Unidentified 2-Seater Build - WBX 091-1 with Aircooled 1915

[woodsbuggy1]

Good looking buggy, but I seriously doubt that you will ever be happy with drum brakes in an offroad car. You don't have to buy hi-dollar brakes, it is not at all difficult to adapt junkyard brakes to your car.
Good Luck
Kenric

[Ol'fogasaurus]

If you can find the rear backing plates off a type III type III cans (drum brakes) are very good used on a rail especially when used on all corners like you do.

As woodsbuggy said: discs from any of several sources can be used/made to fit and work also so you have many directions of travel open to you.

Lee

[dustymojave]

On dirt you really do NOT need hella good brakes. They will just lock the tires up and slide. I agree with Lee's suggestion of T3 rear brakes and then use T1 fronts. Late rear wheel cylinders on the front and standard T3 rear wheel cylinders on the the back. That combo has always worked great on my old Hi Jumper. And it won a championship in its day. I used an early Bus MC (single 22mm bore) back in the mid 70s when I built it. It's still there.

Use 5/8" masters on both if you have the T1/T3 brakes defined above and aftermarket dual master cylinder pedals.

Disc brakes require more fluid volume movement (not more pressure) than drums, so use a bigger bore master where you have disc brakes.

[jimmyhoffa]

Kenric, I was thinking about the 944 setup in the rear,but then I would have some wheel issues to figure out. I gotta think about that one.

Lee and Richard, good call! I actually have that setup now. T1 front with sedan rear cylinders, and T3 rears with their standard wheel cylinders. Both studded for my wide-5 wheels. Richard, the fact that you liked, used, and won with a 22mm bus master cylinder makes me really confident buying those two 5/8 CNC master cylinders for my balance bar pedal setup. According to my maths that comes out almost identical to the hydraulic ratio you have with the bus master. That was exactly what I needed to know to justify pulling the trigger on those cylinders.

In the mean time, I made some headlight mounts for my Summit Racing KC Daylighter copy lights, stainless steel bodies.


Which now hold DOT/SAE H4 sealed beam conversion lights of size 5-3/4"


Then I got preheat working....


And now, you're like MAN, MAN, JIM YOU KNOW PREHEAT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT! And I say, it does if you do this:

'Intake' Scoop:


'Exhaust' Side:


Runs great now at 35 degrees F. My friend has a FLIR camera so I'm going to mess with that flap geometry until I get the temperature I want in the manifold. Little tweaks on those scoops seem to make a big difference.



Next week will bring further adventures of the fabrication variety.

[Piledriver]

Now you just need to keep your ass from freezing up and everything's perfect.

A couple well sealed layers of canvas around the cabin like bodywork could probably be heated well by a BN4.

[jimmyhoffa]

I was thinking about a petrol heater.... but then I thought about how much cheaper I got my snowmobile jacket at a blowout sale at a motorcycle shop. I think I'll just freeze out like a gentleman.

As promised, I did stuff. I got some trailer blinkers and reverse lights for free through the father of a friend I grew up with. Actually, it's the father of the guy with the FLIR. He is a distributor that supplies to many auto parts chains with product such as what you see below: (Besides the PVC pipe caps.)


Step Two.... Lathe groove


BooM! Done. Hanging by tape now, mounting tonight. Also, I took a trip to imagination land and pretended the plate was for this buggy, and tried to figure where I want it. I have a huge thing for "offset mounted" plates. Front or back, car or truck. I don't like them to be centered. For whatever reason, I like tags to look like an afterthought.


You'll notice the other thing I figured out is that if you take some PAR-36 size utility lights with rubber housings and pop the sealed beam lights out, round grommet-mount brake/tail lights fit right in there.

[jimmyhoffa]

Not too much progress, just moved my girlfriend home from college this weekend with my dad's truck and 20' box trailer. Broke down a few times and had to do a water pump on the side of the highway, so most my weekend was kept busy.

