UPDATE! Manx Club Sea-To-Sea Safari!

Scott-Drolet · Post by **Scott-Drolet** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 9:57 pm

I'm just starting to organize the official Manx Club Sea-to-Sea Safari with Bruce and Winnie for October of this year. With help from fellow club members, sponsors, and the media, I'm setting up the route to drive buggies the 2,800 mile one-way run from Southern California to Nags Head, North Carolina, with plans to arrive in time to spend the week at the 2013 Manx on the Banx event. Tentative plans are to leave around October 8th, driving 450 - 500 miles a day and hitting the East Coast on the weekend of October 12th. Manx on the Banx then runs from October 14th to the 19th. Those who have committments can then ship their buggy back home (I'm looking for a carrier now), or take the scenic cruise back. Exciting things are in the works, including a commitment from Hot Rod Magazine to join us on the run, meet and greet stops along the way for Manx Club members in other states, and many other surprises that are too premature to announce. Lots of logistical issues, and we'll need to have solid, proven, buggies that can withstand the long haul. But, man are we going to have a great time! So . . .WHO'S IN?!

stubenj · Post by **stubenj** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 12:44 am

cant wait to her more. I just mite have to do this.
stuart benjamin

Tom-Kathleen · Post by **Tom-Kathleen** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 12:55 am

I'm in. Time to rewire & build a new motor for the '68 Manx. Tom

towd-dude · Post by **towd-dude** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 4:12 am

Oh yeah...... I'm in.

Bob

Scott-Drolet · Post by **Scott-Drolet** » Sun Apr 21, 2013 10:50 pm

I got up at early this morning with the idea that I'd finally put some miles on the new-to-me Manxter, especially since I haven't driven it but 10 miles since I got it. Worse yet, the original owner had put just over 200 miles on it since it was built.

By 7am I was climbing the onramp of the Ronald Reagan Freeway and, once up to speed, I have to say I was really impressed with the cruising speed and rpm level. I have rubberband tires inflated to 20PSI on 17" front, 20" rear rims, with what looks to be about five inches of sidewall. Surprisingly, the ride was actually really good. It would probably be better with 15" rims and higher profile tires, but it wasn't jarring at all. The trusty Subaru pushed me down the road at 68MPH at 3500 rpm, and by the time I hit 3800, I was nearing 80mph. Engine temperature at noon in 75 degree weather was nearing 215 degrees. In all, I drove 145 miles, hitting a max speed of 84 mph, with the car handling beautifully. I really like the ride and stability of the long wheelbase.

Next weekend I'l be out there doing the same thing as I try to get an idea of reliability and gas mileage since this might be my Sea-to-Sea Safari ride. One thing that has me concerned is the Type 1 transaxle. I'm worried that it won't be able to handle the 320 HP Subi engine for very long. However, I will say, that since I haven't really been putting my foot into it too hard, it seems to do just fine at highway speeds. Australia Manx told me the transaxle will work just fine . . .until it breaks. So, I have that to look forward to

. The jury is still out as to rather I'll drive it till it breaks, or replace the trans before the Sea-to-Sea Safari.

But, right now, I'm really enjoying this Manxter and I'm thrilled with it's performance level.

jsturtlebuggy · Post by **jsturtlebuggy** » Mon Apr 22, 2013 3:52 am

Scott,
Good to see you are getting some seat time in the Manxter. RPM's seem a little high for a Subaru engine. From what I can find the Subaru engine like to be between 2,800-3,200 RPM. Mine is at 3,000RPM at 70MPH. There is no need to turn higher RPMs for cruising with the Subi since you not needing to spin a fan for optimum cooling like an air cooled engine. The Subi does like RPMs and gets there quick, milage is better at lower RPMs. I am getting about 20.5 MPG at 70-75 MPH. With the VW engine in it, 17MPG was normal.

I see you are planning a 7 day drive to get there, I was hoping for a 5 to 6 day drive. With stops and meet and greets I can see were the extra time is needed.
Hopfully anyone that is planning to make this drive across the country has done it long distance driving in a buggy or motorcycle before and knows what to expect.
If not they need to try driving the buggy for several hundred miles in a day to see if they are up to it.

This is is going to be one fun road trip and I am looking forward to it.

towd-dude · Post by **towd-dude** » Mon Apr 22, 2013 4:26 am

Scott,
Seven days sound very reasonable. I-40 wise choice. I've ridden to the East coast twice on a motorcycle and the Mid-West several times (I was a little younger then) and it was a real adventure. I'm thinking this trip will be just as exciting and I'll be prepared for whatever Mother Natures want to share with me. This late into the Fall we can expect rain, wind (lot's of it) and very cool temps.
Can't wait,
Bob

Post by **vincent9993** » Mon Apr 22, 2013 12:38 pm

Great option for the route, we used most of this route on our return trip in 2009 all the way to Nashville then headed north.

It was a little less exciting than our arrival route on I-80 but we suspect the trip had started to take it's toll and we did not have the excitement factor of getting to destination.

Anyone who wishes to see our trip recap and get an idea of what's in store for you can read our trip diary on thesamba: Montreal-California-Montreal 7K miles Buggy
Note that the return trip map was altered a little and does not show us going all the way to Nashville. We decided to alter our original route.

Remember, this is going to be a physically demanding trip...

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4:

Day 5:

Day 6:

Best of luck to all those considering this trip! Wish we could partake...

Scott-Drolet · Post by **Scott-Drolet** » Mon Apr 22, 2013 8:52 pm

Joseph: Yeah, I may have to look at those readings again. These electronic instruments always seem to need to be messed with. I just got the gas gauge calibrated to "full", and now my speedometer is 15MPH higher than reality. Thinking of swapping it for the GPS speedo instead. But, the RPM is a hard wired thing, so it should be right. Maybe the five speed is the right thing to do for it. It's actually a six day drive, with just a little over 200 miles on day 7. I figure we're going to need some time for oil changes towards the end of the route, and at our average speed, we will be driving some pretty long hours.

Bob: I know we're going to have a great trip. I'm really looking forward to it!

Vincent: You're an inspiration and I'll be sure to toast you at each overnight stop. Just ordered a new Garmin since the only one I have is a handheld trail unit. It works great off road, but really hard to see when you're moving fast. It's what I've been using to try and calibrate my speedometer, but it leaves much to be desired.

Bill: You're right! less than a week after we left NC to fly home last year the Outer Banks got hit with a hurricane. We'll see a lot of weather we typically don't see. I'll be running the route through dryday.com, a long range forecasting system based not on weather patterns, but on historical data. It's 85% accurate up to 18 months out. We used dryday to pick the date of the Buellton run, and it helped us land between a couple of storms up there. We may not be able to change the weather, but we can sure be ready for it. I've got a hardtop and side curtains on order, and if I can figure out how in the heck Joseph got water to that interior heater he hooked up . . .I might try to fit one of those in there, too.

jsturtlebuggy · Post by **jsturtlebuggy** » Tue Apr 23, 2013 1:57 am

Scott,
The installation of heater is covered in the latest Manx Mania. If you need more information on it let me know. The 5/8"OD-.035"wall aluminum tubing is run under the gunwhale part of the body and ty-wrap to the side intrusion bar. I did drill holes throughlp the side of the body and lower dash tube to get the tubing inside to slip hoses over. To get the coolant in and out of the engine for heater a AN fittings were installed where stock slip went onto the waterpump housing and water crossover on top. I not sure where the stock fittings are on a Subaru 6 cylinder 3liter engine.
I can tell you the heater works great, I drove it up in the snow the Sunday before Buellton run and it was very comfortable.
The heated seats (love them) and the side curtains also help.
One thing I did find out with the Manxter enclosed that there is air coming through the gap between the upper and lower part of the dash.
Talking to Kathleen yesterday, she told me that on the HOT ROD Power Tour they did there was some water coming through dash in the hard rains they experience.
So now to figure out how to seal up the dash without loosing storage space.
Also adding removable mud flaps for rear tires. Don't want any trouble with anyone in the heavy rains that are sure to happen.
I will be bringing a rain suit too, you can never can be to prepared.

Scott-Drolet · Post by **Scott-Drolet** » Fri Apr 26, 2013 7:54 pm

I read your article last night Joseph. You ARE a master mechanic. That looks like a big 5 (are there still 5? 3?) auto manufacturer install. Really, really nice work and reasonably priced from readily available components. I'll crawl around under mine this weekend and see what kind of path I have for the hookup and tubing. I did remove the dash top the other day to look at the speedo wiring, and I can see where it would be very easy to get water coming through there. I believe a small cardboard or plastic baffle could be built, kinda like the old cardboard cover that was inside the trunk of the beetle to cover the backside of the dash. That would have to help some. I also saw a post from Lee Hofer (I thnk) talking about using shortened VW Rabbit wiper arms to get the arc higher on the windshield. I'm looking into that as well because my anemic little blades cover a band along the lower third of the windshield . . . I need to get another 4 inches of coverage or so to really be able to see out. Thank you Joseph . . I'm looking forward to seeing you on the run!