Last month we ended part one of our Doon Buggy build with our newly restored floor pan, having been sprayed and left to dry under the lights in the paint shop. This month we move on to the rebuild and actually begin to bolt bits back on to the chassis.

Don’t forget that whilst this feature is about the building of a Buggy and all the photographs have been taken with the body removed from the floor pan. All the work and repairs undertaken, apply equally to any type 1 restoration project.

A long time ago we decided that the stance of our buggy would be very race like and therefore we have set out to try and make our chassis handle a little better than standard, by fitting a number of aftermarket suspension tweaks along the way.

Whilst the floor pan was being restored, we stripped apart some of the components that would be required later and sent them away for shot blasting. Some of these were then painted in two-pack, whilst others were sent for zinc plating in a very fetching shade of gold – bling, bling!

The first step in our re-build was to unbolt the front part of the support bracket from the frame head and, using a wooden trestle, raise the chassis to a convenient height to work upon.

With the support bracket removed the next step was to offer the repainted - but bare - front beam up to the mounting points, though not before the front of the frame head was coated – and filled within – with copious quantities of Waxoil.

“We’ve recently had a few problems when we have come to bolt up beams to replacement frame heads” said Lee Southerton – proprietor of Volksmagic and the main spanner man on our project Doon Buggy.  “For some reason It’s never just been a straight bolt up job, a little TLC has been needed because they’ve not always lined up properly.”

Whilst the head was being bolted up we took the chance to fit castor shims behind the lower torsion bar tube, they are simply sandwiched between the tube and the frame head. This helps to correct the suspension geometry on a type 1 chassis with lowered suspension and also aids straight-line stability.

Standard length bolts are used for the top pair, with longer than stock being required for the bottom ones, Lee took care to use loads of grease on the head bolts.

TIP

“Everyone thinks that because their buggies are plastic they won’t rust,” said Lee. “The body work won’t rust, but because of the lack of full bodywork, they collect all sorts of rubbish around the front of the chassis and corrosion can still be a big problem.”

“My motto is ‘do it once and do it right’, use loads of Waxoil, grease and protect everything where and when you can.”

With the Puma beam (pre-fitted with its ratchet style height adjusters) now relocated on the front of the pan, the attention was switched to its rebuilding. The first job was to replace the torsion leaves, which had been removed prior to the beam being shot, blasted and repainted.

The trick here is to use plastic zip ties to secure the stack of leaves together as they are withdrawn and then when they are re-inserted into the beam – taking care to feed them correctly through the central mounting block – the trailing arms slide over the torsion leaves and push the zip ties out of harms way. They are then held in place, by tightening up the centrally located grub screws.

Each torsion tube was then fitted with modern, self lubricating, Urethane bushes before the trailing arms were inserted and secured in place using the large grub screws and locking nuts.

Our trailing arms had previously been masked up, blasted and then painted, before being cleaned with spirits before re-assembly.

TIP

“When masking parts for painting” said Lee, “it’s OK to use normal insulation or masking tape, but this disintegrates when faced by the shot blaster. In situations like this we always use heavy duty cloth carpet tape, it normally defeats the shot blaster, but it does take ages to remove afterwards!”

Before fitment our stub-axles were taken to a local machine shop where the steering arm eyes were machined out to 17mm to allow for the fitment of a pair of bump steer bushes. 

On lowered cars the track rods can be made to work at some extreme angles and on occasions may even make contact with the underside of the fuel tank – not good! The fitment of these bushes allows the outer track rod ends to be repositioned upside down and out of harms way. At this time we also took the liberty of fitting eccentric camber bushes which, when fitted between the top ball joint and stub axle, allows greater negative camber to be dialled in.

The next job was to fit the shock absorbers and the ones we decided to use on our ‘Project Doon Buggy’ were from KYB, supplied by our friends at Big Boys Toys. The ones chosen for the fronts were KYB GR2’s for use on lowered bugs.

Fitment was a straightforward bolt on job, though we did have one confusing moment when reading the instructions. We presumed the mention of a spark plug (!) was a problem with the Japanese to English translation and not some demon suspension tweak!

The steering box was then relocated and bolted up on the right hand side of the beam. It should be remembered that all replacement beams are originally supplied with the steering stop positioned for a left hand drive vehicle and therefore the old stop should be removed from the original beam and, after careful measurement, be welded onto the new beam. 

Once the steering box was in position then the track rods – complete with new track-rod ends - were refitted. The rods themselves come in two lengths with the shorter one being fitted to the right hand side of a RHD car. Once the track rods were in place a new Cofap steering damper was also mounted up and our new front assembly was really beginning to take shape.

Attention then turned to the braking system and it was decided that, as our buggy would be so light on the front-end, we would keep the stock drum brake system.

The repainted backplates were therefore refitted and the braking system rebuilt using new components, as regards to the brake adjuster Lee has another word of advice,

TIP

“It’s often much better to use a good second hand brake adjuster rather than a new one” he says, adding “the new ones have edges which are a bit sharp and can easily seize. Therefore the older, genuine original, ones are much better.”

Once we were happy that everything was OK, the new drums were fitted and secured in place. Due to our chosen wheels being Porsche fitment, we purchased a pair of drums ready drilled to the correct five stud pattern (5/130mm PCD) which allowed us to bolt the rims straight on.

The last two parts of the front suspension to be fitted were the uprated front anti-roll bar and the front beam supports. The roll bar was fitted using a set of stainless steel clamps and urethane bushes, whilst the beam supports required a little reworking of the mounting holes to take into account the extra off-set generated by the fitment of the castor shims. 

Next month – We get rolling with the fitment of the rear suspension, brakes and transmission.