New Members - Introduce yourself..

[riaanj]

Welcome all, especially all our foreign AC brothers, we appreciate that you are part of our community but please don't come here just to scavenge spares or cars, we have very little left that is in a good state and restorations with local parts are difficult enough without half of our goods going out our borders.. Thanx..

[Retro13]

Hi everyone

My name is Tim and I'm an Industrial Designer from Sunnyridge in Germiston. I've been checking out the forum for a while now and finally decided to take a few minutes to join up and introduce myself.

I normally play with vintage and classic Japanese motorcycles, primarily Hondas, as well as one or two little Italian 50s, however I recently aquired what I believe to be a Kartcraft Kestrel buggy from a good friend of mine. I've always had a soft spot for air cooled VWs, possibly influenced by my grandmother's powder blue Rostyle'd Beetle. A potent Mk1 Jetta (that my dad bought new when I was born and was killed by a truck only recently) and two V6 Alfas later, the VW 'bug' has been caught once again thanks to the buggy.

The buggy rebuild has already started and I'll hopefully be putting a few pics up in the Projects section as I go along. The pics that I've seen so far have been incredibly inspirational (Pine's Hot Wheels 2 buggy being a notable example) and I hope that my project turns out even half as nice as some of the cars on here.

Chat soon,
T!M

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[hitlers revenge]

Welcome Tim, and yes you are correct, that is a Kestrel.

[Retro13]

Thanks for he welcome. Really glad to finally be on here.

[Mister T]

Hey all,

Just signed up to this forum and wanted to show you why.

This is my new toy, a `80 Puma GTS, a convertible from Brasil. As there is some work to do on the fibre glass body and beetle chassis i am looking forward to discuss body and engine with all of you guys here.

Thomas

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[Tony Z]

Welcome

Start thread of your own so we can perv over your vehicles.

This is going to get confusing now.... we have a Mr T and a Mister T...

[Ron&Gill]

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Wow, that looks exactly like my first buggy, Blou Gemoerte circa 1995.

[Retro13]

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Wow, that looks exactly like my first buggy, Blou Gemoerte circa 1995.

It's very possible. My car was apparently bought in the Knysna area and has CBR on the plates, which I believe is Montagu. Any possible tell-tale features I should keep my eyes open for?
The motor is a 1600 twin port...

[MrT]

Hey all,

Just signed up to this forum and wanted to show you why.

This is my new toy, a `80 Puma GTS, a convertible from Brasil. As there is some work to do on the fibre glass body and beetle chassis i am looking forward to discuss body and engine with all of you guys here.

Thomas

IMG-20121209-00020 (Small).jpg

IMG-20121209-00014 (Small).jpg

IMG-20121209-00015 (Small).jpg

Welcome here!

[BosveldBul]

Hi Guys

My name is Jak and I'm from Pretoria.

I do not have a VW yet (was a Toyota boy up to now). I drive a 1987 1.3 corolla and a 3.0 D4D Hilux 4x4. The motor in the corolla has reached the end of it's life (after 530 000km). I got it in 1998, second owner, with 140 000km.
I intended to overhaul the 2E motor myself, and once fixed, sell it off to buy a Beetle. Yesterday I found a 1.6 4A motor at a good price, so I'll just have that fitted and trade in the 1.3.

I would like to buy a beetle in need of TLC and chop the roof by about 2.5 inches. I like the whole hot-rod look. Also a must is widening the fenders. My profile pic is the look I'm going for.
This will be my first "project" so I am afraid of going in over my head. I do not have much technical background, but I'm not afraid to DIY. I service my cars myself, change brakes, belts etc. And it can't be too hard to learn on a beetle, right?

[Thumper]

Welcome all the Newbies!

[ST AUTOSPORT]

Hi guys my name is Tish, have a 1972 Beetle and a Golf 3 GTI, run a Car accesories and Mag repair business on the eastrand. We specialize in Xenon light fittment, sound , carbo wrapping and lots more. Feels great to be a member nedd any spare or accesories give me a shout.

