Possible start for the Safari-Rat?

[Bugger]

Here are some Pictures

Will give you some tips later to strengthen a few front end things for the bush not to bend steering rods etc

OOOO PM me with your e-mail addy the pics I got I can not resize to load here then you can mave a look at them and maybe use another resizing tool to post it here for the other guys

Or mail me at buggerATtelkomsaDOTnet

[vwrwanda]

rails/Skid plate over center of engine only - noted. I was just thinking of a little something to take the brunt of the rock hits away from the front and transmission and engine, so that should be fine.

@zeroaxe - The camo/grey ones are close to what i'm thinking - probably not quite that high for daily driving though...
the snorkel might be a hard sell on the retro-look bug, but it sure would help cut the amount of red dust the poor thing will suck in during the dry seaons.

@ron&gill - I think nigeria had a couple of licensed partial-fab/assembly plants for various euro cars. I know they still make a newly minted 504! is there any good budget minded coil-overs that you'd recommend? i look on the (mainly usa) baja-build sites, and it $1000 fox this $1200 blitsen that..
as for how i ended up here: my wife and i had finished all our various studies, gotten married, real jobs, an apartment and so of course we had a to go walkabout. the competition was who ever got an interesting job in an interesting place first won, and that's where we would go. My wife, having the advantage with her being in public health, and me being an industrial designer, (only a small percentage of design jobs are publicly advertised anywhere - it is usually word of mouth/email) won by quite some margin, and i've since picked up a bunch of freelance work here for various businesses and NGOs. We're loving it here, its beautiful, security is amazing, and the country has a real buzz about it - with everyone just trying to build the place up. my only real complaint is that the ocean is too far away.

@bugger - happy to post any photos: email on its way, front end strengthening sounds like a plan.

[vwrwanda]

Here are Buggers photos. do you want to tell us all about them?

[Bugger]

A friend and I Thys Pretorius from Witbank did the Africa beetle Marathon in 2001

We were going to use a Baja bug that was on loan to us but after I saw the Baja I decided I would like to finish the Marathon and not get Towed home

The guys that did some Sray work for us that time did Military Vehicles and got some Millitary Brown and I built this bug in about 3 weeks before we did the Rally

Built a motor as the one that was planned when we started it had a Bearing noise
Chuckked some wider fibreglass back fenders on so the tyres cleared had some little wider steel rims to fit the 7Ply Tyres and painted the bug

Fuel tank and water tank Tent Fridge in side for the Beers and Meat and a whole array of Camping assesories for the journey
The front steering rods we welded 2 pieces of angle iron around it to Box it so it does not bend in the Lesoto mountains and Swaziland Gravel Roads I have fitted a Deep sump to it and just had a skid plate under the Sump and Gearbox and off we went it the Chocolate monster

Fitted some Opel GSI front seats in so the yourney would be Comfy and we had a blast in the Bug

And yes also had a set of Dimm Bright Buggy lights on the front to see the Donkeys on and next to the Road at night

[vwrwanda]

@ bugger: WOW! that is the kind of thing that i'm looking for - right down to the dome hubcaps. the 7 plys, are they an easy find? who are the manufacturers? how was the clearance on the rally - were all the roads as smooth as the ones in the photos? rwanda's main roads are mostly quite good but can be intense in places... and the potholes that grow in the wet are down right scary. i'd like to achieve a comfortable ride without having to jack the car too far into the air.

[ZeroAxe]

Yes the grey one is one of my favourites. It is obviously for show, but there are a few nice, good touches on it. The Camo Bug has got the snorkel on it pretty much like many of the Wide Load SC SPlits in SA, for the exact same reason. Just to try and get some more clean air than normal to breathe..... One day I will build myself a Bundu Basher!!!

[vwrwanda]

went by again today and got some extra shots (took my mate who is looking at a dual cab syncro there) to aid in identification, looks like a non-super bug to me, which i take it is easier to set up for off-road?

noticed some more swiss cheese in the bottom of drivers door sill, but after heavy rains over the past days the inside still smelled dry. the firewall looks to be a complete replacement and there are some obvious late addition gussets here an there - mostly supporting the fenders.

Still keen to try and get this thing back on the road!

[Bugger]

Yep definately swing axle

Quite an interresting airfilter arrange ment

Dont worry about the rust for what you want to use it as a rat its part of the Packkage just fix the floor boards if they are rusted and away you go

The 7 ply tyres are think from Land rovers all though most landys have 16" rims you can do some tyre hunting and even second hand ones will do my ones were second hans

If memory serf me correct we did not raise the suspension at all it was just the back fenders that I replaced with the wider fibreglass ones for the Tyres to clear the front cleared

The roads do get nasty in Lesotho those pics all make em look good that was the reason why I strengthend some of the front suspension components the back has no problem


So Just DO it




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[Typ_315]

Several interesting observations come to mind:
1. Your speedometer is in km and km/h.
2. The multi hole wheels are either from Brazil or Mexico.
3. The air filter set up appears to be VW of Australia's dusty climate kit.
4. Your engine lid is fitted with Cabriolet water vents.
5. The engine has a Bosch external regulator Alternator.
6. It is a large window, which means the car could not have been built off Brazilian parts.

[dsan]

I've been following this thread with joy, it's such a sweet little idea and having seen bugger's images just makes it all the better.

good luck and keep up the posts/updates

[Dutch_Diver]

Whatever happened with this?

[vwrwanda]

Update:

The project is a go! but it is going slowly... we went to vist our families in the US and australia and now we're back on it, though currently the safari bug is being overwhelmed by my various jobs and the construction of our house (redearthdreaming.blogspot.com)

the mechanic assures me that the engine is running, so we're trying to line up a time to go and see it (we live 2 hours drive from it).

I will post up some more photos once some visible progress is made.