Trying to figure out what to do with my buggy. If I keep it, it will get a big rethink in the motor and gearbox mount department. I'm not quite happy with the current setup. It axle hops on the tarmac a bit and shifting is a bit hard sometimes. I'm still deciding whether to dis the kombi box completely and go to a beetle box to make the car a dedicated street/drag car, coz getting time to go offroad is near impossible.

Anyway, I have 2 questions;

1. Does anyone have a kombi box in their drag car? and if so, what do your gearbox mounts look like? Solid mounts or what? Also, what do you use for a shifter setup.

2. For those using beetle boxes, does anyone have a solid mount setup in their street car? and, is it ok with the RTA or what?



[ Edited on 19-4-2006 by pete wood ]

My tranny is mounted underneath using a plate bolted to the bellhousing studs,
and to the intermediate housing and studs at the forward end.
These bolt solidly to the forks.
I kept the shift rod inside the tunnel using a berg intermediate housing, which converts the kombi tranny to a beetle hockey stick.
The beetle hockey stick directly moves the shift rods, where as the bus has a less direct linkage under the nose cone.
Although some people say that an offset coupling is not suitable, I have seen it work quite well
in a couple of 11 second drag cars when the linkage under the factory bus nosecone is in good shape.
Although it is never going to be as direct as the beetle style of shift mechanism.
By using parts in good condition, and later 2lt springs under there, a simple welded offset coupling will work surprisingly well.

After the tranny is mounted in the desired location, you can fabricate a shiftrod coupling
that has hole centres that suit the tranny position, and the shift rod's location (vertically) in the tunnel.
I made one by welding the pieces of an old coupling onto a piece of 6mm plate,
at the centres that I needed.
Gussets can be added, but mine worked well without them, and is now in Pagey's nostalgia bug.

Also, useing a later bellhousing that has ears on the top, can have extra mountings added
to the top of the tranny, that tie into your roll cage or bar....that will end your axle hop.

Thanx, got a contact on some decent gearbox mounts through Idlewild. I also think about tying the top mount in some way.

Hi

Slightly different gearbox, same subject. Im part way through making top Berg style mount for my car, it uses the same rubber mounts from a Kombi as Berg does. Had to stop working on it last week as there was some sort of car show on around here last weekend.

Steve

If I wasn't a christian i'd be blaspheming! :duh that's freakin enormous!

Now which rubber kombi mounts are you refering to, rear engine mount rubbers or front mounts?

Have you got a pic of one on it's own?

wouldn't be one of these would it?

[ Edited on 19-4-2006 by pete wood ]

Pete,
We used the "Berg" style extra mount in my son's Beach Buggy. It uses a Beetle Box. We mounted it underneath the gearbox as there was no room at the top at the time. We replaced the studs on the front housing with longer ones,had a 3mm plate cut and drilled so that it would mount on the four studs on the bottom and welded this to a piece of 25mm RHS which extended beyong the gearbox horns.
The Kombi top gearbox mounts, which from memory are biscuit style with a stud protruding from each side, are bolted to the RHS and then to "mounts" welded to the horns. Again from memory I cut these "mounts" from the Kombi top gearbox mount. It provides a more secure mount for the gearbox at the front yet still retains the rubber insulation to minimise vibration. A fellow Buggy owner in Rocky showed me the idea on his Kalita, he mounted his to the top of the gearbox for better ground clearance. It uses the same principle though. It certainly eliminated the torque twist problem we had.

Hi Peter

Yep, I said a few words when I first picked it up, by golly was one of them, the size grows on you. The picture you posted is the Kombi mount I used. They are on the top of the Kombi bell housing, they also come in diffrent grades, depending on the motor size, ie 1600 or 2 litre. They can also be subsituted for steel or alloy mounts when you wish a for less movemnt say if you went to the drags.

Steve

Good set up here

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=50977 

This shows how rough my car is, but it is strong and it works.
I made these mounts in late '93 to mount the bus box in my car.
I used 10mm plate against the trans and smaller sections every where else.
The bell housing mount is a bit hard to see because of the scatter sheild, but is welded to a piece of 6mm flat, which has ears that bolt to the ends of the forks.
My mid mount bolts in, but some guys just weld it to the forks and leave it behind when the tranny is being worked on.