having fun there!
the numbers will be on the floorpan right by the inspection plate to get at the gearbox linkage that will tell u the year of the car
steff........
Life with out a v-dub is no life at all!!!!!
Measured and marked out my clutch access hole, then cut the piece out. I still need to weld flat bar around the sides to give the tunnel back its strength and prevent cracking.
I also cut the last little corner piece of the floorpan that was still on there off. All I have left now is the rear outriggers where the body bolts down. I'm tossing up whether to keep these and give them a tidy up, or cut them off and make new ones.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
At this point I decided to drop the bottom off the tunnel to have a look at what the inside of the tunnel and all the lines are like. I had to make another cut across the back with the grinder, the used a cold chisel to break all the factory spot welds along the sides. Then the plate just lifted off.
As you can see in the photo there was a fair amount of rust scale lying in the tunnel. Most of the is from the base plate I removed. The tunnel itself is very solid. I was originally going to clean up and reuse the base plate, but I've changed my mind again after seeing its condition. So it's going to the scrap heap.
A couple more shots of inside the tunnel
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
The two tubes lowest in the first picture are the old heater cable tubes which come out of the tunnel on the RHS on the gearstick. Neither end is connected so I cut them out to tidy things up.
At the back end of the car where the heater cables exit the frame horns I ground what was left of them off, a previous owner had hammered them flat. I'll have to fill the hole in the side of the tunnel and one on each frame horn once I've gotten all the old tube out.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Yeah I know where the number is, and I know what it is.
I committed it to memory just after I bought the car. It's 1178123. How do I tell what year it is from that?
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Did a bit more on the buggy this afternoon. I picked up a Superbug as a doner car a few weeks ago. I spent most of this afternoon cutting CV bolts that wouldn't come undone. I'll probably finish pulling the rear suspension out at some stage this week. I've also got the steering column and switchgear and wiper motor that I'm swapping into the buggy.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Found this and thought of ya :P
Will save ALOT of work if you can nab it, and cheap as! + says for J&S:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/50mm-ONE-PIECE-LIFT-KIT-FOR-VW-MANX-BUGGY-MADE-FROM-RHS_W0QQitemZ190335117697QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Car_Parts_Accessories?hash=item2c50db6981&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
brush down and paint, then bolt of weld on. and ur set!
BTW, great work! Your certainly getting stuck in very well!
This lift kit, if a its a neat/tidy one, would be a good template for you to cut your checkerplate flooring too. And you could weld the flooring to the lift kit before fitting on the chassis. (if it makes it easier...)
(ô_!_/ô) (ô_!_/ô)
69' baja: kombi box, thing spindles, irs, disc front, type 3 rear drums, 2 inch lift kit, 31x10 rears. 👍
New engine in process: 94mm p&bs, 74mm C/w chomol Crank, 35.5x39 SP heads, turbo. Wierd combo, hopeful torque monsta!
Thanks for the thought Chris. But I've already bought 100mm C-channel because I'm doing a 3" welded bodylift. I would have definitely looked into buying this if I wasn't making one myself.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Before and after shots of what I got done this afternoon. It's not much but every little bit helps.
I put the pan up on blocks and removed the wheels and drums. Then I undid the spring plate to diagonal arm bolts and removed the large pivot box bolt. I brought them down to the house so dad has two more things to trip over. Plus I wanted to start seeing how easy it will be to swap wide five drums on.
All I have to do now is pull the spring plates and rear torsion bars out of the super pan, then I'm going to begin fabricating jigs to install the heavy duty pivot boxes.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Cut a little bit more off the bottom of the pan today. It was rusted through in a few spots plus I want to run my new sheet further back so it had to go.
A picture of the piece removed, and looking back towards the frame horns.
While I was in there I finished removing the remains of the heater cable tubes, they were fairly rusted through. And while I was going I removed the handbrake cable tubes to check them too. As the second photo depicts, I'll be investing in new ones.
I then removed the remaining piece of fuel line, the clutch tube, and the brake tube. Of these the clutch tube is the only one in reasonable condition, and it's still a little questionable.
