Yet another buggy build, here goes...........

[jakerot]

[jakerot]

Got the engine all hooked up.

Messing around with the carbs and timing. Started with 009 distributor but will see if I can get the DVDA 049 to work.

Got a tach installed. Remote start button. Installed an on/off switch in front of the fan shroud. Got idiot lights hooked up was well. Oil pressure ok and alternator charging.

Speaking of alternator, I had to swap that out also. Pulleys were not parallel because inside pulley half was out too far, away from the alt. Could see a bend in the belt. Swapped in the other alternator I have, and the pulleys line up now so that’s good I guess.

After a couple timing boo boos and burnt arm hair, I finally realized I installed the distributor lower drive backwards after cleaning it

Assembled it correctly and she started right up.

Fixed a glaring vacuum leak.

I Can’t get idle to fall below 1000. I need to rebuild this carb.

Got a rebuild kit. I should have rebuilt it initially.

Instead I have been chasing my tail as problems arose. Acc pump diaphragm developed a leak. Then after that was fixed my float valve got clogged.

It’s like the more I Worked on the engine, the worse it got

But she starts now. Still got work to do on the choke as well. Think I need to tweak it a little, might open a little too soon. Not sure yet, got more research to do.

Haha as if on cue, got another slow oil drip drip. Notice the small glass jar under the engine? I think it’s coming from the main seal. Will address it eventually

[jspbtown]

The blue cap isn't helping your poor running issues..

[jakerot]

[7sam7]

[jakerot]

Man, I think the dune buggy gods are angry with me.

I am now 0-3 with engine cases, with this GEX POS having the potential to make me 0-4

So while waiting for my new dist caps, decided to stay on the engine subject, and split one of the cases I picked up a while ago.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9446969#9446969

Measured, cleaned, all looked good, until I found the crack. Hit it with a torch and the crack was confirmed.

So let’s recap for those of you keeping score at home (and those that are actually still following this “build”

Case #1 was the one that came with the original pan, body and boxes of parts. Upon disassembly I found it threw a rod, punched hole in top of case. Junk

Case # 2 was given to me by my neighbor. Tore it down, brought it to a reputable machine shop in socal. $35 Hot tank later they tell me it’s junk. Thrust surface is worn and it has already had 2 thrust cuts. Junk. Not sure why they couldn’t tell me it was junk BEFORE the hot tank but whatever, lesson learned to A) learn how to inspect cases myself and B) to not use these clowns when I do need machine work. They got my $35 due to my ignorance, and that’s all.

Case # 3 is the GEX POS With the loose thrust bearing . ‘Nuff said.

Case # 4 is my “3 dot” German replacement case I had such high hopes for. But the buggy gods said no.

The laws of probability have to be on my side now , don’t they? I mean, the next case I split open will have gold coins pour out of it to make up for all the BS with the other ones right? Hahahaha. Fat chance.

Well, on the positive side, campfires out in the desert are going to become very interesting for years to come.

[jakerot]

Ok still tinkering with engine. Think I can live with it. I don’t know hoping someone can listen to this video and tell me if it sounds ok. I’m sure there is still some tuning to be done.

So I got a new distributor cap.

And got rid of another vacuum leak. This time at the intake manifold / head joint. Got new metal gaskets and torqued to spec. Replaced rubber boots too since they had some small cracks. Runs better now I think?

Timed it again. It’s at 30 deg now plus or minus. Might try 32 to see what happens. Still got 009 distributor. Will eventually work the 049 into the engine.

I do have a fuel filter hooked up to the line feeding the pump. This helps with fuel pressure?

Of course, tried adjusting the accelerator pump and adjusted it wrong, even after reading the warnings on how not to adjust it. After messing with it and trying to figure out why it would bog on throttle, I finally realized this was the case. Adjusted it correctly now and aimed the squirter tube right where the throttle plate opens, and now it is nice and responsive, as far as I can anyways.

I really don’t know what a type 1 engine is supposed to sound like or respond, so I am hoping someone can listen to this video and see if they notice or hear anything wrong. Thank you all for your help.

Link

[jakerot]

Ok I split open case #2. This one was a T case for a type 3. It had no heads, but still had crankshaft. No cracks that I could see. Used my clover and determined it was already bored 20 over. Would need another one. Thrust looked ok, measured with caliper, bearing is nice and tight. But...............water must have sat in this one, there was some corrosion around the oil strainer. Not as bad as I have seen on here, no stud threads exposed, may need some JB weld lovin’ like I saw New TechnicIan do here. Great build BTW, been reading it.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...p;start=24

So this one could be used with a little help.

The 3 rd case I got is a H case. No cylinders. Anyone want to trade anything for it? It’s single relief so no interest to me. Not sure of condition.

