Aircooled VW South Africa

before i post here, I would just like to say that this is my first build ever, and your critisism would be greatly appreciated.
Im now 22 years old, studying to be a mechanical engineer so it was quite a nice project for me

okay, I'm back posting so i will try do this in the correct order


right in the beginning, i aquired a buggy, and almost three beetles worth of spares in boxes and figured.. ahh, it cant be too hard!!


rebuilt the suspension, had the chassis powdercoated


Proceeded to rebuild my 1600 next, and the spec list is pretty big..
> Scat counterbalanced 8 dowel crank
> 1 size over pistons (tried to keep lots of meat on the sleeves)
> gas flowed heads myself at anthony taylor developments, 44mm inlet, 35 outlet if memory serves
> ford v6 cam profile
> Empi windage tray
> high volume oil and petrol pump
> external oil filter and extra-sump
> alternator
> etc etc etc


bought the 17" rims to fit the all round disc'd buggy


bought and fitted the new tyres


slowly started building the cage myself out of 2mm seemed piping



just another two pics of the buggy as she was, then.


a little further on the roll cage


cage finished, body off, cage fits back on


just another shot of the cage on the chassis


freshly painted body




some more pics of body drying

then, there is a bit of a gap in my pictures, but here is what she looked like on the first drive..

Your buggy looks amazing Still the best shape buggy ever designed

Wow, looks great!!!

thanx guys. been working on her for long enough now!! just gotta try get the suspension sorted out now, the tyres keep rubbing

Wow your buggy looks good love the white

Very nice.

Yes, I was going to say the same... you need to stiffen up the rear suspension a bit. There are threads here that tell you how. There's some trickery to it with respect to saving your fingers and the sequence of tightening it up after adjustment.

Still... very nice

Well done on the build , it looks great.

Great stuff, you gotta get a 4 into 1 exhaust, you wont regret it

Haha i like the 4in1, but i use the buggy extensively off road, so clearance is of utmost importance to me. Also, the cage at the back i made when i made the rollcage, and as a result the 4in1 doesnt fit

Also, @ Ron@Gill, i dropped the rear one spline on the outside a while ago, now i must just push it up one click on the inside. Im just trying to decide whether im going to go that route or the coilover route. Hence i have yet to adjust properly.

Hi Tony, congrats on a beautiful buggy! I really admire your creativity and dedication - it shows clearly in the end product

thanx Pine, appreciate it

Awesome buggy - really like the older styling shell and good work on the cage

tony777 wrote:


Also, @ Ron@Gill, i dropped the rear one spline on the outside a while ago, now i must just push it up one click on the inside. Im just trying to decide whether im going to go that route or the coilover route. Hence i have yet to adjust properly.

looking at the picture, you can see the suspension was dropped... if you reverse the drop, you will prob find your camber is closer to where it should be and that your tyres dont rub anymore.

I was eyeing out those BF Goodridges yesterday at TWT... looks good on a buggy!!!

Nice project though, very nice.

@ Tony Z - yeah at this point i dont think i had any dampers in either. i sourced old motorbike coilovers and put them in which worked fine, ride height is just where i wanted it, but the damping is unfortunately too weak. this means that standing still she is perfect but the second the buggy hits a bump, the wheels go in too easy. busy hunting for something similar with stronger damping. all im worried about moving her back to standard setup is that dreadedpositive camber look..

as for the tyres, yeah they are great, but i feel like im running out of power with them. I have a 1300box, which should help for the ratio's but she still feels a little sluggish. next thing, once she has been run in properly, is to look for a 36 downdraft and replace that silly solex maybe then she will feel better.

Tony, a lekker build man. Tell us more about your cage, why the particula design (particularly towards the rear), and have you got more build photos of the cage?

I am building a buggy and first thing on my mind is a cage - style, pipping, etc. I am though building a lwb, so a tad different too.

Pine, are there any 'off the book' cage designs one can get a hold of, especially for a lwb?