Aircooled VW South Africa

you can do it!!!

Get it galavanized if your at the coast, just make sure that al the places that shouldnt get galvanized is closed heard of people having ''jare se k@k'' bacause of that..but those guys are still driving around with those buggys without any signs of rust...pines pan is looking sweet btw i envy you!!!

Hi Pine

I think your Hotwheels 1 was awesome.Been trying to find other pics of the same style but had no luck. What Buggy make was it?

Cheers
Duncan

Thanks, Duncan! I have never been able to identify the make of HW1, although it was very close to an early swb Lolette, it had a smooth line above the rear wheels and the two angular 'ridges' on the bonnet, as can be seen in the pics below. I suspect it was built by a small-time backyard fibreglass opportunist who took a mould from another (production) body, and added a few mods to protect his own arse from law suits!

Hey pine, sorry if this is a bit off topic, but i see youve gone everywhere with buggy,how is a buggy to drive long distance,and most importantly how thirsty is it?

thanx pine

Hi Dubster - long distance in a buggy can be compared to the open road on a bike - an experience of the senses, namely sight, sound, taste and smell. If you are not in a hurry, it is a pleasant experience and you see a lot more of our country than in a closed car. Weather-proofing is a matter of personal preferences, but if it rains you WILL get wet. Many buggies also don't have storage space, so it is very easy for stuff to get stolen out of your buggy when you are relieving yourself at the bathrooms of the Ultra City.

HW1 had a standard, single carb 1600 engine and I have changed later to an SP Beetle gearbox for a longer 4th gear. I also played around with tyre sizes till I got the best combination, which were the high profile 14 inch tyres I had on it during its last days. Fuel economy could be compared to that of a late-model 1600 Beetle. Whilst a Buggy is lighter than a steel-bodied Beetle, it has a lot more drag (wind resistance) which adds to your fuel consumption. On the open road (and I drove several times to George and Mossel Bay from Bloem and Jhb) I managed to get around 400km on a 37-litre tank at an average speed of 110 - 115km/h. Once again, your driving style is the single most important factor determining fuel economy.

Thanx pine.... (hi-jack over)

I got 13.5km to a litre last time I checked. I have travelled many miles in my buggy.

1. Cape Town to Upington and back
2. Cape Town to Graaf Reneit and back and
3. Cape Town to PE and back.

Its all cool.

The first 2 trips were each done over a 8 day period.

I have also done Cape Town to George and back on 2 or 3 occasions.

There is nothing like the open road. Except for the sun and wind burn after a long day at the wheel

My 5c.

Update 18/05/09 - First engine pics!

Got this first pic of the engine-in-progress from IMPI this morning. Although it doesn't look like much, A LOT of work went into that fan housing. It is a late-model 'doghouse' oil cooler housing, with the heater outlets cut off, and the width narrowed. The carbs are Weber 36DCD7's, which are installed 'sideways' (west to east) compared to the normal 'north-south' installation of an IDF, for example. Will have to see how they work, though...

looks great pine

Update 29/05/09

Progress on the buggy is good as this stage, in fact to such an extend that I am actually ahead in the garage/working area from what I am posting on this thread - my apologies to those who bother to follow this thread at all

Thanks to IMPI and Eduard (non-Forum member) I managed to source a set of carburettor adapters for the twin Weber 36DCD7's on Wednesday in Klerksdorp (I was in the area for work, BTW). It is simply amazing the amount of work that went into the engineering of these adapters many years ago...

This widens my options for air filters for the Buggy




I got the twin spring plates back from plating, and proceeded with re-installing them. It is critical that both the left and right hand side spring plates are at exactly the same angle prior to putting the pre-load on them



I did an experiment, and bought coil spring tensioners for adjusting the rear spring plates. These are normally used for compressing coil springs, when changing shock absorbers, but I 'miss-used' them for my own purpose



It worked perfectly, althoug I got a bit worried when the treaded part actually started bending under the tension, luckily it didn't break



Once the spring plate was in place, I was a faced with a dilemma: it still needed to move to the inside of the splines of the torsion bars, but there was no use in hitting it with a hammer - because, being so light, it simply moved under the impact of the hammer...

So I made a plan!

I turned the entire chassis vertical, put a thick wooden block under the spring plate, picked the chassis up (vertically), and DROPPED it on its own weight on the wooden block...



...and it WORKED (Once the the cover plates are fitted and the chassis has the weight of the engine and gearbox, the torsion bars will settle to its right place)



I gave the front suspension in for sandblasting earlier this morning, and within an hour from getting it back, I covered it with etch primer..

Before:



After (and trial-fitting the front suspension and installing the plated front trailing arms)




As mentioned, progress is good so far. The focus will shift to the front suspension/king & link pins for the next week.

Footnote: At this stage I would like to thank my (unknowing) sponsor for their unconditional support throughout this build

Thanks, you guys from Windhek!!!

Brilliant work, looking good Pine

Thanks, Tony - I said right in the beginning that the buggy build is a learning curve for me. I got a (small) compressor two weeks ago, for example - tonight I sprayed my own front suspension. I am getting very excited now, but try to refrain from taking short cuts in the build. The support on ACVWSA, however, has been amazing - thanks everyone!

pine i want to look at removing my pring plates to get them powder coated and then do something like you have just done with yours any tips while doing this? its looks great BTW

I considered powder coating, but due to the fact that I thought that you actually need to 'hammer' them back on (i.e. damaging the freshly coated finish), I decided against it. Only once the (costly) plating was done, I realised that you won't actually SEE the spring plates, due to the large rear wheels of the buggy... So I guess normal spray-painting will be quite adequate?