Fastest Buggy Around ..... Meyers Manx Kick-Out Tradional

How-to building, restoration, repairs, and fun with your authentic Manx!
Brad
Posts: 165
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2015 6:41 am

Re: Fastest Buggy Around ..... Meyers Manx Kick-Out Tradiona

Post by Brad »

OldManx wrote:BRAD....
question....Why do you NOT install a Sway-A-Way center adjuster in the rear torsion housing of cars that will still use torsion bars ??.....THIS was one of the better mods. we made when constructing my Class 11 Bug !! Just curious...cost prohibitive ( $ 300, just for part) You do great work, besides...... :

375833903757
Why ?

I use to put them into a lot of cars but to be honest found them to be a waste of time and more often then not a failure point.

Cost never really came into it, I just don't like them so I don't use them unless someone wants one and then it is on their head.
Brad
Posts: 165
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2015 6:41 am

Re: Fastest Buggy Around ..... Meyers Manx Kick-Out Tradiona

Post by Brad »

While the pan was getting finished it was time to start on the loom. Although there are a number of looms people seem to use in Buggies I prefer to make my own as all the ones I have seen are a compromise and leave gaps in areas. By doing it in house we can control the quality and make sure we are happy with it going into one of our builds.

Now there is no rocket science to making a buggy loom, an aircooled VW is hardly complicated and it really just takes time and a few terminals and some wires. Over the last 20 plus years I have learnt a few tricks but the main one is knowing where to get the components I like to use.

Like most looms we start with wire off the roll. We have two options but for this build it will just be Automotive grade Vinyl and Multi strand copper .

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It them gets laid out on the board like a game of battleships. The board has a threaded holes every 100mm and I use different pins for different purposes. In the case on a Kick-Out I have a picture of where the pins go so I can lay it out without having to re-measure it off the buggy

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For example at 1-19 is the rear intersection coming out of the harness tube. while 9-19 is the starter motor and so on.

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Once everything is laid out I begin to loom, heat shrink and terminate it.

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Once done it is pulled off the board and ready to go into the Buggy

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Like all out builds we use the same weather proof fuse block and sequence

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Now we just need the Buggy finished to put it in
Brad
Posts: 165
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2015 6:41 am

Re: Fastest Buggy Around ..... Meyers Manx Kick-Out Tradiona

Post by Brad »

The floor pan is now on its way to being done which is a good thing since we are into the last 48 hrs of the build.

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We have the engine in place and the wheels fitted up.

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Wheels are looking sweet and the Meyers Manx Logo's just cap it off :lol:

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Rear brake lines are in place and everything is almost ready for the body .

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Engine is in and dressed

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Like most things in a Buggy Build there are many ways to go about putting in together. One of the things we like to do is cover all our hard lines where they go into the tunnel with cloth walled hose and cable tie it inside and out. We find this last longer than the grommets and ensures it always has protection.

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Brad
Posts: 165
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2015 6:41 am

Re: Fastest Buggy Around ..... Meyers Manx Kick-Out Tradiona

Post by Brad »

With the pan done it is time to fit the body, now this in itself brings its own issues.

We start by putting the pan together as shown complete with wheels. Once that is done we sit the body on the pan

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We then take it outside to do the actual fitting as you will often find you need to grind some of the inner body returns to allow for the shape of the floor pans in the rear corners. Once outside we simply lift it up and down at the rear while we take out any excess material.

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This is also the same time we fit the rear lights, steering column etc and anything else we can think of that will make a mess in the shop and put fiberglass dust on everything.

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Once done we put it down and push it back in.

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The reason we do this when the pan is rolling is that I like to center the body relative to the wheels and tires and not necessarily the pan. Nothing is square in most Buggy Bodies so the tires are the main thing people look at.
Brad
Posts: 165
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2015 6:41 am

Re: Fastest Buggy Around ..... Meyers Manx Kick-Out Tradiona

Post by Brad »

So with the body ready to go on we can look at the next step which is bolting it down. To do this we like to use the factory pan holes so we remove the body and start on the pan. With the body on you can't see the factory holes so you need to either drill from under side which sucks or make it so you can see where they are.

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To do this we simply chalk the pan .

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We then lay out our mounting hardware and ensure it is good to go. The Meyers Manx Kit comes with the body mounting bolts and we use factory style body washers to fit under the pan lip and keep it strong.

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Once happy we drop the body into place and drill the body in the center of the lip in line with the body holes.

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Doing it this way keeps it all looking neat and centers the mounting washers.

Now you will often get a body that don't want to play and it sucks in on the sides.

