slayer61 finally has a Dune buggy!

[slayer61]

I took the "easy" way out. Fresh from airkewld on the way. I'll let y'all know. Happy New Year everybody
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[vwracerdave]

[slayer61]

^^ Thanks Dave. That's good advice. Appreciation. ^^
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[slayer61]

[Kafer_Mike]

Hey Slayer - The Datsun and buggy is likely comparing apples vs. oranges. I assume the 510 was running 'square' with same size tires and track width both front/rear. You are running 'staggered' on the buggy which will add understeer. If your beam is narrowed (I don't recall you saying), you further add to the 'stagger' and understeer issues. You won't find anyone running a serious autocross Beetle/Ghia with a narrowed beam. The shocks/sway bars/compensator also contribute to the front/rear bias and balance, good and bad. Lastly, I see you doubled-up on the castor shims to "add high speed stability". You shouldn't need more than one, if any, with your rake. Running that much castor will hold it straight at higher speed, but steer and turn like a bus at lower speeds. John @ aircooled.net has a pretty good article on his site re: suspension tuning (see link). Not being critical of your setup as I love what you've done with the buggy. Just giving you some things to consider.

https://www.aircooled.net/vw-handling-suspension-tuning/
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Kafer_Mike
Build 'em fast...or let 'em sit.

[EVfun]

[slayer61]

Mike & EVFun,
Thanks for your insight. Food for thought. I never considered that the Datsun was "square" ... while the Buggy is Raked...

Taking the sway bar off is something I can try. It's free, after all.

Thanks again guys. Much appreciated.
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[slayer61]

Ssshhh....

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[slayer61]

A new new transaxle courtesy of LNAC in Chico. Thanks Bryan, much appreciated and needed

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[slayer61]

The HD trans is going in and updates include a new Berg (rubber) mid mount

Thanks Bryan!

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[slayer61]

The new trans is in and it is absolutely bullet proof. I'm very pleased with the outcome.

We made our return to the Bug-O-Rama 2 years after acquiring the buggy. From this in 2021...

To this ...

My wife gave her good luck silver dollar to Bryan and it seemed to work for him. It kept him off the wall all day, and later on that evening, we got this back from him!

Congratulations Bryan!
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[slayer61]

It's good to have great assistants when working on a project. I drove the buggy to work on Friday last week, and enlisted the help of the mechanics, and the boss's young son to take on just a little bit of welding.

The end game was to put a tach mount onto the roll bar. It's PERFECT! Thanks guys!

For the record, the Autometer monster tach worked better on my buggy when hooked to the purple wire to the coil of my CB Magnaspark Ignition.
The green wire was inconsistent and said I was revving my 2276 to 10 grand
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[stevemariott]

[slayer61]

[slayer61]

[slayer61]

I added the rear (anti)sway bar. Well see what happens!

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[YEET]

I'm interested if anybody has any insight on the porting of the master cylinder, I see you have the rear brakes plumbed to the brake light switch port rather than the rear brake line port, do both ports function the same?

Great looking car by the way, looks like a ton of fun!

[slayer61]

Thanks YEET. I used a "dual" master cylinder, meaning it has a section for the front brakes... strangely at the front of the M/C and a section in the rear for the rear brakes. With that in mind, you can use any available port for the switch/switches.

Welcomr to the Samba!
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[slayer61]

So I have had a hunch that the motor is running rich, but had no way to prove it. I asked my mentor & former motor builder if he had any insight on air/fuel meters or wideband, etc. He said as a 2 stroke guy, all his tuning came from reading plugs, but if I wanted, he had a new, still in the package K&N air/fuel gauge/display that he got 15 or more years ago. He never used it and it was mine, if I wanted. For the record, it's a K&N Filters #85-2437.

Simple 3 wire hook-up. 1). Keyed hot 2). Ground 3). Sensor wire and I was running in less than an hour. Results below

Idle(ish) sitting at a stop light, all lights on except the very richest one

and rolling down the road (Don't try this at home, I'm a professional LOL! ) again... all but the richest light on.

The only time it dropped down, was on the over run. Complete lift off the gas pedal coming to a stop sign or some such.

Jets in the mail from CB and expected to be delivered today.

For the record, jetting as shown above was:
55 Idle
160 Main
200 Air
F11 tubes
36 Vents
Floats at 10mm no gasket

Stay tuned!
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[clonebug]

I have found AFR ratios are really a personal thing. You need to make your engine run the way you like it to run.
I have tried most every AFR ratio known to man and in the end I run what makes my engine react the way "I" want it to.
You can do lean cruise of 17.0:1 but it will probably take more throttle pedal to maintain speed.

My engine runs the nicest....in my opinion.....at around 13.3-13.5 AFR at warm Idle.
I run anywhere between 14.7:1 and 15.5:1 at light and normal cruise.
Boost goes to 12.0:1 at anything over 135 kpa and I transition at 12.5:1 from 100-135 kpa.

I did a 350 mile trip with cruise areas set at 14.7:1 AFR and climbing grades from sea level to 5400 Ft. ASL and I got 29.4 mpg. I think that's not to bad for a performance engine. Best mileage is when I stay below 65 mph....anything higher will cut mileage down due to high drag with a Buggy windshield.
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