Desert Fox Spoiler meets Pikes Peak racer...mostly photos

[Dale M.]

[GS guy]

Fine looking work and coming along nicely!
I'll be very interested in hearing a road handling and driving report with the drag radials. That's about the only performance rated 15" tire that'll work on a 10" wide wheel. On a lightweight buggy I'd think it'll age out before wearing out - just wondering how well it corners?
Jeff
_________________
70's vintage Deserter GS buggy - undergoing transformation to Super GS!

[rugblaster]

I don't know much about the tires, they appear to be relatively soft in the compound department. I want this car to handle like a go cart. I've got some big sway bars to put on it, and a few other things. It's not ready to drive yet, but shouldn't be long now. Although all the little jobs add up to a good bit of time.

The battery cables are actually heavy gauge welding cable. I'll probably take them off and go get the welding supply to crimp some copper ends on there and a heat shrink tube.
_________________
'69 Karmy, '69 Camper, Meyers clone, '65 drag bug, 10.78 @ 128 (sold it) '51 Dodge farm truck,
'09 MB E350 '18 MB E400, '65 Plymouth Valiant convertible and a '19 Ford F250 King Ranch (nicer, but dirty, farm truck)

VWoA factory trained line tech 75 till 90 or so
ASE Master Certification
VWoA Assoc. of Quality Technicians inductee (One of 25 in the five state southwest region)
La Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (San Angelo Chapter)
TCU ......GO FROGS!!!!!!

[rugblaster]

What I got done today....Bought some fineline tape and a roll of 3/4 tape. Inflation overload at the auto body paint store. Painted the interior up. I like the contrast between the candy orange and the semi flat black. It looks better to me, rather than like an original manx type body being all one color gelcoat.

There isn't much in the way of specialty parts around here...did some testing and decided these hand made 7/16ths, grade 8 bolts would do for seat and shoulder restraints. Bought a NEW set of Crow harnesses that were out of date, 2018...they'll do too.

"A man has got to know his limitations."--------Dirty Harry

_________________
'69 Karmy, '69 Camper, Meyers clone, '65 drag bug, 10.78 @ 128 (sold it) '51 Dodge farm truck,
'09 MB E350 '18 MB E400, '65 Plymouth Valiant convertible and a '19 Ford F250 King Ranch (nicer, but dirty, farm truck)

VWoA factory trained line tech 75 till 90 or so
ASE Master Certification
VWoA Assoc. of Quality Technicians inductee (One of 25 in the five state southwest region)
La Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (San Angelo Chapter)
TCU ......GO FROGS!!!!!!

[rugblaster]

Today's werk, painted the new dashboard mount and clad it in some 6061 aluminum. Once I get a little tweeking done, a bend here and a bend there, I'll finish with the rivets. The front part is removed with 4 Dzus fasteners and everything will fall out in your lap. like all cars should be built. Also started putting in the Crow 5 point seat belts.

_________________
'69 Karmy, '69 Camper, Meyers clone, '65 drag bug, 10.78 @ 128 (sold it) '51 Dodge farm truck,
'09 MB E350 '18 MB E400, '65 Plymouth Valiant convertible and a '19 Ford F250 King Ranch (nicer, but dirty, farm truck)

VWoA factory trained line tech 75 till 90 or so
ASE Master Certification
VWoA Assoc. of Quality Technicians inductee (One of 25 in the five state southwest region)
La Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (San Angelo Chapter)
TCU ......GO FROGS!!!!!!

[rugblaster]

I made some progress in the last few days, I found my lost urethane bushing for the rear sway bar, started wiring everything, which
i like doing. I'm soldering all the crimp connectors, I don't trust them very much. I cleaned and installed the seats and Crow seat belts.

I made a crankcase breather and installed it. It is packed the copper Brillo pads. I installed a fuel cell, fuel pump etc.

