How it got there is a bit of a tale… It started with Jon Thies posting his old shell on Buggyclub.uk web site as a giveaway in mid 2009. Yes please said I, I’ll give it a good home, well to cut a long story short the shell was brought to the workshop in Watford (thanks Gary), plans started to be made and bits started to be collected to put it all together. Another bit of luck occurred several months later (as I was in no rush) when out of the bloo one of Gary’s mates (Andy) turned up at my home to collect some seats that my wife (Carole ) was selling that had been in the rear of her buggy, told me that he had acquired a new chassis and had an old one to get rid of, it was a full rolling chassis with type 3 lump out the back, complete but been in storage (been in the garden under a bodyshell with a cover over it for the last century) after a very brief conversation I now had said “floorpan” heading over to Watford for restoration and a basis for the CTR body. I also got another floor from Flags just in case things were worse than expected with the other pan, as it turned out things were quite good all round. Emma (juicylucy) ended up with a pan for her build, fantastic. Well with a bit of after hours work and in between re-wiring Caroles buggy and loads of favours and encouragement from of fellow buggiest’s (Chris/Emma, Pete, Gary, Pete, (got a lot of encouragement from Pete), the guys at work), and using some slave labour (some of the kids where I work were keen to help), things started to happen quite quickly. Floorpan stripped, shortened (thanks Craig), beam cleaned, loads of parts got off the forum and Gary, filling a four shelf cupboard getting ready for the big assembly. A 1500 gearbox was sourced, cleaned and painted ready for fitting. Dropped spindles, disc brakes, braided hoses, from flags came info about the electric fuel pump that he use’s which I really liked a “Pierberg”, very quiet and reliable, lots of research and found one on Fleebay £20 (bargain). Steering wheel (Fleebay), LED lights (fleebay), wheels were the best bargain ever (thanks Gary) fleebay). Headlights were from a company in Essex that makes 2 seater F1 lookalikee road legal cars (Furore Cars), rear lights came from my local “Alfa Romeo” dealer as the guy who runs the spares is a VW nut restoring loads of veedubs with his brother (thanks Rob). Birthday arrived and mother-in-law gave me some money for the Speedo that I wanted to buy from?… you guessed “fleebay”. The stack of parts was getting bigger and the date and time was getting rapidly closer, time to start assembly.

The body had been upside down for the past 4 months being sorted as the bolt down areas had been a bit bashed and needed a bit of strengthening, also I needed to do a bit on the tank support at the front end and around the spring plate cover areas as they were a bit close to the body when the shell was offered to the floorpan, reinforced and painted it was looking great so lets get it the right way up and start building.

Body to floor went really well and the ideas started to come together. 1302/3 steering column so we had to shorten the piece between the 2 knuckles, dash board had to be re-faced as there were loads of holes from previous dials, gauges and switches, some funky idea that I saw fitted to Ashes buggy was the fuse box fitted to a lowering panel under the dash had me talking to him and a while later he turned up at home with some of the panel material so that I could get on with it. During most of this time my colleague at work Stef had been there egging me on and at times basically kicking my arse to get on or even on some of the bits that I wasn’t confident in, doing them.

During Volksworld 2011 Flags, Ollie, Chad and a whole crew had come together to build Karen’s (Flag’s wife’s) Doon at the show over the weekend, well inspiration and encouragement during the show and the fact that if they could put a buggy together in a weekend what the heck is my problem as I had most of the parts to do the job.

I decided that come shit or bust Swanage was gonna be my deadline.  Body on, line up, mark out, body off, fit up steering, wire up, realign, mark up, re-make stuff, refit, this needs to look neat, that’s not in the right place, need to make new fitting, redo this, reshape that, refit, unfit, have a fit, to big, to small, to long, to short, get on with it.

