Ol'fogasaurus black buggy

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I went up to Everett and got my liner today: BPE 1/4" SCH 40 A 53. Expensive as 5' cost me $15.39 w/tax being #1.30. I had seen the same thing but in CRES which would be even more expensive but the fit it fairly tight to support the All-thread. The plan is to use a washer at each end, then double nut it at each end with the second nut being for locking the first nut. I will tighten the All-thread with the nut just enough to induce some stretch making it lock against the tube better. The whole turning brake thing will have to be custom fitted as in front there tunnel is flat and back where the hydraulics are is rounded which means some custom work to align things properly.

http://www.jbugs.com/product/4501.html? ... w-shifters

I have been told by Marc that you can put a bus shifter in a bug using this as the spacer. I have asked around some and no one is sure but they think it sounds right or sounds close. I will try to get at this in the next couple days to see if it really does work.

If it does work then I will need to find someone who can bend the shifter a bit for me so I get the old hot rod look out on the dunes. Whappaaa, whappaaa!

[Leatherneck]

Lee, I know you already have the turning brake but wouldn't a single handle push/pull brake alleviate some of your problem?

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I have played w/single handle T-brakes before so I am somewhat aware of the advantages of both styles. The one big advantage to two handles is the ability to pull both handles at the same time to lock the diff and both feet are free to work the pedals. It also makes it easier to double clutch into first when running out of engine when near the top of a dune with one hand on the steering wheel and the other working the shifter and available for the brakes. The same if you get stuck on the face of a dune you lock both rear brakes by pulling both handles then you can easily shift into the gear you want. A single handle could lock one brake which should work but.... If you have 4-wheel brakes then maybe a hill-holding brake on the front brakes could be a welcome addition.

With single handles you have to have your left foot lightly on the brake pedal while also using you left foot to work the clutch pedal while your right foot is busy finessing the "loud pedal". You still have a hand for the shiftier and one for the steering wheel... and if you need to work the brake handle. Stadium racers, at least used to, use to use the single handle T-brakes and they were usually operated by the left hand.

You can get use to either pull or push-pull but when you get stuck or in other circumstances where you might need three feet to get out of the situation. I would be uncomfortable out in public when tripod walking (in this case three feet does not make a yard) down the street with my leftstreetlockrd to the right side and vica-versa.

One thing about this method I plan on trying is the brake lines are out of the was from people putting pressure on them when getting in and out of the buggy but I will cover it any way for protection.

Besides... I have learned a lot figuring this out and I've got a lot more questions are hiding in my Ka-noggin.

Lee

[Leatherneck]

Didn't think about locking both up if that was needed. It is for sure something to keep you busy..

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Didn't think about locking both up if that was needed. It is for sure something to keep you busy..

If you get stuck in witch's hole or where someone else had gotten stuck and the hole is filled with unpacked sand or you get high centered front and rear in the transition of a dune the ability to lock up the diff can come in very handy (assuming the tires are still touching the ground). One wheel in soft and the other in hard pack sand can make for use of the turning brakes too.

You learn these little tricks as the occasions arise and if there is someone around to tell you. I happened to stumble onto it in a panic situation when I was in great fear of my safety. I think I heard about the trick as a kid but forgot until the situation called for it; I didn't have time to think about it... i just did it. Then much later it was posted here by someone as a trick 2-wheel drive guys use off-road.

Yeah, off-roading and the sand can keep you much busier than you think about at the time.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I have been asked many times (especially by my wife) why I am still doing this build and why all the detail work that probably could be worked or gotten around. Where I get a lot of my VW parts the counter guy said the other day that I ask questions that he has never been heard of before (thanks Marc )

Part of it is to keep my mind active in my old age. I also still want to learn and not go stale. The idea of figuring out different ways of doing things gets me back into the years of design work which I really liked and who knows, someone else might benefit from it.