I got the instrument panel populated with the usual stuff....I still need to find a VW speedometer

_________________
'69 Karmy, '69 Camper, Meyers clone, '65 drag bug, 10.78 @ 128 (sold it) '51 Dodge farm truck,
'09 MB E350 '18 MB E400, '65 Plymouth Valiant convertible and a '19 Ford F250 King Ranch (nicer, but dirty, farm truck)

VWoA factory trained line tech 75 till 90 or so
ASE Master Certification
VWoA Assoc. of Quality Technicians inductee (One of 25 in the five state southwest region)
La Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (San Angelo Chapter)
TCU ......GO FROGS!!!!!!

[indianpeaksjoe]

This is just amazing. Awesome work.

-Joe
_________________
Adventures in owning a 66 beetle

[rugblaster]

Thanks Joe. I bought my '69 VW Camper from a guy named Charlie Crocker. He was from Moab, Utah. This was back about 1995. He was in the area paddling around in a kayak with is dog. Smoked his engine, and got stuck here for 2 weeks while we tried to find him a affordable engine. We couldn't find one. He didn't have much money, so he sold me the bus.

I looked him up on google and found him in Oregon. He has a business called Soul Cycles, or Sol Cycles somewhere in Oregon, Still the adventurous type. I told him if I ever decide to sell this camper, I would give him first choice at it, and I would make it affordable for him. I don't care much about the money anymore. He seemed interested. I though he might could use it for his business.
_________________
'69 Karmy, '69 Camper, Meyers clone, '65 drag bug, 10.78 @ 128 (sold it) '51 Dodge farm truck,
'09 MB E350 '18 MB E400, '65 Plymouth Valiant convertible and a '19 Ford F250 King Ranch (nicer, but dirty, farm truck)

VWoA factory trained line tech 75 till 90 or so
ASE Master Certification
VWoA Assoc. of Quality Technicians inductee (One of 25 in the five state southwest region)
La Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (San Angelo Chapter)
TCU ......GO FROGS!!!!!!

[rugblaster]

This is what I got done today. Finished the aluminum cladding on the dash. I stuck a sticker on the dash. There are some very small LED license plate lights I mounted on the rear plate. I built a bracket to mount the turn signal switch to the shifter. Drilled some dowel pin holes in the bracket and the shifter to accomplish this. And, I started in on the mount bracket for the rear tail, brake and turn signal lights, LED's also.

_________________
'69 Karmy, '69 Camper, Meyers clone, '65 drag bug, 10.78 @ 128 (sold it) '51 Dodge farm truck,
'09 MB E350 '18 MB E400, '65 Plymouth Valiant convertible and a '19 Ford F250 King Ranch (nicer, but dirty, farm truck)

VWoA factory trained line tech 75 till 90 or so
ASE Master Certification
VWoA Assoc. of Quality Technicians inductee (One of 25 in the five state southwest region)
La Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (San Angelo Chapter)
TCU ......GO FROGS!!!!!!

[rugblaster]

Today's work involved a radical camberectomy. I measured the rear wheel camber at 2 degrees, 20 min with the wide tires on the back, which I think made the dimension even more profound than normal. And, I had adjusted the torsion bars to lower the ride height. I didn't like the spayed out look of the rear wheels, preferring them to be in the 0 degree tp neg 1 range. There were fully 3 inches of the outside tire tread not touching the ground.

I marked the diagonal arm in front of the wheel bearing area and zip disced as square as I could, but did not cut it in two, leaving the top part intact. I also split the bump stop bracket in half as it looks as though it is used as a semi gusset to strengthen the arm. I rotated the bearing housing downward positive 3 degrees. This was just a wild shithouse guess as to how much twist was needed.

Obviously, you need to be comfortable of your welding ability to pull this off. As it turned out, 3 degrees positive put the rear tires at 0 degrees camber and I'm quite happy with that. Also, I had the VW adjustable protractor special tool at my disposal, but a hardware store angle finder would probably be good enough to get it close.

