RyanB's Buggy

[Big Dave]

Didn't some of the buggys have wood supports around the bottom anyway?

[bajaherbie]

it was my idea.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I know of one that used wood to make a tapered spacer and another one that used something else (I forget what now) to get the body raised off the tires. I suggested resetting preload to the one that used wood but he felt that he would be getting into the bow-legged look if he raised it that much.

Lee

[RyanB]

For those who were still interested in my project.

So, I am closing in on my date to get this stuff done. Well, at least drivable. I have to heave it loaded on the trailer to go to California by this Thursday. You will notice I am sure that there is no roll cage. This trip is reall all about a tribute to my grandfather. We are just going up onto some logging roads to find a place to spread his ashes. I'll have my 82 year old Grandmother with me. So it's all about slow and safe. Once I get the car back home I'll begin work on a rollcage.

Other things that are "waiting" is the dash work. I need to put in a Speedo, Light switch and other stuff. Just dont have the time to do all that by this thursday.

The body turned out ok. But, I could have spent months on it to get it "clean". It's meant to be a fun off road car. Not a show car. So when you get up close, it's pretty evident I did little finish work on the body. However, I am ok with it.

Took it around the block for a quick test run. So far so good. I did not experience any wheel hop or anything and I jumped on it pretty good. Will know better later this summer when we can take it out offroad for real. More info near the pics below.


THe corners of the body I was not going to be able ot put any kind of a bolt through it. My solution is here. Lag screws into the wood with a "coupler" acting as a boss for the bolts to come through underneath the pan. I predrilled the holes and then 1/4 filled with Resin. Then drover these into the holes. Worked out rather well.


The "finished" pic of the setup in the wood.


Body is upside down. A coat of resin was applied to the bottom of the wood, then a coat of truck bed liner.


As the body sat, just before paint.


Wow...This was supposed to be orange. It ended up COPPER. Woah.


Test fit for my plaque in memory of my Grandfather.


Hood before paint.


Hood is painted


Pan, waiting for body


Body is on the pan, needs to be bolted down.


Body is bolted in, hood is on...


Looking like a car!

[Ol'fogasaurus]

You've come a long ways Ryan, it looks pretty good. Have fun on the memory tour.

Lee

[bajaherbie]

color looks good!

[Getrdone]

I dig the color! Nice work!

[JUSSUMGUY]

Cool color!

[RyanB]

Hi all, back from my vacation. The buggy made it up the hill, we spread my grandfathers ashes and then back down. Then it was done for the week. It was technically the 1st real road test for it. The motor is pure junk. It nearly has a constant stream of oil out the front of the motor. With a half inch of thrust, I am willing to bet the main seal is just about gone.

I need to figure out how to make the front suspension not so stiff. The dirt roads basically rattled the car apart! haha.

My grandmother had a smile on her face though, and that's all that mattered to me.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Sorry about your grandfather but happy the trip turned out OK.

As for softening up the suspension probably the easiest way is to put adjusters in both tubes and adjust one tube do most of the support and the other tube support it when needed. That is what I have now but it isn't fully adjusted as of yet. It is pretty close but I think there is some more to be had. Don't use AVIS style of adjusters if you are going to spend much time off-road but use the sway-a-way style instead. A bit harder of the two styles to put in but I think it is stronger and longer lasting in the long run.

Lee

[RyanB]

Hello All.

Looks like I need to get my domain fixed. All the pics are gone. Doh!

So, I am coming back to working on this buggy. I have project ADHD I think...

One of the first things I need to figure out is the front suspension. It's just stiff as hell. If I take out one of the center pins so it is only riding on either the top or bottom torsion do you think that would help solve it being too stiff? Alternatively, I was thinking of taking both pins out and get those offroad Spring/shocks you can get as well?

~Ryan

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Hi Ryan, thinking about you and your bug not too long ago.

I think it was FJC said that they have found, on Kit cars, that leaving the lower stack in place, where most of the work is being done anyway, and removing the top torsion stack and replacing the stack with a through rod like they do with coil-overs on rails, works fine. That's if I understood him, and remembered it correctly. What has stopped me from doing it, besides being lazy, is this setup going to work off-road like in the sand. If the beam were to be setup with adjusters on both tubes and, if the need was found for the other stack when going off-road, then the rod could be removed and the spring stack could be re-installed as needed. The only real problem I can think of is maintaining the center piece of the adjuster in place as it would be a stinker to maneuver back in place.

The coil overs, like the EMPIs, are not strong enough by themselves. The shock part in that kind of setup usually are not the best either. Shocks are going to be a big part of this conversion.

I was going for the adjusters on the top and bottom beams and just adjusting the lower ones to ride height then setting the other adjusters at max position which would allow them to come in to full use later in the suspension travel.

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

viewtopic.php?f=51&t=144525

It took me a while to find it again: the whole discussion is worth reading but the part of the discussion I was alluding to starts at the bottom of the first page with FJCamper's post.

Lee

[RyanB]

Hey there Lee,

Thanks for the reply. I read that thread. Good info there. I'll need to look into this through rod and how to accomplish that.

Pertinent info below...

Steve's suggestion about loosening the center grub screw for springing tests is workable to a degree. The leaves are still within a square-cut housing and will try to rotate but can catch. You can test this if you ever have the leaves exposed (no trailing arms installed & removed center grub screw) by trying to rotate the leaves with a Vise-Grip.

Don't drive a beam axle VW with the center grubs removed. The center grub screw is the only thing holding the leaves in place. And the trailing arm grub screws are the only things holding the trailing arms to the torsion leaves! With no center grub screw, the torsion leaf stack can shift side to side and finally one trailing arm or the other is pounded off.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

http://www.pacificcustoms.com/thru-rods.html

Through rods and components.

Lee