Aircooled VW South Africa

Hello Everyone.

My son and I have invested in a small buggy that we have already started to tackle.

I am not sure of the name of the bug but it's based on a 69 chassis that was busted just behind the napolean hat.
The engine is good and the body is in relatively good condition. Has quite a lot of spider cracks in the paint that needs repairing and we planning to repaint it.

We have already bought a new frame for it and are in the process of planning the balance of the bug out.

We are however toying with the idea of rather lengthening the bug body to give more room inside rather than shortening the chassis.

Has anyone ever done this and what were the results?

In addition the bug came with a fiber glass floor pan. I am not sure we want to put that back in so are planning to replace the steel floor pans on the new chassis.

Any advice on that from anyone please?

We look forward to hearing from you,

Keith and James.

You need to look if the body does not go deep into the pan, as some Buggies removed the metal floor and had an deep fiberglass floor fitted.

This will make a difference in your seat height and your center of gravity.

Post more pic's as you strip, and it should get clear to our Buggie gurus.

Thanks for sharing

Herman

Thanks for the reply Herman.

I measured the depth on the fiberglass tray. It's plus minus 20 mm and very similar on the steel floor pans.

The bottom of the bug shell is flat so I believe the change in the center of gravity would be minimal.

I am thinking of cutting out the interns of the floor plan, bracing between the outer rim of the floor pan and chassis with a lattice of flat bar and then putting 2mm tread plate into the area as per the attached...

Not sure if 2mm is thick enough though.

I am trying to attach photos but they are too big and I can't compress them enough...

Some pics

This is the look I am after.

Should I be you. I would only remove the actual floor panels, and leave the center tunnel and outer formed beams.

then you could get away with 2 mm aluminum "Fasttrap" plates cut into the right shape with a laser and fitted.

With regard to the body lengthening, you would have to find where and if the section is straight where you want to extend it.

Then cut and fill in the the outside gap with thin sheet metal, apply release agent and fiberglass the gap closed, remove the metal skin, and sand.

hope this helps

Herman

Thank you Herman.

That's great advice and is line with what I was thinking. The outer formed beams are a little beaten up, but we are going to panel beat them back into shape nicely.

The body section we want to extend is straight in the middle and I like the idea of the Sheet metal.

We will begin this weekend and I will keep posting.

Thanks again.

Keith.

Hi and welcome. Good luck with the project.
I Had to dig deep into the archives to get you this where an old forum member @Suzie did exactly what your'e planning and luckily his pictures are still available

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=3969

Thank you for the welcome and the invaluable link to the posts by @Suzie. Read for over an hour and still have hundreds of pages to go, but I am on the right track.

More pictures to come but we are mostly working on weekends so progress will be quite slow but give lots of time to enjoy the ride.

Hello Everyone. So after much deliberations and back and forth, we have decided to rather shorten the frame over extending the buggy.

Does anyone perhaps have a shortened pan for sale or can you refer us to someone who can shorten it correctly as a reasonable cost please.

The pan we need is roughly 14 cm shorter than the standard pan.

Thanks Keith and James

There was a thread here on the forum how to do it, maybe do a search for it

Herman

Thanks Herman.

I've seen quite a few threads showing how, but I don't have a mig welder and am looking for someone who is experienced at this who could do it for us.

Any references are greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Hi. Wise choice in keeping it short wheel based.
Your best bet would be to get in contact with @Impi although he doesnt visit the forum anymore. Check for him in facebook at Impi motors.
What is your location as @Impi is based in Orkney

You can also get in contact with @Pine for some pointers on shortening a pan