_________________
'69 Karmy, '69 Camper, Meyers clone, '65 drag bug, 10.78 @ 128 (sold it) '51 Dodge farm truck,
'09 MB E350 '18 MB E400, '65 Plymouth Valiant convertible and a '19 Ford F250 King Ranch (nicer, but dirty, farm truck)

VWoA factory trained line tech 75 till 90 or so
ASE Master Certification
VWoA Assoc. of Quality Technicians inductee (One of 25 in the five state southwest region)
La Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (San Angelo Chapter)
TCU ......GO FROGS!!!!!!

[oprn]

I haven't seen the camber corrected that way before but like the outcome!
_________________
We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[GS guy]

I think the SOP to correct lowering camber is to swap the arms side to side. This locates some items on the "wrong" side of the arm (shock mount, snubber mount, etc.) which has to be removed and relocated back to the correct position, but doesn't require major surgery to the arm itself. ALA the toe and camber are now corrected your out of the box method should do the trick just as well.
Jeff
_________________
70's vintage Deserter GS buggy - undergoing transformation to Super GS!

[rugblaster]

Yes, apparently effective, and not a whole lot of work. If I weren't so lazy I would have found my degree of twist, tacked it in a few places, take the arms off the car, clean it up, and TIG welded it. I didn't want to repeat the bearing packing, seal installing, lining up the big Allen bolt, take the shocks off, take the sway bar off, shit again. I was aware of the diagonal arm swap method, but it seemed to me more work, and right at the present, I'm for semi-fast and easy.
_________________
'69 Karmy, '69 Camper, Meyers clone, '65 drag bug, 10.78 @ 128 (sold it) '51 Dodge farm truck,
'09 MB E350 '18 MB E400, '65 Plymouth Valiant convertible and a '19 Ford F250 King Ranch (nicer, but dirty, farm truck)

VWoA factory trained line tech 75 till 90 or so
ASE Master Certification
VWoA Assoc. of Quality Technicians inductee (One of 25 in the five state southwest region)
La Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (San Angelo Chapter)
TCU ......GO FROGS!!!!!!

[rugblaster]

How bad it was.....1/3 of the tire not on the ground. I guess it would have been ok for a roundy round dirt track racer. I've seen some dirt cars that have the right front practically running on the inside sidewall..... I'm wanting a little tread life.

_________________
'69 Karmy, '69 Camper, Meyers clone, '65 drag bug, 10.78 @ 128 (sold it) '51 Dodge farm truck,
'09 MB E350 '18 MB E400, '65 Plymouth Valiant convertible and a '19 Ford F250 King Ranch (nicer, but dirty, farm truck)

VWoA factory trained line tech 75 till 90 or so
ASE Master Certification
VWoA Assoc. of Quality Technicians inductee (One of 25 in the five state southwest region)
La Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (San Angelo Chapter)
TCU ......GO FROGS!!!!!!

[oprn]

I too am not a fan of radical camber on street driven cars like the one here I stole from the gallery.

To me it is not just a wear thing it's about safety too. The tire should be loaded as evenly as possible across the tread width. That is how they are intended to run. I have suggested to some that run radical negative camber that motorcycle tires that have tread up the sidewall would be the best choice for their cars. I am not a popular guy in that crowd!

I am at the moment converting my Buggy to IRS and have spent way too many hours trying to get the tires as close to vertical as possible. I understand that most independent rear suspension cars today do run a wee bit of negative camber for road stability and better handling. You see it all the time following cars in traffic. I get that and I am ok with a 1/2 * or so but no more.

This is where I am at right now. With the weight of the power train the rear will come down and a small shift in camber will happen but I am not expecting much.

I corrected mine by moving the inner trailing arm brackets up before welding them in solid. It makes me smile these days when I see an old VW with the tires standing up straight!
_________________
We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[rugblaster]

That bug looks like it was dropped out of a helicopter...
_________________
'69 Karmy, '69 Camper, Meyers clone, '65 drag bug, 10.78 @ 128 (sold it) '51 Dodge farm truck,
'09 MB E350 '18 MB E400, '65 Plymouth Valiant convertible and a '19 Ford F250 King Ranch (nicer, but dirty, farm truck)

VWoA factory trained line tech 75 till 90 or so
ASE Master Certification
VWoA Assoc. of Quality Technicians inductee (One of 25 in the five state southwest region)
La Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (San Angelo Chapter)
TCU ......GO FROGS!!!!!!

