What did you do yesterday on your buggy?

[SBD]

Yesterday I actually got my Kelmark fired up again for the first time since September of 2018. Loooong story of a simple repair in the driveway and complications/one thing leading to many, many others. And the story is far from over.
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"Just $99 down and $64 a month for 36 months buys you a brand new Volkswagen Beetle!"

[Q-Dog]

Replaced a stuck wheel cylinder and did a springtime once-over. Need to replace rear tires and polish the wheels. Steering wheel and front bumper are getting crusty. Snapped a photo.

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Brian

'69 Dune Buggy
'69 Beetle Convertible
'70 Beetle

[andygere]

After dealing with sloppy shifting in my Manxter long enough, I finally tackled the shift rod bushing and coupler. I had asked my engine builder to take care of it before installing my new engine and transaxle, but he “forgot”. No time like the present to get it done myself. TheSamba yielded good advice as always, the best being to fabricate a simple PVC tool for extracting and installing the shift rod. If you take this job on, make this tool.

It makes the job relatively easy and you can do it without help.

The bushing was barely there, and the clip was gone.

The coupler didn’t look too bad, but was completely sloppy. When I took it apart, the rubbers were really soft and chewed up, and the cheap hollow cross shaft was bent and flattened. Total junk, and not an original VW cage, so nothing worth saving. I went with a CB Rhino Coupler which is a nice unit, with firm (non-urethane) rubbers and a nice stainless bolt with nylock nut. Worth the $12.

It all went together nicely, with the bushing greased and no play in the shaft at either end. I bolted up my original Hurst VW shifter and spend an hour or so trying to get it adjusted. I could get 3-4 or 1-2 but not both, and reverse sometimes. I had cleaned and greased it, and it appeared to be working nicely, but the rivets had stretched and the white nylon plates were sliding around as I actuated the shifter. I decided this was a big part of the problem, so I ordered the repair plate from Bruce https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=813234 and will rehab my original Hurst. Knowing that may take me a little while, I ordered the EMPI copy so the car would be ready for my daughter’s “Drive By” high school graduation next week. That came today, and I installed it and was able to adjust it in about 5 minutes. The quality and finish is nothing close to the original Hurst, but it shifts really crisply, and for the price really isn’t bad. It did arrive with a cracked base cover, not sure if was the shipping or the product, but it’s being handled at no cost.

My son helped me bleed a bit of air out of the hydraulic clutch and we went for a quick spin to see how it shifted. Wow is all I can say, what fun. Crisp, precise, like a sports car. I’m a happy camper.

[tcmia]

Yesterday I finished the oval third brake light that goes into the hard top.

[YDBD]

After putting in a narrowed beam over winter finally got an alignment done. The Germans don't mess around-all four corners computer spec'd out.

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'56 pan Dune Buggy since '69
don't live in the past...but when I did:
'67 bug
'64 baja
'60 dune buggy
'73 Personenkraftwagen Type 182 "Thing"

[dustymojave]

I cannot imagine WHY you would put in a narrowed beam. But then I guess the car is all about car shows on the lawn now and NOT about getting used offroad as it was under your dad's ownership nor about how it handles on the pavement even.
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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.

[joescoolcustoms]

[YDBD]

[dustymojave]

WOW!!!!

Are some of us a little touchy?

Now you've hurt my feeling ASS-uming that I was being negative.

Did I ANYWHERE in my previous post say that YDBD is in ANY WAY WRONG?

Nope.

So calm your revs there.

My 1st ride in a VW-based buggy was at an SCCA Sports car road race at Willow Springs Raceway. My dad was a hotrodder before he got into sports cars. The 1st race car I ever sat in was built for dirt. It was a Belly Tank for speed record racing at places like El Mirage and Bonneville. As a professional race car fabricator, I not only built cars that won their respective classes in the Baja 1000, I also built road race cars and Super Modified cars with 800 hp engines hanging outside of the frame. My older brother had a drag car while I was planning my 1st offroad car. And at that, I wobbled back and forth for a while between building a an offroad buggy and a formula car.

And I KNOW that not every car is a race car. And that not every Manx-Type buggy is built for racing the Baja 1000.

And I know that there are a million ways to build a buggy. One of the things I love about VWs is that no 2 are alike. I NEVER tell anybody that their car MUST be built how I would build it. But I also don't let my wife's panties get wrapped around the axle if someone else would build their car different than I would build it. GEEZ!

