I have a set of the ducted sidepods!

Olli · Post by **Olli** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 2:18 am

Well, I finally got them! They are very long so truck freight is the only way to get them. A big thank you to Collin Stewart of Stewart Transport for helping me out. They fit reasonably well except for above the rear wheels. That area seems to want to hang too low so it looks like I will have to fabricate a bracket off of the side intrusion bar and bolt that part to it so I can pull it up. The front fits very well. To be honest, I have only fitted the passanger side. I hope that the driver's side fits at least this well. In comparision to the standard sidepods, I would say that these fit better overall. Olli

Tom-Kathleen · Post by **Tom-Kathleen** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 11:24 pm

Well, where are the pictures? Just kidding, but I am interested. I am trying to convince Kathleen to make her Manxter Subaru powered. She is not convinced, even when I said she could have heat!! She wants to keep the car "simple". I am also interested in the fuel cell on the other post. Thanks! Tom

Olli · Post by **Olli** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 12:50 am

I'll get some pictures up soon. The driver's sidepod is now on too. It didn't fit nearly as well as the passenger side. The sidepood was too deep, at the bottom, where the torsion tube is. I had to trim about an inch or so. The front is O.K.... One thing that sidepods will highlight is how accurately the body was trimmed by the laminator....

To solve the issue of attaching the pods rear inner fenders I welded a short piece of 1" box tubing perpendicular to the side intrusion bar. Drilled and bolted the pod's inner fender portion to that. Tom I will e-mail you about the fuel cell. Olli

Olli · Post by **Olli** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 2:07 am

Here are a couple of pictures. I haven't used Photobucket in a while. I tried resizing but they might be too big still. One picture will show the 1" box tubing that I welded to the side intrusion bar. The rear inner fender of the pod simply bolts to that. The other picture is taking looking inside the duct. What I am showing here is that it looks like these pods might fit an unmodified pan. For those that don't know, the pan corners had to be chopped off for the standard pods to fit. You can see how my corners are chopped.

Olli · Post by **Olli** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 2:09 am

S...............o...............r..................r....................y

Olli · Post by **Olli** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 4:30 am

Today I prepped and primed (House of Kolor KP2CF epoxy) the pods. My pods came in a primer type of gelcoat. I really have to give Bruce some credit with the fairness of the molds. Those pods are near perfect for being straight. When blocking them down I really was very happy with how few low spots that I saw. The duct area needed some finessing at the edges. Nothing major at all. Good job Bruce! Olli Olli

Complex One · Post by **Complex One** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 12:56 am

Olli, Just saw that you were on the forum and thought I would see how you were making out on your Manxter build. QUESTION: So if these new style side pods are too long to ship other than commercial freight...how much did they cost you and how much to ship to you from Meyers HQ in So. Cal. via Stewart Transport? I really like the appearance of these new side pods a lot and even without going over to a Subi engine right now, as much as I would like to, they still look really great and give the Manxter a much nicer appearance. Also..did they modify the side pods that you got from the ones that Bruce has on his Manxter Subi? Reason I ask is that in looking at the pictures of Bruce's Subi powered Manxter his side pods seem to mount at the back the same as the original pods with (2) bolts going through into the Manxter body just behind the side roof support down tubes. That's how I have my original pods mounted now. Also nice idea with the cross brace like you did on yours as well. Your Subi engine will certainly look a whole lot nicer than that in-line 6 you originally had mocked up in yours. Now no one will be able to catch you.

Any information that you could share would be most appreciated and if you ever need an extra hand on yours let me know. I'm in Western Pennsylvania but still willing to help out another if needed. Have a great Labor Day Holiday weekend. Maybe some more work on your Manxter this weekend to get it closer to road ready perhaps?

Olli · Post by **Olli** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 12:24 pm

Hi Jim, How much for shipping? Tough question to answer only that I know Colin Stewart (I'm the one that put Meyers Inc. together with Stewart Transport). Colin gave me a price break. But figure on $200-400. Even $400 is good as I was getting shipping quotes in the $600. range. The pods that I have are slightly different from the red Manxter. I think that Bruce only made some slight changes . They should fit up the same though. In the pods that I have you can see what look like impressions of where there were bolt holes. They were located; up front in the wheel well opening, the underside where the body mount bolts are, and in the far rear where I have that small cross piece added. There is a gap between the pod and the body where the "old' pod would bolt up to. The gap is there to allow room for the cooling lines that Bruce ran . I really do prefer the look of the ducted pods. They make the Manxter look far sportier and lower too. It really doesn't matter what engine that you have! I am not using the pods to hold the radiator. Mine is up front. I have an idea, get Kathleen interested in the new pods. If Kathleen is interested and Bruce says that he will make more, let me know, and I will call Colin Stewart. Since that would make 2 sets heading East it would make it easier to get Colin to do it. Jim, I have been working all week on prepping all the body parts for paint. We are getting close now. You are also more than welcome to come by once I have the paint done. Olli

