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kangaboy
Samba Member
Joined: August 28, 2010
Posts: 1063
Location: St. Louis, Mo
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 Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2020 1:07 pm Post subject: Re: New Buggy: Getting Road Worthy. |
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Well that's good to know. I'll get it all cleaned up with some new bushings and grease and report back. I wouldn't mind it being a little stiffer than stock, but the way it was performing was not acceptable.
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-74 Standard - "CaliBug" 2084T, MS3X w/FI and Crank Fire
-76 Westy - "Gandalf"
-18 GTI SE
| skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
that fucking thing looks like it drove through a J.C. Whitney catalogue and hit everything on the way out  |
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dustymojave
Samba Member
Joined: January 07, 2007
Posts: 5802
Location: Lake LA, Mojave Desert, SoCal
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| Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2020 8:29 pm Post subject: Re: New Buggy: Getting Road Worthy. |
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| kangaboy wrote: |
I think I found one reason that my front end was a little stiff. Stock is 3 littles, 4 bigs, 3 littles. This is 6 bigs...which I assume would make it a bit stiffer, especially on a no-bodied rail buggy.
So, what kind of suggestions does anyone have as far as to what size torsion pack to get this thing to ride a bit more comfortably?
Also, it didn't help that the bottom torsion arms on each side took a sledge to get off...
Edit: thinking about it again as a whole...the pack that is installed compared to the stock pack has one less big leaf over all. So was it installed correctly for the light weigh buggy? I guess I just need someone else to chime in that has been here, done that.
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Above you cite the leaf stacks for a ball joint beam, NOT for a link pin beam. Your car has stock link pin torsion leaves, which have the outer most 1/2 width leaves top and bottom replaced with a pair of full width leaves. Stock link pin leaf stack is: 2x 1/2 leaf, 4 full width, 2x 1/2 leaf.
What's in yours is similar to what's in my Hi Jumper. Not so terribly stiff. Many folks have comments on mine that it rides surprisingly smooth including some folks who have bigger, longer travel, even a-arm cars. Maybe you're looking for a hover-round? It's an offroad buggy. Drive it faster, it will seem smoother.
And makes sure that all parts move smoothly, arms, link pins, etc. If you have the link pins too tight, it won't ride well. Snug them up, then back off a hair until the link pin rotates freely. THEN tighten the pinch bolt.
If after all that, you still think it rides too harsh, ship it to me and I'll deal with how hard the front rides.
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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. |
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kangaboy
Samba Member
Joined: August 28, 2010
Posts: 1063
Location: St. Louis, Mo
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| Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2020 4:35 pm Post subject: Re: New Buggy: Getting Road Worthy. |
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Anyone got anything on this?
_________________
-74 Standard - "CaliBug" 2084T, MS3X w/FI and Crank Fire
-76 Westy - "Gandalf"
-18 GTI SE
| skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
that fucking thing looks like it drove through a J.C. Whitney catalogue and hit everything on the way out |
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kangaboy
Samba Member
Joined: August 28, 2010
Posts: 1063
Location: St. Louis, Mo
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| Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 7:39 pm Post subject: Re: New Buggy: Getting Road Worthy. |
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I think I found one reason that my front end was a little stiff. Stock is 3 littles, 4 bigs, 3 littles. This is 6 bigs...which I assume would make it a bit stiffer, especially on a no-bodied rail buggy.
So, what kind of suggestions does anyone have as far as to what size torsion pack to get this thing to ride a bit more comfortably?
Also, it didn't help that the bottom torsion arms on each side took a sledge to get off...
Edit: thinking about it again as a whole...the pack that is installed compared to the stock pack has one less big leaf over all. So was it installed correctly for the light weigh buggy? I guess I just need someone else to chime in that has been here, done that.
