Author Topic: Ruppster mini Manx (Read 5106 times)

josh · « **on:** March 21, 2013, 08:31:27 AM »

Like I needed anything else to fill my time....shit!

Buddy of mine gave me this super cool little 2 seater buggy thing for helping him out with something.....gotta love freebies! made by Rupp in the early 70's, I've been on him since he got it 5-6 years ago to sell it to me
Thought it would be cool to bomb around with the kids when we go camping!!
Last summer my oldest daughter got hooked on quading up a the lake!

So she's a little rough, missing a chunk of the body up front unfortunately! Motor is a Rotax 299cc rated at 14 hp!!!! should move er pretty good! Apparently they used these motors in ultra lite aircraft, snowmobiles and 6wheeler amphibious vehicles? Anybody played with these things? I need to try and get a drive belt for the centrifugal pulley setup
Of course as soon as I got it home I had to pull the body to have a look at how much work I have ahead of me.....

Been trying to research them a bit and info is a little sparse...anybody know anything about these?

Geoff · « **Reply #1 on:** March 21, 2013, 08:41:23 AM »

A few have come up for sale on CL in the states lately. The samba had some info in the buggy section if I remember correctly.

josh · « **Reply #2 on:** March 21, 2013, 09:02:08 AM »

Cool, I'll have to check that out....kid just woke up and I took her out and surprised her with it....she is stoked!! Says she's painting it pink, herself....haha. Gonna try and get the motor going today!

westcoast-paul · « **Reply #3 on:** March 21, 2013, 09:39:09 AM »

that thing is boss

you two will have a BLAST in it.

josh · « **Reply #4 on:** March 21, 2013, 08:01:52 PM »

hell ya! pulled flywheel apart today and tuned up points and stator mags.....proved spark and cleaned carb!! having a bit of a chore getting the recoil starter to grab for more than half a rev....hope to get it running tomorrow and find a belt for it. seems this isnt the factory motor, it came with a 230cc rotax.....299cc is much cooler! too bad the jockey that scabbed it in missaligned the pulleys by over 3/4"!!! no wonder it chucked the belt!

silas · « **Reply #5 on:** March 21, 2013, 09:38:20 PM »

cool ride...and a great father/daughter project!

blue bus · « **Reply #6 on:** March 22, 2013, 05:53:26 AM »

That is the bomb. never seen one before. FYI Rotax engines are bullit proof.
Ski-Doo still uses them in their sleds. I would start at a Ski-Doo dealer for parts.
Your daughter is a lucky girl.

Geoff · « **Reply #7 on:** March 22, 2013, 07:59:39 AM »

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MANUAL-1970s-Ruppster-Dune-Buggy-Parts-List-RUPP-/230949295995?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35c5a6977b

josh · « **Reply #8 on:** March 22, 2013, 09:19:26 AM »

^^^cool! ^^^^

Spent all night trying to get the recoil starter rewound....these things are my nemesis! Then I found a YouTube how to that made it look easy....my daughter is all over it! She says daddy dont worry I'll figure it out for you today

Yesterday she led her little entourage of neighbourhood buddies in and gave them the full rundown on it...it was awesome to sit back and watch her tell them what all the parts do

the one little boy was baffled by how much she knew about it!! Proud daddy moment!

josh · « **Reply #9 on:** March 22, 2013, 09:22:05 AM »

http://youtu.be/V5ZtZfgnnN8 wheelie machine!!

Lunchbox · « **Reply #10 on:** March 22, 2013, 09:48:29 AM »

That's too cool!!!

westcoast-paul · « **Reply #11 on:** March 22, 2013, 11:37:32 AM »

Quote from: josh on March 22, 2013, 09:19:26 AM

Yesterday she led her little entourage of neighbourhood buddies in and gave them the full rundown on it...it was awesome to sit back and watch her tell them what all the parts do the one little boy was baffled by how much she knew about it!! Proud daddy moment!

dammmn she is growing up fast. mine is still at the 'i like the green one daddy' stage.

68IIIbuggy · « **Reply #12 on:** March 22, 2013, 08:07:27 PM »

That thing is so cool!! The Rotax motor looks to be the same as the ones on the older Wajax fire pumps we used back when I was on the fire dept.

josh · « **Reply #13 on:** March 23, 2013, 11:34:38 AM »

Yeah Paul, she is! She really wants to paint it pink and purple....ask why? "So you won't want to steal it daddy!!" Haha

These rotax's were used in tons of stuff! Anybody have any experience in aligning these pulleys for the CVT style centrifugal clutches? Since this isn't the right motor for this buggy I need to build a bracket to line up the pulleys so it doesnt eat belts!
Got it running yesterday....sounds nasty!

68IIIbuggy · « **Reply #14 on:** March 23, 2013, 06:47:16 PM »

Is it a Comet CVT? If so there's lots of info on their website.

purple turd · « **Reply #15 on:** March 23, 2013, 10:22:23 PM »

Rotech research in vernon may have info on the motor

josh · « **Reply #16 on:** March 24, 2013, 07:36:33 PM »

problem with all the alignment specs ive come across are for matched pulleys i.e: a factory sled...this is a bit of a bastard!!! I got onto a mini buggy site and got some real solid advice on what to rig up....gonna be a bit of trial and error and time

josh · « **Reply #17 on:** April 07, 2013, 08:09:04 PM »

[blink] IT'S ALIVE!!!!!

josh · « **Reply #18 on:** April 07, 2013, 08:10:27 PM »

<a href="http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p201/joshbuchan/?action=view&current=1F329C55-4329-4E90-9A14-55C9C969C46B-7355-0000095E04BD5559_zps60903b80.mp4" target="_blank"><img src="http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p201/joshbuchan/1F329C55-4329-4E90-9A14-55C9C969C46B-7355-0000095E04BD5559_zps60903b80.mp4" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" />[/url]

WTF? How do you post a video from photobucket?

silas · « **Reply #19 on:** April 07, 2013, 10:22:21 PM »

fun! good times terrorizing the neighbourhood with that one josh!!!

(click share, click IMG for bulletin boards and forums to copy lnk, and then paste here on the asf)

josh · « **Reply #20 on:** April 07, 2013, 11:11:57 PM »

Thx Silas but still don't work for me... You got it to play? Maybe it's cause I'm on my iPhone?
Yeah there are a couple nazis in my hood, counting the days till Johnny law comes to have a chat

Tried to put the roll bar on but it needs to be modified to clear the muffler....that and some seatbelts might be a good plan?

I uploaded same clip to YouTube.....see it this works?

http://youtu.be/akk4wLQTGto

silas · « **Reply #21 on:** April 09, 2013, 10:12:03 PM »

Quote from: josh on April 07, 2013, 11:11:57 PM

...You got it to play?

yup, the photobucket link i posted above plays ok and your youtube vid plays ok too!