shifter/linkage

[Harpman1]

Just bought my first VW a 67 dune buggy. The shifter is sort of rough and I wondered if anyone has suggestions. Replace the shifter? linkage or what else ?
Also the front suspension may have a little play and bounce up and down sort of? Do they have king pins or what would help tighten that up.

[BL3Manx]

The stock shift lever has a bit of a long throw but its pretty good. You can buy after market shifters which have shorter throws and reverse lock out, but they really don't hit the gears any better

Sounds like the bushing in the shift rod support bracket maybe worn. I would replace it first.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1104293

The other thing that would probably help is a shift rod adjuster. You have to weld it into the rod just ahead of the coupling. It provides both forward and aft and side to side shift adjustment. Yiu might have a problem removing the rod from your car(it cones out the front of the chassis between the torsion beams) depending how low the lower skirt on your hood extends.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=722606

Its likely you have worn ball joints. They went to ball joints in 1966. You also need to check the tightness and security of everything up front, including the steering and brakes. You can do pretty much everything yourself except the alignment, but you might think about just taking it to a shop and having everything checked at once.

[Harpman1]

thanks for the help, what about the brakes, what are the best upgrades? Disc ??? or just keep the stock ones maintained????

[Dale M.]

With good functioning stock brakes buggy will stop fine.... Remember braking system was designed for car that probably weighed in at about 700-800 pounds more than buggy (stock beetle) since braking system was designed for heavier car you have effectively upgraded braking system by removing excess weight of steel body...

Only upgrade you may want to consider might be putting type 3 backing plates shoes and drums on rear.... Its all stock VW and it gives you about 25 percent more braking on rear...

I have done this on my race buggy and once you can lockup brakes it does not matter if they are drum or disk, they are locked...

And with new shift rod bushing and adjuster at coupler you can even make stock shifter work pretty sweet..... I prefer short shift pattern but even stock pattern is ok....

Dale
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“Fear The Government That Wants To Take Your Guns" - Thomas Jefferson.

"Kellison Sand Piper Roadster" For Street & Show.
"Joe Pody Sandrover" Buggy with 2180 for Autocross (Sold)
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All suggestions and advice are purely my own opinion. You are free to ignore them if you wish ...

[Q-Dog]

In my opinion, the best brake upgrade on a buggy is ... to run wider than stock tires, especially on the front. Stock drum brakes work great on a buggy. Until I put on wider front tires I had problems with locking up the fronts.

And run a dual circuit master cylinder if you don't already have one.
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Brian

'69 Dune Buggy
'69 Beetle Convertible
'70 Beetle

[BL3Manx]

I agree with Dale and Q-Dog, Type 3 brakes in back plus wider tires and definitely a dual circuit master. I would also replace all four rubber flex hoses. They constrict with age.

A simple/cheap and effective upgrade is to just put bigger (23.8mm) Super Beetle front wheel cylinders in your rear brakes.

The front brakes of a beetle are already strong enough to lock the front wheels on a light buggy when you make a hard stop. That means they just skid and provide little stopping or steering. The rear brakes are actually a bit weak so increasing the rear wheel cylinder size gives you more braking force in back, which is more proportional to the axle weight during braking on a fiberglass buggy. The goal is to be able to apply hard braking to all 4 wheels just short of skidding, without having one axle start skidding significantly earlier than the other.