Body on, wheels on, wiring working after several false starts, lights looking good, brakes great, offer up roll hoops, need to make mountings, ok, 3 days later satisfactory positioned, seatbelt and seat mountings sorted as well, great, coming on leaps and bounds now. One late evening at the project five days before Swanage, three of us having been banging, thumping, cutting, grinding, drilling, bolting, gluing and screwing for the past 5 or 6 days it was decided it was time to put the battery in and turn the key. Whirrr whiiirrrrr whiiirrr whiiiirrrrr and several more whirs later still no fire up, check petrol, check spark all ok mmmmm? Give it another go as this was the running engine that came out of the RAT so should be good, some more whirring and BANG purring like a kitten, WTF, don’t know but go with it, check for leaks, oil pressure good, alt charging, no, looks like its pulsing like a rev counter, check connections (ask on the forum), aha, swap things around sorted, in the twilight of the evening we turn the lights on and under its own power, back it out of the work shop and onto the deserted playground. Controls good, brakes work, clutch ok, out in the open this really looks the dog’s danglies, my two co-builders Stef and grime pig (Greg Pimm an ex-student) look on in awe, a few quick blasts around the playground show up a few issues with clearance of bodywork around the headlight area but nothing that I think would stop an MOT pass which had already been booked for the Wed before Swanage and its now Mon eve. Tow’ed it home as its not got insurance or MOT yet, give it a final check and arrange ins over the phone on Tues, job done, now got a chance to do its first drive on the road to the MOT station, very wobbly check tyre pressures but not fully unexpected as the tyres are very wide, well not much I’m gonna do about it cos were on the way to the MOT station now. Hi Dave (MOT tester) this is it, been talking about it for quite a while, now so here it is. Ok say’s Dave bring it in on the ramp, beep, screen wash and wipe ok, indicators left ok, right ok no hang on, you cant have those indicators and side lights in your mirrors like that! Why not? They got to be different colours says “Dave” nooo say’s “I” on new cars they got em the same colour so I’m havin em, more funny noises from Dave but he say’s ok. Right then lets see these lights, Mains ok, dip errr no, that’s not right, there’s no flip up on the pavement side, the patterns all wrong. They’re ok say’s me, they have a definite cut off across the headlight they are projector headlights but they use a H4 bulb with a positive mechanical mechanism that operates the dip side of things, no its not right the way the beam spreads the focus is all wrong says he, well get the flipping VOSA manual out and we’ll have a look. Out comes the book at the appropriate page for UK spec light units, Ah! but these are what is called “British/American” fitment, (turns over page), Oh, erm ok, I see, right then there ok. Up in the air on the ramp it goes and Dave shouts up “ well what the F*%k do you want me to do down here then”? Wot you on about? Say’s I. Well its all new down here, oh for crying out loud get it orf the ramp and let me get on with a proper bloody MOT will you. Sorted. Yahoo, all legal with one day to go to the drive down to Swanage.  A pop over to Tony’s (Twister)to borrow his grinder as all my tools are at work and I need to sort out the bit of rubbing on the headlight area on the tyre. Sorted for now but gonna have to do something later with the fit. Driving back from Tony’s we come to an un planned stop, oops, don’t know why, have a bit of a fiddle cant find the reason but after about 15mins it starts up and we carry on ok. Next day we’re off to Swanage, car packed Carole in her daily driver we get about a mile down the road and stop, start, stop, start, stop. Bo%^&x , Gary help! Well Gary arrives and rescues me by towing the CTR down to Swanage as we all know there is going to be the best collection of experts on vw’s around. Next day we have a little poke and a prod cant find anything untoward and things seem to be running ok again. Phew looks like its gonna be ok for the Carnival procession as we took it out for a half hour drive on Sunday morning with Chris sat beside me, Peter and Mark (Fester) following me with passengers at the ready to push just in case, but hey they weren’t needed, all seemed  well. True to form (luck) all went well during the procession and that evening I made a dash for home with Gary and his crew heading up the motorway at the same time just for company really not as breakdown cover for a change. To date I have also been down to Southsea for Beachbuggin and done a bit of local runnin around so put about 300mls on the clock since the MOT. Issues that have occurred have been that the petrol tank leaked when nearly full, sorted now, the offside spring plate was one spline out, now adjusted. Driving it has been a real experience coming from the long wheel base to this short wheel base, with the wide wheels and low tyre pressures it can only be compared to trying to drive a buggy with space hoppers for tyres, definitely not boring but after adjusting tyre pressures and the gaz dampers things are improving all the time. Time and money permitting the interior will get some attention, the handling will be improved, a spray job will happen, but for now the smiles are just getting bigger.