So all I have left in there now is an accelerator cable tube. Gives me a nice blank canvas to work with.
Can anyone recommend where to buy new handbrake and clutch cable tubes from?
A few pictures showing the now empty tunnel.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Hey Smiley....this is crackin' project!!
I have read this thread twice tonight because I love seeing how far people go with their cars, and the effort involved....love it!
This is gonna be a cool ride when its done, nice work mate! 👍
Thanks for your comments Scarab. It's slow going so far, I haven't really been able to hook in too much. But next week once I get back from Warwick it'll be full steam ahead.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
I also looked up the floorpan number last night on The Samba, turns out I have an August 1956 floorpan.
So it's an oval buggy!! LOL
I was wondering why the gearbox mount had been cut off and a new one welded on. The original splitcase front transmission mount has been gas axed off and a 60's swinger one added on. And they've done a fairly messy job of both. I'll put a picture or two up over the weekend. I definitely have to clean it up as I don't want it breaking off when I'm hitting the dirt hard somewhere out bush.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Just a quick update.
On Friday night we sat the body on the new floor and aligned it all so I could mark where to cut. I marked it slightly over sized the entire way around cause it's easier to grind it down later than add more on.
The next picture shows it cut, now I just have to measure and start making the lift kit.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
I had the day off work so I decided to drag the floorpan into the carport and attack with the welder and grinder. Plans for the day - move the gearstick back and weld up some holes and other things.
I decided to go with moving it 4" back, so I measured out two pieces on the tunnel to cut. The piece with the gearstick hole in it and a 4" long piece behind it. Then I just had to cut and swap them around and weld them back in place.
Both pieces marked out.
Front section with the gearstick hole cut out.
Both pieces removed. You have to be extra carful when you're making the cuts on the LHS of the tunnel to make sure you don't slice the accelerator cable tube at the same time.
I gave all the edges a clean up and made sure that they fitted as best that they could. Then tacked them into place so I could give them a tweak with the hammer where required. Then I fully welded the pieces back into their new spots.
Please excuse the shoddyness of my welding, it's been over a year since I've picked one up.
I had to make up a small plate to fill the hole where the heater control knob used to be on the RHS of the tunnel. After I welded the plate in I built up on top of it with weld then ground this back to try and match the curve of the tunnel as best I could.
While I had the welder and grinder fired up I filled the holes where the heater control cables used to come out on either side of the frame horns. Then ground the welds down and smoothed them off.
All that was left to do was grind the welds down flush and smooth them off with the flapper wheel. I hope to do a tech article up on moving the gearstick hole back when I have some spare time.
I think it almost looks factory, and will be much easier to reach.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
bloody brilliant!
what welder you got?
(ô_!_/ô) (ô_!_/ô)
69' baja: kombi box, thing spindles, irs, disc front, type 3 rear drums, 2 inch lift kit, 31x10 rears. 👍
New engine in process: 94mm p&bs, 74mm C/w chomol Crank, 35.5x39 SP heads, turbo. Wierd combo, hopeful torque monsta!
It's a 175AMP WIA, it's very nice. I can't weld for shit but its mystical, magical powers make at least half my welds decent.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
So I got in and did a little bit more this afternoon, every bit helps!
These pictures show before and after shots of the handbrake bracket, I decided that spot welds weren't good enough and ran some beads all the way around. Then smoothed the welds into the tunnel so it's all one piece. Came up rather nice.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
002 5-rib Kombi gearbox, weapon of choice for changing gears in my buggy. It needs a few minor mods to get it to fit in the Beetle floorpan.
In order for the gearbox strap that came with the mounting kit I bought to fit, some of the metal needs to be ground into a more rounded shape. It's hard to see the lumps in this picture because of the mound of sludge built up against it.
Next pictures shows the lumps ground down and smoothed. And the last one is the front gearbox strap sitting in place.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Wow!!! looking good mate!!👍
I just read through your thread AGAIN!!......and I have a small question for you, if you dont mind.
Being quite new to VW's, I am intrigued about the clutch hole that you have put in the tunnel...what is the go with that??? It no-where near the clutch is it?....or is it 😂 it appears to be at the front of the tunnel near the clutch pedal....am I right?
