Winter Builds for 2019: It's All About Me Now.

[oprn]

Great story and a beautiful buggy!

I know you were in a rush to finish it but... the red shocks clash badly with the body color and you forgot to put the windshield wipers on.

[GS guy]

Dang Joe - wonderful story and both buggies looking fantastic! Your "adventures" in the buggy world beat all the TV car builder shows - Hands Down!

So when will the book be coming out??? Every one of your builds has a story to tell - probably enough to create several volumes!
Jeff
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70's vintage Deserter GS buggy - undergoing transformation to Super GS!

[joescoolcustoms]

[joescoolcustoms]

[oprn]

My wipers are a poor fit too!

[1madmanx]

[surfnc]

As always, Awesome, Beautiful and Clean work!
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LOOKING FOR VINTAGE MEYERS MANX STUFF!!!
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1105228

[andygere]

I honestly don’t know what’s more impressive, the engineering on these buggies or the fabrication. Joe has put some real thought and expertise into these builds, with so much hidden function lurking under all that shiny metal flake. Great stuff.

[Dal Churchill]

Little known fact, some wiper arms are adjustable for length. Not saying yours are, but might be worth checking before buying others.
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1974 Beetle. Bus/Porsche/Rover V8 (Buick 215ci) Baja. (Unfinished project)
1979 Beetle. 1641. Ex-Modern Day Luftwaffe Airfield Radio Car. (Daily driver)

[joem32380]

all of your builds are turning out legendary.

We need an update now that we are into the new year.

[joescoolcustoms]

[slalombuggy]

TEASE!!!!!! 😁

Can't wait for the reveal

brad

[mcdoc2000]

Any updates? In this time of COVID I need to see some more of your wizardry for motivation.

[joescoolcustoms]

[joescoolcustoms]

It is no secret amongst my friends that I am old school and like mechanical things, because I can fix mechanical things out in no where.

Same holds true for clutch mechanisms. This Ecotec buggy will not be hydraulic, because some of the places I run, there is no parts store to get fluid and tubing to replace. But carrying a extra cable takes very little space. This Ecotec will also get at least a Stage II Kennedy Pressure Plate to help turn the 33 inch tires and much greater horsepower. Since this buggy will get driven in the city trafic too, I want to avoid Clutchitis.

Since it is mechanical, I use leverage on my side. Leverage was defined by Archimedes when he stated if he had a lever long enough and a fulcrum, he could move the world. Longer levers do require you to move greater distances, but they lessen the load.

The length of the lever inside the bellhousing is set do to the fixed engine and trans. But, the lever on the outside of the bellhousing can be altered.

The throw out arm. I have been subtly lengthening the throw out arms for a lot of years and people who have driven my buggies always comment on how soft a touch my clutch is. Well, here is my secret.

I lengthen the throw out arm to 4 inches center-to-center. In this photo you can see where I cut the stock 091 6 rib throw out arm and beveled the edges for good weld penetration.

Tack the two original pieces and the filler material, (1/2 inch thick flat stock) and check for straightness before final welding.

Weld-er up.

You do not have to clean the arms up as long as it is welded well. But as one of my secret things, I clean them up to look stock.

And the finished product re-installed and ready for use.

Yes, you will have to move your leg more to disengage the clutch, but it is only about 1 inch more movement. If you keep your pedal in proper adjustment, you will never even notice the difference, except your calf muscle will not be twice the size as you other.
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Bad News Racing 2018 NORRA 1000 3rd in Class
Best Day Ever Racing 2022 NORRA 1000 2nd in Class and first All Female team to complete the race

Everyone is gifted. Some just do not open the package.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone

[joescoolcustoms]

Along the same line as the throw out arm, the later VW pedal design leaves a little to be desired on strength. When coupled with heavier clutches, they tend to fail down at the bottom where they mount to the pivot shaft. The older pedals were solid forged, and the new is stamped steel plate. A old trick is to weld the back of the clutch pedal to add torsional strength. The photos pretty much tell the story.

I have added better leverage, I have added better strength, I have welded the clutch tube in the tunnel with additional material to add holding strength. The last thing I can do is to take away friction from the system.