[rugblaster]

Started in on the wiring, had to pause to order some supplies. Took the break in that job to mount the front bumper and figure out where I wanted to put the headlights. I wasn't to thrilled to mount them on the front fenders...they look to "bullfrog" looking for a Urban Assault Machine. Opted to place them in this lower position. Also, got the rear lights mounted on a lightened piece of aluminum angle. I found these cool, LED license plate lights. The front bumper came with no mounting hardware and had to be cut up quite a bit to get it to cooperate. The front is getting a little crowded with the headlight bar, two bumper bars, and a big-ass sway bar.

I had a slight bit of apprehension at the DMV when I went to change the title of the car in my name. I had bought the car who's chassis number I am going to use to register this buggy with back in 1978......46 years ago. I was told at the office the title was no longer in the system. Well, I said, I have the car and I have a signed title indicating I bought the car in '78. They sent all this information to Austin for review and I'm happy to say I'm getting a title for this car.

_________________
'69 Karmy, '69 Camper, Meyers clone, '65 drag bug, 10.78 @ 128 (sold it) '51 Dodge farm truck,
'09 MB E350 '18 MB E400, '65 Plymouth Valiant convertible and a '19 Ford F250 King Ranch (nicer, but dirty, farm truck)

VWoA factory trained line tech 75 till 90 or so
ASE Master Certification
VWoA Assoc. of Quality Technicians inductee (One of 25 in the five state southwest region)
La Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (San Angelo Chapter)
TCU ......GO FROGS!!!!!!

[rugblaster]

I finished up the headlight mount. It will be sent off to chrome plate. I had some small rod ends and I'm going to use them to brace the mount. I can use the rod ends to adjust the entire light bar up or down. I had them, so why not use them? These headlights I got from Summit Racing have the running lights and turn signals built into the bulb reflector....Thought that was cool. I'm not sure what these headlight bulbs are about, but I assume they are cool too. The headlight buckets are polished stainless steel.

I have all the wiring done except all the lights.....waiting on parts. The ignition switch is actually the horn turner-on-er. Turn the key to run, and the horn blows. I'll just leave the keys in the switch all the time. The starter button is hidden. To turn the ignition on, there is a combination of switches that have to be switched on. I installed a hidden Apple Air Tag too

_________________
'69 Karmy, '69 Camper, Meyers clone, '65 drag bug, 10.78 @ 128 (sold it) '51 Dodge farm truck,
'09 MB E350 '18 MB E400, '65 Plymouth Valiant convertible and a '19 Ford F250 King Ranch (nicer, but dirty, farm truck)

VWoA factory trained line tech 75 till 90 or so
ASE Master Certification
VWoA Assoc. of Quality Technicians inductee (One of 25 in the five state southwest region)
La Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (San Angelo Chapter)
TCU ......GO FROGS!!!!!!

[rugblaster]

I got the wiring finished up, installed a $5 beep beep horn, got the headlight bar tie rods installed and even made our friends one year old granddaughter a birthday gift sculpture of a momma bolt and baby bolt. In the process burned the living shit out of my little finger.

_________________
'69 Karmy, '69 Camper, Meyers clone, '65 drag bug, 10.78 @ 128 (sold it) '51 Dodge farm truck,
'09 MB E350 '18 MB E400, '65 Plymouth Valiant convertible and a '19 Ford F250 King Ranch (nicer, but dirty, farm truck)

VWoA factory trained line tech 75 till 90 or so
ASE Master Certification
VWoA Assoc. of Quality Technicians inductee (One of 25 in the five state southwest region)
La Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (San Angelo Chapter)
TCU ......GO FROGS!!!!!!

[67rustavenger]

Along with your fantastic buggy build.

You created one of the most imaginative, cutest things anyone can make as a personal gift for a mom and her 1yo child.

I really like what you have done here.
_________________
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!