[ST AUTOSPORT]

Hi guys my name is Tish, have a 1972 Beetle and a Golf 3 GTI, run a Car accesories and Mag repair business on the eastrand. We specialize in Xenon light fittment, sound , carbo wrapping and lots more. Feels great to be a member nedd any spare or accesories give me a shout.

[MrT]

Hi guys my name is Tish, have a 1972 Beetle and a Golf 3 GTI, run a Car accesories and Mag repair business on the eastrand. We specialize in Xenon light fittment, sound , carbo wrapping and lots more. Feels great to be a member nedd any spare or accesories give me a shout.

Welcome Tish! Do you have a website?

[perrib]

Ok I had to join to look at the pictures. let me say this is a great site you all seem to be into VW at least as much as us on the other side of the Atlantic. I have other VWs but I'll start with the one I have had longest.
WARNING: Viewer discretion advised. content heavy on text and pictures about rails.People who object to this subject matter should of never opened the post.
My old rail is nothing special just a collection of mostly used parts. Most people don't give it a second look until they go for a ride in it.
Having owned it for many years its a long story GRAB A DRINK maybe two. Paul the owner of Arrowhead Towing found it in someone's back yard in 1990. (He also found a Myers Tow'D for me but that's another story) I bought it sight unseen for $125.00. The previous owner delivered it. He had rolled it at Sycamore Creek and it burnt to the ground. It was a 87 inch wheel base Chenowith frame, swing axle and king and link. I got started, Fabricating a wiring harness that used VW wire colors ( I worked on to many rails that used the same color wire for every component.), raised the rear, installed used low back fiberglass seats, Hurst shifter, drivers seat adjuster, steering coupler 1600 DP, steering wheel, shifter, KC lights, 8 gallon aluminum tank, tires and Jackman rear rims and new seat covers and brake parts. I installed a rear cage and a skid plate made from a Rabbit roof folded over 5 times to make it thick enough. I made the floor from a VW Rabbit roof. It returned to Sycamore and the rear torsion bars collapsed in about an hour. I returned home raised them. Returning the same day they collapsed again. Off to Karl's VW for a set of 30 mm Sway Away bars. I welded in downward travel limiters and fabricated spring plate straps. Next trip revealed how inadequate anything but suspension seats are. I installed hi density foam under the seat covers. Mike Fischer of Competition Engineering supplied two sets of hardly used but out of date for racing safety harnesses. Thenn I had Jim at Brandwood Cars in Phoenix dual shock the rear and add a tube making the windshield area smaller and a place the instrument panel could fit.
After a rear wheel almost fell off my Baja, I also installed Sway Away 14 mm wheel studs. Now I had six new rear KYB shocks and two KYB shocks up front. It was getting better. I installed a hand operated wiper, horn, windshield, head license plate and tail lights. I welded in some tubes to stiffen the front frame that kept cracking. One night in the hills at Sycamore it died, the tank mounts broke and the tank disappeared. Joe the owner of Arizona Off Road Recovery said he would find it if I gave him an old 40 HP VW engine I agreed. He looked from 11 pm to 4 am and found it in a ravine.


Full picture:
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It got remounted where it would not fall off if the mounts broke again. I installed a larger fuel tank, Beard Seats and a turning brake from Karl's Kustom. Next came tags.
I was blowing front stock tires on a regular basis and returning back to camp on a flattened rim. Bill Kapetch sold me a set of 700-15 Yokohama's which went on a set of used Jackman wheels. It became obvious the transaxle and engine were woefully weak for the 33" rear tires.
With the help of Dean Lowry (DDS), Weber Cams, Mark Magruder (Team Sandwinder) and Bill Kapatch of AZ Transaxle came a close ratio off road gear box, axle tube stiffeners, custom made heads, Webber 163 cam, Webber full circle crank and rods, large diameter Tri Mill exhaust and a single Zenith carb.


