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winddude
Samba Member
Joined: October 30, 2013
Posts: 160
Location: South Vancouver Island
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 Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 8:39 am Post subject: Wood body lift or from the factory? |
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Rebuilding this buggy, The body is either lifted with wood or had wood body mounts from the factory. Anyone have any idea if it's original or after?
Some of the wood is rotting where the bolts go through, so I either need to cut it off completely, or replace it. |
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cdnltded
Samba Member
Joined: March 13, 2015
Posts: 381
Location: Pincher Creek, Alberta
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| Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 8:57 am Post subject: Re: Wood body lift or from the factory? |
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looks to be added on after the fact. The fiberglass does not quite match.
that being said i would replace the wood either with more wood or some metal of some sort. Being able to sit behind the windshield is very nice.
what part of Canada you from? |
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slalombuggy
Samba Member
Joined: July 17, 2010
Posts: 9145
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 9:48 am Post subject: Re: Wood body lift or from the factory? |
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As long as the wood isn't rotten just seal it up with fiberglass to protect it from water and leave it. They probably did it for wheel clearance.
brad |
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winddude
Samba Member
Joined: October 30, 2013
Posts: 160
Location: South Vancouver Island
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| Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 11:15 am Post subject: Re: Wood body lift or from the factory? |
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The wood is beyond rotten, it's mostly dust now. So i'll need to do something. It does give the body a nice slope, 3" in the rear and 1.5" in the front.
I'm leaning toward cutting the wood lifts out, because building a bit of a street/autocross car, but I also want to lower the pan at some point. Currently the clearance is:
Front on 165r15 about 5" at the closest at the front fender to the tire
Rear on 255/60R15 about 7" from the top of the tire to fender, but the tires are well inside.
Think I'll have enough clearance if I drop the pan and the body? Also how tall do the typical poly seats sit with a slider sit off the pan? |
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jspbtown
Samba Member
Joined: January 27, 2004
Posts: 5156
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| Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 11:41 am Post subject: Re: Wood body lift or from the factory? |
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Laminate some composite decking material for a much better lift.
Its cheaper, easy to work with, and will last longer than the buddy. Several links available that outline the process. |
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cdnltded
Samba Member
Joined: March 13, 2015
Posts: 381
Location: Pincher Creek, Alberta
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| Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 2:04 pm Post subject: Re: Wood body lift or from the factory? |
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| winddude wrote: |
The wood is beyond rotten, it's mostly dust now. So i'll need to do something. It does give the body a nice slope, 3" in the rear and 1.5" in the front.
I'm leaning toward cutting the wood lifts out, because building a bit of a street/autocross car, but I also want to lower the pan at some point. Currently the clearance is:
Front on 165r15 about 5" at the closest at the front fender to the tire
Rear on 255/60R15 about 7" from the top of the tire to fender, but the tires are well inside.
Think I'll have enough clearance if I drop the pan and the body? Also how tall do the typical poly seats sit with a slider sit off the pan? |
Depending on what you are running for
Front marker/signal lights you may want to leave that much clearance. I just recently had to lift the front end of my buggy back up as the tires wore/rubber of the wires from the lights. |
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winddude
Samba Member
Joined: October 30, 2013
Posts: 160
Location: South Vancouver Island
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| Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 7:29 pm Post subject: Re: Wood body lift or from the factory? |
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| cdnltded wrote: |
| winddude wrote: |
The wood is beyond rotten, it's mostly dust now. So i'll need to do something. It does give the body a nice slope, 3" in the rear and 1.5" in the front.
I'm leaning toward cutting the wood lifts out, because building a bit of a street/autocross car, but I also want to lower the pan at some point. Currently the clearance is:
Front on 165r15 about 5" at the closest at the front fender to the tire
Rear on 255/60R15 about 7" from the top of the tire to fender, but the tires are well inside.
Think I'll have enough clearance if I drop the pan and the body? Also how tall do the typical poly seats sit with a slider sit off the pan? |
Depending on what you are running for
Front marker/signal lights you may want to leave that much clearance. I just recently had to lift the front end of my buggy back up as the tires wore/rubber of the wires from the lights. |
How low did you go, what size tires are you running? |
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joehadams
Samba Member
Joined: May 19, 2011
Posts: 242
Location: Connecticut
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| Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 7:33 pm Post subject: Re: Wood body lift or from the factory? |
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we had to lift our body so that it would clear the carb on the engine. the body was originally designed for use on an older car with a smaller 36hp engine. made the frame out of 1x2 tubing.
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cdnltded
Samba Member
Joined: March 13, 2015
Posts: 381
Location: Pincher Creek, Alberta
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| Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 10:21 pm Post subject: Re: Wood body lift or from the factory? |
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| winddude wrote: |
How low did you go, what size tires are you running? |
So I put a 1” body lift on my buggy. As for how low I went I am not sure. I took one complete leaf pack out and left one complete pack in. My front tires were nicely under the front fenders. But like I said took out the wires.
My front tires are 165R15 on factory original VW rims wide 5
This is when I first brought the buggy out with the low front end. After I put back in a modified pack in each tube I have at least 3” between tires and fender
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Dale M.
Samba Member
Joined: April 12, 2006
Posts: 20377
Location: Just a tiny bit west of Yosemite Valley
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| Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 6:38 am Post subject: Re: Wood body lift or from the factory? |
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Never liked body lift makes one look it's a old style deep bathtub somebody is sitting in.... Both my builds were without lifts....
One on left was dedicated autoX car (now sold) one on right is for street...
Dale
_________________
“Fear The Government That Wants To Take Your Guns" - Thomas Jefferson.
"Kellison Sand Piper Roadster" For Street & Show.
