all and left me with a problem . My new linkage kit was lacking a vital part.

As luck would have it I searched Yell for a company that produced these ball joint kits. I found a company that produced them in my locale and telephoned them. They had moved north , but where still willing to help supplying me with lockable ball joints that could be removed whilst in situ. I was fortunate as this error cost me only £30. An new linkage kit would have been much more expensive.

The lockable ball joints turned up two days later they where exactly the correct length and with the quick release system fitted in about 2 minutes by removing the little wire and swinging it out and removing it to release the ball. The difference was amazing they took up all the slack in the system and allowed the linkage kit to be calibrated evenly.

The engine was turned over it started and the engine ran beautifully. I wondered what the chassis /engine ran like. Several moments later I figured out that the engine could be started with a hot wire and the steering could be fitted to give some ability to steer the chassis. This coupled with a lawn mower petrol tank we where using and a child's car seat. The Chassis was finished and mobile! The chassis was very light and with no weight in the front the 100ft drive way was used most of the rest of the sunny afternoon driving backwards and forwards up and down the drive. This was the first real time test of all the components on the chassis. The braking component worked fine in fact the front was so good it seemed to lock up easily. The engine provided so much power it was easily able to push the front wheels off the ground. By the end of the day I was smiling from head to toe and covered by a huge grin. I was amazed that the project was looking so good. I had finished prepping the chassis and was trialing fitting of components in the tub prior to a quick respray.

The Texas Connection

With the bodywork alterations and preparation well under way I was looking on EBay for a twin carburettor system that would fit on the buggies engine. The single draft 40mm Weber that was fitted just did not have the performance that I required from the buggy. I decided that I could sell the manifold and carburettor on eBay and raise about £100-£150 towards the cost and was hoping as I had been watching the prices of the twin Weber IDF 40 systems go up and up as they where selling for about£600.00 at that time that I would be able to find one that was suitable for the 1600 VW flat four engine. I hoped there was as I new from research that the addition of two carburettors to the engine would provide a better performance. I checked and double-checked the information needed to jet them:




The 40IDF sizes required for the carburetters where:
Venturi: 28mm
Main Gas: 1.30
Main A/C: 2.00
Emulsion Tube: F11
Idle jet: 0.55
Pump Jet: 50.

Armed with this information I was able to look for my Carburettors. After some time a match came up but it was not in England it was in Kentucky, Texas. I placed several bids on the carburetors, manifold and linkage kit. The auction eventually ended and I had won them. They took nearly two weeks to arrive and where not delivered to my house because of customs duty. There was approximately £80 of duty that needed to be paid on pick up of them. Even so this was not bad, as the carburetors had cost me £555.00 in total.

The day the carburetters arrived I was happily installing them after cleaning them thoroughly with carb cleaner. The engine would not start and the accelerator pump gaskets where leaking badly. I contacted the Weber dealer in my area and arrange for two new accelerator pump diaphragms to be sent to me by next day delivery.

The new accelerator pump diaphragms arrived the next day and I oiled the diaphragms and placed them in each of the carburettors. This stopped the pumps from leaking and the engine would run only if you pumped the accelerator. I had a blockage somewhere in the main jets.

Luckily I found an article on http://www.superbeetles.com/performance101/jun.htm
that talked about setting up Weber carburetors. After reading this and the following article:http://www.superbeetles.com/performance101/jul.htm . The articles where very interesting as they talked you through setting up the carburettors.

After following the articles I was ready to try again and installed the carburettors onto the manifolds. This time I had also replaced the manifolds oiling the gaskets at all the joins. There was no improvement and I was very puzzled. I took the Carburettors off and took them to a friend who was also a performance car mechanic. He said that the carburettors typically Weber's had very small ventri in the body work of the carburetor and sometimes these get blocked. A week later and 4 tins of Carb cleaner he brought them back and I re-installed them. They fired up beautifully and the engine ticked over.

It was soon noticeable that the carbs where sitting almost on the exhausts. This was potentially boiling the fuel in the Carburetors. The only option was to purchase the Redline Weber linkage kit and manifold kit.