_________________
-74 Standard - "CaliBug" 2084T, MS3X w/FI and Crank Fire
-76 Westy - "Gandalf"
-18 GTI SE
| skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
that fucking thing looks like it drove through a J.C. Whitney catalogue and hit everything on the way out |
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cbeck
Samba Member
Joined: January 14, 2014
Posts: 2495
Location: high ridge, mo
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| Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2020 4:25 pm Post subject: Re: New Buggy: Getting Road Worthy. |
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Nice, new bumper pull bunkhouse camper. After my wifes cancer scare, we are going to do some sight seeing. Guess I have a new mid life crisis.
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My cut in half and rebuild thread
www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=647779 |
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kangaboy
Samba Member
Joined: August 28, 2010
Posts: 1063
Location: St. Louis, Mo
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| Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2020 12:19 pm Post subject: Re: New Buggy: Getting Road Worthy. |
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Oh no! You going to get another project to take its spot?
_________________
-74 Standard - "CaliBug" 2084T, MS3X w/FI and Crank Fire
-76 Westy - "Gandalf"
-18 GTI SE
| skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
that fucking thing looks like it drove through a J.C. Whitney catalogue and hit everything on the way out |
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cbeck
Samba Member
Joined: January 14, 2014
Posts: 2495
Location: high ridge, mo
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| Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2020 9:35 am Post subject: Re: New Buggy: Getting Road Worthy. |
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Think I have decided to list mine for sale in a month when it warms up.Have only a couple small issues to address first.
_________________
My cut in half and rebuild thread
www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=647779 |
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jimmyhoffa
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2014
Posts: 1058
Location: St. Louis
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| Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2020 8:39 am Post subject: Re: New Buggy: Getting Road Worthy. |
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| kangaboy wrote: |
Took a quick ride with my brother before the game. Had to take advantage of that 70° day!
We'll have to get together soon once this weather starts to get nice and take a cruise. Won't be long now if the groundhog superstition holds true. |
Nice, I was out all day in the Chenowth too. Hit the Bread Co. in Fenton, headed out HWY30 to High Ridge, then the back roads into Sunset Hills to help my friend frame out the garage. Looks like I'm ready to roll too!
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1974 Chenowth 2RL #1244 Street Legal
My other car isn't ridiculous. |
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kangaboy
Samba Member
Joined: August 28, 2010
Posts: 1063
Location: St. Louis, Mo
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| Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2020 7:12 am Post subject: Re: New Buggy: Getting Road Worthy. |
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| cbeck wrote: |
| Saw you roll by yesterday, tried to wave you down. |
Took a quick ride with my brother before the game. Had to take advantage of that 70° day!
We'll have to get together soon once this weather starts to get nice and take a cruise. Won't be long now if the groundhog superstition holds true.
_________________
-74 Standard - "CaliBug" 2084T, MS3X w/FI and Crank Fire
-76 Westy - "Gandalf"
-18 GTI SE
| skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
that fucking thing looks like it drove through a J.C. Whitney catalogue and hit everything on the way out |
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cbeck
Samba Member
Joined: January 14, 2014
Posts: 2495
Location: high ridge, mo
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jimmyhoffa
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2014
Posts: 1058
Location: St. Louis
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| Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2019 6:27 am Post subject: Re: New Buggy: Getting Road Worthy. |
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Ooooh yeah, he's back in action! Hope you're enjoying it! I was bumming that I didn't have my engine broken in yet for the snow we got. I'll be ready next time....
I also discovered that the first big modification mine needed was a windscreen. Definitely worth it for a plated rig.
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1974 Chenowth 2RL #1244 Street Legal
My other car isn't ridiculous. |
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kangaboy
Samba Member
Joined: August 28, 2010
Posts: 1063
Location: St. Louis, Mo
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| Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2019 2:19 pm Post subject: Re: New Buggy: Getting Road Worthy. |
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Got my new historic plates today and got them mounted up. Took a short cruise up to the local NAPA to get a new license plate light just to get a feel for the new buggy...and I'm pretty sure I'm going to want to get some type of windscreen sooner than later. Other than that, got a nice little cruise in. Just in time to get it tarped back up and covered for winter...again...until we get some more of that fall-winter weather that we have been getting here in the midwest.