So to those that have helped me get this far I thank you for your encouragement and inspiration, for your help and assistance, for being on the end of the phone when I found myself totally confused, for drinking my crappy tea and eating the biscuit’s, and most of all for just being enthusiasts and very very very nice people.

The Planning

This was and is always regarded as the season opener within the SDBC. But this time it had a twist.

Inspired from the previous year when Heritage built a preassembled Beetle from scratch, I jokingly said to club member Flags during a drunken night at Swanage carnival we should build a buggy at Volksworld? He immediately responded and said you arrange it and I’ll do it.

That was then my challenge, after a few phone calls and fine planning. Flags were to be given his chance, he would also be the first thing all the public see when entering Volksworld Show at Sandown Park.  The planning continued and the club got support from the Midlands Buggy Club, Ollie and Crew from Bettlemagic to perform such a task. This was going to be great, as time wore on Flags desperately asking, begging and borrowing parts from everyone to be sure he was fully equipped with enough kit to complete the build over the 2 short days.

I also had the challenge of arranging a display of buggies on the main stand too. After much pondering by all the committee a decision was made to whose buggies will be showcased.

The Show

The whole weekend was grey, wet and murky and all in all not very nice to be outside, but however we all soldiered through and the club stand area was made an enjoyable place by all the other clubs around and spirits were lifted when the doors opened and thousands of VW loving fans wandered by quizzing certain buggy owners “how did you do this and where did you get that”. The club stand mainly looked after by the WAGS of club members and poor Emma struggling on her crutches after breaking her foot, was always a buzzing area.  With crisps, sweets and cakes being shared about and the kettle constantly boiling thanks to Sophie for all the tea she made. The Buggies on show outside looked great, our thanks to the following members for bringing their buggies along for the weekend Carole, Pete(Fibrecraft), Mark (Rattitude), Matt (Pirate) and also thanks to Sally, Peter and Chris for parking their buggies outside the grounds for people to look at.

Throughout the weekend SDBC members were checking on the build to make sure that the lads didn’t need any last minute bits and being Volksworld they were bound to find what they needed.

As the weekend drew to a close, the guys building the buggy neared completion but still had a few issues what quite simply wasn’t going to get finished as they should. However they were adamant everything will work for it to be driven. Ivan and his Volksworld team then started the awards whilst just outside all hands were helping finish the Buggy build. When all of a sudden the SDBC got announced as Best of Show Club Stand, I looked around and promptly went to claim the award even though the credit was down to Flags and his team, and a huge credit to the Midlands Buggy club, Ollie and Crew for their influence too.

The Result

Flags’ wife Karen had her buggy built and fine tuned over the following few weeks, the club got recognised for their efforts for building a buggy. This was the 4^th time the SDBC had won best Club stand at Volksworld Show. And most importantly everyone had an enjoyable weekend.

We have been invited back to Volksworld this year, I’m just not quite sure how we can top last year’s performance, however please come along and say hi.

I used a basic Thatcham Catagory 2 transponder style immobiliser, nothing fancy, and they can be picked up on the net for around £30 or so – Mine was a three circuit COBRA one (£45), but others exist. The aim is to have a keyless ignition that can only be operated by the person with a keyfob in their pocket.

I have a toggle switch on the dash acting as an ignition switch, and feeds nothing more than a supply voltage to the immobiliser ignition side. When the toggle is on, the immobiliser can be activated and when the switch is off it kills the car stone dead.