Lee

[bikesndbugs]

Lee have you ever made a mechanical turning brake setup. I like the idea but not that much for turning but for the ability to act somewhat as an lsd as you stated above. I figure it would also partially work as a normal turning brake too.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

If I understand what you are talking about there is, or used to be, a conversion that attached to the e-brake handle mount and pulls on the e-brake cables. That wears the single e-shoe in the rear brakes so the brakes can get out of adjustment (besides the hole for the e-brake in the buggy has been modified and will be foot closed off). I've never used one but from what I understand they work at a minimal level. You usually don't use a hard pull on the handle at more than a slower speed but the single shoe would be iffy at best.

I knew of one kid that did use them but when being chased by the authorities (for "squirrling around" on the street which is about what was called "rat racing" when a bunch of guys were chasing each other around on the street) when on one corner he hooked onto a seam/break in the concrete road with the turning brake applied and flipped his glass buggy. The show bar did not protect him and he was gone. I guess they can work some.

If my buggy was going to be in the street around here they are not allowed. My disc brake conversion does not have an e-brake.

Lee

[bikesndbugs]

it would probably never be used onroad but rather on offroad things where one wheel comes up off the ground.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Its 32°out and trying to snow but then snow has been forecast for where we live since last Friday w/no snow show where we are.

Travis’s question got me thinking so I went out and took some pictures after I loaded the seats in the buggy.

The passenger seat is closer to where it will be than the driver’s seat so you can see just how close the seats will be to each other. The shifter is sitting in this photo a bit forward of where is will be. The seat mounts are about an inch away from the tunnel and the seats are not leveled out in the picture.



Looking towards the rear of the buggy.



This is the one that got to me. I went down and got the spacer that you use on bugs to shorten the shift throw and put in under the bus shifter per Marc’s advice. Damn… it not only works but the tranny shifts better than it ever has even with the Scat shifter. A bit long of a throw but not that much.

A little bend added to the shifter and I may not have to shorten the shift handles. I just went out and checked and if I bend the handle ~ 20° just above the bend in the shifter then everything will be good. I can't get Photobucket to work after I got access to the two pictures I just added. I'll try to for tomorrow (Sunday).



This is the tallest Scat Dragfast handle the sell for a bug. As you can see here I would have to shorten the turning brake handles as I am reaching between the levers in this picture. The height of the turning brake handles are about right here.



Another view of the situation; again, the seats are mounted about as low as I can get them partly because of the width of the seats and partly because of the body lift. The seats have to be moved inboard quite a ways to allow the long, 6” slide/adjustment that the seat mounts have to keep the side of the seat to stay away from the side of the body at the seat’s full forward position. Glass buggies are normally narrower than stock bug bodies.

I haven’t sat in it yet to check it out but before, without a shifter in place, the handles where they are sitting now felt very natural.



A beer handle or an 8 ball would look pretty old school here.

Lee

(Update: I added the missing photos and added some information on bending the handles.)

[bikesndbugs]

A beer handle or an 8 ball would look pretty old school here.

8 BALL!!!!!!!

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Back in my day and earlier cars with floor shifts had ball ends on them that fit the palm of the hand. There were variations but basically they were modified balls.

In the late '68s and early 70's the Tee handle and Pistol grip shifters came into vogue for the Muscle cars but rod kept the ball or beer tap handle like you see in the picture (a Brew 66 produced in Oregon. I forget who bought them out but I don't think Brew 66 is being produced now). The other thing was to take an 8-ball out of a pool ball set, drill and tap it, or put a threaded insert in to fit on top of the shifter or even on "three on the tree" stick-shift handles. I'm sure you have heard the term "behind the 8-ball before (etymology: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/behi ... -ball.html http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/beh ... eight+ball) it is or was used a lot in my day.

[bikesndbugs]

used to have a bus shifter around the house was thinking about putting it in the bug but figured it would have been too tall and awkward so i grave it awayy.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I'm completely locked out of Photobucket today but there is another picture that should have gone with this one. It shows how the shift handle was heated and bent to be out of the way and in the right position. They also cut them off short to make it easier to shift if needed but the "cool" look wasn't there then.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I added the missing photos to the post a couple of posts above this. I also added some information on a second bend to the shift rod. Pictures to follow.

Lee