Any time metal slides on metal, there is not only friction, but increased wear. Since about 2013, I have been running Classic Bug Parts pedal upgrades on my buggies. Ron and Jayne came up with a great solution and added a roller pivot to the end of the clutch pedal shaft. I have one in my Puzzle Manx and it has over 65,000 miles on it, one Baja race, and shows no sign of wear. This system also all but eliminates friction, even more reducing the pedal effort to operate the system.

Sandblasted, primed with epoxy catalyzed primer, and painted, the parts are ready to go together. Since this Ecotec will be a DBW, (Drive By Wire), a electronic pedal will be mounted to the forward firewall of the buggy in lieu of a traditional pedal. But me being me, I leave the mechanical goodies just in case I need to come back to them, for what ever reason.

The Classic Bug Parts shaft upgrade compared to the stock unit. Look how the stock was wearing, causing more friction.

Together and ready to go. It is the time consuming details that take a buggy from a fun thing to drive every now and again, to an enjoyable every day and long haul driver that does not fatigue you at the end of the day.

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Bad News Racing 2018 NORRA 1000 3rd in Class
Best Day Ever Racing 2022 NORRA 1000 2nd in Class and first All Female team to complete the race

Everyone is gifted. Some just do not open the package.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone

[manxvair]

[joescoolcustoms]

[57BLITZ]

Very cool Joe . . . thanks for sharing your tips!
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Jesucristo es mi Señor y Salvador!

[joescoolcustoms]

As long as you use safe practices, about anything you can dream up can be made or done on a buggy. Modifying parts is the core concept with a buggy, but always place you own, your passengers and those around you safety first. Just about anything that is not stock, almost always needs some modification to work together with other non-stock parts. Here are some of the modifications on this Ecotec buggy I have had to do.

Seat belts. instead of just running a lap belt, I am going to run three point retractable units. Instead of drilling a through hole in the roll cage and running a bolt through it, I modified some hex threaded collars and welded them in to make a solid mount and least compromise the roll cage tubing. Using Grade 8 bolts that are 1 1/2" long, the shear calculation would rip the steel on the production belt mounts before shearing the bolts.

Ground almost all the hex off the threaded collars so they could better fit into a smaller hole.

I scored a heavy duty two piece tow bar from a older couple for $ 60. And since it is not a traditional VW tow bar, which would not fit anyway do to the design of my front bumper, I wanted some way of easily taking it off and putting it on. On the bottom of the front bumper I welded in receiver boxes for the second piece of the tow bar. Two regular hitch pins and it is off/on. I did need to narrow the second piece which can be seen in the middle of the second piece angle iron. I did box the underside of the angle iron at the weld for strength. The two receiver boxes hang about 3/8 inch lower than the bottom of the beam.

The rear disc brakes are AC Industries wide five units. The 3 X 3 rear trailing arms are EMPI units. The two are not compatible. The caliper mounts will not work on these arms.

Not too big of a issue, just ake new mounts and weld them on. Plates are 1/2 inch plate, the same thickness as the original mount.

The hard part is how to properly line up the mount so the caliper is in line with the rotor, proper depth, and centered for clearance during wearing movement. I like having a mechanical brake, as I have address above, so I used the mechanical brake to push the pads out and square up the caliper while the new mount was bolted onto it, then tack welded the mount to the arm. Once checked for proper alignment, finish welded.

The utility knife blade was used to space the caliper off the edge of the rotor, but be very close to it to ensure the pads get the max bite on the rotor and not hang over the edge.

And repeat for the right arm.

A old tip from the Early How to Prep your bug for Baja, is to remove the sway bar to allow for suspension articulation, then use it to fill the long tie rod to add strength to it. Make sure to not make it too long so that the tie rod ends can thread all the way in. And weld it in the tie rod tube.

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Bad News Racing 2018 NORRA 1000 3rd in Class
Best Day Ever Racing 2022 NORRA 1000 2nd in Class and first All Female team to complete the race

Everyone is gifted. Some just do not open the package.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone