Show off your Dune Buggy or SandRail

[FPGT72]

[ppilotmike]

My California Clipper on a 62' pan and running gear.

[alloutchristie]

[Stormin189]

2.7T mid engine sandrail

[c77owen]

My Berrian Warrior. 2082 with 11.5:1 compression, SPG roller crank, W130 cam, 1.25 rockers, dual 48 IDAs on E85 and now with nitrous. Street legal and a blast to drive. Next year will blow it apart and powder coat

[jake18274]

MY TOYS...

[PhillipM]

[racecougar]

Just bought this one a few days ago. Planning to make it street legal. It's a '72 1600, 5-rib, link-pin front, '81 Chenowth frame.

[PhillipM]

It was a little wet this weekend

But she still went well - 7th in yesterdays event and 8th today, out of 75 cars, and 40-50 seconds per stage faster than the next nearest 2wd competitor.
Given the amount of 400 horsepower, 4wd cars there, pretty happy.

[BFB]

I get the purpose of them but those fenders sure deter from the aesthetics of a buggy
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"how am i supposed to torque the rear wheel nut to 250 ft lbs??? " - clonebug
An interesting thing happens in forums where everyone starts parroting the same thing and "common knowledge" takes over.
Most experts aren't.

[oprn]

No they are not pretty but pretty doesn't win races, function does. It's all about being able to see after you hit a mud bog. Pretty is for curb and trailer queens and car shows. Each in it's place.
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Our cars get old, we get old but driving an old VW never gets old!

[PhillipM]

The mudguards?
They're regulation, have to have 120* arc covered, at least 30* forward of the axle, no tyre visible from above, no more than 6 inches of tyre from the rear at ride height.

It's to protect spectators from rocks mainly, there were some nasty accidents in rallying and safari in the EU a while back.
Even then we still put a dent in a marshalls car last year.

And yes, help a lot in the mud or water crossings, you can see the state of the screen sometimes. I need to get it recoated with quartz again to bead the mud off, I haven't got around to it with the new screen yet.

[PhillipM]

...and they're not perfect but they do their job in the water too.

You can see how much they keep the general dirt down even on harder stuff too there.

[Mudbug66]

Built 4 years ago from a junked one to this. Street legal and we cruise a lil with it but we built it for cruising the coast.

[67rustavenger]

This is not my car.
I was cruising through FB Old School Buggies page this evening, and spotted this pic,

I don't know if any here have ever met Sand Crab (Pat).
I knew him as a kid years ago.
Pat always had over the top sandrails, starting with corvair powered buggies.
The last time I saw one of his creations (pictured above) was at the Sonoma VW show and drags some 32 years ago.

Pat called the car above the Blown Explorer. It was a very well built car, IIRC.
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I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!
2003 Astrovan? GFYS again, Xevin!

[ghiatin]

I picked this up a while back. Got it with an extra set of centerlines, some old school tires, blown motor with eepco heads, swing axle trans, extra 091 trans and trailing arms for 3500.00. Came with a pink and it’s street legal! I think it’s a high jumper? Any ideas?

[dustymojave]

Yes. It IS a Hi Jumper Ascot frame. Similar to mine you will see in my avatar.

Cool buy.
Lucky if it IS street registered. That was what I planned for my Hi Jumper in the mid 70s when I ordered my frame, but my pals talked me into going offroad racing with it, it got crashed, and before I fixed it, California decided that they would make it so registering it for the street would be a VERY difficult task.
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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.

[ghiatin]

Right on, thanks! I do have a pink and it’s non op-ed right now. The gentleman I picked it up from talked about throwing a Honda in it, I’m not sure what path to take to be honest…how would a 1968 move one of these around?

[dustymojave]

Well since I raced mine with an 1835 with a 2 barrel Weber (single 40DCNF) and won races and a Championship against cars with 2180s that had beaten many V8 powered trucks...I would say it would work just fine.

1968 is an unusual displacement for a VW Type 1 engine. What crank/cylinder combination produces that?

A 69mm crank and 94mm cylinders makes a 1914. Which is pretty common, but is pushing the bounds of cylinder diameter for a T1.

If you want a Glamis big dune car, there are other frames that are lighter and work better for that as well as bigger engines with turbos that will also work better for big dunes. For general hard rock type desert offroading your engine and frame should work fine.
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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.

[ghiatin]

Not to sure what my goal is as to just want to get it running first and cruise it around the street. A 1968cc is a 92 p/c with a 74 crank. I'm thinking that only because I already have a set of 92 type A forged Mahle's and a clearanced case picked up like 20 years ago, thought it might be fun to build. A 091 trans was included with the deal, is it worth making this buggy IRS or would you stick with the swing axle? Thanks.