Case #4 of the 4 I bought once upon a time had the heads And valve covers on it still. It moved around various places On the side of my house over the last few years, always trying to keep it covered.

Always assumed there was something wrong with it and that is why it wasn’t currently in a buggy or bug or whatever.

Popped the head off and saw a small piece of an exhaust valve was missing, essentially rendering this a 3 cylinder engine. There was 1/4 inch of black crust on the top of the piston.

Anywho, split the case, it’s an AB case. Standard bore, standard thrust, so looks virgin. No cracks that I could find. Had a little water mixed in it when I removed the strainer plate, but no corrosion for the most part. Cam gear teeth looked ok. Lifter bores feel good. Bearings looked ok but had some small scratches. No cracks that I can see. The case halves cleaned up ok with gum out and water. Pulled the galley plugs and relief bolts to let any water escape. Blew out with air. And now it’s sitting on my shelf awaiting a trip to the machine shop. I’ll full flow it myself and clean out and plug the galleys myself. Probably just want line bore and case savers installed. But that is going to wait till Buggy is done.

So back to the buggy and the engine in it now. I think I got it running ok. Ordered some larger jets for it. It has 127.5 main and 55 idle, ordered 130 main and 60 idle based on some samba reading. Larger jets due to ethanol in fuel now.

Now focusing on getting the body on it and trying to make it go and stop under its own power. Focusing on accelerator cable. The tranny I am using has the groove cut into it from the cable. In fact, I ran the cable to determine where it needs to be cut, and the cable inserted itself into the grove on its own, like it was meant to go there. Checked the other irs tranny I got and it has a groove too. Hmm. Can’t believe vw designed it like this. Probably missing a Bowden tube or something. Looking back on it I probably shouldn’t have cut this tube (due to the shortened pan). I have a few ideas I’m gonna try to prevent this cable from rubbing more. Stay tuned.......

[oprn]

The engine sounds good to me!

[jakerot]

Thanks for checking it out man!

I forgot to add, I had a buddy come over this weekend and help me with the timing. He knows engines, just not VW engines. When I explained the DVDA retard function he said, “I don’t know anything about VW engines, but unplug that stupid vacuum retard and use without”. I told him it was for California emissions and he went off rambling. Cursing actually. He grew up here and has been wrenching on engines his whole life so I must have hit a sore spot for him. It was pretty funny to listen to. Hahahaha. So I plugged the vacuum retard port on the carb accordingly and re-timed it. Appears to be 40 deg advance when all in.

[oprn]

40 degrees including the vacuum advance sounds right.

[jakerot]

So can’t have the good without having the bad.

the good: I think I got the accelerator cable figured out. Made a little pulley and mounted it to the tranny. I think (hope) it’s gonna work.

The bad: more parts that don’t fit. Decided to install a new condenser to the 049 distributor. The wire from the condenser mount hole to the plug hole is too short. It says it’s made in Turkey. Add Turkey to the list of countries making crappy parts?. Would it have killed them to add an extra 1” to this wire? SMH. The website where I bought this from listed this 02-054 condenser (and ONLY this condenser) as the one I needed for my 0 231 167 049 distributor. Gotta be something obvious I’m missing.

[Q-Dog]

That is a bit of a hack. If the transmission is NOT solid mounted, you want an accelerator bowden tube, otherwise, engine movement can make the car buck under some situations while accelerating. I would install the tube even if the transmission is solid mounted, as anything contacting the cable can cause the car to accelerate.

http://www.wolfsburgwest.com/cart/DetailsList.cfm?ID=131721551
http://www.wolfsburgwest.com/wolfsburg_new/chassis/bug_chassis.cfm?type=1
_________________
Brian

'69 Dune Buggy
'69 Beetle Convertible
'70 Beetle

[EVfun]

Only newer Bugs had a Bowden tube for the throttle. Older Bugs had a solid wire cable (not a stranded cable like you have.) If you use the solid cable and get Dorman part # 03336 you can shorten the throttle cable without using an adapter end or crimping on a new cable end. You'll see what part to use.
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[jakerot]

Thanks fellas. Any and all feedback is appreciated

So this is the initial throttle cable install, not final. I just wanted something to stop it from rubbing on the tranny.

Solid tranny mount.

I’ll look into the solid wire with the dorman part for my final cable solution.

So Yesterday I was contemplating running down to my local VW store to pick up the Bowden tube for the accelerator cable but I was having a hard time figuring out how it terminates at the back of the fan shroud. All pix I found online were for bugs which had the firewall still. So I went the (free) pulley route. Will it be permanent? Not sure.

Anyone care to share a pix of how they routed and secured an accelerator Bowden tube in a buggy?