_________________
-74 Standard - "CaliBug" 2084T, MS3X w/FI and Crank Fire
-76 Westy - "Gandalf"
-18 GTI SE
| skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
that fucking thing looks like it drove through a J.C. Whitney catalogue and hit everything on the way out |
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cbeck
Samba Member
Joined: January 14, 2014
Posts: 2495
Location: high ridge, mo
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| Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2019 8:33 am Post subject: Re: New Buggy: Getting Road Worthy. |
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I adjusted the adjusters so they kind of fight each other, softened up the front and settled the front down about 1inch. Longer arms also soften it up. Front is good. The rear with 3x3 arms and long 27mm torsions is too soft, wallows around on corners but easy to steer with the throttle off-road.
Back in the 80's that field used to be a stl county Park for dirt bikes until the antire valley subd was built. I just burn thru it and move on.
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My cut in half and rebuild thread
www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=647779 |
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kangaboy
Samba Member
Joined: August 28, 2010
Posts: 1063
Location: St. Louis, Mo
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| Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2019 7:34 am Post subject: Re: New Buggy: Getting Road Worthy. |
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| cbeck wrote: |
| My front end does not move much either when you jump up and down on it, but according to the o ring on the shock shaft I have managed to use most of the travel on the street (and thru the field across from the scout ranch). |
Did the stiffer front end ever bother you driving on the road? I just imagined that it would cause drivability issues, and may be a little unsafe.
Can you just go bop around in that field? I have always been curious and wouldn't mind using it as a test ground. I only ever see people parking on it for scouting events, or when they have drone racing events back in the corner.
_________________
-74 Standard - "CaliBug" 2084T, MS3X w/FI and Crank Fire
-76 Westy - "Gandalf"
-18 GTI SE
| skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
that fucking thing looks like it drove through a J.C. Whitney catalogue and hit everything on the way out |
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cbeck
Samba Member
Joined: January 14, 2014
Posts: 2495
Location: high ridge, mo
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| Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2019 5:17 pm Post subject: Re: New Buggy: Getting Road Worthy. |
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My front end does not move much either when you jump up and down on it, but according to the o ring on the shock shaft I have managed to use most of the travel on the street (and thru the field across from the scout ranch).
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My cut in half and rebuild thread
www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=647779 |
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kangaboy
Samba Member
Joined: August 28, 2010
Posts: 1063
Location: St. Louis, Mo
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| Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2019 8:03 am Post subject: Re: New Buggy, Cleaning Top End and Getting Road Worthy. |
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Welp, got the motor all put back together with the tin painted up to a solid color. Fired it up and everything seemed back to normal. Will need a bit of tuning on the single 44, but all seems well as far as I can tell.
Scored a couple real Jackman's from JimmyHoffa to replace my bent up rear wheel. Spent a day with a wire wheel and a couple cans of spray paint and got all the rims cleaned up nice. Dropped them off at the local tire installer and had some new General Grabber AT2s put on. 205/70R15's on the front and 31x10.50xR15's on the rear.
They look real nice and I'm glad I went with them. I have the AT2s on my Bus as well and really liked the way they rode.
As far as registration, I decided to go with the historic plates, and got that application sent off in the mail. Realistically, there is no way I'm going to put over a 1000 road miles on the buggy in a year, so I figured the full blown registration would not be worth it. With a 6 week lead time, I'm pretty much just waiting for my new plates in the mail. With the cold weather now, and not having a windshield on it, it is very unlikely that I would be driving it anyway.
Next up is replacing a couple CV boots that have pretty much disintegrated. And something is up with the front suspension. It's so damn tight that it doesn't really move. I have unbolted the shocks and cycled them, so they are fine, but the beam is all but frozen. I can get it to move about an inch if I stand on it and jump. I'm wondering if the PO put in their adjusters a bit to far, and now the trailing arms are rotated too far and in a position where they don't want to move with up and down forces.