I have seen this on a few threads on various sites. Where is it actually located, and what is the purpose of it?
Sorry to be so thick, but anything new I can learn is surely a good thing! 😂
Cheers mate....and keep cracking on with that buggy!!
It is at the front, on top of the tunnel right next to the pedal assembly. You put one in there so that when you snap a clutch cable it's easy enough to change a new one in without having the remove the entire pedal assembly and swear a lot.
So if you're caning up the beach and blow a clutch cable you can swap your spare in easily enough.
I think mine has become quite useless now because I've decided to go to a hydraulic clutch to simplify (and complicate) things.
Lucky I still have the piece I cut out. I might weld it back in or just leave the hole there as an access panel.
By the way, what I've done there to mine isn't the completed clutch access hole. You have to weld pieces of flat bar around the outside to give the tunnel back it's strength, otherwise you'll end up with cracking or a bent tunnel. Especially if you're doing a bit of dune jumping and landing hard.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
oh OK....thanks for the explanation 😁 much appreciated!
Hi Smileyman,
Great thread..well done.....your chassis is coming along really well.
Just while you are welding around the handbrake you might want to weld some 3mm flat bar around the handbrake hole. Even with a strengthened floor pan on my last buggy it still cracked the tunnel downwards from the handbrake hole. Here is a not so good pic of what I did, but you should get the idea. It is much easier to do now, than when the buggy is built 🙂
I also strengthened the handbrake pin holder as the holes had been elongated so the pin did not fit tight.
Sharpbuilt V2, EJ25, Subaru 5 Speed, Falcon rear discs, Heater & A/C, Rack Steering
Will do! I was also planning on welding some plates to the inside of where the tunnel has been shortened, to help strengthen against possible breakages.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Hey Smiley....any updates on Alex the Beach Buggy??
Unfortunately no, I'm in Brisbane the next three weeks for TAFE so won't be able to do anything. 🙁
Plus when I get back she might be on the back burner for a few weeks while a throw together a new Baja to replace the one I wrote off. But I'm keen to get Alyce my new Baja done to stop the buggy project from stagnating too long. So all I'm doing at this stage is researching hydraulic clutches and saving money.
Thanks for your encouragement Paul, I would love to come see you Notch next time I'm in SA visiting friends that live down that way.
Smiley 🙂
PS I'm so bored in the afternoon cause I have no cars to work on 😠
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
so what are you studying at TAFE mate?.......structural engineering or something similar to help with your projects 😂
so was the rollover your daily driver or just a weekend fun car? Its nice that you have a replacement all lined up already though, well done. Keep cracking on with it coz I want to see more of Alex the Beach Buggy!!.....some build ups on the Baja mightn't be a bad idea for another thread too! 😂
do you get down to SA very often mate? would be good to dcatch up next time you do.
All the best,
Paul
Scarab wrote:so what are you studying at TAFE mate?.......structural engineering or something similar to help with your projects 😂
I wish!! I'm a second year diesel fitter apprentice.
Yeah, the Baja was my daily, I did about 500kms in it a week, it was the most reliable car in the world! So it's a same she's dead now.
I was down in Adeliade April this year and was thinking of maybe heading down at a similar time next year or dropping in on the way to Portland drags.
Smiley
🙂If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Diesel Fitter eh???.....sounds familiar, i am a Diesel Fitter by trade, specializing in Off Road Heavy Industrial Plant (Earthmovers etc.)......although not working as one anymore.
I now sell diesel engine parts rather than fit diesel engine parts! 😂 Although with the mining boom around the place I could be making a killing if I was still on the tools 😢
Shame about the Baja, seeing as it was so reliable, but I am sure you will make a reliable one out of the new one too.
Let me know if you do end up coming down, we'll catch up and talk diesel 😂 ....... 🤪 sorry, make that VW's!!
we'll catch up and talk diesel 😂 ....... 🤪 sorry, make that VW's!!
Make that both!! I work for Hastings Deering, they are the CAT dealer in Queensland. So I've had a bit of 'yellow injection' 😂
Smiley 🙂If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
