right i suppose i better start documenting this ..
its my intention to at least try and make a beach buggy somewhat like the original manx style fit on an alternative chassis, not that theres anything wrong with the beetle base or engine its more a case of i have a few suzukis kicking around the place and i would like to us them up,  so a swb vitara or X90 chassis  looks like this



its low in the middle section giving me a fighting chance of making a body fit and look somewhat standard



clearly im going to be front engine and rearwheel drive, this probaly means the front bulkhead is going to have to shuffle back a little bit  but firber glass is easy to work with so i dont see a problem,  next issue is the front suspension suspension towers on the chassis dont quite fit under the front wings they sort of sit right on the inner wing edge where the bonnet  meets the wing, if i cut and narrowed the front of the bonnet  then extended the wings inward to compensate for that then it would work ok, i doubt any one would notice my bonnet was 2" narrower at the front edge,  i have placed and order with FF buggies which will be due for collection shortly  but in the mean time i bough a second hand  buggy shell to chop about  and play with  until im sure its all going to work as i dont want to be hacking about a brand new shell,  plan is to make this a completely standard chassis with a stock 1600cc engine which is 105 bhp and then try and get the V5 amended by dvla to read buggy or similar,
im going to call this buggy 1 just to make it easy to follow as at the same time im going to try and biuld buggy 2 which will be a modified chassis with a better chassis and more horses, yes its going to have to have an iva but its just a case of following the book, wheel arches seem to be the biggest issue after a quick read of the iva manual, but Doon seem to be easiest solution there as its more wrap around wheel arch,  but as buggy 1 is first i have plenty more time for research   

so my height restriction is the top of these suspension towers, the engine can easily be lowered down till it below them



you can get the engine way down  which i will as it will lower the transmission tunnel thats running down the centre  of the vehicle




so heres the second hand shell i will be starting with







i will cut, modify and shorten this till im happy with how it sits then decide if im going to take a grinder to the new shell

and some background, i should have started with this really but never mind
im 65  ive just retired so should have loads of time on my hands but wifey seems to find a never ending list of jobs for me to do but they must come to an end at some point
we have just moved house so there a few jobs here to finish but the reason for the move was me wanting a man cave,
its not here yet but its on its way, the house came with space for a 24' sq garage and im going to make sure i use  every last inch of that lol,  the frame is up but no roof yet but i will get back onto it as soon as the weather picks up,
24' square  is at least 4 buggies maybe 6 who knows lol

but in the mean time i have space in a barn thats about ten minutes away  but its always a bind to shoot up there  for half an hours work,  but until the garage is done i will continue in here  its way better than most folk have so i know im a lucky man

Loving this !   

Loving this !   

i will do my best to keep everyone interested   

Retirement the best job ever so no need to say enjoy it, buggy build will be interesting.

well yes probably is the best job ever,  theres no dead line can always finish what ever it is tomorrow  but there is no pay either lol im working for free

but i do get days off to play buggy so its not all bad news   

anyway back to progress, this biuld thread is going to jump about all over the place as there are 2 buggies, i was suppose to be working on number one first  but my pal dropped this off outside my workshop door the other day,
its blocking the entrance so not much choice but to push it in with a tractor, so this is the running gear for buggy 2



then it was clogging the workshop up so i thought i better try and make it smaller




onto the back of my truck and off it went to live a new life as bake bean tins

so that left me with this



but at 114" wheelbase its a tad to long for a dune buggy

i had to do a bit of thinking about what length i wanted it in my  view lwb look to long and swb look just a bit to short so i decided on 87" more or less half way between  the 2  its also what a suzuki vitara is  so my bodies will be interchangeable between chassis

now that rear overhang just has to go  i cant be doing with that




and here you can see the yellow  lines showing how much i want to cut out of the chassis




the rearward of the 2 lines is right on a manufacturer's joint  front section slides inside the rear section so joining them back together will be simples   

i re used the rear bumper section which is just tacked back on for now, i need the body on to see exactly where it wants to be and also when this chassis goes to the shot blasters it will go in 3 sections to make it easy to handle, then it will get finished welded

then it was time for the centre chop

2 ratchet strap pulled the 2 halves back together and forced the front chassis up inside the rear section till my marks aligned,  will get a temporary weld for now until its time to split it back into 3 for shot blasting

the back end probably wants another 2" off it yet but without the body on i cant be sure



and tomorrow if i get an hour free i will shorten the front of the chassis down as it looks 3" to long to me

so there we have it a buggy size disco 3 air ride chassis, its quite curvy when viewed from the front, ive ordered some push fit air line fittings so i can work the air bags and see what the range is like

I know my welcome comments to most that join us are "Welcome to the Madhouse"

But you are taking it to another level my friend - Nice one 

thank you
the engine donor car is arriving tomorrow, that will convince you im certifiable lol