New Manx Kick-Out SS for France

[Pine]

Our friends from Canada, Vincent and France who have been traveling all over with their red buggy, have decided to build France her own: a brand new Manx Kick-Out SS buggy, as in the pic below :



From the Manx web site:

“Kick Out”: A surfing maneuver one makes at the end of the ride where he goes up and over the wave to finish with a bit of style and grace.

Re-body your old Manx-type with an authentic Meyers Manx Kick-Out S.S. Manx! Save money, save time and save parts!

The Kick-Out S.S. Manx is placed on a shortened chassis, preferably of IRS vintage, and shortened 14 1/2" now, however it will still fit on an older chassis already shortened 14 1/4".

Kick-Out S.S. Manx Features:

An opening hood with inset headlights allowing easy access to wiring, fuel and added storage, dual-hoop roll bar, 2” wider rear fenders for those larger tires you always wanted to use, a new spare tire enclosure for our new optional spare tire /w adaptors, optional vented sidepods for oil coolers, radiators or just good looks, optional rear deck lid with dual headrests.

This kit comes with the following:
•Fiberglass Body & Hood
•2-pc Fiberglass Dash
•Mild Steel Dash Frame
•Dual-hoop Rollbar (hoops - polished stainless / lower - mild steel)
•Windshield with Bracketry, Center Strut & Center Rear-View Mirror
•All Body Support Bracketry & Fasteners
• 6” Headlight Bulbs /w mounting buckets & rims
•Wiring Tube
• “Kick-Out S.S.” Rear Emblem & “Meyers Manx” Front Emblem
•Serial Number Plate (mounted on body)
•Instruction Manual

Introductory Price

Only $5,495.00

Remember if it doesn’t say Meyers, it’s not really a Manx!

To start with, an old IRS Baja was obtained as a donor

Today marked the 1st step in getting France her own Kickout SS.

We picked up the donor bug (it was an unfinished project):
1969 IRS pan







I tried to convince France it was finished, she did not buy it!


I'm not going to be on Tom's (TJ-Kustoms) military agenda. I'm giving myself a 3 year goal.

Next step, ordering the Kickout and finding a shipping method to Canada.

We're still very undecided on the color.
We're not going to get another Red buggy, Orange and Green are not really to our taste. That leaves Yellow, Blue and Grey.

I'm leaning towards Canadian Blue and France likes Gun Metal Grey. I'm sceptical that the Grey would 'punch' enough.

We still have a bit of time to sort it out while I call around for shipping options.

Before I scrap all the topside, are there any parts that I should offer to my local community? Are there any har to find parts that I should be offering?

We made progress this week-end!

I told France that she had to get the car in the shop 1st!


After a few minutes, I got the tractor out and we pulled it in the shop.

Started to remove the carpet and the PO left me a few suprises!




The seperation took some cutting...




Of course, I forgot the last 2 bolts on the front beam...


Then France worked the hoist and seperation began






The good news is the rear is pretty solid (for an North-East survivor) but the front needs a lot of work. I'll need to replace the head end and get some floors. The beam is new.

I got the floors off as well.

Felt good to get some work done.

This thread will be updated with the progress of the project - perhaps Vincent could share with us the secret of getting his Significant Other involved in the garage?

[Ron&Gill]

Hello Bruce!

That's Bruce... Bruce Meyers...

[Pine]

More progress today, temperature was below 30°F and I opted to work in my small un-insulated garage.

Still got some progress.





This should be fine with a little hot glue... lol


This side may require more glue and maybe a little duct tape!


Got scared whne I saw this, at 1st I worried the torsion housing may have been hit but as it turns out, it's the rear floor brace that moved forward. Measured it and the torsion is straight.


Another PO suprise, the top torsion plate hole was drilled to remove a presumably broken bolt. Very little precaution was taken and they drilled way off and part of the old bolt was actually still in the threads. Not sure what I'm going to do here. Thinking helicoil...


Tonight everything is disasembled. The tunnel will be takled next and I'll start to fab a replacement piece for the pedal assembly.

I alreadt ordered a head end and new floors but as this is Canada, it takes almost a month to receive them.

[Pine]

Got some progress today. I must admit it was slower than anticipated due to migrane issues.

Cut lines.



















I think it turned out fine. Going to try to locate a friend with a bead roler to fab the bottom plate.

I should receive the floors and the head end next week. Unfortunatly, we're off to Florida for a short vacation next Saturday. Probably not going to be able to work on it until xmas next.

[Pine]

Fed-Santa-Ex came by today... Too bad I won't be able to work on the car for a few weeks...



Of course, left side is in the box... The quality is very nice and I look forward to starting the rebuild.

Of course, the 1st order of business will be to media blast the frame.

[Pine]

I was working on France's frame today and I pushed my buggy out of the garage. When came time to push it back, I thought it would be easier to drive it back in. In -15°C weather, it fired right up. When I went to the back to check the engine, suprised:



Looks like squirls or mice decided it would be a good idea to load the engine with corn.

I'm left thinking I need to pull the engine and the tin to ensure I'm not poping pop-corn next season while driving!

Crap.

[flatfourfan]

I dig this guys updates on the samba........always his missus and a pint of something close at hand..........that's pretty cool.

[Pine]

Progress...

Got the frame head replaced.
Fixed the torsion cap thread.
Welded the broken floor support.
Removed and cleaned up the read floor braces.



Before:


After:


Before:


After:








Before:


After:

[Pine]

In case you wondered, this is what this thread is all about

[DR WATSON]

I like

[flatfourfan]

it's alive!!!!!!!!!

[vincent9993]

Some more progress. France also made good on her promise to help working on HER dune buggy!





































Making progress on 2 fronts...

Got a hold of Stewart Transport and we may be able to get the body shipped... More on this later as we work out the details.

France made good again on her promise to help out.

We got the floors welded in and we're happy with the result.















Got some more work done today.

Sanblasting machine did not want to cooporate in -25°C temp... It kept getting clogged up and I'll have to try that again when weather cooporates a little more.

I still fixed the bump stop holder and got the bearings removed and cleaned the housings.

Machined the head of a bolt round and smoothed it out




Drilled through the mount and welded the bolt from underneeath.




Here are the installed floors






Got some more progress done today. Invested in some dry new sandblast material and the warmer weather helped getting the rear suspension arms all cleaned up. France was on deck again lending a hand.

We're happy with our progress. Now we need more parts to continue...











Test fitted the new caps, those are bad ass!

[hitlers revenge]

Well done guys, thats looking super cool.

[Pine]

Thanks for the update, guys! Looks pretty cold there in your part of the world...

I nominate this one as pic of the Month for Feb 2012

[vincent9993]

A few more pictures of this week-end's progress.







Quick question, should I replace the trailing arm bushings with new urethane ones? I'm concerned they're going to be a PITA to replace and mount.

CIP1 has them but they are OOS right now. Is there a better option?

Devil's in the details, so they say...

I found a local supplier of stainless bolts. Looks pretty...





They also carry (or can order) exotic alloys such as Titanium. I'm 2nd guessing of using the ss bolts, as it turns out, it does not look like you can have grade 8 in that allow. I may ask them to order indented hex washer bolts out of Titanium...