Mark helped with assembling a vintage style 2180 off road engine. I installed a Scat shifter. I made an instrument panel from another Rabbit roof to hold VW Cabriolet oil pressure, volts and oil temp gauges. I ran 15.5 in the 1/4 at Firebird. One 96 plate cooler was not enough to keep it cool. It got another and two 5 cylinder VW Eurovan 1 quart oil filters to hold 6 quarts of oil. The 2180 also made the brakes inadequate. I installed T-3 rear brakes, front brakes and a proportioning valve.
Suddenly I got the need for speed and bought a set of Deans Super Flow Heads ported for an FK 89 cam. Dean supplied the slicks, 51 mm carbs, case, FK 89 cam, crank and rods. Friday it would run with the 2275 at Firebird and Saturday and Sunday the 2180 went in for the desert. It ran 12.1 at Firebird with the 2275 engine. The track officials were not happy. I made wheelie bars and installed a staging brake. They were still unhappy.


Full picture
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I stuck the engine in Deans old dragster and ran 10.1.





After a NHRA tech certification inspection in 1995 revealed it would take 20 grand to make them happy I got back to the desert.
I took it to the Dunes with the 2386 (Engle 130 cam) pissed off quite a few sand queen owners when they were passed by a rail with 7.00 15 Yokahama front tires.

Note the retarded idea about stiffening the frame and keeping the center open for a spare tire. It created more breaks than it fixed.
The 2180 had the nasty habit of snapping axles when climbing rough hills under full throttle. The second time after a five mile walk on a 110 degree June day to get the truck I bought two Diamond Racing Axles from Az Transaxle. No more broken axles.
I made an aluminum roof panel. Installed it with DZUS fasteners and fabricated a roof rack. I did a lot of weekend 300-600 mile off/on road trips. It was nice but getting up to speed in the rough was hard and slowing down was brutal on my back.
In 2004 I had Jack Wood fabricate a pair of rear 3x3 arms. He supplied the 930 CVs, Sway Away axles and chromemoly flanges and stub axles. The old torsion housing was beat. I welded in an IRS housing. I added an extra section of roll bar hoop to attach the shock mounts. $50 for two used Bilstiens. I relocated the battery and installed it in a battery box. A 1991 Vanogon positive battery cable runs from front to back. I made new mounts for a used stock geared three rib Bus transaxle. I cut down T-3 rear hubs to fit 914 Porsche rotors and used Audi A-4 rear calipers. I relocated the proportioning valve next to the shifter and steering brake.
Last year I straightened a bent 5 "wider chromemoly beam added used 1" longer used arms, used 33x9.5 x15 All Terrain front tires.Brandwood cars supplied the Bilstiens, Lasted Rage rack, Latest Rage steering universals also keep loosening up. Brandwood reamed the spindles for larger tie rod and supplied aluminum tie rods, two Ford and two International tie rod ends. I welded gussets to the stock spindles. I stuck the 2180 back in and the starter went clunk. Water had gotten into a cylinder. In went a 1600 cc single port for the test drive.
The LR rack fell apart after about 24 gallons of fuel usage (no odometer). Star washers cured that problem. The LR steering u joints loosen up until I over tighten the 8 mm bolts to about 35 ft lb. Relocating the battery box to the right side will allow me to redo the u joint angles which should help. One Saturday later the drivers spindle broke where it was supposed to. The 33 x9.50 tires were a little to hard on stock spindles. I think it might have broken the first day if the 2180 was in it.

Note it was cracked for quite some time.



It was also time to fix the frame bracing.





Finally no more frame breakage.

The 2180 was returned to it in December 08 with a new cam. The old cam is going back in it soon. This one has a little to much overlap and duration 114 vs 108 and 262 vs 258 duration.The switch from 4.12 RP to 5.38 makes them almost the same but I want to see what the Weber VZ 25 style cam will do with this gearing.



It could use a wider track to match the rear but with used you take what you can. A longer wheelbase would be nice but most of the trails are to tight and twisty for anything much longer and wider to go fast.The satin black paint is by Krylon. No powercoating its always being changed or welded on.



This tire gave up at 60mph on the highway. Nothing worse than tread coming at you at 60 while the rail is going 60 mph in the opposite direction.













The floor sounded loose Seemed like a good place to check it.


False alarm. Everything looked ok.

Studs would of helped on the decomposed granite.
Other than mounting a high lift jack, permanent fuel can holders and extending the roof rack no major changes are in the works.