I bought a single seat tube buggy with a swingaxle rear end for $60. It was very rough, the joints were not notched, but hammered flat and welded. The front end was crooked by over an inch, I think because it was a roundy round dirt car and had some "lean" designed into it. The beam was also welded on, with center steer.

I am married, with a newborn, so for me, anything less than a 4 seater is pretty silly. This first picture shows what I dragged home, pretty scary.

Before I did anything, I decided to build a tubing notcher. I wanted, nice, strong joints, not crap. My family is going to be riding in this. I haven't made it pretty or painted it yet, I wanted to use it a while first to make sure it doesn't need tweaks. I can do any size pipe up to 2 1/2", at any angle.

I stripped the car to bare tubes, chopped everything from the main hoop back, threw the swingaxle rear end as hard as I could, then widened the frame so I could sit 2 wide. Then I put the frame on 4 jackstands, leveled them, and attached the IRS rear end I had saved. I made the wheelbase about 10" longer than a beetle. I figure you can sit 4 in a beetle, but it's not fun for an adult to sit in back. I had a nice set of 215-75-15's on 6" wide wagon wheels, they will be on the back. I also have some very aggresive 165's on the front. The mismatched wheels bother me, somethign will be done there eventually. So here is how it sits now, remember, it's not done, I will be doing much more to the frame. There are MANY things I don't like, and for everything I improve, other things look worse and bother me more and I chop that out and fix it. When all is said and done, it will pretty much all be redone.

And just to show you my other cars, I have a 72 rat that I daily drive, and a 73 super that I run low 12's in the quarter mile.

Here's the rat:



And the drag car:

Where you from?

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"I got this..."

Northeast Pennsylvania.

thats a nice drag car, what are u running in that thing

Thanks Jessie, low to mid 12's in the 1/4. I am running out of gear, for about 2 seconds I am on the limiter. With the right gears, I think it would go 12.20 to 12.30. Here's me at Englishtown last year. Left lane. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCAgywfN ... P2u6JowvAA

what engine? size? some specs?

1550 lb Super beetle, all steel. 2187cc, IDF carbs, Engle 130 cam, 1 5/8" exhaust, street eliminator heads, 12 to 1 compression. No turbo, nitrous, or electronics. I don't know how much hp, I've never dynoed it, just tuned it by ear, reading plugs, and watching timeslips in relation to changes made. I built the chassis, engine, trans, and I did the bodywork and sprayed it. I have owned this car for 18 years, it was my first car that I got at 14 years old, drove it through high school and college, and it is now a drag only car. I didn't think that car would get more attention than the buggy!

Got the backseat area mostly done. Tied into the framehorns and upper shock mount area. Added some treebars. Not much needed, the rear tires aren't that big and the frame is pretty wide now. I decided to pretty much brace every joint for peace of mind. Chopped the windshield area out because I didn't like it. Need to figure out a way to have a windshield bar bent up or buy one, or something. I am also going to add some more triangulation here and there, some areas are too square and probably a little weak. When the time comes to paint this ugly sumbich it is going to take a lot of sanding, but thats the price you pay for building something out of nothing. I also cut out everything inside the main hoop. It was ugly and looked unclean. Plus the people in the backseat's feet are going to actually end up slightly ahead of the main hoop, so I added one horizontal bar. I will leave it alone under the bar for legroom, and triangulate above it.

As I said before, the beam has many issues, so away it goes. I have another balljoint beam with disc brakes on it ready to go. Cut off the old one, lined up the bottom tubes where I want them, welded in a cross bar, set the top tubes where I wanted them, and welded in the top crossbar.

Added some triangulation today, and also the bars and steel to mount the front seats. Last picture is the 1600 dual port that will be used. Got a used chome header that will work nicely. Only thing I need to do is swap out the externally regulated alternator for eithor a generator or an internally regulated alternator.

Found this box for the battery, fits perfect. I think it's an ammo box or something.




I'm going to use this propane tank for a gas tank, looks like it's 5 or 6 gallons.



Made this shifter box.



And got the new front end mounted.




Going to start on the controls now. I can't mount the gas tank and battery until I know where the backseats are going to be.

That 20 pound propane tank is 4.7 gallons. Its 40 pounds when full. LOL i work at ace hardware and they fill propane XD

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WTFO
We ride together, We die together, Bad Boys for Life
Loud pipes save lives.

Looks good i would do something about those back bars. It needs a motor cage if you paln on running it in the woods. And it just looks better.
Thats my 2 sence if you wanted it lol

Actually worked on this today! I am still in the mockup stage. I got a front hoop in, and an engine cage. I also came up with an aluminum tank. I also got 2 highback seats for the backseats. I had lowbacks but hated them. Once I get all the controls in place and working, I will break it down to the bare frame so I can roll it over and finish the welds. Then I will reassemble it and make it pretty. It is gonna be an ugly sumbitch, but it will be tough.

Very old, forgotten topic, I know, but just wanted to say that I still have this and have done a lot to it. It is mostly done now except for brakes and a few other details. I rebuilt the stock 1600 dual port engine and it runs like a top now. Frame is done and painted, seats and belts are in, everything works now. Of course, a project like this is never "done", but it is now almost to a point where I can drive it. Here's a few pictures. Please be kind, it's not a show buggy! *edit, not sure why the right side of all of my pictures get cut off.

Since there was some interest in my drag car earlier, here's a few videos. First one is me beating one of those new GTO's, they are pretty fast. Second one is me beating a fox body mustang. Third one is an in-car video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV7yPQ2j4mw&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG6FCkVMRQc&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaaXkzRkSFs&feature=plcp

came a long way paint helped alot.tubes from behind seats down to rear of eng cage would top it off but like ya said its a work in progress.carry on.

Well, I like the pickup-bed look, but I am going to add the bars you mentioned due to lack of strength in the back of the frame. The bars that go under the engine are just a slip joint, and when they drag on the ground I can hear them flex back. I think I am going to pin them to hold them on, but that still means the entire back part of the cage is weak, and I am nervous to pull from there. Adding the diaganal bars you mentions will really stiffen it up.

the ones on my buggy are slip joints also and its very strong.keep the picts comming.

Buggy looks good and damn that beetle scoots

exact same thing i was thinking

and i like the hell out of that drag bug

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Just Stand On It!!!!

Chris

Nice job on the buggy and awesome drag videos..

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