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If it does this then mount the best side in its favor and use a small jack or timber length to force the other side out. Sorry no pictures but feel free to ask.

Also remember the front two holes hardly ever get used so don't stress it. If you want to use them you will probably need to add a bracket.

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When we mount we push the body back if anything to give more room for the tires to turn.
Brad
Posts: 165
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2015 6:41 am

Re: Fastest Buggy Around ..... Meyers Manx Kick-Out Tradiona

Post by Brad »

With the body on and in place, clean it up and seal it on .

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Now we can move on to other stuff like finishing the body fit out

One thing to pay attention to is the alignment of the windscreen with the roll bar and rear body.

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Luckily I have the wonder of time travel so we jump a head a few hours cause I must have forgotten to take some pics ...

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So we can start installing the loom which we made a few posts back. The looms are designed to install from the rear so it goes in from there and gets pulled forward

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In most cases where there is any chance of confusion I will do wire wrap labels to make it easier for anyone in the future to see what goes where.

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As we move to the front we keep doing the same thing with labels to avoid issues .

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The base wires for the fuse box are put in on the bench. I write on the back what is what so I don't get confused with flipping. One great things is that the fuse box is sealed once done so no issues creep in .

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Then it is time to make neat meet buggy lol

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The wires get to have a party in the front, thanks Bruce to making the hood open :)
Brad
Posts: 165
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2015 6:41 am

Re: Fastest Buggy Around ..... Meyers Manx Kick-Out Tradiona

Post by Brad »

The TurnKeyManx fuse panel is designed to flip up when working on it so you simply sit it in place and start wiring it all up. As you go your group stuff and make it look as neat as possible.

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Before we can do to much though we need to do a dash for it. In this case it is a pretty simple design as we will be using the VW Beetle speedo and some switches.

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So we Draw it

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Cuts it

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Paints It

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Sands It

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And Installs it

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With the dash in we can wire it and start to close this puppy out

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Brad
Posts: 165
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2015 6:41 am

Re: Fastest Buggy Around ..... Meyers Manx Kick-Out Tradiona

Post by Brad »

In regards to wiring there are a few small tricks to making your life easy, here are two of them

If you are using a Manxter Style front bar and it has the indicator tabs on it

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Then before you install the lights cut some slots in them so you can get the damn wires in and out as once you terminate the front indicators you will never get them off.

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Once you have cut make sure you sand it smooth... in fact I will see if I can get these tabs changed to have a slot from factory .

add some tabs onto your front hood hinge to attach the wires to when you loom your lights

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Ok so back to work ......

So dash done ..

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I add one of these plugs onto all the wire jobs we do and offer a trailer loom so you can simply plug it in to make towing it oh so easy.

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Finish up the front loom and hide it away pre tank install

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Then drop in the tank and almost time to fire it up

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Brad
Posts: 165
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2015 6:41 am

Re: Fastest Buggy Around ..... Meyers Manx Kick-Out Tradiona

Post by Brad »

One of the issues I always seem to have is WTF do I do with the rear number plate on the kick-out .... simple question but no real solution.

That is of course until now with the TurnKeyManx rear Number Plate mounting thingy :)

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Even has a nice light on it to keep the cops happy.

Picks up the lower bar tabs to stop it shacking about ... I hate it when a number plate does that .,

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So with rear lights sorted time to get back up the front. We drop on our hood with headlight loom in place, I use a weatherpak connector to make it easy to pull on and off

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Of course we have out tabbed hinge to keep it neat

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And we are almost done ....

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Just need to add our TurnKeyManx Handbrake cover and flange ..

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And a heap of other cool trinkets and I think it is almost time to call it ...

Oh hang on we need to take it for a test drive ..

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Test Dude in place, gas in tank, smile on face ... yep another Test Drive complete ...

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I will get some better finished pics next week as I have a DSBE to get ready for a B'Day Party :)
aburger01
Posts: 40
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2015 12:08 pm

Re: Fastest Buggy Around ..... Meyers Manx Kick-Out Tradiona

Post by aburger01 »

Very nice, what was the total build time after kit and original frame were in hand?


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Brad
Posts: 165
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2015 6:41 am

Re: Fastest Buggy Around ..... Meyers Manx Kick-Out Tradiona

Post by Brad »

aburger01 wrote:Very nice, what was the total build time after kit and original frame were in hand?

We work on 100hrs for a complete build from donor to drive out so that is 2 1/2 weeks.

It often blows out due to external issues but the hours stay about the same just the time line slips. We usually allow 12 weeks from order to done
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