so soon?

[Sandjunky]

Count your lucky stars to know someone who will do that for beer! He's doing a hell of a job too. I hope to be that good some day. It definitely isn't as easy as he makes it look.

[cbeck]

There was so many clamps, 2x4's, and straps it looked like an old lady in hair curlers.

[cbeck]

Spent sunday working on the rear suspension. Started out with 81/2" rear travel. First problem, The top of the trailing arm was hitting a new brace under the C roll bar. A little trimming of the flat plate on the arm got me 3/4" travel up.

Then I started on notching the spring plates. Took 1/8" notch to allow it to droop to 17* that type two joints are said to be good for. That got me 1 1/2+ more droop. If I mocked it all up right, it got me 11" travel using the stock stops.

[Sandjunky]

[cbeck]

The joints were at 15* with no mods yet. I almost didn't go through the trouble for only 2*, glad I did.
Dropped of my motor yesterday, good grief, 10 weeks. I was hoping to be done in July, but now I am hoping to be done by the end of September when my plates are up. The upside is I need lites, brakes, and for it to run under its own power to pass safety. Doesn't have to be shiny to pass. Probably doesn't hurt that my oldest son will be doing the inspection.

[enjoyther1de]

Nice tube work. Are you going to do an engine cage as well?[/u]
_________________
HBB took me to BBV.

[cbeck]

Yes, we will try to something a little more original than what I had. Motor is coming back with 1 1/2 qt sump and I am waiting for the long block from my builder[ 9 more long weeks ] to fab up something that fits. Currently waiting for parts and my card to quit smoking.

[cbeck]

I finally did the part I was dreading the most, capping the frame horns. First I had to move the park brake lever 2" forward because of the seats. Then made new tubes for the cable. I also capped the bottom of the trans mount. Tacked in my harness mounts, double shear from a+a man that Dusty mentioned earlier. They have a LOT of stuff. If you are fabbing something, they probably have what you need. I spent about 70$ on tabs, the budget didn't see that coming.

While waiting for parts I made some templates for the lexan panels I plan on spray bombing.

Speaking of parts, my schrader valve bilstein 7100's, my 10 gal fuel cell and remote filler kit, And 32" 240 watt w/4watt cree bulbs lite bar showed up. The 6' beam kit is scheduled to be delivered on tuesday.

Talked to my chassis guy last nite. Don't think anything will happen up there for at least a couple of weeks minimum. His seasonal business picked up and he is working 7 days a week on top of keeping his own junk[ I mean company fleet] running.

[cbeck]

My front beam kit, er, most of it showed up. I have seen what I believe is the same kit on 2 different sites. Showed up minus the 1 3/4 x 1/2 inch chinese arms. Supplier stated that he will have to have my arms made over here and the kit has been removed from their web site. 3 of the 4 beam bushings slid right in. the fourth however could not be persuaded even with a hammer, block of wood, and lots of lube. Turns out that bushing has a different # cast into it. Will contact supplier about that also. I am not talking trash, it just is what it is. The spindles are out getting king pins and bushings installed. It's not like I have any arms to hang em on for a couple weeks. I did start fitting some tabs, lites, and a plate.

[cbeck]

The arms showed up on friday. They look nice to me. The supplier said he was going to have them made on this side of the pond. Anybody recognize them? I have the majority of the big ticket items now, just hope my bulging disc slides back into place soon so I can work on it some more.

[dustymojave]

Pretty schnazzy stuff for a mostly pavement car!


_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[jsturtlebuggy]

Your front trailing arms look like Tweeds. They are good quality from what I have seen.
The only thing I don't like about them is the lower shock mount. The set I worked with had thread all the way out to the end. I prefer that the load of should be on the shank of the bolt, not on the threads. I fixed for my liking it by drilling in to the threaded part so shank of bolt would fit into the boss so shank of bolt would carry the load instead of the threaded part. I ran a tap threw it to clean up threads afterwards.
Other manufactures of trailing arms such as Fodrills and Woods use a lower shock mount that is open on both ends where you use a bolt and nut to hold shock in place.
_________________
Joseph
Fair Oaks/Orangevale, CA
Elrod Motorsports
Motion Tire Motorsports
Having fun with Dune Buggies since 1970
Into Volkswagens since 1960

[cbeck]

Thanks, I didn't think about that. Would 1/2" of shank inside the formerly tapped hole be enough? Would 1/2" of thread length be enough? I will determine bolt length after I order shocks. Guess I should start with measuring how deep my holes are tapped.

[jsturtlebuggy]

Look at the arms as see where the threads start in the shock boss. If is even with the outside, yes you should drill part way into it for the shank. I 1/4 to 3/8in should be enough for support. A little longer would work better, depending on how deep the boss is. You just don't want to be putting all the load on the threads.
Since you not using a coil over shock there not has much load on it.
_________________
Joseph
Fair Oaks/Orangevale, CA
Elrod Motorsports
Motion Tire Motorsports
Having fun with Dune Buggies since 1970
Into Volkswagens since 1960

[cbeck]

No more bj's.

[cbeck]

I think I have finally cut and cleaned everything that was intended to be removed.

I clamped the new beam snug in the bottom mounts and set the frame with a slight nose down attitude like it used to have and set the rake @ 5*. The I lifted it up so it had a slight nose up attitude and measured the rake at 7.5*. The po had the old beam set @ 0* when they cut it up to convert it from the original link setup. I am going to rebuild the top mounts so they look like they did when it left beeline many years ago. I also intend to re-brace the front what seems to be the norm, with the x node up towards the front and coming back to the dash bar done up in 1" .120.

[cbeck]

Good progress yesterday. I think I see limiting straps in my future. It is currently drooping 1/2" further than the shock when extended with more unsprung weight to come.

[dustymojave]

Even using it hard offroad you are not likely to require straps. A pair of Fox or similar shocks should handle the extension no issue. Most off road racers do not use straps on the front beam.

You're doing nice work installing the beam. I was worried a little about the 5° angle for a minute.But then you got past that. I would have recommended setting the beam at 7.5° compared to the bottom rails level. 1" x .065 is what my race car has in the front.
_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[cbeck]

I mmay need to get my shocks to establish droop to set my rack. This is with the rods setting on the frame at 1/2" past. I am feeling a need to take torsion bars out on one side and cycle it to see where the tierods want to be.

[jsturtlebuggy]

I use these for a lower stop for the trailing arms. I made these, McKenzie's off road had them in their catalog. They have been used for many years in off road racing. I made them from boiler tubing. It is very thick. The bolt is a 1/2in fine thread and a 1/2in fine thread set screw is used to keep bolt from moving once it is set. You can see it contacts the inner gusset on the upper trailing arm.
My upper stop is the rubber bump stop that is on the shock shaft.
Woods 2-1/4 longer arms, 10in travel shocks, 12in of wheel travel.

_________________
Joseph
Fair Oaks/Orangevale, CA
Elrod Motorsports
Motion Tire Motorsports
Having fun with Dune Buggies since 1970
Into Volkswagens since 1960