Tell me your- 'How you got it home' stories

Brian Murray · Post by **Brian Murray** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 5:52 pm

broken throttle cable, tied the throttle open with my shoelace and controlled motor speed with the ignition key. luckily it was only a few miles... there were also a few complicating circumstances...

BUGMAN II · Post by **BUGMAN II** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 9:03 pm

kevin,
i'd stick with stock healthy cv's if it was me
JMO with that heavy of a car your going to be breaking stuff and cv joints will be the cheapest to replace. take a extra set of axles with you to the track so you can still drive it home. BTW fayette'nam is known for breaking vw's

turbo_bob · Post by **turbo_bob** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 9:22 pm

Nick Wharton wrote:I have been the throttle, and the driver on two different occasions when a cable broke. hanging on the back bumper was fun, being the driver took some getting used to, because you have no control over the gas

Thats funny Nick. One time I was in a gas station in 1st gear and I pushed in the clutch to stop at the driveway, well the clutch arm broke and stalled the engine out. I thought for a few seconds of what to do, turned the key to start while in 1st gear and away I went in 1st all the way home, only two miles but it was a long two miles.

Nick Wharton · Post by **Nick Wharton** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 10:12 pm

thats what I'm talking about Bob, lets see some stories about broken clutches... rev it up, back off, then shift... been there done that. These things are what made me realize its better to do it right the first time!

2332 baja · Post by **2332 baja** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 4:01 am

Now that you mention it Nick,,, that happened to me 2 weeks ago. I have blocked it out. It was my first ever trip to the drag strip and I was nervous/hyped to try out the new 2332. Made it up to the entrance gate, pushed the clutch to stop and pay my dues, and whamo

the clutch pedal hit the floor hard. I knew something was broken and I didn't have parts to fix it. Trying to be optimistic,,, I crawled under the car and checked out only to find that the hook on my pedal had broken

So I called the wife and told her that we werent racing but limping home instead. I drove the car over 30 miles home with no clutch, starting in first gear at the lights & toll booth, and searching for the sweet spot where the tranny would fall into gear with no raking. Only raked twice but it was nerve racking none the less. I've since rerouted my clutch cable outside the tunnel to take some of the stress off when it makes the trip around the 002.

Brian Murray · Post by **Brian Murray** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 7:02 am

2332 baja wrote:I've since rerouted my clutch cable outside the tunnel to take some of the stress off when it makes the trip around the 002.

Sorry for off topic, and dont mean to hijack, but would you mind taking a few pics of that? I need to do it too...

CHAZAVW · Post by **CHAZAVW** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 7:17 am

Nick Wharton wrote:thats what I'm talking about Bob, lets see some stories about broken clutches... rev it up, back off, then shift... been there done that. These things are what made me realize its better to do it right the first time!

AMEN!!!!

CHAZAVW · Post by **CHAZAVW** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 7:22 am

Brian Murray wrote:
2332 baja wrote:I've since rerouted my clutch cable outside the tunnel to take some of the stress off when it makes the trip around the 002.
Sorry for off topic, and dont mean to hijack, but would you mind taking a few pics of that? I need to do it too...

where have you been hiding????

Post by **Tom Notch** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 9:06 am

Man, I could write a small book about this topic!

4 blown CVs out at the track in one day, glad there was a swap meet with a good supply!
A
broken clutch cross shaft lever just as I was going thru the guard gate at work. Drove the Berg 5 eqipped bug home with no clutch, about 40 miles! Glad it started easy at the stop lights. Matching gears on up and down shifts. The guys at work could hear me going up thru the gears getting on the freeway.

The time I broke the buggy frame out at Glamis. The top 2 rails broke so just the botton rails rewally were all holding it together, kinda a broken sway backed mule sort thing. Tied the roll bar to the front beam with a big rope and drove it about 5 miles back to camp with the accelerator not working very well as the frame flexed it gas the 2 liter. (in the 60s)

The time I flipped it at Pismo and bent it pretty good. took it down to the welding shop that was in town, used a come-a-long and some blocks to get it back pretty square, added a couple of more braces and ran the rest of the weekend.

The old split case tranny in my dad's buggy wore the hole out for the shift rod and quit shifting while at Glamis. We made a bushing out of one of the millions of 50 caliber shells laying around out there. Glamis was a gunnery range for the Army Air Corp in WW2.

ther are more, but my fingers are tired......

CHAZAVW · Post by **CHAZAVW** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 9:19 am

tom your notch is beautiful!!!

Post by **Tom Notch** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 9:39 am

Thank you!

I enjoy driving it and plan on having it a really long time.

And wait till ya see me tow my split out to the races with it

2332 baja · Post by **2332 baja** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 11:52 am

Brian Murray wrote:
2332 baja wrote:I've since rerouted my clutch cable outside the tunnel to take some of the stress off when it makes the trip around the 002.
Sorry for off topic, and dont mean to hijack, but would you mind taking a few pics of that? I need to do it too...

Digicam isn't working so good at the moment and the modification is still in the try it and see stage. So it looks a lot like a hack job at the moment. Basically, I left the tube inside the tunnel until the access panel under the rear seat. That's where I cut the tube (as far back as I could with a dremel and cut off wheel) and cut a 3" long slot from the access hole down the drivers side of the tunnel. Slid the tube down the slot, which aimed it almost directly at the bowden tube support that mounts on the tranny, and welded it in place. From there it gets into the experimental stage. I used thick walled copper pipe to extend the factory metal tube to the bowden tube, I know, I know, it will eventually bend and throw the clutch adjustment off. I just wanted to find out if it helped any and it does. So I will be getting some steel tubing and flaring the end that will mate up with the factory metal tube and welding them together.

Note: Do not make any drastic bends in either tube because the threaded end of the clutch cable will get stuck,,, plus it defeats the purpose of rerouting the cable in the first place.

Hope some of this helps and good luck.

Brian Murray · Post by **Brian Murray** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:09 pm

2332 baja wrote:
Brian Murray wrote:
2332 baja wrote:I've since rerouted my clutch cable outside the tunnel to take some of the stress off when it makes the trip around the 002.
Sorry for off topic, and dont mean to hijack, but would you mind taking a few pics of that? I need to do it too...

Hope some of this helps and good luck.

Sure does, thanks for the description...

CHAZA.

I've been hiding in the Garage porting and polishing heads and building V8 motors, why?

CHAZAVW · Post by **CHAZAVW** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:20 pm

i thought for a moment we lost you to the v8 desert?

Brian Murray · Post by **Brian Murray** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:24 pm

nope, still a VW guy.
Hell, I race my Pontiac with my VW jacket on.

Lets take the rest of this to PM shall we?