JBugs - Father & Son - First Drive - Manual Transmission

Shortly after Nathan bought his first car, the Baja Bug that he and Sam have been working on in our video series, Sam picked up an old sand rail from a friend. It was complete, and came with an extra engine, that was closer to running than the engine that was in Nate's Baja Bug. So Sam & Nate got the top end swapped out on that engine and put it in the back of Nate's Baja. The original engine from Nate's Baja was torn down, inspected and then with Sam's guidance, rebuilt by Nate and stuck in the back of the sand rail.

Fast forward a few months and Sam and Nate were able to take some time to get the sand rail back in working order. So after some short trips back and forth to Grandpa's house a few miles away, they took it out to Geiser Loop, just south of Lake Pleasant, in Arizona so Nathan could finally drive a VW powered vehicle with a manual transmission.

Now, Nathan has been "driving" since he was 8 years old, everything from 4 seat Razors to turbo Can-Am side by sides, from old tractors to two stick lawn mowers, and from old Toyota LandCruisers to a dirt bike with a manual clutch. So he's got some driving experience, just not with a foot pedal clutch and a manual transmission equipped vehicle.

The trip started off well enough until the front right link pin pinch bolts found their way off the front trailing arms. After the front right spindle came loose at 50 mph, he noticed the right outer tie rod was missing the retaining nut! Hind sight being 20/20 it was pretty stupid of Sam to take the sand rail off road without going over every nut and bolt on the brakes and suspension...but nothing serious was broken fortunately. So Sam and Nate limped the rail back to the truck and trailer, took it home, got it fixed and did a "nut and bolt" check on the car and brought it back out for Nate's first drive!

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[Salamander-wmkv]

New core memory unlocked: Learning to drive in the desert with dad. Good job Nate!

[TrixedOut]

These videos make my heart sing! I love watching you two!

[IRL_Quests]

I remember my first ride my dad took me out in the middle of the city during rush hour. I was so stressed and I flooded the carb. This seems like a much better place to learn 😂

[hotroddevils]

...you got lucky, going 50mph and losing a front wheel! looks like the pedals are "just in reach" of Nate's feet, that being said, Nate you did a really good job. I've seen adults struggle for long periods of time trying to learn a manual trans. Keep up the good work guys!