Finished the lights:


Got 'em bolted up. The light mounts (still need to be trimmed) also serve as rear cage gussets


Now, the reverse lockout.... First, I made the "cartridge" and all the guts. I had to be classy with the HNBR O-ring so I can pack the cartridge with grease for that buttery feel.


Pressed in the aluminum spring rub sleeve and bronze peg guide:




Here it is all laid out, and installing...




bolted to the shift linkage:


In the car in the "3-4" gate position




Now in the "1-2" gate position


Now in the "R" unlocked position


Aaaaand works perfectly. Just have to make a trigger lever or something for the shift handle. Should be easy.

[jimmyhoffa]

Got a little distracted. I was considering all the ways to make a reverse lockout lever work, and for some reason I decided my shift lever was too splindley and was too heavy per unit volume, so I sourced a rod of titanium and started hacking.



Step two... shift ball thread end.


done, ready for install!


Waaaait. I needed a little more heim joint pivot relief. not enough angular travel for full free shift motion.


done!


Just for the record, ~70% external threads on CP Grade 4 Titanium suck a lot with a hardware store thread die. I am physically tired this morning. Threading each end took about 45 mins.

[bajaherbie]

jelly!

[jimmyhoffa]

Baaaah more distraction and minimal list-checking-off. All I got done was the Rev. lockout control on the shifter. At least the whole shifter + lockout is done.









Next up is a turning brake linkage (the start of which is in the background above) and then skid plates/floors.

[motorbreath53]

That shifter looks killer, as does the rest of this thing. Strong work.

[fordfreak]

Yeah, I will preface this by saying I wanted a 4lwd, or plans for a 4lwd, or someone nearby with a 4lwd that I could copy out of DOM, but alas I am in the buggy "desert." Of course by desert I mean the absolute wrong location for any buggy purchasing or buggy related activity. People out in Arizona or Cali are literally trading 1980's refrigerators and used truck parts for 4lwd frames and I'm here.... all alone. I am intentionally building this buggy so that if I find a 4lwd frame I can just transfer everything over. I would immediately abandon this frame if something affordable came along.

That said, I was definitely planning on "down tubes" to the engine support/frame horns. I have never like the idea of them floating out there. Thanks for the reminder!

Also, I am going to diagonal the B-pillar main hoop after I finalize the location for the harness bar.

I hate my stupid/scary bent roof bars as much as the next guy, but I think I'm going to have to run with it given my headroom situation. I think with the thick reinforced center tube and maybe tying those two gusset tubes I drew in orange across into each other, even though welds in tension are a little scary, I would start to trust it. I knew if the top of the B-pillar hoop gave from a frontal A-hoop impact, 1/2 of the load would go out to the sides of the long rear tubes, definitely not ideal. I get what you're saying there Lee, I definitely need to do at least SOMETHING additional there. I'm just trying to make the best of what I've got, and you guys are helping a lot with idea generation!

Nice build, glad to see another guy building stuff from scratch. I thought the same thing about the 4lwd and I ended up with one before I started any buggy build. I got lucky. Here in CA they are going for thousands beat the F up condition at swap meets! If you find one grab it. You can see mine in my sig.

[Piledriver]

You'g figure if they were that hot for old beat up ones some enterprising individual would make a jig and be spitting new ones out of his garage.... or new "old" ones.

[jimmyhoffa]

Definitely means a lot coming from you Fordfreak. No need to fret, I've got most of your thread memorized. you found a fine example of a 4lwd too! Well executed!

Did I spy with my little eye that you don't run a turning brake? I am considering not running one and I'm curious how you all feel about said decision.

Also, I may have made some hobo-sketchy IRS arms, but your front arm fab blew me outta the water there. I've got a good bit more done on my car, but I'm waiting for a little more progress. Most of what I did was boring.

I coughed it up and bought a Rebel Wire wiring harness for a Bug, so we'll see how that is. I've seen good things.

[Leatherneck]

You guys and your fancy smancy lathes and skills. Nice job!