What would have been the main ignition circuit, operated by the key, is now connected to one of the immobiliser circuits, the idea being that when the immobiliser is activated, it turns on the whole ignition, as if you had turned the key.

I have also connected one of the other immobiliser circuits to my starter relay, so that the push button on the dash will not do anything unless the immobiliser is activated.

I have also connected the last immobiliser circuit to my electric fuel pump, although ignition coil is also popular.

Basically, when planning the installation, also be prepared to use and incorpoate a few extra relays – it makes the head scratching a bit easier on switching circuits in and out.

The loop antenna is taped to the inside of the buggy as close to where my pockets would be if I were sitting in it – this location is important, as the proximity range of the transponders is literally a few inches or so, the idea being that if you have the keys in your pocket, the immobiliser can activate.

So, how do you actually start the car ? Well, its actually dead easy.

If I sit in the drivers seat, with the immobiliser keyfob in my pocket and within distance of the antenna, I flick the toggle switch and my dash comes alive, just as though the key had been turned to position one. I press the start button and it starts – to kill the car or stop the engine, I simply switch off the toggle switch.

If someone else sits in my car and switches the toggle switch, nothing happens – (actually not quite strictly true as I also wired my alternator light through this so I had an indication that power was on) – and you can press the starter button to your hearts content – nothing will happen.

As an aside, the immobiliser also has a nice flashing LED to mount on the dash, so also gives a visual indication that it is protected.

Hope this helps, or inspires some ideas, and shout if I can assist any further

I discovered the idea many years ago when I saw a disabled guy in my workshop car park take near five minutes to turn the keys in his car, as he had very little movement in his right arm and struggled to put the key in the barrel let alone turn it, and after a good chat with him, this is what I came up with to solve his problem – and he loved it !!

By Dave DnD

For emissions and power, the engine has to have a certain amount of vaporised fuel (liquid fuel doesn’t burn) for a certain amount of air. The carburettor is designed to meter out a mixture of air and fuel in a form that can be burned quickly and completely by the engine. This is rarely done properly!

For complete combustion, the air/fuel mixture must be supplied in a vapour, and not with liquid droplets (remember, liquid fuel won’t burn). So, besides metering how much fuel the engine gets, the carburettor is also responsible to atomize the fuel and mix it with the air entering the engine. In addition, proper jetting is different depending on the size engine, elevation, cam overlap, etc. I have even seen the same engine combination require different jetting (same carbs) on two different engines! So for someone to say “this is what you need” is ridiculous. They can get you close, but not exact. To get exact you need to spend time and patience, and dial it in. It is worth it too!

Carburettors are simply devices that meter fuel depending on the amount of air that is entering the engine. There are a couple problems though! Air and fuel have different viscosities, and since air and fuel do not flow the same, the metering of fuel is not linear. What this means (if this didn’t make sense to you) is that you can have correct metering for awhile, and then at certain RPMs it goes off. So, you have another set of jets to ‘correct’ it and one more set to correct the correction!

Idle jets operate from idle to 2500-3000rpms or so. Main jets are primarily from 2500-4500rpms, and Air jets affect the engine from 3500/4000 on up. Lastly, you have emulsion tubes to change ‘where’ it’s rich, lean, etc. The complexity of jetting is that the operating range of the carburettors’ jets overlap, so a change in one area often must be accompanied by another change somewhere else, or you have problems! It makes it seem very complicated if you start at the middle. It also makes it imperative to start at the right point (our beginning), and then it’s a straightforward process and will yield top-notch results!

I’m not going to bore you with too many details on carb theory (I’ve done enough boring you already). What I am going to spend time on now is what you can do to optimize what you have! One last check: you MUST have your buggy engine in top mechanical shape (no leaky valves, etc), no vacuum leaks, and a good ignition system (no dirty plugs) or you are simply wasting your time messing with the carbs.

