Long distance driving in a rail

fishybastard · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 7:23 am Post subject: Long distance driving in a rail

Anyone on here do long trips in a rail? I am going to be setting mine up for some road tripping for next summer and I am looking for some ideas on what to do to make it better for long trips.

Brian · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 8:50 am Post subject:

Nice seats and ear plugs.
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fishybastard · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 8:56 am Post subject:

I will be putting a much quieter exhaust on it thats for sure. The open stinger gets a bit loud! I am thinking of building some wind "wings" (i guess thats what they are called?) to try and cut down on the wind noise. I am VERY tight on room for seats so I will have to look around and see ehat I can use.

sloboatnova · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 10:16 am Post subject:

I don't know anything about your rail, but a body would be nice to keep the wind from beating you up.
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fishybastard · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 11:10 am Post subject:

Luckly I have a 3 peice fiberglass body on it. That makes it A LOT nicer to drive.

no1clyde · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 3:37 pm Post subject:

Just last month I took my rail buggy on a 650 mile eastern Idaho adventure. I found I need a better windshield wiper but we did fine anyway.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Mine is the yellow buggy. We took 4 days to do this ride and had a blast. The whole story is on shoptalk forum under eastern Idaho adventure if you want to check it out, there are many pics on there from all of use that went.

Ed.

2trackrat · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 4:24 pm Post subject:

I did some long road trips this fall. Lansing to Grand Haven to traverse city and back to Lansing. The temps where mid 50's on day 1 then upper 50's day 2 and 60 on day 3

So hear is a short list
1. heated seat covers (found at menards)
2. rear window and and back fire wall for eng. and wind noise. ( this made a big difference)
3. small roof (yes I know why not buy a car but the small panel over my head keeps the wind moving over my head)
4. yes ear plugs.
5. a gas gauge or a small reserve can.
6. carry a tarp and bungee cords for rain and over night to keep stuff dry.
7. tool kit, spare belt, oil, etc.
good luck have fun! check my FB for pics.

Axitech · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 4:30 pm Post subject:

12,000 miles so far this year! Longest was Philly to Gettysburg to Martinsburg WV to Pittsburgh, to Dayton, to Junction City, Ky to Canton Oh, to Pittsburgh, to Erie, to Scranton to Philly. In 5 days. A little over 2k miles total.

What do I win?
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He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. Luke 22:36

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.-Thomas Jefferson

fishybastard · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 4:44 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the tips everyone! Glad im not the only one Smile

I plan on doing some sort of firewall/ rear window. Also a roof panel and roof rack to hold stuff. Motor will be a little 1641. I will need to add a windshield wiper too. I love the heated seat cover idea! I have vinyl covers on the seats now so I could make them work. The plan is to spend the summer with my wife exploring michigan. 2trackrat, whats your Facebook ill look you up.

Axitech · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 6:25 pm Post subject:

Get a Walkman and a decent set of earbuds. You won't be able to hear a regular radio above 5 mph. Get your exhaust outlet as low as possible or it will get sucked into passenger compartment
_________________
He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. Luke 22:36

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.-Thomas Jefferson

fishybastard · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 6:51 pm Post subject:

I will be running a downward pointing exhaust. I was thinking maybe one of those speakers used on wakeboarding boats for the radio

Axitech · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 7:00 pm Post subject:

I had a really sweet marine radio and speakers setup. Sounded awesome at red lights. Couldn't hear it beyond 1st gear.
_________________
He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. Luke 22:36

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.-Thomas Jefferson

andk5591 · Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2014 3:01 am Post subject:

Seats - depending on what kind you have - just adding some foam can help a lot and your existing covers may still work. Yeah - seriously on tunes, unless you are cranking whatever you have, its gonna be hard to hear it and your ears will get fatigued after a while. When I freshend up our buggy in a year or so, I am just pulling the head unit. Already pulled the speakers. I REALLY would not suggest earbuds. Nice to hear that semi coming up behind you at 80 MPH.......

Exhaust - Since you have a smaller engine, a 1 3/8" header is plenty big, so you have a lot of options for a muffler. The nicest one we had used (sound wise) was a Thunderbird "Quiet one", but aesthetically it looked like crap. Running a super trapp right now and its actually not bad, even with a dual carbed 1914.

We havent done all that many long trips in our buggy, but on the one 4+ hour each way - the biggest thing that beat us up was the sun and wind.

You been to Hickory Corners yet? Gilmore Museum is freaking awesome. Plan on better part of a day for it.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone - 63 Short pan,1914.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Cindy's daily driver.
Max - 73 standard Beetle hearse project - For sale
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

fishybastard · Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2014 5:03 am Post subject:

Im am currently planning on running the BUGPACK 1600 class desert dualer exhaust with a super trapp on it. It points down so it wont be too bad. My seats are actually not all that bad, they have a lot of added padding. I guess I wont bother with the radio thing its going to be loud enough already with wind noise. I am probably going to seal up all the areas that wind can come in as much as possible. It will still have an open top though. I have been to the gilmore a few times and it is great! I love all the old barns. Its a nice trip down there from my place too.

Axitech · Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2014 5:41 am Post subject:

Look into a QUALITY rain suit. Frogg Toggs. Cast Galand are two exceptional units. Fogg Toggs will run $60ish. CG's are insulated and I get them for $35. I have both and they fit easily into an ammo box and are a Godsend when you get hit with a sudden hard rain. Trust me, you will get hit by one.
_________________
He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. Luke 22:36

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.-Thomas Jefferson

fishybastard · Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2014 5:46 am Post subject:

I have a nice set of rain gear for bass fishing so Ive got that covered and it WILL be kept in the rail. Ive been in the rain in this thing before and its not exactly fun

andk5591 · Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2014 1:30 pm Post subject:

Thats pretty much the same system I run on ours except its the Als or A1? header. You can add or subtract the discs to change the tone some. I think I run about 6 or 8 and its pretty good.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone - 63 Short pan,1914.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Cindy's daily driver.
Max - 73 standard Beetle hearse project - For sale
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

2trackrat · Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2014 2:22 pm Post subject:

my FB www.facebook.com/brent.jacobs.315

Dan the workingstiff · Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2014 2:02 pm Post subject:

We started out some 20 years ago south of Detroit and went west to the state line up the west side in to the U.P. And down the east side of the state. I do remember adding a plexiglass firewall. It was a blast!
_________________
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My other air-cooled's
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'75 IH 1200

2RL · Samba Member Joined: May 02, 2010 Posts: 177

Ive done a few long distance trips including the one mentioned earlier. Mine is the red buggy in the photo.

Things I would put on my long trip must have list would be:

A windshield (if you don't already have one) definitely cuts down on driver fatigue.

Roof rack ...more of a niceity then a necessity, but once you have one you'll wonder how you ever did without it.

A roof or some form of sun shade... for obvious reasons. Getting fried by the sun is no fun, and rain down your back is only fun for so long Smile

..... I think 3 days is about my limit

Hearing protection....already mentioned, but it definitely helps. I prefer to use earbuds and listen to music when riding solo, or if someone is riding shotgun with me I have headsets and an intercom that I can pipe music through if desired.

A small cooler if you have the space is nice, I sometimes like to hang a camelback bag behind me from the roll bar and use that on shorter trips.

Definitely rain /cold weather gear, tools, a spare tire if you have one ....the normal stuff.

Good thorough pre-trip maintenance .... speaks for itself. Being broke down on the side of a highway is one thing, broke down in the middle of BFE ....well that sucks!.


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