Complex One · Post by **Complex One** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 2:27 pm

Olli, Thanks for the info. Also great idea about shipping (2) sets of pods East and the offer with contacting Stewart. They are about the best, if not the best, closed transport that I know of all though Bruce brought my Manxter kit to me here in Indiana a couple of years ago himself as they came back East for X-Mas that year to spend the holidays with one of the daughters in Columbus, Ohio. Best part of it was that my Mother finally got to meet Bruce and had such a great time watching the Manxter unloaded off the back of Bruce's truck and rack system. Long Story! Remind me to tell you the whole story someday as to how this all came to be in the first place. Hey... Tom and Kathleen so when will you be ready for your set of new designed side pods? :hello: Nothing like at least being ready for that Subi in the future.

(1) set of Dragon Red, and (1) set of Pearlesant White for Kathleens please and (2) Subi's to go. Sounds like a great order to me. Olli...maybe when you get your Manxter completed Tom and Kathleen can come to NJ and my wife and I will come from Indiana, PA and meet. Then we can have the first ever East Coast Manxter Cruise Night. Any other Manxters on the East Coast? Then again you will have to keep your foot off of that accelerator pedal of yours and neither Kathleen or I will be able to keep up with you...

Olli · Post by **Olli** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 3:05 pm

I think that a little East Coast Manxter (Manxs too of course) get together would be great! Let me know about the pods...T&K need a little winter project

Olli

Tom-Kathleen · Post by **Tom-Kathleen** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 4:24 pm

I have been working on Kathleen to step up to the Subi motor. I have even found an adaptor & motor (junk) here for $50. No luck yet. Like everything else, it is a $$$ thing. I think we are looking at one more year with the VW motor, even though I have to tear it down every winter to make sure it is OK. Next year, we would like to drive to one of the Manx club events on the west coast. Can you say "7,000 mile road trip"?? I'm sure she will jump on here later after work & add to this. Tom Kathleen Adds ..... Jim, did you say winter project?

Every winter Tom comes up with a project and I have to cough up the $$$$! :help: He has been working in earnest trying to get me to switch to the water cooled engine. I think he wants the corner on the aircolled market @ VW shows, *she says with a wink* The problem is, I haven't even finished paying the original loan on the Manxter. I still have 1 year left! Do I want to commit to extra work so I can earn extra cash to pay for this? Between the two of us, I'm already walking away with most of the trophies, he's just going to make it harder on himself. So Olli and Jim, what I really want is reliability!! Will I get that if I switch to a subaru engine or am I just trading one moderate (I think it's really high) maintenance engine for another?..... or will this engine honestly be low maintenance with the trips we take? If I can get into this car like my daily driver and just GO GO GO, then it would be worth it. What do you 2 think? Did someone say GET- TOGETHER? I'm all over that! :rock: I vote for somewhere near Olli's place. I would love to see your shop and the famous Cobra and it's sibling, the Manxter!! You're not to far from English Town are you? There is a VW show there each year. That would be a great reason to get together. Kathleen

Complex One · Post by **Complex One** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 3:45 pm

Kathleen, At this point I myself am only thinking about positioning my Manxter #37 for a possible future upgrade to a Subi but with the look of the newer side-pods now. I just think these newer designed pods add such a great look and appearance to the Manxter compared to the original pods and Olli's offer to contact Stewart for us goes without saying. Thank you Olli..! Even though I won't be adding the Subi to my Manxter anytime soon myself I was just thinking about the pods for a small winter project that won't completely break the bank and at least prepare the Manxter for a possible upgrade sometime in the future when finances permit so then all that I would need to think about is the engine, adapter, radiators, etc. Like you said...once the first round is paid off....I completely understand! Just made payment 36 out of 42 so 6 more months to go for me anyway with what I had to finance and could not pay for out of pocket which was around $10,000.00 out of $16,500.00 or so initially speaking that is