Jetting Procedure
Sizes: One ‘size’ change on an idle or main jet is ’5′. So to go richer one size from a 55 idle jet we would choose a 60. When I say “one size” on the air jet, it means 15-20 if you look at the numbers! So, one ‘change’ in air jet size would be from 200 to a 180 or 220.
First, we need to figure out if you have the proper sized carburettor to begin with! Bigger is not necessarily better.

Carburettors come ‘out of the box’ with specific venturi (also called a choke tube) sizes depending on the size carb body you have. Example: 40mm (signifying a 40mm body). Dellorto carbs usually come with a 34mm venturi. The venturi is stamped with a number, and it’s the narrowest channel in the body of the carb. You can see the number on it (it’s usually even) if you look down the top of the carb throat. Ideally, you would use a chart to find out if the venturi size is correct. It’s dependent on max RPMs, and engine displacement. I’ll leave this topic here, since venturi changing is not cheap. If your engine (after jetting) has no power at the top end (lays down), or has no power until 2500 RPMs (no low end), there is a good chance your carbs are too small or too big for your application (respectively). If this is the case, then you should consider changing venturi sizes or go to larger/smaller carbs!

Why Jet? If it’s too rich, the extra fuel will wash the fuel off your cylinders and wear out your pistons, cylinders, and rings quickly (no oil), in addition to building up deposits on your valves, heads, and piston tops. If it’s too lean, the buggy engine will run very hot, misfire, and can eventually lead to a burnt valve(s). Get it right!

Idle circuit: The idle circuit is the device that controls how much fuel you have at idle and it also sends fuel to the progression circuits. Where many people run into problems is that they don’t understand that the idle jet is the circuit that they do most of their driving on. So this jet is critical in engine flexibility and economy. The idle jet affects engine operation up to about 2500-3000 RPMs!

Almost every twin carb application I have seen with VW engines use a 55-60 idle jet. Centre-mounted carbs need a richer(larger) idle jet, since the carb is so far from the cylinders and the fuel condenses on the way there (keep your manifold pre-heater). What you want to do is this: get the buggy engine fully warmed up. Now, with synchronized carbs, turn the idle mixture screw on one cylinder in until you hear the engine misfire. It means that cylinder is too lean, and it doesn’t have enough petrol to run properly. Turn the mixture screw back out until the engine idle smoothes out again, and then go out another half-to-1 full turn. Repeat for the other 3 cylinders.

Idle jets ARE available in small increments. Normally, shops stock them in round sizes of “5″s, like 50, 55, 60, etc. You can find 57s, etc if you look around to really get it right on! If you have a significantly larger idle jet 48 IDAs usually come with a 70! I recommend going down until you can NOT get a good engine response with the mixture screws anymore. Idle jet sizes of 70 or so will ‘run’ on anything, but they don’t run well (unless dirty plugs or 12mpg are your idea of ‘well’).

In addition, if you have a problem with a 55/60 idle jet, and you have the right main jet, and still have a hesitation regardless of accellerator pump adjustment, you need to play with your idle air bleed (what the idle jet fuel mixes with). This is a much-needed modification to 48 IDAs on the VW street engine, and is beyond the scope of this article, and you best leave that modification to an expert. Super rich idle jetting is not a solution to a problem elsewhere, even though it will ‘seem’ fine. Once you find the idle jet size (around 55-60), you are done there! They are easy.

Main Jets: The next jet to dial in is your main jet. As a starting point, choose a main jet size about 4.1 – 4.3 X Venturi Size (mm) Simple! We are only trying to get in the ballpark! If you live at a high elevation, go down one size (’5′) from what you come up with. If I have a 34 venturi, my main jet size should be around 34 X 4.2 = 142.8. A 140-145 is where I want to be. It’s usually best to start rich and go leaner as we learn, so we’ll choose a 145.4-5000 foot elevation would choose 140 (one size down). Now, you need to drive the car. Drive it hard! You really have to pay attention to how the engine is running, turn off the radio!

