New buggy project begins...front suspension, rear axles and more

[ve7kilohertz]

HI Guys

A new buggy has arrived at my location, mostly complete and just in need of reassembly, or so I was told by PO. It is reg'd as a 1968 but that means squat when it has IRS and a link pin front end. So the front beam, has no anti-sway bar, the steering damper is missing, and looks like there was never one on it, there are Prothane bushings on 1 side of the axle tubes, ie where the upper/lower arms go into the main beam, the other side the arms are just flopping in the breeze, no bearings, bushings or ??? Also, the shock tower is missing on that side, and the opposite shock tower has been lowered an inch.

First question...steering dampers or not...is there a reason for not having them on buggies?

2. Is there a reason to have Urethane bushings in the axle tubes? I didn't even know there were bearings in there until I saw another one apart.

C. There is a bus tranny in it...but the IRS axles are out and some balls are missing from the CV joint...are the axle shafts and ends the same for T1 T2 T3 T4 etc or are the bus shafts and ends beefier?

Sure I will have more questions as I progress...but that's it for now.

Thanks

Finally got some pictures to share...here she is before I removed the body

[BL3Manx]

[ve7kilohertz]

Thank you, that helps a lot. I have the Bentley service manual but it only goes back to 1970. I will need to find another one that covers the older ones. So this axle must have been dropped in at one time from an older chassis. I think since you recommend removing the urethane sleeves, (yes torsion tubes) that I may just swap in another complete axle assembly, and maybe just transfer the spindles and brakes over as they are in very good condition on the buggy. I have a few "parts" buggy/chassis without the fibreglass shell but complete rolling pre ball joint chassis. I have found info on removing a few of the springs that are inside the torsion tubes and will investigate that further.

Also found out that the fancy red urethane steering flex coupler (rag joint) is prone to failure, I'll replace that with an original German made one which is new in one of my parts cars. Sounds like urethane is not the right material for our light buggies, and that factory rubber is the way to go.

As for the axle shafts on the IRS, I will just try to find new balls to fit it for now. I finally found the stamped # on the bus tranny housing, it is on the front face of the nose cone mounting flange, right side for anyone else trying to locate it. # is 002.301.173A and I want to find out what gears are in it, I am sure there are charts on the web showing tranny data.

Okay, maybe that's NOT the right tranny #. It is stamped, not cast, but it looks nothing like codes I am seeing in charts. Back to searching the housing for another stamped #.

Thanks again!

[BL3Manx]

[ve7kilohertz]

Thank you again, yes, I really must learn all the proper VW terms..coming from conventional muscle car background, old habits die hard.

Will find some used CVs and swap the front torsion beam and carry on with the rebuild.

Cheers

[BL3Manx]

Unless its bent, your front beam is probably fine. These guys have replacement bearings http://www.wolfsburgwest.com/wolfsburg_new/front_axle/front_to_65/front_to_1965.cfm?type=1

There are also clamp on steering damper mounts available

[ve7kilohertz]

No it's not bent and is actually in very good external condition, I have yet to learn how to take it all apart, springs and such, the the problem with it is that he has removed one shock tower, and it is missing as are the bearings and seals or sleeves that go in the end. For me it's probably easier to swap in another complete beam from another one of my old buggies that I won't be rebuilding. I have 2 or 3 that were almost free and are all bug chassis that someone just welded on some additional frame support and roll bar and such, never did have a glass body on them, bush buggies would probably be the best description. They all have the steering dampers and one actually looks like it recently had new torsion bar seals replaced.

Another Q, since I have a few of these things, were there different steering box ratios or are they all pretty much the same?

Thanks

Have the body off now and here is the front suspension.

[vwracerdave]

002.301.173A is just a part number for the nose cone and will not tell you anything about the gears inside. 1968 was the first year for the auto stick and they were IRS, so yes you can have a '68 IRS chassis but it has been converted to link pin.
_________________
2017 Street Comp Champion - Thunder Valley Raceway Park - Noble, OK
2010 Sportsman ET Champion - Mid-America Dragway - Arkansas City, KS
1997 Sportsman ET Champion - Thunder Valley Raceway Park - Noble ,OK
Featured in Dec. 2001 HOT VW's Magazine page 63

Watch my racing video's http://www.youtube.com/user/okvwracer/videos

[ve7kilohertz]

And after looking for 3 days, I finally found the bus tranny # stamped, underneath the oil fill plug, below the bottom horizontal rib on a flat space with a rib in the center, bottom of the housing.

And the winning # is CK112 9095, not that it makes any difference as it is what is in there and I am not changing it, just want to know what gears are in it. From what I can find, it's a mid '71 to mid '73 Type 2 with a .82 4th gear and final ratio of 4.45 or 4.41 depending on if it's early or late 002 type. R+P of 5.375 or 5.429

Weather supposed to improve for the weekend and should get some time to swap front ends and get the IRS axles back in...then onto the brakes, engine and finally the wiring and body...yeah!

Heard about Miata seats but as I have 2 '91 preludes for parts, I may look at putting those in, with the original Honda shoulder straps as this buggy has a heavy roll bar and the shoulder straps may just bolt up nicely. Seats sure would be more comfy than the hard plastic bucket racing seats in there now...only concern will be height, hope they aren't too tall.

More later.

Cheers

[ve7kilohertz]

I answered one of my own questions yesterday. I went to my local used VW shop and found a pile of old CV joints and found the missing balls and a few other things. What I discovered, for others traveling down this road, is that the bus tranny at least the one I have, 002 3 rib type, has larger axle flange mounts, which mate with slightly larger CV joints than the bug, and what someone has done on mine is to put the larger CV joints on one end of the axle to mate with the T2 tranny, and left the bug CV on the outside end, which means that the axle splines must be the same for each T1 or T2. I completely dismantled and cleaned the CVs, new grease and boots and let out a few bad words when one CV joint rolled off the tailgate (my work bench) and landed on my baby toe, then onto the dirt driveway. Its funny how bloody greasy everything gets when you rebuild CVs. Took longer to clean all the grease off of everything afterwards than it did to clean and restore them all.

This weekend will be the front beam axle torsion tube changeover job, install the rear IRS axles and figure out a few other logistical things, like seats, signal light switch etc.

That's it for now.

Cheers

[tgodber]

Hi Paul;

You will be happy to have comfy seats. Height is a consideration but also width. Not much room between the body and the tunnel.

I have used seats from a Chevy Sunfire and Toyota seats. Check width before you do too much seat planning and fabricating mounts etc.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=638095&highlight=seats
_________________
My wife said I never listen to her.
Or something like that!

[ve7kilohertz]

Thanks Tim, I will go to the back 40 and measure the Honda Prelude seats I have, hopefully fit between the tunnel and body as they are black, have integral seat belt and I can mount the shoulder harness part of the strap on the roll bar. If not, off to the wrecker to see what I can find.

Hot and sunny here this weekend...wish it was drive-able.

Cheers

UPDATE...

Honda Prelude seats are too wide, 21", and the width in my buggy is about 18-19" max. Off to the wreckers.

[tgodber]

I should have said Pontiac Sunfire. There seemed to be lots of them around.
Hard to find seats that fit and are in good condition.

_________________
My wife said I never listen to her.
Or something like that!

[ve7kilohertz]

Thanks Tim,

We went to the wrecker on Friday, and Michael figured out it was a Pontiac the first car he found. We found a few candidates...skinniest was about 19", but it all depends on where you measure it, height off the floor etc. I may still be able to make the Prelude seats work. We found a few possible seats, forgot the make, but there are a few options.

Today, we decided to to do some real dirty work and swapped the front axle assembly and put one in from a bush buggy we had acquired in trade for a case of Bud . Greased all the joints, wheel bearings and got everything back together except for the steering box...as you can see from the brown sludge in the pan....I think I will replace the box, the bearings are worn and worm/sector has some rust...just easier to swap in a good one.

See you have some firewood ready for the coming winter...looks like pine. Need to get mine in too..hate doing it in October.

Cheers

[Glasser]

Where in the Okanagan! I'm from Kelowna originally, now in Calgary.
Project is looking great! Going to be a killer looking buggy when you are done. Enjoy the build! Kinda wish mine wasn't done sometimes, miss working on it.