"Joe Pody Sandrover" Buggy with 2180 for Autocross (Sold)
============================================================
All suggestions and advice are purely my own opinion. You are free to ignore them if you wish ... |
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andk5591
Samba Member
Joined: August 29, 2005
Posts: 16757
Location: State College, PA
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| Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 8:43 am Post subject: Re: Wood body lift or from the factory? |
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I see nothing wrong with putting wood back in. Wood framing has (and still is occasionally) in cars for decades. I had to fab wooden filler blocks for a new Berrien body at the rear and used treated lumber that I then painted over.
Synthetic decking is probably a better choice though. Alterntaively a better wood such as ash or teak would be good if sealed and painted. Would not use regular fir or pine framing lumber.
_________________
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... |
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jspbtown
Samba Member
Joined: January 27, 2004
Posts: 5156
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| Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 10:54 am Post subject: Re: Wood body lift or from the factory? |
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| For people who are not vertically challenged a nice body lift puts you in the middle of the windshield versus the top of it. |
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hillmotorsports
Samba Member
Joined: December 27, 2014
Posts: 432
Location: Morrisburg, Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 11:19 am Post subject: Re: Wood body lift or from the factory? |
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If the wood is totally encapsulated it will rot, just a matter of time.
The synthetic is a much better choice I my opinion.
Paul
_________________
Rosemarie and Paul Hill
Morrisburg, Ontario
(With way more projects than spare time!) |
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Dale M.
Samba Member
Joined: April 12, 2006
Posts: 20377
Location: Just a tiny bit west of Yosemite Valley
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| Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 1:03 pm Post subject: Re: Wood body lift or from the factory? |
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| jspbtown wrote: |
| For people who are not vertically challenged a nice body lift puts you in the middle of the windshield versus the top of it. |
Mount seats lower....
Dale
_________________
“Fear The Government That Wants To Take Your Guns" - Thomas Jefferson.
"Kellison Sand Piper Roadster" For Street & Show.
"Joe Pody Sandrover" Buggy with 2180 for Autocross (Sold)
============================================================
All suggestions and advice are purely my own opinion. You are free to ignore them if you wish ... |
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winddude
Samba Member
Joined: October 30, 2013
Posts: 160
Location: South Vancouver Island
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| Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 2:09 pm Post subject: Re: Wood body lift or from the factory? |
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| Thanks everyone! I'm cutting the lifts off this weekend. If I need them again, can always fab something new. |
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andk5591
Samba Member
Joined: August 29, 2005
Posts: 16757
Location: State College, PA
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2018 8:00 am Post subject: Re: Wood body lift or from the factory? |
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| hillmotorsports wrote: |
If the wood is totally encapsulated it will rot, just a matter of time.
The synthetic is a much better choice I my opinion.
Paul |
Really? - rotting wood because of being encapsulated, I mean....Never heard of that...Of course if the wood is really wet before sealed, yeah I could see that. A lot of the wood that I am involved with is totally sealed (guitars, etc) and they don't rot. same with my VW Woodie....Sealed like crazy...
_________________
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... |
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Sharp64
Samba Member
Joined: August 27, 2015
Posts: 5304
Location: Central Florida
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2018 12:12 pm Post subject: Re: Wood body lift or from the factory? |
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| Dale M. wrote: |
| jspbtown wrote: |
| For people who are not vertically challenged a nice body lift puts you in the middle of the windshield versus the top of it. |
Mount seats lower....
Dale |
Rear of my seats are on the pans and I’m still higher than I would like. Seats are tilted back a little which even brings me down more. But at 6’1” I’m looking through the top 1/3 of the windshield. I’ve considered either raising the body or having someone weld in buckets to drop the pans were the seats are.
_________________
1960 Indigo Blue Ragtop (Blue Barry)
1967 Ghia
1985 Westy Money Pit
“...some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.” - Michael Caine |
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winddude
Samba Member
Joined: October 30, 2013
Posts: 160
Location: South Vancouver Island
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2018 7:40 pm Post subject: Re: Wood body lift or from the factory? |
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| andk5591 wrote: |
| hillmotorsports wrote: |
If the wood is totally encapsulated it will rot, just a matter of time.
The synthetic is a much better choice I my opinion.
Paul |
Really? - rotting wood because of being encapsulated, I mean....Never heard of that...Of course if the wood is really wet before sealed, yeah I could see that. A lot of the wood that I am involved with is totally sealed (guitars, etc) and they don't rot. same with my VW Woodie....Sealed like crazy... |
Different types of wood, why boats don't use lumber from the big box hardware stores. even marine plywood will rot, ever seen a boat cassette or transom that has cracked and sat, once the water gets in it has nowhere to go. Plus in this case it wasn't sealed in this case had holes drilled through for the mounting bolts. |
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jspbtown
Samba Member
Joined: January 27, 2004
Posts: 5156
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| Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2018 6:23 am Post subject: Re: Wood body lift or from the factory? |
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| Quote: |
| But at 6’1” I’m looking through the top 1/3 of the windshield. |
Yup...and at 6'3" it gets even worse. A 3" lift, done correctly, is virtually invisible. |
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hillmotorsports
Samba Member
Joined: December 27, 2014
Posts: 432
Location: Morrisburg, Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2018 6:38 am Post subject: Re: Wood body lift or from the factory? |
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Exactly winddude.
I have replaced sections of the main stringers in 3 boats where the engine mounting bolts have allowed moisture to get in. Just as you stated it the has no where to go and rot is inevitable. One that I did not fix had been allowed to go on for far too long, the motor and out drive destroyed the transom because the front was flopping around. I can't believe the owner/operator couldn't hear the thumping.
Paul
_________________
Rosemarie and Paul Hill
Morrisburg, Ontario
(With way more projects than spare time!) |
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