Body Check

Friday.
The first trial of the body fitment onto the chassis came as a bit of a relief, time for a beer and to see what the buggy would look like with the new wheels. The bonnet petrol fuel position had been altered so that it was in the middle of the bonnet.

The trials of the previous weeks had begun to show some clearer images of what the buggy was going to look like. What my partner Catherine had seen several weeks before in my garage was starting to take shape and for the first time everything was steaming ahead.

The body work holes where drilled through the chassis to provide bolt holes with which to bolt the body onto the chassis. The original channel washers where cleaned and painted and used on top of the fibreglass and a 8mm stainless bolt with nyloc nuts.

It was time to start looking at cleaning down the paint from the body work and the interior components like the dash board, bumpers and roll bar.

Body Alteration part two.

Whilst altering the back transom of the tub for height. It became apparent that the middle of the front bulk head needed to be brought forward so that it sat on the rubber gasket properly.

You can see from the picture that most of the perimeter bolt down area was also needing some repair work and this was all repaired at the same time.

The picture also shows the tank in position with its newly welded intake. Luckily the tank was bone dry as it had been in the garage for more than ten years. Normally you should take precautions when welding a tank , but in this instance the welding was quite straightforward.

The front bulkhead lip was cleaned up and taken back to the fibreglass by 160 grit disk on an angle grinder and some was removed by a Dremel type tool. The area was cleaned with cellulose and then the front lip of the bulk head was brought back to size by strapping a steel former below the lip. This allowed the fibreglass to be layered on top of the wax coated steel. The repair was then completed again on the reverse side. material was cut away and then fibre glassed to provide a solid base. During the fitting of the body A replacement master cylinder had been purchased with a new brake fluid reservoir. The brake fluid reservoir chamber unfortunately hit the bulkhead and you could not unscrew the lid.


I decided to construct a block of wood in the shape of the reverse of the lid area to be able to undo the brake fluid reservoir lid. I cut a hole the same size as this former in the bulkhead and then covered the former with wax . It could then be pushed through the bulkhead and produce a blank that the fibre glass could be applied over which would then take the shape of the block.

Once the fibreglass was semi dry I was able to remove the former and it left a nice square box around the brake fluid reservoir. The other side of the bulkhead was ground and then cleaned and it was then fibre glassed to make a strong solid join.

During the course of the alterations I placed a bid on some Revolution wheels that's where for sale on eBay. I new they were in London so could be picked up and just needed to win the auction for them.

I had decided that the original bonnet position for the petrol tank filler was wrong as it was more traditional to have this placed in the middle of the tank and I had already welded the tank inlet to accommodate this. I firstly made a metal sheet that would fit over the old hole. I drilled three bolts through the bonnet and the sheet so that it could be bolted on. Prior to bolting it on the sheet was covered with wax so that it could be released after the fibreglass had been applied. I also ground out the area around the hole so that the edge of the whole had a slant . The fibreglass was then able to be applied on one side. I removed the bolts when it had semi hardened and increased the area of fibre glass layering. The other side was then fibre glassed and then sanded to a fine finish.

The repair work needed on the engine cover and number plate apron was achieved in a similar process. The area was cut back and ground down at the edges to chamfer them. The metal sheet was waxed and clamped in position . The front surface was then filled with fibreglass. The whole tub was turned over the sheet removed and the back of the area strengthened by long sheets of fibreglass. Over the course of the week several other areas where repaired in a similar method. The fit to the chassis was checked at each change to ensure nothing that had been done would stop the tub from fitting precisely on the chassis.

Body Alteration part one.

A week later.
With the wooden blocks screwed in place i could gauge the profile that i needed to make to fit this section onto the chassis. Several trial fits of the tub onto the chassis had been made to check that the tub fitted evenly on the chassis base.

I made cardboard templates of the profile that could be used to check the height of the build up of fibreglass. I intended to use a vernier type gauge to ensure that the build up of fibreglass matched the distances that I could measure on the cardboard profile this giving me an accurate indicator. The reason for this process was that laying down fibreglass over a large area meant that long lengths of fibreglass sheeting needed and the wooden blocks had to be removed before any fibreglass could be laid.