Spitting/sputtering/cracking is an indication of being too lean. Now, what RPMs that it’s doing this tells you which jet you need to change! 2000 RPMs and lower, and you need to richen up your idle jet (go bigger). 2500-4000 RPMs and you need to richen up your main jet!
Do N0T confuse accelerator pump adjustments with main jet adjustments! If the engine stumbles when you open the throttle, it could be a pump adjustment, but it could also mean a main jet change.
Pay attention to steady throttle position when testing in these areas! It’s easy to confuse the two. If the main jet doesn’t solve it, try the pump. If it runs good at 3000-4000 RPMs and stumbles elsewhere, your main is right and the problem is somewhere else. Try to do main jet testing from 1000 RPMs up to 4000 or so. This eliminates the accelerator pump issue from your testing!

If the engine pulls ok, but doesn’t sound crisp (it feels ‘heavy’), it’s too rich! Try to go down on your main jet one size, and try again. They are very easy to change, and this is one of the beauties of Weber/Dellorto carburetors! Once you get used to it, it goes very quickly! Whatever you do, do not drop a jet down the carb throat, or you have to remove the carb or fish it out (they are brass, so a magnet is of no help!). To get the engine exactly right, I recommend going down on your main jets until it sputters/spits, and that means it’s too lean! Go back up on the mains until it smoothes out, and you are done on the main jets!

Air Corrector Jet: The air jet jets air, not fuel! So, if you want to lean it out, you go bigger on the air jet, and smaller on the air jet if you want to richen it up! The air jet affects the engine from about 4000rpms up. You really have to wind it out to use this one, so be careful! Start with a baseline jet of 200. If it starts spitting and sputtering at high rpms, you need to richen it up, so change it to a 180 air jet. You are following the same procedure as the main jet, but your ‘operating window’ is now 4000 RPMs up instead of the main jet’s 2500-4500. I have seen air jets in the range of 160-240. If you are out of this range, you need to go back to the 200 air jet, and change emulsion tubes.

Emulsion Tubes: T he Emulsion Tube mixes air from the air corrector jet with fuel from the main jet, and controls the mixture from the discharge nozzle at all engine speeds that the main jet is working! Basically, the Emulsion Tube changes the diameter and location of small holes in it’s body. For Weber IDF carbs, the F7 or F11 is usually what you need. The F “series” has no rhyme nor reason to the numbering system, so you can’t tell anything by the number unless you look it up! But, with these two examples, the F7 richens the mixture up at the bottom of the RPM range and under acceleration, while the F11 leans the mixture out on the top end a little bit, and is usually used (high RPMs) when you use air jets larger than 200.

Accelerator Pump: Remember from the beginning of this article, that air and fuel have different viscosities. They also have different densities! Since fuel is much heavier than the same ‘amount’ of air, when you open/close the throttle, the air will change speed much faster than the fuel will (think of a heavy car vs. a light one). When you open the throttle quickly, the air instantly speeds up to fill the engine. The fuel responds to the air volume, so it has to react. In addition, it’s heavier so it can’t change ‘speed’ as quickly. The result is that the engine has a lot of air, and not enough fuel. It leans out! So, almost all carburettors have an accellerator pump that adds fuel when you open the throttle. This gives the main jet time to start metering the right amount of fuel to the engine.

We want as little accellerator pump squirt as possible to remove the stumble from the engine. Too much petrol as it’s washing our oil off the cylinder walls (wearing out our pistons and rings) as well as lowering our MPG. Basically, turning the pump screw in adds more fuel shot to the engine as the throttle is opened up. Be conservative.

Hopefully you now have tools and confidence to jet your carburettors, and can stop listening to guys who are only tuning carbs by doing what everyone else is doing, instead of listening to what their engine needs!

You are by no means alone. Studies have shown that sustained exposure to noise above 85 decibels (DbA) has a deleterious effect on hearing – most buggy drivers & motorcyclists are exposed to much more (90DbA at 5Omph and up to 100DbA at 90) – and just 10 minutes of 100DbA exposure is enough to inflict permanent hearing damage. Remember that sound is measured on a logarithmic scale and every 3DbA increase represents a doubling of sonic energy.