If I get ambitious I’ll just run a tube straight from the back of the fan shroud to the accelerator tube coming out of the chassis perhaps. But how to secure it? With another hack?

Im sure lots of buggy parts started off as hacks, like I am sure this one did which is where I got the idea from. When I switch over to dual carbs I might be picking this up.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=786740

And I’m pretty sure my use of a hose clamp on one side and a washer on the other flared side to secure the accelerator tube going through the fan shroud is a hack.

But that is part of the fun, isn’t it?

[jakerot]

ok some more good progress. no pix yet though.

got the throttle bowden tube figured out. went to airheads and asked the dude about the accelerator cable bowden tube and how buggy builders usually account for the removed firewall. he asked “can u use one that is 23 1/2” long, 1/2” shorter than normal?.”.

i said i was pretty sure i could make it work

he then tossed me a prototype one free of charge, said he couldn’t sell it so i could have it.

i made it work by making a new tube that goes through the fan.

will send pix later but can’t now because the body is back on the chassis.

and.............another milestone.........i actually drove it yesterday. and it stopped and went ok. brakes were fine. no fire, no crash.

clutch was ok. tranny........hmm. not sure yet. get some winding noises, not sure if they are normal or not. some grinding switching gears but could have been my fault, or shifter needs adjusting. hopefully not syncro issue. not sure, all i cared about was i was actually driving it.

carb needs some loving. still having idle issues. pretty sure the timing is ok. got larger idle and main jets on order. had some popping/backfiring and won’t stay running on idle when wam. still can’t rule out a vacuum leak somewhere, throttle shaft perhaps.

or the e10 gas is the culprit. will know when i increase the jets. 55 idle and 127 main. will try 60/130.

lots of neighbors in shock seeing the buggy actually driving on the road. these people looked like they saw a ghost.

now to start wiring it.

[jakerot]

well been tweaking this and that.............

got another Bocar 34 carb. cleaned and increased the idle and main jet. runs better. idles now. this carb has nice tight throttle shaft. the crapi carb had a loose shaft so guessing this contributed to its inconsistent performance.

runs better, but still think there is some more fine adjustments to be made. using this as a carb tuning learning experience.

started on the wiring. got a vw steering column and ignition cylinder, and an American Automotive Systems wiring harness i’m going to try to use.

got some preliminary wiring done and i got a key!! took apart the cylinder and had a key made from the code. now the key starts and stops the buggy, no more remote start button. drove it around today for a bit and start/stop a bit and works fine. no fires, well, except for when i first hooked up the battery and filled my garage with smoke because the wire from the alternator to the battery came out of the ring terminal on the alternator and welded itself to my fan shroud and melted all the insulation.................fun times........

but now that is fixed the key works great and now to focus on the lights,
and turn signal, etc.........and going to finish welding some pin holes boo boos in my gas tank welds and start the gas tank sealer prep work.

[jakerot]

more electrical work. what a great thread. helped me tremendously

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=488822

got the rear tail lights wired up and working

and after much head scratching and head banging and fuse blowing, i got turn signals and hazard lights. well, not final, but got them working rough in.

for one couldn’t figure out why the turn lights would light up but not flash. duh, was using led lights with a non led flasher. all good now.

also couldn’t figure out why right turn would blow fuse. hazard flashed ok. left turn ok. right turn blow fuse.

turns out the turn signal cluster was not the one for the steering column housing i was using. was shorting out. from the outside the turn cluster and housings looked the same. but inside they were slightly different. that’s why i have the one housing sitting on the other in this pix. just to prove my theory. sure enough, no more blown fuse on right turn. so i’ll swap them out next and swap in the ignition cylinder.


next up is the lights and dimmer assembly.

got the wiper assembly to work as well.

just going through the boxes of stuff i got and figuring out what goes where and what works and what doesn’t.

been fixing leaks in my gas tank this past weekend as well. been filling and draining with water, weld leak area, repeat. no more drips but a few seeps which i am guessing the tank sealer will fix. used the marine clean por 15 so far. going to do the metal prep tomorrow. got some hot dry santa ana winds coming so will take that opportunity to blow that warm, dry air through the tank prior to sealant. when checking for leak locations when filled with water i would hit the seams with a torch and could see where the leak seep was originating from. thinking i will do that when drying it out to help work out any moisture deep in the seams. i have read the seams are where these tank sealants fail a lot of the time. so hitting it with a torch will hopefully help. the exterior of the tank isn’t painted yet so no worries about damaging paint with the torch. i got a blower ready to go. will share pix.

[jakerot]

my tail lights. i think i like them. will address the holes when i get back on the fiberglass work but they are in there solid. i believe in its prior life this body had mustang lights. i like these bus lights better. i think.............

[panel]

Good idea re the tail lights !
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My '65-Subaru EJ20 Turbo conversion