The wooden blocks were removed and the surface was cleaned up with the 160 grit sanding angle grinder disk. After final preparation with the cellulose thinners. I was able to start fibre glassing. It was soon clear that my guess at the amount of fibreglass was sadly under estimated.

A week later and with Ben now turning up regularly to help with mixing of resin material the transom was building up slowly. I had not anticipated that the fibre glassing would over spill the area. This amazingly was a helpful thing, it gave strength to the new material as it was talking on the contour of the body work and by encroaching forward past the transom it meant I could cut back the material to provide a clean profile in the inside of the tub. The benefit of this was that I could ensure the integrity of the fibre glassing was good. The picture on the right shows the material cut back. I found that an angle grinder was the only way the material could be cut it was amazingly hard. I estimated the amount of fibreglass used at £300.00 which meant in reality buying a second hand shell was more expensive to build as a restoration than buying a new one. This was not something that did not bother me as by then I had found out that FibreFab had stopped making the SWB Rat and where no longer in the United Kingdom in Wokingham. I was restoring a classic beach buggy that there were few examples off left running. Additionally I drew energy from my fathers illness I now had a mission: " To take my father for a ride in the car that we started building together more than 20 years previously".

Body preparation and shell restoration

The next couple of weeks
In the next couple of weeks I assessed the work and decided in which order my time should be spent. Ten years prior to this I had had the opportunity to work with fibreglass repairing canoes as a project with the school. Although this was useful, it was no way going to prepare me for the amount of fibre glassing that was ahead.

You can see from the picture opposite the holes in the rear seat area where fairly large and looked structural.
The bodywork did not fit on the chassis as the sides of the fibreglass had seemed to have warped. These holes would have to be re fibre glassed and special attention would need to ensure that the new fibreglass did not encroach or hit the chassis. There where two additional holes at the corner of the tub across from the rear transom, these would need fibre glassing and would be quite difficult as they were on a corner. I decided to start with the easiest piece. I went to a local car accessory company and bought £50 of glass, resin and hardener. My Angle grinder game out of my toolbox with a 180 grit sanding disk on it made light work of the paint and talking me down to the fibreglass surface easily. Additionally I located a 5L can of Cellulose in the back of the garage. A friend suggested this as a cleaning agent and with experimentation I found that the cellulose would make the fibreglass sticky thus enhancing the new fibreglass's ability to get a good contact. The fibre glassing was going well access to the web was providing additional information about cutting in the new glass to the old by cutting a slope on the join. Before long I had built a box section up and filled the hole in the other side. The box section was built up slowly in layers . The trick seemed to be in getting the first layer of fibreglass in place and semi -hard. The best way of achieving this seemed to be by using a former made from steel sheeting and using household Libron wax polish to act as a greasing agent. Luckily I choose a wax polish that was removable by the cellulose, this meant it was easy to clean down before the next layer was attached. I was almost ready for a first fit but I needed to know whether the new fibreglass work would hit any of the chassis members. It was time to ask my friend Ben to give me a hand to lift the body work back onto the chassis. I had made the battery area larger than it was originally as I wanted to place a bigger battery on board. Unfortunately I had not checked the larger area would fit in the hole in the between the chassis parts. It seemed as if the battery compartment had been designed small for a specific purpose. I had to cut the box section down so that it would fit between the chassis members. With the shape established and completed . My attention turned to the problem of the chassis not fitting the tub. There was about 2" of air between the chassis and the tub, this was marked out on the rear transom with wooden blocks so that the height could be gauged and a fit to the chassis could be made with the wooden blocks acting as a height adjustment for where the fibreglass should be. This fitting process allowed me to gauge the exact amount of fibreglass that was required. I needed to and purchase some more fibre glass as I new that I would need about £200.00 of fibreglass buying it from the auto shop. Fortunately my friend Ben was starting to visit on a regular basis and had helped a few times mixing up fibreglass for me. This was to become a vital part of the next stage of the body preparation as 2" of fibreglass vertically seemed to be an astronomical task. My partner Catherine partner was as usual confident that this was achievable. I was not so sure but I was going to give it my best shot.