I had my buggy in Kelowna once so far. Hope to get it back there again some day. Was fun driving it in the Okanagan.

Taken on Black Mountain over looking Rutland.

_________________
Brent
My build up http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=265364&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
Project#2. Neighbors build up. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=327008

[ve7kilohertz]

Hey Brent

Nice looking buggy!

Yesterday was the first official day of working on our buggy together with my son. We have a few buggies now but this one has reg and is in very good condition with just some minor work required and then reassembly. Hoping to have it on the road by the end of June....or sooner. We are out in the country behind Armstrong and have 20 acres to play on, and store buggies on.

Pulling a steering box out of another buggy today to put into this one. We pulled this one apart as it was rumbley and rough feeling and found the little ball bearings were rusty and the sector/worm had pits. Once we get the new box in we can wheel it around again and get ready for the next phase.

Cheers

[Glasser]

Father son project, doesn't get any better!
_________________
Brent
My build up http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=265364&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
Project#2. Neighbors build up. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=327008

[BL3Manx]

You're making very quick progress!

What a beautiful spot to work on a buggy!

[ve7kilohertz]

Well another great boys day working on the buggy…. we adjusted the rear torsion's once more, welded on the front bumper brackets..Michael learned to use the MIG welder, AND we got the engine running..and pretty well for not having run in 10 years or so. We set the body back on and have a few things to correct..the front shocks, touch the body, not the shock tower, but the top of the shock so we can either cut the tower and lower it, or drill a new hole for the shock and weld on a couple of nuts an inch lower, or I make up an offset threaded rod, to drop the required inch, and can screw into the original hole. Also brake bracket on the rear torsion tube is rubbing the body, easy to bend, otherwise, I think the body will be able to drop on. I could also put in a body lift but imagine that will entail and entire perimeter of square tube steel be welded on to the existing pan frame. The problem with that is the roll bar is bolted to the floor and the body, so would also have to raise the roll bar mounts on the pan. Either way, a little fab work, but easy enough.

Once we get the little fab issues resolved we can mount the body properly and do the wiring, steering column with signal light switch from a '67 Bug and then we are ready to roll.

That's our update for today.

Quick video for you....the link now works again....

http://www3.telus.net/radioboy/IMG_2404_001.mpg

Cheers

[ve7kilohertz]

Well good gravy! It's been over a month since my last update, and lots has happened.

Ended up pulling the original engine and put in a dual carb (Kadron) engine that had some work done to it, got it all tuned and put in a new distributor and changed the springs and installed a vacuum can and got her running just nice.
We mounted the body and made the little trimming adjustments, got the wiring all figured out and headlights mounted, H4 Bosch 5" with LED floods for slow crawling through the bush. Found some cool LED tail lights but then had to make up a double relay and some tricky wiring to get signals to work with brakes and then 4 way flashers. Front turn/park lights are from a '59-'61 bug and I converted the single element bulb socket to a dual filament and put in amber 1157 bulbs. Mounted a full '67 column with a steering wheel from my Dad's old '68 Firebird (first car I drove in the 70's when I got my license) complete with signals and the original high/low beam switch and relay. Horn from an old bug, and wipers from a '67. Fixed all the DPO wiring behind the gauge panel and cleaned everything up. This past weekend we installed full seat belts including shoulder belt, VW, but no idea which vehicle they are from but they work awesome and are comfy. Found a nice rear view mirror for the windshield and am still working on the outside mirrors, possibly going with 60's bug, or motorcycle mirrors with long stems and go right thru the upper windshield frame bolt hole, replacing the bolt with the mirror stud.

So to celebrate our achievement, I went and bought insurance and we went for our first drive! She drives great, straight and true, the engine runs strong, has a little miss near the top end, but that can be tuned out later. Tracks nicely and isn't too windy, but I forgot to lower the tire pressure from 30psi down to 12-15 PSI front and 20-25 rear. Was a little rough on the gravel road out to highway.

Today we tie dyed some T-shirts to go for our first run into town (when it bloody hell stops raining).

Anyway, that's it for now.

Cheers

Muppet Labs

Dual Carb engine

Double 4PDT relays for signals and brakes

Our first trip into town shirts