Show off your Dune Buggy or SandRail

[indianpeaksjoe]

Not mine, but saw it in an old guide book and had to share.
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Adventures in owning a 66 beetle

[Verticalspark]

Hello everyone! I recently picked up a "1970 VW Dune Buggy" as a winter project. I was looking for something that was running that needed some attention and extra bits, and I think I nailed it. It's titled 1970, but I had no idea when the engine/transaxle and such were actually built. While I have been fixing cars and planes (among other things) for over 25 years, this is my first run into VW, so I have a lot to learn. This is what I know and/or think so far:

The engine is a 1970 (at least it seems)
Stock transaxle
Turbo from a 1962 Corvair
Carburator matching the turbo
Electronic fuel pump
The frame was cut a few owners ago by the drivers area and semi-repaired

Apart from that, I am pretty sure it's a standard front end. I don't know the chassis manufacturer, but I have yet to find one that matches the pictures.

I went through it and played "whats the voltage" game and decided to just add a fuse block so I can supply 12v to any system. The voltage ranged from 12.4v at the battery and went down to 10.8v at the headlights so the standard h4 looked more like candles than headlights. The alternator seems to be putting out the standard voltage so I'm starting with the wiring.

I have a lot to learn, and I can't wait to run over this thing from bumper to bumper so I can make it better and more towards what I am looking for. But its going to be a process over the winter and more likely over next year as well. Im going to give it a solid tune up with all engine things and see how it runs from there. In the end, I want to modify the frame and fix a bunch of issues that each owner has added to the frame so its back to a stock frame with some modifications.

Adam

[trumanbuckley1]

My most recent addition to my seemingly growing buggy array. Traded my jeep wrangler for it. Receipts say it’s a 2276. Has a good size turbo and a first gen CB fuel injection kit on it. I’m looking for info as to who the builder of this frame may have been. Seems like the car was originally located in AZ and has now made it into my hands in Southeast Kansas. Hoping to take it to the buggy roundup at Waynoka Oklahoma/Little Sahara in April of 2025.

[67rustavenger]

[madmike]

Free Buggy,,It was given to me about a month ago!!! free!!!
, 1835cc 40idf copys, disc brakes 4 seater Appletree,,

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'Black Ice'Drag Buggy 'Turbo'
Rail Buggy 1915 turbo
76 Drag/Street bug 2180cc 'Turbo' 11:85 @113 mph"If I go any faster I'll burn up the Hamster" ,gets 28 mpg. also 10/09/22 11.90 @115 mph
"If I'm ever on Life Support,UNPLUG Me, Then Plug me back In see if that Works"

[trike newbie]

I just bought a 1970 VW dune buggy with a fiberglass body. It doesn't look like the manx or what I call bathtub style. In has small running boards along the sides that flare into front fenders , and a nice trunk that flips up for engine access . The outer sides are covered and look much more finished than the tubs I have seen. Do you have any idea if this is a 1 off or just one I haven't seen. When I get it home I'll post a picture .

[Stinky123]

What do you drive like?. If you just cruise around, keep your SA.

SAs are considered harder to break (suspension wise).

IRS tend to be easier on the trans as the lighter axles twist, a bit, and remove some of the shock.

You can get wider and longer IRS arms that add travel to your buggy.

If you don't get the longer trailing arms, IMHO, there is no need to do it.

[dustymojave]

I've had plans to convert my Hi Jumper to IRS for many years. Still haven't done it. Whether it's worth it to do the conversion depends on how serious you wanna get with the car.

Yeah, IRS is better than swingaxle. But swingaxle works pretty damned well. Works well offroad. Works pretty well on road too if you know how to drive it.

This story following can tell you a little about that.

In the 1970s, I worked in a gas station in Sherman Oaks, California. I was a Tech Inspector at SCCA road races and had crewed on some race teams too. The station was near one end of the section of Mulholland drive used by ricky racers. All sorts of exotic cars going as fast as they could on a twisty, windy narrow road along the ridge top of the Hollywood Hills. Lots of Ferraris and Porsches and modified Vettes. Modified everything. Some VERY serious cars. There was even a movie about the racing on Mulholland. The gas station where I worked was often a meetup location before they would head up the hill to Mulholland to race. They often talked about a young guy who none of them could beat. He didn't socialize with them, so they didn't even know his name. One evening, there was a group of racers gathered and bench racing while they waited for some others to arrive. One of the guys pointed and called out "There he is now!" There was a light blue 68 VW Bug pulling in the station. He was a regular customer and I had a few days before turned down his offer to sell me the Bug for $1500 as I has just spent more than that building an 1835 for my Baja Bug and no longer had the cash.

This 68 rolled on 13x8 white spoke steel wheels with BFG T/A tires. 2180 with dual Weber 48IDA carbs. Hood raised to clear the Webers. Lowered some in the front, but not radically. it sat pretty level. Still stock swingaxle, though the trans was beefed up some. HD front sway bar. EMPI Camber Compensator on the rear axle. Metallic brake shoes. 4-point harness and a 4-point roll bar. Otherwise the Bug was stock. That night he had a date and wasn't going to Mulholland. Some were relieved that he wasn't going that night as they knew they couldn't beat him. Some had hopes they could and were disappointed at not getting a chance to try to beat him. All that expensive, exotic machinery and they couldn't beat a swingaxle VW Bug in a road race. That amazed me. And I thought I was pretty savvy about road racing.

Then a couple of years later I started building my Hi Jumper. Virtually ALL of the offroad racers then were using swingaxle. My car was built that way too.

So swing axle CAN be a pretty decent. I won a Championship with my swingaxle car with an 1835 against a bunch of other cars with IRS and 2180s. Good shocks are probably more important than swing or IRS.
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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.

[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]

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]

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]

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?

[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!

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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!

[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.

[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.