_________________
-74 Standard - "CaliBug" 2084T, MS3X w/FI and Crank Fire
-76 Westy - "Gandalf"
-18 GTI SE
| skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
that fucking thing looks like it drove through a J.C. Whitney catalogue and hit everything on the way out |
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kangaboy
Samba Member
Joined: August 28, 2010
Posts: 1063
Location: St. Louis, Mo
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| Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2019 9:31 am Post subject: Re: New Buggy, Cleaning Top End and Getting Road Worthy. |
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Well I got several reasonable posts on the Performance forum that said this wasn't that big of a deal as I initially thought it was. It's sealed fine on the cylinder seat, and its not cracked anywhere that I can see, so I'm just going to run it.
I'll get it all back together this weekend, and if i can get the tin sanded down and painted up, maybe take it for a drive up the lane. Driving and stopping under its own power will likely motivate me to get some new rubber for it sooner than later as well.
Moving onward 
_________________
-74 Standard - "CaliBug" 2084T, MS3X w/FI and Crank Fire
-76 Westy - "Gandalf"
-18 GTI SE
| skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
that fucking thing looks like it drove through a J.C. Whitney catalogue and hit everything on the way out |
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kangaboy
Samba Member
Joined: August 28, 2010
Posts: 1063
Location: St. Louis, Mo
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| Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2019 7:18 pm Post subject: Re: New Buggy, Cleaning Top End and Getting Road Worthy. |
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Man...took the tin off to evaluate what I need to do for paint, and then just dove in and took the 3/4 head off to check what displacement we have. Much to my dissatisfaction, its only a 69x94...but that wasn't even the worst part. Look at this mother fricken head!!!! It's like someone used a damn hole saw with a cordless drill and no guide bit...its all wallowed to hell!!!
I kinda wish I would have just left the head on and assumed it was like a 2110cc or something...I really wanted it to be a stroker.
Well, with this new discovery, I don't really know what path to take. I'm going to post a quick picture in the Performance section to see what all those guys say as well, but I feel like that head is not going to last too long. The cylinder seat is good, and I can't see any obvious signs that it was leaking, but I really feel like it's missing too much meat.
What do you guys think?
_________________
-74 Standard - "CaliBug" 2084T, MS3X w/FI and Crank Fire
-76 Westy - "Gandalf"
-18 GTI SE
| skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
that fucking thing looks like it drove through a J.C. Whitney catalogue and hit everything on the way out |
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Dark Earth
Samba Member
Joined: December 22, 2015
Posts: 1054
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| Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2019 11:02 am Post subject: Re: New Buggy, Just Saying HIII!!! |
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| kangaboy wrote: |
| Still deciding what do to with this tin and its paint job. Idk whether to sand/wire wheel it all off, or just give it a light sand and spray some hammered rustoleum on it, since the original paint seems to be sticking to the metal so well as it is. |
I vote "light sand and paint". 
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My Build: '69 Baja - Dark Earth Version
~I'm almost done. I just lack finishing up.~  |
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kangaboy
Samba Member
Joined: August 28, 2010
Posts: 1063
Location: St. Louis, Mo
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| Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2019 10:52 am Post subject: Re: New Buggy, Just Saying HIII!!! |
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Oh I will. I currently have the top end of the motor torn down for clean up. Seems there was a mouse nest in the cylinder tin as well that needs to be cleaned out.
Just got the carb rebuilt and put back together last night. Still deciding what do to with this tin and its paint job. Idk whether to sand/wire wheel it all off, or just give it a light sand and spray some hammered rustoleum on it, since the original paint seems to be sticking to the metal so well as it is.
My Dad took the bent rear wheel to the repair shop in hopes that it can be straightened, but if not, I'll be meeting up with Jimmy this weekend to work out a deal for a road worthy pair of rims for the rear.
After that, just need some new rubber and then to wiggle a few wires to get all the lights working.
_________________
-74 Standard - "CaliBug" 2084T, MS3X w/FI and Crank Fire
-76 Westy - "Gandalf"
-18 GTI SE
| skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
that fucking thing looks like it drove through a J.C. Whitney catalogue and hit everything on the way out |
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