New member.....1st post.....and 1st pics of my project.

[Darringeorge314]

After lurking as a guest for several months and browsing all the great dune buggies, I decided to join and share my project as well. My name is Darrin.....wife is Ami and we live near Needville, south of sugarland. I grew up driving VW's as a teenager and have owned 2 bugs and one manx style dune buggie. I sold the manx shortly after I married and have regretted it every since. 20 years later, I stumbled onto a fiberglass body and said......why not. Now I have to admit, the body has sat in my barn for well over a year but have finally gotten off my butt and to work. I'm going to include pics of the body and the 71 donor beetle, although I'm further along than those pics. I have removed the chasis....cleaned and shortened it.....rust sealed it with KBS coatings.....and have a rolling chasis complete with transmission installed and brakes and cables. I'll put pics of the chassis as soon as I can. I have a 1900 cc motor set and ready to be installed with twin webber 44's. I was very hopeful to have it up and running for the VW classic but not sure if I'll make that or not. My wife and I plan on spending thursday thru sunday in Fredricksburg......yes she is aware of the VW classic and is going to humor me there as long as I visit the wineries with her. lol. I definately need some of you guys expertise, whereas there are a few things left for me to do on the buggy and I feel quite inadequate. I look forward to meeting and chatting with you all and hope to one day have a buggy that is worthy of being in the company of some of the "show cars" on this forum. (that was definately a compliment.....some of the buggies on here are amazing!) I need someone in the houston area that can sync my carbs. Any recommendations?

[Darringeorge314]

took me a few tries to get the pic to upload.

[CoryN]

Welcome! I look forward to meeting you and your wife.

Cory

[Darringeorge314]

here's side view pic.....I've painted the inside area black with KBS coating and will leave it and get thru the summer. Once winter sets in, I plan to remove the body and do a little fiberglass work and repaint.

[Darringeorge314]

picture of the donor bug......it's a 71. I also have a 69 that I have been robbing parts off of. (no pic on that one...sorry)

[Darringeorge314]

Thanks for the welcome Cory. I read thru your entire "project post"......and yes...yours was one of the buggies I was talking about. You did an amazing job on that one. Your attention to detail was great. I hope mine turns out half as good as yours did. Your fiberglass work gave me the thoughts of trying my hand at it on mine instead of shopping it out. I don't have a lot to do.....mostly cracks in the paint. However, inside the seating area, there are some big cracks in what looks like bondo or filler. I'm not certain that is what it is....but if so....they made a mess of it. It's about 1/4" thick and needs to be removed completely and then reglassed. I have never done fiberglass work....maybe you can give me some pointers or suggestions or point me in the direction you went on your learning curve. Your battery box was really cool and I plan on copying that for sure. However, for now, my battery will most likely be in the passenger backseat floorboard. uugghh.

I look forward to meeting some of you guys as well at the classic. Do you guys all gather in the same area at the show?

[Bryan Porter]

Some of us are camping at the Oakwood campground just north of Ladybird park stop by we stay just past the office on the left you can't miss us.

[Darringeorge314]

Thanks Bryan. We will plan to stop by....I look forward to seeing all of your buggies. I'm always after good buggy ideas to steal.....uh...I mean borrow. Do ya'll tent camp or RV?

[GregR]

Welcome Darrin. Sorry about the confusion with getting you registered for the forum. I tried to email you from 2 separate account to your email addy. Both came back as undeliverable or rejected.

By the way, these guys don't tent camp or RV camp...I think the description I heard is Taj Mahal camp

Be sure to experience the "Man Cave" (if it survived..) when you visit the gang at the RV park in F'burg

[Aquabuggy]

Welcome Darrin, Looking forward to meet ya and watching your buggy build. Keep the progress pics coming.

[yoboy]

Welcome to the club! As Bryan mentioned we are staying at the Oakwood RV park and look forward to you and your wife stopping by for a visit. We are also coming in on Thursday.

[Texasbuggys]

Wecome aboard Darrin1 Good looking start ya have going on there! We all will be watching your progress! If ya have not noticed we are all a little buggy!

[Bill K]

Welcome aboard Darrin. You are going to love being a part of this group of really great folks.

Man, you are just a few miles from me here in Rosenberg. Check your PM's. I've sent you my phone number so you can give me a call. I also hope to be at the Spring Fling car show in Rosenberg next weekend. It'd be great if you could stop by and we could meet.

[Darringeorge314]

Greg.....no worries about the registration. I'm just glad to be aboard. I'm excited about building my buggy and know I have some excellent help with the members on the forum. I appreciate all the warm welcomes and look forward to meeting a lot of you soon.

I'm going to upload a few more pics of the chasis before it was sealed with KBS coatings. KBS was highly recommended by a friend of mine and if you haven't tried it....it's definitely worth a look. I have painted my gas tank with it and the entire chasis as well as some of the dress up parts on my 1900 cc motor. website is [url]kbscoatings.com[/url].

I'm a little further along than what the pics show. I have installed new brakes all the way around....new diamond plate floorboard.......and have installed the front blinkers and headlights. The front blinkers mirror the back with a black trim around and the headlamps are painted black as well. I'll upload pics when I can. I hope to do wiring and install the seats in the next several days as well as paint the front and rear shocks and install them. I also hope to have the new rims and tires installed next week. I'm going with black rims until my chromes get in......I have them on order now. It'll be 225 50's on the front and 295 50's on the rear.

Ill upload pics of the painted chasis and motor later today. I still need to have the twin webers tuned up. Any suggestions on a good carb guy in Houston?

[Darringeorge314]

only a 3 pic limit....here's second set of 3.

[CoryN]

I don't like it either but that's where mine is too

[ckolek]

welcome to the club, a great group of people here.. make sure you stop by the man cave in fredericksburg you will be guarenteed a good time.

[Darringeorge314]

here are pics of my motor and the painted chasis. Motor is a 1900 cc with twin webers and a bosch dist. Chasis is from a '71 beetle. I got word on my roll bar.....it will be ready Monday. It will need to be sanded and painted. Still have lots to do.

[Darringeorge314]

chasis pics......

[CoryN]

Looks good!

[Texasbuggys]

Looking great!

[BrianB]

Looking good Darrin. I would suggest changing the master cylinder to a dual circuit style though. Keep the pics coming.

[Darringeorge314]

thanks for your compliments and advice. Brian....What is the advantage to a dual master cylinder? Problems with single set up? Could I use my existing lines?

[CoryN]

The advantage is safety, if one fails you still have one to stop with.

It also allows you to use the resevoir off a Volvo for a nice neat package.

Your lines will still work fine.

[Darringeorge314]

huh.....what a thought. brake failure. I guess it is possble and something I would definately want to avoid. lol. I'll put that on my list of "must do's". Thanks for the suggestion. Keep em coming!

[Darringeorge314]

Wanted to post more pics......Took yesterday off from work to work on the buggy. Made some progress but not as much as I'd like. I had some help from my 3 teenage sons. THey are itching to see it run and hear the motor come to life. I finished up my painting.....installed shocks.....ER break......mounted the tires (painted rims for now....chromes on order) and installed the motor and started the electrical. DOES ANYONE HAVE THE WIRING DIAGRAM FOR THE EMPI UNIVERSAL TURN SWITCH? I bought one from Buggy warehouse in San Antonio and it was missing the diagram. I called them, but they are out of stock and have nothing to email or fax......any help would be appreciated.

[Darringeorge314]

more pics....

[Darringeorge314]

I'm still in need of a some help tweaking my carbs. the carbs need syncing. Any volunteers??

[Bryan Porter]

I have been trying to call you but there is so much to do and not enough time with the classic coming up.
Hope to have some time after the classic I will call you soon.

[Darringeorge314]

Thanks Bryan. I was hopeful to have it up and running for the classic (not finished....but useable)........not sure if that is possible at this point. My punchlist is still quite extensive. But hey.....miracles can happen. I'm hopeful to have it for summer and possibly for Salado. I'd appreciate any help you can be and understand time restraints working up to the classic.
thanks again.

[Darringeorge314]

I got a little more done over the weekend on the buggy.......fiberglass body is mounted and wiring is about 75% complete. Thanks Bill K and Bryan P for your assistance on wiring questions. Bill.....I appreciate your help on the diagram and thanks Bryan for fielding my questions. I appreciate ya'lls help. I'll post some more pics soon.
thanks,