YDBD has explained why he opted for a narrower than stock beam. Keeping the tires under the fenders makes sense to me. Especially in a place where it rains so much more than it does here in SoCal.

Personally I would approach the issue differently, like adding to the fender width or choosing wheels with less positive offset, and making sure there are no spacers behind them. And choosing front tires that aren't so wide. There are LOTS of ways to achieve the desired end. I have a pair of bubble center Centerline wheels set aside for the front of my Glitterbug to achieve the front width I want. That doesn't mean that I am saying that YDBD is wrong.

Joe...I have a great deal of respect for your buggy builds and what you do with those cars. Have I EVER told you that you were doing it wrong? Hell no. Even though, or IF I felt that I would have done something differently than you did yours.

How many times have I been criticized for cutting up a '58 Bug into a Baja. LOTS of times, maybe not by you but by plenty of others who are appalled that I would commit such a heinous crime. Not to mention how many times I've been criticized and told that it was WRONG to put a roll cage in it because some people think that with a roll cage one is absolutely GOING to hit their head on the roll cage and kill themself. (That of course assumes that I would be so stupid as to NOT wear seat belts in a car I was concerned about safety enough to go to the effort and expense of building a roll cage). But then there are the others who tell me I'm wrong for not putting a full tube frame under my bodyshell and wider beam, coilovers, or worse, A-arms. Or told me that I HAVE to have a turbo on it or better, a Chevy engine.

Just because I'm not jumping up and down cheering and blowing confetti all over the place doesn't mean that I am saying the car and the owner are WRONG.

Calm down and get over it.
I guess with some folks ya just GOTTA jump up and down and scream RAH RAH SIS Boom Bah!!!
_________________
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.

[EVfun]

[oprn]

It is a step backward as far as drivability goes and I asked YDBD the same question in another thread. He explained it to me then and yes that is a viable option.

I am faced with the same dilemma, I want to add disc brakes to the front and genuine Fuchs wheels. With the Chevy rims and adapters I have now the tires stick out far enough to make a mess of the Buggy. I would like to tuck them under a bit but don't really want to narrow the beam. It would be nice to trade someone a pare of 6" Fuchs for a pair of genuine 4.5" ones!

Will have to see when I get the 944 brakes and wheels mocked up...

[dustymojave]

[YDBD]

Lotsa respect for the guys on here, Richard asked why; I told him, no worries.

Currently running the stock offset wheels with disk brakes so the stance is pretty close to stock-I'd have to measure it. I have a set of Bruce Meyers signature wheels that have more offset and would put it past the stock width.

So the question is what are the drawbacks from a narrowed beam when the tire stance is the same?

In the end I am happy with the handling on the road except that I have no sway bar up front anymore so it's a little softer riding through corners and no I can't get CB to ship one to me.

Nothing got done on the buggy yesterday as I was coming back from a trip to the Elbe near Dresden.

But earlier this week I replaced the brake/tail lamps with LEDs--SOOO much brighter. Wanted to do the signal lights but it messes with the flasher can too much-any ideas?
_________________
'56 pan Dune Buggy since '69
don't live in the past...but when I did:
'67 bug
'64 baja
'60 dune buggy
'73 Personenkraftwagen Type 182 "Thing"

[oprn]

[YDBD]

It changes the angle between the center of your tire tread and the center of the ball joint.

But that hasn't changed, everything from the trailing arm out is the same set up, and it's a king pin, no ball joint.
_________________
'56 pan Dune Buggy since '69
don't live in the past...but when I did:
'67 bug
'64 baja
'60 dune buggy
'73 Personenkraftwagen Type 182 "Thing"

[oprn]

[dustymojave]

[MrGoodtunes]

This pic shows a small positive steering roll radius (distance between wheel centerline to kingpin/balljoint axis pivot point). The smaller this distance, the better most vehicles will handle. But as it goes to zero, tire tread will scrub while turning steering wheel when park'd; makes for really hard steering when doing parking maneuvers, especially with wide front tires.

[MrGoodtunes]

Changed my buggy's oil, using one of those big 5 gallon containers (for the 1st time) and a funnel I purchased 'cuz I knew the big jug might need some help versus the good old 1 quart jars that are getting harder to find and sort of expensive. Funnel was no help, until I made an extension for it with a short section of flexible clear vinyl tubing:

BTW upon removing rear left wheel (required for changing oil filter on my build), surprise; lower shock bolt had no nut! Found one in my stash (along with washers). Hope it does the job; it's not original German, so maybe not as strong?

[EVfun]