OMG Morning blues

The following morning.
After arriving back from Basingstoke it was late before we had off loaded the van and locked up the garage in the dark.

The morning bought a new sense of vigour I was up and at the crack of dawn and at the garage waiting to see how things sized up.

I opened the doors of the garage to the site shown in the picture. I had to get a picture, as I did not believe what I had done.

The body did not fit the chassis it had warped and was approx 2” off the middle section of the chassis.

This had obviously occurred whilst it was in his cluttered garage propped up by the previous owners life collections. I placed my hands in my face and shut the garage doors. I new I would either have my work cut out to finish this project in the time.

Fortunately another friend was to step in Ben.

I had very little experience in fiber glass and had no idea how to solve this problem.

A van, Darren, £50.00 for petrol & a pocket full of dough

Three weeks later.

Meet Darren, he is one of the nicest people that I know he has a wonderful heart and has one of the most interesting jobs that you can imagine. He works in the city area collecting furniture and valuables from house clearances. I first met him in a pub in Hawkhurst. I met the entrepreneur in him trying to get out and was soon seeing him starting a second successful career in music.

After moving from Hawkhurst. Darren moved shortly afterwards as well and I lost contact I hope he is well and his life is full.
We travelled up to Basingstoke stopping at Clackets services for diesel. Darren mentioned that he had a few bits from his business still in the van but he was sure it would not be a problem. The trip was packed with fun as I always enjoyed Daren’s company because we where never at a loss for something to talk about. We reached Basingstoke and thanks to my Nokia 6630 and the Tom Tom GPS unit we found the address easily.

We reached Basingstoke and Daren opened the back of his van. It was half full of furniture! I phoned Catherine and Gabbled a short message to her saying the van was full how on earth was I going to get the buggy bits in there.

The gentleman was selling the contents of his garage as they where obviously moving. He had a range of other strange objects inside including a piano. His partner Donna had obviously asked him to get the bits out in the anticipation of our visit.

I asked Daren how and why and what he said he had a drop in the early hours and he thought the buggy bits would fit. Never tell a man with a van his job, guess he was right :-)

The general condition looked on the surface not to bad. There were two large holes in the rear seat area, the engine cover was broken and the rear seat area had a brake in the fibreglass. Some holes in the fibreglass where evident everywhere but I thought it was possible to make it fit my chassis and do the repairs. The gentleman who I believe was Andy told me that the car had been on the road in the past and was a head turner but unfortunately it had got into bad repair and it was evident that his family and forced move where talking every bit of cash he had. Still from his dreams to my own maybe this is how they pass without us knowing I can only say that we travelled back home in the van and I must have had the largest grin on my face that was humanly possible.

I must say Catherine has always been behind me and has always shown that she fully believes in what I can achieve. I am sure my family thought I was mad especially when they saw what I had spent my money on.

Choosing a dash board layout

21st July. 2005
I started to do up the buggies dashboard by stripping the multiple layers of paint from it with wet and dry silicon carbide paper. The process was lengthy but the result was good and I was soon able to have a nice finish on it to start designing my new layout. There where already several holes that had been cut into the dashboard principally for one dial a steering column and another curious hole that was unknown. I started by grinding out the holes so as to get a good key for my new fibre glass to get a grip onto. The result was good and i started to fill up the holes and fill in from the back. The fibreglass was then sanded down to a fine finish.

I came up with five designs for the layout of the new dash boards dials and submitted them on a forum on http://www.beachbuggy.org.uk This was especially useful as the whole buggy group helped and gave comment. The options where as below:
Choice A though to Choice B.
Choice C The MOST VOTED, through to Choice D

Choice E.


The most voted choice from these was layout C which scored the highest number of votes. I had made the layouts to fit around six gauges 4 x 40mm sensors : Fuel Tank;Pressure, Volts; Temperature, The two 80mm gauges where a speedometer and rev counter. These where all VDO and came from the the Classic range.