and then I can maybe consider further improvements on the engine. I'm sure if I went back and re-totalled all of my actual receipts to date that it would most likely be several more $1,000.00 than that but who's counting with this much fun. I have missed having a Meyers buggy since I owned my first one back in the mid 60's and my last one in the early 70's. You just can't put a price tag on this much fun...even with all of the work involved on each one of them. Sure wish I still owned at least one of my originals Manx's but I was young and foolish and needed the money then. Oh Well, I now have a Manxter and love it just as much. About the only things that I actually miss from time to time are the shortened wheel base, tighter turning radius, and no need to carry a spare tire, but that is not why I built the Manxter anyway so I will certainly trade these lost options for the better road handling as I'm not looking to take my Manxter off-road anyway. As for the Subi over a VW engine...well I like my 2007cc that I have in mine now but with all of the performance upgrades that I have added to it over the past several years trying to get as much performance out of it as possible I am probably about half way invested into what I would have had in a Subi in the first place but didn't know about that option three years ago or maybe it didn't even exist then. As for performance.... I personally think that horse power is not so much the issue as my little 2007 can already climb any highway hill in PA that I have found so far in forth gear without even struggling already. More importantly I personally think that using a Subi in the back of a Manxter makes a lot of sense. Not only does it still look GREAT but you would also have the option for heat which means longer driving times here on the East coast. Better performances overall and I still think just as dependable if not more so, especially for long hauls like coast to coast or another Power Tour perhaps? Subi's are also known for dependability and extremely high mileage motors before they drop and will likely outlast a VW performance motor any day mile per mile with less overall maintenance. It will even get you there faster and probably for less money to boot in the end. I don't know about your VW engine but my 2007cc is only averaging around 16-18 miles per gallon and has been tweaked as far as I can and still maintain performance as a daily driver. Can't bring myself to taking any more of the performance out of this engine just for more fuel effeciency.

I still think that once I can personally afford to convert to a Subi that my MPG will also increase even though I will be adding to HP and performance but for now will be staying with the existing VW motor. Let's also keep our thoughts on a get together sometime once Olli gets his Manxter on the road. That would be a lot of fun to finally meet and to get together with everyone. Has anyone also heard from Mike Manxter recently? Haven't seen Mike on the forum much lately.

Olli · Post by **Olli** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:48 pm

Kathleen, I don't think that there is any doubt about a Subaru being more reliable than a high performance VW. I've had big $$$$ VW's that simply don't last. And valve adjustments every 1500 miles gets real old too. Englishtown is about 45 minutes away. I do wonder though, will a Subaru powered Manxter even be welcomed at a VW event? It would make sense to meet somewhere out this way as I am kinda sorta in the middle of you two. We really should plan on something for next year. Jim, you need to call Winnie and see if they'll even make more of the pods. Olli

gary dam · Post by **gary dam** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 3:01 am

Hey Guys, We just got our Manxter yesterday and we did get the duct sidepods. So I am sure they will still make them. They are still in the bubble wrap. I think if you look at my face in the photo,you can see, I have that look of "where do I start ? ". So you guys better be there to help me. Thanks ahead of time Gary and Annie

Tom-Kathleen · Post by **Tom-Kathleen** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 4:00 am

Jim I'm sure Tom was grinning while he read what you wrote! He has been telling me that the subaru is a much more dependable engine. I am leary of the subaru. I owned one in the 1970's. In fact, it was the first car I ever bought! I had a lemon! I spent more time on the side of the road taking out the air cleaner and fixing some thing or another.

I carried antifreeze and later oil because of faulty head gaskets. I had caps and rotors 'cuz every time it rained I had to change them. All the security guards @ work knew about me and my car!

I could be seen sticking a screw driver thru the butterfly valve in order to start the car until I had the choke re-adjusted every spring and fall. :help: I also impressed a state trooper when I removed the air cleaner and jiggled the throttle cable to correct a cable that was struck wide open! I couldn't wait to sell that car! I vowed I would never buy another used car 'cuz you can buy someone else's problem. Right now I have a 1915 with dual carbs. It is definitely more finicky than the old 1600 cc. However, I get 25 miles to the gallon with combo driving. This is better than my daily driver. Jim, when I got a new windshield, we shipped it via Greyhound. That was very affordable. Winnie would know if Greyhound would ship them. My windshield arrived in perfect condition. The box didn't have a mark on it! Kathleen