Some back-story.. I grew up vacationing every year at silver lake, mi. I was in love with VW's against my father's will (a true GM man) and I always wanted a sand rail. When I was 15 I hung around a local VW shop and they eventually put me to work as a grunt helping out after school. I traded labor for parts out of the "junk shed" and I built a rail with some help from the owner. When I turned 16, I talked my father into letting me take the rail on vacation. I towed it up to the dunes and ended up blowing a rod thru the already tired the engine. Not willing to admit defeat, I drove 4 hours back home the next day to pick another engine, swapping the engine in the campground with some help of fellow dune flyers. Getting it running to make one pass on the dunes, and flipping it end over end on the backside of test hill (with my mother as passenger). I ended up being rushed to the hospital with a broken collarbone, broken nose and a concussion. It was obviously due to over ambition and lack of experience.
My father made me cut up my disaster project and that was that never to return to silver lake. I vowed that if I had a son things would be different!
So fast forward to the last week of July 2016. I am now 40 and I am blessed to have 3 sons and 1 daughter. Having told stories to my children and them wanting to see the dunes we took a overnight trip to see the dunes and swimming in lake michigan. We all piled into my 4x4 durango, at slow speed ventured into the dunes.
I was instantly back in love with the sand that had defeated me 26 years ago, and I should have seen it coming, so was my 15 year old son. I was reminded of the promise I made to myself, that I was going to do things different. That night my (very supporting) wife and I talked it over and decided time moves fast and if we were going to do it, now was the time. However my wife wanted it done before school started after labor day.
That day, I found a old 2 seater barrian frame that was abandoned and looking for a home on craigslist.
We drove and picked it up on July 25th.
A fresh coat of Chevy Engine Orange
We made fast progress getting some old parts that I had held on to from my other VW projects.
Here is 7/28/16 The Swing axle is installed and the front beam is going in.
By 8/2 we had the front end together and we were waiting on the delivery of missing parts.
On 8/3 we started in on the shortblock 1500 that would be the foundation of our 1641cc and Rebuilt 1600DP Heads.
By 8/7 we had all the parts to assemble the long block
On 8/9 We got the engine installed on the rail and some roller tires for stability we installed, We removed the Holey Bugspray Carb to Rebuild
We Also added a rear engine cage and realized we needed to change the exhaust I had the old stinger pipes left from the rail I flipped so on she went. I happened to have a T3/T4 Turbo sitting idle so here is the dream shot of how that might work out... some day at least.
On 8/10
We got a bit of rain and we were waiting on a bugspray rebuild kit to arrive so we started in on the wiring. I fabricated the console out of some scrap aluminum and here is how that turned out.
On 8/11 I purchased some spare donut tires from a local salvage yard and had them mounted on the old school narrow 4" rims. We are getting Excited It Looks Like a Real Sand Rail!
The Next Day we hooked up the wiring, rebuilt the carb and went to try to fire the engine. And our first major setback. The transmission was stuck in first gear and it wasn't going anywhere. So it was back four steps back. We pulled the engine and trans, and pulled apart the swing axle to find water in it along with a minor bell housing crack. I should have pulled the drain plug before I installed it. Drab! After some searching the area all I could find was a used 6 volt trans and we went to pick it up. We spent the next few days this time going thru and replacing seals, redoing the breaks. It really was a discouraging blow to take it all back apart again.
By 8/20 We decided to test mount the seats and weld in the safety harness tabs and reinforce the frame from some missing bracing. We also worked on some custom speakers that we installed into some 90 degree PVC
Here we are finally got our parts and were excited to finally start this thing!
On 8/26...It ran! Sorry no pic's we were too excited and forgot to take pictures.
I decided I didn't like how the clutch was engaging so I decided before we put it all back together I would swap out the 180mm clutch and flywheel with a new 200mm setup. Again waiting for fed-ex
And the moment we all had been waiting for... On 8/28 she RAN!
But! The bug spray carb was no/go it would idle great and go full throttle but was a mess in between (as i read hear, this is normal) So with my labor day deadline fast approaching... I gave in a overnighted a new pic 34.
On 9/2 the truck delivered the new carb and I timed it by ear, and took the kids on the first real test drive. We worked the hardest day ever, buttend everything we could up and loaded up to go to the dunes.
My oldest son and I arrived at 1:30 am at the campground and pitched our tent. The next morning we went to appletree automotive and got some bits and pieces that we had forgotten to buy. By 2:00 we drove down the highway for our first real test drive (we made it street legal) . It was the most awesome feeling ever. The timing was off so it lacked power and wouldn't turn over the engine when it was hot. I eventually figured it out and it ran much better.
All said and done, we went to the dunes Saturday and Sunday and saw some of the most amazing sand toys ever!
My son and I we both so happy to know we had accomplished what I would have said was impossible. We weren't the fasted, or the coolest, everything wasn't perfect, but we were their! It was so much better than I could have dreamed 25 years ago, and it was worth every penny.