I bought two Starrett hole cutters and an arbour which they fitted from Travis Perkins in Cranbrook , these worked out to be quite cheep at around £14 for the smaller ones and around £19 for the larger. I marked the position of the dials according to my template and cut the holes. The Starret hole cutters where wonderful. I had previously used them to cut the hole for the petrol filler so new they cut beautifully. The new holes look great.

I had decided much earlier that I wanted a stereo and as I knew I would have to build an area for this I thought it would be a good idea to build an area to take the hazard light and light switch at the same time. The finished dash board although it was in need of a respray looked great. I was so pleased with it and just had to add some indicator bulbs for high beam; indicators and alternator and it was finished.

I was now looking forward to rubbing down the paint work on the tub and cleaning up the bottom painting it with a fresh gel coat.

I would be doing this next and had been out to buy new supplies to start the next day with.

A solution, or an impossible task

9th July 2005.

Whilst creating my eBay post on turbolister I was searching for a suitable category in which to advertise my Beach Buggy Chassis, I came across item number: 4561230995, this was listed as a project beach buggy kit car and was located in Basingstoke. It had started at £50.00 and was soon up to £200.00 and had 5 bids. It was just the tub, roll bar and front bumper. The seats the wheel rims and other items where unusable.

The front looked amazingly like an American car the Corvette. I fell for its looks immediately. The only problem was a severe lack of time, 3 1/2 months before my family moved and if i took this leap of faith then I would have to have the whole thing rolling/running by the 26th October 2005. On top of this I had to win the auction something as of late I had not had much luck with.

During the course of the last 20 years I had tried twice unsuccessfully to purchase the GP Beach Buggy body top. The first was faltered as when I approached GP the company had been sold. The second time 29 June 1999 a gentleman called Adrian House in Aldershot had purchased the moulds and was able to supply the parts I sent him a cheque in the post with a list of items that I required and the letter and cheque went missing in the post. By the time I had allowed for postal times, stopped the check and contacted Adrian. The company was in trouble again and I believe he no longer had the moulds. My GP Beach Buggy had passed me by, however a new dream a corvette look a like beach buggy was sparkling on the horizon.

Bidding on ebay is a art form so my friends told me you have to sit and watch the auction until as near as the end you humanly dare and have another window set up with your bid ready to go at the press of a button. This is ok until its something that really matters. I had decided that I was going to give it a shot. I new I could afford to work for 5 months on the project and if I had not made enough progress the project could still could be sold. There was a glimmer of hope and the anticipation was immense as I watched with Catherine the time tick by and the auction remain at £200.00. As the auction reached its end time the bids slowly started to rise and each time I stood cool and waited 20s from the auction end at 10:33pm the race was on, amazingly even though I thought I had lost the auction I had won it by 1p.

Cash in place I need to find a way of transporting this from Basingstoke to Kent. Would I be able to get the item moved and would every thing fit in place.

The personal choice

1st July 2005.
The summer of 2005, brought with a lot of change in my family and a lot of change in my life.

I had met my partner Catherine in June 2004 at Gatwick after a long courtship on the phone. I had been courting her for a year at her home in bexhill for about a year when my my father became very ill, he had slowely lost wieght and become very introverted it had taken a push to get him to the doctors as he had always been the main staple of my family, times where changing and some serious choices had to be made. Some of them ones that I was not going to like as I could find no new garage for my buggy to reside in. I had six months before my family had to move out and I must confess my partner Catherine was the only one that kept faith even when I was despairing. 20 years had past and the dream that had started so long ago with my father was fading fast.

I took my beach buggy chassis and engine out of the garage and washed off the years that sitting in a garage had accumulated. The dust came off very easily with a hosepipe and my hard work with my paint work had paid off.
The reason for cleaning up the chassis was a sorrowful one. My parents where planning on retiring as my father was diagnosed with cancer and the family home was to be sold along with it my garage that housed my buggy chassis.

The reason for the pictures where that i was planning to sell the chassis on eBay and write the whole project off.

What would happen next would I find another solution? Would the chassis not sell?, or would it not even make it onto eBay?