Manx II Restoration

rgreason · Post by **rgreason** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 12:32 am

Manx II #1261 Restoration

Hello all, just wanted to show you what I am up to this winter, restoring my Manx II that I purchased in June of 2011. Yep its snowing right now so I thought I would come in from the garage and get warm. Thank you all for your informational posts in this forum. I am a noob at this and have gained invaluable information, and it that has greatly helped me along the way. I am looking to restore it to as original as possible to try to keep the nostalgia. I love working on and cruzin in my Manx and I'm extremely passionate about it, so I thought I would share it with like minded!

Before:

After:

Received the chassis back from the media blaster and powder coater. Go Time.

Now just have to remember where everything goes

I installed a New Steering box, german rubber coupler, all new brake lines, Meyle tie rod ends, KYB GR2 shocks and rebuilt the brakes. I sent the king and link pin spindle/carrier assembles to
to Jon Furst advertising his services on the Samba. They were rebuilt with Febi/Bilstein king and link pins and they work phenomenal, he is very professional and gifted at what he does.

Here is a sneak peak of my wheels being built, hopefully get them soon. I custom ordered them from Tim Gavern @ http://www.dunewagon.com They are 15 x 8 in the rear and 15x 6 in the front. The wheels are widened from original vw wheels and powder coated in black or white (which I ordered). They should give my Manx that vintage look.

In the rear I am going with BFG Radial T/A 255/70R15 and in the front Mickey Thompson Mini mag.

Well this is where I am at currently. Waiting on rebuilt transmission from Rancho so I can finish the rear end. Once the chassis is finished I will be moving on to the motor and body. The body has original gel coat with I believe Black Fox metallic glitter but has seen a hard life. I have glitter samples which I can match and want to re-gelcoat. I still have a lot of body work to do, fiberglass work, filling and sanding... I will let you know how the rest of my progress goes...thanks for looking and have a great day!

towd-dude · Post by **towd-dude** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 7:03 am

Looking good. Always nice to see another one freshened up. Keep us posted on your progress.
Bob

manxdavid · Post by **manxdavid** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 4:20 pm

Great work, I'll be following this build-up. It looks like a very late Manx 2, one of the few they sold fitted with a Manx SR hood badge unless my eyes decieve me.

Just one minor thing, you may find the GR2 shockers a bit hard on such a light front end, I'd always go for as soft as possible oil shocks.

rgreason · Post by **rgreason** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 10:12 pm

Thanks guys, much appreciated. You are correct about seeing an SR badge, however I did not know that it was released from the factory like this, I assumed that the previous owner put it on. Thats pretty cool!

manxdavid · Post by **manxdavid** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 12:02 am

I've seen a few very late Manx 2's with those badges, I always presumed that they ran out of stickers and raided the parts bin for something else that would do...they chose well IMHO.

CairoManx · Post by **CairoManx** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 8:26 pm

His 4 digit serial number is 1261. There were 1682 four digit vehicles, so its actually among the first half produced. I don't believe they included Manx SR badges with Manx 2s. I think a prior owner added it, but that's just my opinion.

rgreason · Post by **rgreason** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 4:20 pm

I received the front wheels from Tim Gavern and put them on

They are 15 x 6 with 5 on 205 bolt pattern, powder coated white. I can semi-see the finish line, gettin' excited!

rgreason · Post by **rgreason** » Wed Mar 28, 2012 8:35 pm

I received the stock transmission back from Rancho! I installed the swing assembly with new german rubber boots, bowden tube, clutch cable, throwout bearing. I used a swageless stud to shorten the clutch cable which I was very impressed with, easy install, and it didn't cut into the cable like the cable shortening kit I tried before this.

Before:

After:

Also I purchased a shifter from Vintage Speed. It was the exact vintage look I was going for and I am really impressed by the quality and craftsmanship, can't wait to see how it slides through the gears!

Here is the sidewinder exhaust I ordered from Winnie, and hope to get it installed in the next few days

manxdavid · Post by **manxdavid** » Thu Mar 29, 2012 4:55 pm

Looking great but you may need a little more 'bow' in the Bowden tube.

rgreason · Post by **rgreason** » Thu Mar 29, 2012 8:06 pm

Yea I'm right at about 25mm curve now, I can add some washers to eliminate chatter. Where is a good range? Thanks for keeping me on my toes, I am always open to any help or suggestions since this is my first go at this

manxdavid · Post by **manxdavid** » Thu Mar 29, 2012 9:52 pm

I'd shim it until it's about like this...

I love the shifter by the way, too rich for my blood though...

rgreason · Post by **rgreason** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 10:08 pm

Got the motor mounted recently. I converted from generator and installed new Bosch alternator and coil. I also added new, fuel pump, Saco alt. pulley, and new crankshaft pulley from CB Performance. New tin cleaned it up a bit. The carburetors are new Weber - Dual 40 MX from CB. Installing the Manx Sidewinder was a little more difficult than I thought it was going to be. I remember reading on the forum that others had the same sort of experience that it didn't fit perfectly, and maybe the hot jetted coating changed the shape somewhat. Anyway finally got it installed

Before:

After:

Couldn't help myself and actually got it started right up with a temp setup. The exhaust sounds amazing!! Just need to adjust the timing, valves, and sync and adj. the carbs (which i am still learning about) a little before it is perfect.

rgreason · Post by **rgreason** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 4:40 am

Been working on the body for a long time now, sooooooo tired of sanding! Driving home after picking my son up from school, he randomly threw out the idea that I should "paint the dune buggy green". After a moment of thought, I believe it was a brilliant idea. With the white wheels I decided that a old school green would look really good. Sorry its been awhile since my last post, sanding...well it sucks...painting however is really fun.

The rear fenders had been cut for paddle tires, which I reglassed, attaching some tempered hardboard as backing to follow the contour of the fender. Same on the rear, cutout for carb was reglassed.

Tons of holes all different sizes, grinded to a taper and reglassed.

Just liked the frontal position of the gas tank neck, so changed that.

Lots of glasswork and used 3m High Strength Repair Filler for smaller holes. Used Evercoat G2 filler/primer, stuff is amazing, fills really nice and sands like a dream.

Went with a Hot Rod High Gloss Urethane from Kustom Shop "Sublime"...very happy with the paint, for an early morning back yard paint job. Not perfect, but did my best.

Parker approved!

I am wiring right now and I can't express how much time and energy the wiring harness from Rebel wire saved me. I am just ready to have some fun driving the Manx around, so tired of working on it, it has been a lot of fun!...but so tired!! Couldn't be more plug and play.

More pics to come real soon. Got the hood on, original windshield, new roll bar, steering column and wheel, headlights, taillights, gauges, just a few things to button up with wiring. Thanks for looking, hope you are all having a blast cruising around in your buggy.

FulsGld · Post by **FulsGld** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 2:43 pm

Looks like a first-rate job. Which wiring kit did you use?

rgreason · Post by **rgreason** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 3:34 pm

Thank you much appreciated! I used the VW Bug Universal Harness 12 volt.