Aircooled VW South Africa

I like that idea, B/fanatic! This is a buggy IMPI built a few years ago - the craftmanship was excellent, but the 'shine' on the floor was a bit too much for me personally..



Yet, the end product was absolutely stunning, and captured many aspects of my 'ideal' buggy!

Wow - that does look very nice. One of very few buggies where chrome bits actually work IMO. What make mag wheels are those (s'cuse my ignorance).

Impi is the VW Indoena! You have to admire his work.

AirPower wrote:What make mag wheels are those (s'cuse my ignorance).

No problem - those are standard 10-spoke white steel rims (Smiths?) painted silver with colour matched drums, the pic below might give you a better view. That's Mini-Me-IMPI behind the wheel, also known as Wouter, firstborn of the Botha clan!

If blitz has to build a buggy, that's how it would look

Was that IMPI's buggy? or for a customer??

Sold shortly after built, the great IMduna does not like the wind in his hair

Update 18/10/2008:

Removed the front suspension today, and took it apart - hell, it's a messy job with all those grease on the springplates!
But at least I marked them clearly to ensure that they'll go in exactly the same way they came out. Not gonna bore you with filthy dirty parts on a messy garage floor...

The entire front suspension will be cleaned and detailed, and the king/link pins/tie rod ends/rubbers replaced with new ones. Had some trouble removing the old shocks, the metal part in the rubber of the shock's mounting had seized solid on the bolt. This is actually not uncommon on Beetle suspensions, I am sure some copper compound on the shock bolt will prevent it from happening again.

I can't over-emphasise the importance of using the correct tool for the job, yes I am guillty myself. On a previous occasion a few years ago I tried to moer the tie-rod ends out with a hammer - no use, only burred the thread, and they had to be replaced anyway. The puller I bought recently works like a charm, and I managed to remove all four tie rod ends in no time!



Still not sure if I'm going the dropped suspension route, though. Had it done with HW1 but she easily rubbed the front tyres inside the front mudguards. Let's face it: SA roads are not suitable for any dropped suspension - looks cool, drives k@k. Will however have permanent A-frame brackets welded on.

One thing that I will do throughout this buggy build, is to standarize all the nuts and bolts on the buggy, for easy maintenance - i.e. as little as possible different sizes. One must be able to take almost the entire buggy apart by only using 10, 13, 15, 17 and 19mm sockets and allen keys. I will also be replacing many of the bolts with hex-head (allen key) ones, simply because I like the look of it! Galvanized, where possible - NO rust on HW2. Ever. Period.

Tune in next time same time, same place for more updates on the painfully slow creation of HW2

Pine why galvanised, why not stainless?

Also when you buy your bolts take a spanner with to check the heads. If you ask for 10mm bolts you might need a 17 or 16 spanner,12mm bolts will be either a 18 or 19 spanner. The supplier only worries about the thread size and not the head size.

I've always been under the impression that stainless steel bolts and nuts are 'softer' than high-tensile steel? Of course it will look nice on those places where the integrity of the fastening is not too important, like the engine tinware?

Every now and then on this thread I will post a few pics of other buggies, and 'evaluate' them according to my own preferences. As said before though, a buggy is very much a reflection of the personality of the builder/owner, so there is no 'right' or 'wrong' buggy. I think it is also unfair to call any buggy 'ugly'? Except this one, of course -



Why don't we all donate some money, buy this thing (not Thing) and drop it in the deepest part of False Bay??

or give it to vader, to replace the darkside.

that looks like a polo bumper and headlamps

This so-called 'Coke buggy', is very close to my idea of the perfect classic buggy so I give it an 8/10, features worth mentioning:

- Body - not original Meyers Manx, but very close
- Polished Torque Thrust wheels - the ultimate buggy wheel - on WIDE rear rubber!
- Large chromed headlights, <'68 chromed Beetle tail lights, chromed Beetle number plate light housing
- Chromed single, angled roll bar
- Deep-dish wood-rimmed three-spoke steering wheel
- Discreet classic Manx front bumper
- Not clearly visible on the pic, but a central-mounted filler cap
- Metalflake colour

What I do not like on this buggy:

- That chrome edge around the body
- The rear bumper (makes the buggy look 'longer' and decrease the departure angle on off-road driving, yet required by the law)
- The side pods. I personally prefer the raw look of the fibreglass fibres on the sides, painted matt black
- The rearview mirror - almost as wide as the windscreen!
- The seats - the headrest makes it look like something from a Renault 5, I prefer low-back buggy seats
- Black dash, I feel it should be the same colour of the rest of the buggy

But as I said, it is my personal opinion - and I wouldn't mind at all if HW2 looked anything like this

I would like to say the following:

1. Low back seats. Even though they look good, they give no protection against backlash in an accident.
2. Rear bumper/bar. WIthout, no protection for the engine against that idiot that rams you from the back.
3. Single angle roll bar. Although the lines are clean, if for some reason you end up in a roll, it will not hold up like a 'supported' roll bar (to distribute impact forces)
4. '68 chromed Beetle tail lights, chromed Beetle number plate light housing. Looks like it has been slapped on as a last thought.

But as you say, Buggies are personal taste, so we will always disagree....

About posting other Buggies. I am trying to find some detailed pics of the original Empi Buggies(if I remember correctly). The best way I can describe it is the pretty much look like a 'bubble'. Meaning that there are no sharp edges anywhere to be found. See the pic below. I have highlighted the parts that I am referring to as having too sharp edges. Know what I mean? Got any pics?

Headrests only protect you if you are rear-ended, and due to the nature of fibreglass, it will collapse on impact, only giving you a split second to bail out! Trust me, I've been there

The EMPI buggy is known as the Imp, yes it is indeed a lovely shape