Jay's Buggy

[Pine]

That LWB shell has a certain 'Manxter'-look that I like. That I like A LOT

[ZeroAxe]

I'm quite fascinated by your body shape

[Ron&Gill]

Jay, before you go there, lemme speak to Gill, she and Floris (of the Wildbuggers) have just been through the whole scenario with Floris' buggy. Send me a private mail with your phone number or email address so I can give it to Gill to pass on to Floris, I am sure he will help you with this. The police make it sound all threatening and difficult, but actually, if you arrive there with the right paper work, information and attitude, it is not such a hassle.

[Fauxmechanic]

That LWB shell has a certain 'Manxter'-look that I like. That I like A LOT

Yeah, I see the similarity in the body shape... pity about the rest of it eh?

I like those little headlights on the manxster, and also the position of the rearview mirrors. My mirrors are useless where they are, and I'd been thinking of mounting them there, just havent come across any I liked yet.

[Fauxmechanic]

Merry new year to everyone

After giving the buggy a good shaking on one of those shake-a-tron machine machines at the roadworthy centre, it seems the bushing in the red circle in the picture is worn out. I assume this is quite bad cos it makes the wheel wobble a bit. Can I just replace the bushing or must I replace the whole spindle jobbie (I'm not terribly clued up on these things). Since Im always in the market for more ground clearance, It might be a good time to get raised spindles if they need replacing anyways? or am I barking up the wrong tree here?



Another question, this bolt in the next picture, that runs through the bottom of the rear shock was pretty loose and wobbly. It is just a plain old bolt with a regular nut, is that right? The previous owner seems to have made a habit of using whatever he had at hand to fix things, so I wouldnt be suprised if it was the wrong part altogether.



Oh, and just thought some people might like this birthday cake that a buddy's sisters made him this weekend

[Ron&Gill]

Those are your king&link pins and there are 4, 2 on each side. They can be tightened to a point, after that they need replacing. It's a very common problem, so common in fact that some people will walk past your old VW on the other side of the road and shout, "Oi! Your K&L pins are worn out." They have a 50% chance of being quite right, but it is rather annoying when a tyre/wheel balancing/alignment place dude says to me, regarding my Notch after it had been there for 2 days for the full treatment, "Your K&L pins are shot!!" Now to some of you that might sound OK, but to others... Anyway, fixing K&L pins is easy, and cheap and makes a huge difference. Do grease your front suspension regularly until new grease squeeses out of the gaps.

Shock bolts should not be normal old regular bolts, they should be high tensile steel bolts. Do not beautify your shock bolts by sticking in SS. They are nice and shiny, to be sure but they are also too brittle. Well picked up there, Jay.

[Fauxmechanic]

Thanks for the info.

So, if I am understanding you right, you are saying I need to get new pins? Just trying to figure out what part I actually need to ask for.

In this diagram http://www.appletreeauto.com/kingpin.aspx it would be part number 3?

[Tony Z]

get the pins replaced professionally. To my knowledge, they need a press to take them out and a press to fit them. They then have to be honed to the right size. Its not a job you can take at home without spending a fortune on tools.

[Fauxmechanic]

Ah, I see

Dont 'spose anyone knows a good place in Cape Town to get it done then?

[Tony Z]

Franks Motors

[Ron&Gill]

I did mine at home, but then mine didn't need replacing, just cleaning and installing properly. Remember to keep the spacers in the right place, otherwise your wheels end up skew (castor/camber). Maybe to put new is a bigger job. I also cleaned out the greasing channels and grease nipples. Everything was rock hard in there.

[Ron&Gill]

I feel another post coming on here...

There's two ways of looking at this, you can get Franks Motors to do the job for you and you won't break any finger nails, and learn nothing about your bug. Or you can get down and dirty. Pull the pins yourself, look at them, and the bushes, make a judgment, re-instal them, try to tighten them, check if you get a reasonable result and know all about K&L pins, and save some money as well. If the result isn't good, take it to Frank. No harm done...

[Fauxmechanic]

Yeah, I like the way you think. The whole idea was to learn about things and saving money is always high on my list of priorities. The only real problem is I will have to wait a week or two, since its serving as my daily driver at the moment and I'd be in trouble if I couldn't get it back together again

Regarding those shock bolts, are they under tension? or can I just jack the buggy up and whip them out?

[eben]

Those are your king&link pins and there are 4, 2 on each side. They can be tightened to a point, after that they need replacing. It's a very common problem, so common in fact that some people will walk past your old VW on the other side of the road and shout, "Oi! Your K&L pins are worn out." They have a 50% chance of being quite right, but it is rather annoying when a tyre/wheel balancing/alignment place dude says to me, regarding my Notch after it had been there for 2 days for the full treatment, "Your K&L pins are shot!!" Now to some of you that might sound OK, but to others... Anyway, fixing K&L pins is easy, and cheap and makes a huge difference. Do grease your front suspension regularly until new grease squeeses out of the gaps.

Shock bolts should not be normal old regular bolts, they should be high tensile steel bolts. Do not beautify your shock bolts by sticking in SS. They are nice and shiny, to be sure but they are also too brittle. Well picked up there, Jay.

I'm one of the others.... I thought Type 3's had balljoints

[Ron&Gill]

Ed Zackery, Eben. You are indeed one of the others... You can imagine how impressed I was when he tuned me that. The ar$ehole hadn't even looked under the car. Experts... You could taste the "sarcasm" in the air after I'd explained the situation to him...

Jay
To replace the shocks, you indeed just jack it up and haul them out. They are not under tension. Do all four while you're at it. Squirt lots of releasing stuff (spook-pis) on the bolts. You can buy a set of shocks from Midas and they are really not expensive. They make a huge difference too. Don't know if they'll have the bolts, probably not.