Sand Shark

I had to buy it, the the buggy was never assembled. The only holes it has,are the speedo and fuel filler.

Sand Shark
Rear view. I sold this body to a friend. It should hit the road the summer of 2006.

SAND SHARK MANUAL.
FRONT COVER.

SAND SHARK MANUAL,
REAR COVER.

The next buggy project...

I traded a pair of Kadron carbs for the body. It does need a little TLC.

The original Sand Shark ID tag and serial #.

The ABS dash is basically scrap. Someone tried to repair it with bondo and window screen. I will probably replace it with a dash from the Manx Club.

The hood was also repaired with bondo and window screen along with the cracks being sewed up with copper wire with bondo covering it. Oh, did I forget the sheetmetal that was pop riveted in with steel pop rivets the rivets rusted and popped the bondo off.

Th hood needs a lot of work. Whoever drove this buggy really should have had a bumper or at the least, driving lessons.
I already have 2 hours of grinding invested in bondo removal from the underside of the hood, so I can begin to repair it.

Here is another "before" shot of the inside of the Sand Shark hood.

A high quality, rusty sheet metal hood reinforcement.

The inside picture of copper wire "stitches" that were used to sew the fiberglass cracks together.
I am always amazed at the effort someone goes thru to make a repair incorrectly. Laying up fiberglass is so much easier. And it actually fixes the problem.

Outside shot of the copper "stitches" after I chipped the bondo off. Notice they didn't even grind the paint off before applying the bondo.

Close up of the copper stitches.

The first appllication of fiberglass is applied. The blue nylon tie down strap is under tension to hold the cracks in the hood together until the fiberglass cures.

The hood was cracked on both sides in the same spot.

I'm using the clamp to keep the edge aligned until the glass sets up. Waxed paper is used so the clamp doesn't stick to the resin.

Repair being made to another crack in the hood.

I laid a ton of glass in the nose of the hood. It should be good and rigid when it's done.

More glass work..

It's amazing that the bondo stayed on the hood as long as it did. There was absolutely no effort made to sand the finish off before applying the bondo. You can't tell from the photo but the bondo is 3/8" thick in places. Seeing it wasn't filling in a dent or hole, it meant the hood had a 3/8" bulge in that area.

I determined the tail lights are from a 1960/61 Corvair. Now all I need are the lenses.
Look at the way the previous owner cut the hole for the air cleaner. It's a real Rube Goldberg job.

SAND SHARK 005

Cracks on the side of the hood.

Another shot of the crack..

I already chipped off some of the bondo. It sure looks bad.

It looks like a lot less work needs to be done now that the bondo is gone.

Once again they really over did the bondo.

Everywhere the white paint is missing was a layer of bondo. No wonder it was full of cracks. It's alot of bondo for a couple cracks.

Just a little more fiberglass reinforcement

I filled the windshield mounting holes. It's probably going to get a new windshield frame, I'll redrill them then.

Now that all the bondo is gone it doesn't look nearly as bad.

SAND SHARK 004

More grinding?

The first application of fiberglass. It will probably take a few applications to build the hood up to where it needs to be.

Side view?

First application of glass on the side of the hood.

The hood after some preliminary sanding.

A little more glass here and there and it will be as good as new. I hope.

Just a few hours and a bit more fiberglass away.

HOOD 1

HOOD 2

HOOD 3

1960/61 CORVAIR Tail light lens.

I went and took some pictures of my old Sand Shark hood so I can be sure to get the details correct.

I didn't carry the "peak" of the hood far enough forward in my rebuild.

Another shot of the hood "peak".

I have to finish up the work in the license plate area.