Hearing loss is beginning to be recognised as a long-term health problem for anyone exposed to long periods of high speed wind buffeting. Loud noise has also been cited as a cause of tiredness, lapses of concentration and, believe it or not, impotence. Some crash helmets generate less noise than others and windscreens will also deflect same of the racket. In the long term, however, ear plugs are the only defence against deafness.

But which type of ear plug works best? Off-the-shelf silicone plugs are washable and durable, but they don’t suit all ears and can be an awkward fit. Foam plugs are more comfortable, but they come in many different sizes and shapes and are supposed to be suitable for one use only, and there’s the rub. Few people bother throwing them away after each journey – and reusing them carries a risk of ear infection. If you have cauliflower ears there is another problem: plugs have to be jammed into the inner ear to stop them falling out – and that can damage the delicate structures within.

For six years, Green Leopard has been making custom ear defenders for the police, shooting enthusiasts and members of the armed forces. Oddly, though, the company has no Formula One customers. Its London agent, Nathan Onions, says “It’s strange to see Michael Schumacher wearing custom-made race suit, helmet and boots when he’s got a pair of scrappy clear sealant plugs sticking out of his ears. We could make him some in Ferrari colours!”.

Prices start at £45 for a pair of solid silicone plugs, but they can also be made with speakers or filters. The rest of the deal couldn’t be simpler. You ring the firm to discover the whereabouts of your local agent. He or she comes round, squirts quick-setting silicone into your ears and disappears to create your personalised plugs. You’ll receive them within a week.

There are one or two extra details. The sizing-up process takes 25 minutes because your ears have to be inspected for signs of wax or infection, either of which would need sorting out before the plugs can be tailored. Your ears are lubricated to prevent the silicone sticking, then a small foam block is eased into the second bend in your ear canal to prevent the liquid penetrating too far. After that, the silicone is mixed, placed in a syringe and squirted into your ears. It’s uncomfortable rather than painful, and setting takes about five minutes. When the plugs arrive in the post (and you can choose from a broad palate of colours), you feel a lot better about the experience.

It takes time to remember how to fit them, but once you’ve worked it out, unpleasant sounds become a thing of the past. Demands for pocket money, requests to do housework and irritating telephone calls all vanish. Oh, and riding the buggy is pretty quiet too. In a week’s solid use, the plugs have stayed in, been completely comfortable and
eliminated the ringing sound. that used to linger after a long, fast drive. For £45, they’re a bargain. What else can you have custom made for that kind of money?
www.greenleopard.co.uk

To make more power in an engine you want to burn as much fuel as possible in as short a time as possible, Nitrous oxide increases the burn rate because there’s extra oxygen in which the fuel can burn. Typically this will boost an engine’s performance by some 30%, reducing its 0-60 time significantly.

Fitting nitrous oxide to your road car is legal, but as with any modification you have to let your insurance company know: The gas is carried in a canister, which is usually fitted in the car’s boot. A pipe is run from the canister to the engine, where it is plumbed into an electrically operated valve on the bulkhead. From here separate pipes take the gas to jets attached to the intake manifold.

Usually there is one jet per cylinder. Inside the car a manually operated switch arms the system. At a pre-determined throttle opening the system is activated and the Nitrous oxide is squirted into the engine.

At the same time a control unit will tell the engine’s management system to add extra amounts of its normal fuel. It is important that the correct amount of extra fuel is added. If too little is added the mixture is oxygen rich, or lean. The leaner the mixture the hotter the cylinder gets, until eventually the piston starts to melt, causing irreparable damage to the engine.

It has even been suggested that a competent mechanic and a good satisfying bonker needs just two tools to carryout his work: gaffa tape to make things stop and WD-40 to make things go.

The exact recipe of WD-40 is a closely guarded secret – the company that makes it reveals only what it does not contain: silicone, paraffin, water or wax. It is a petroleum-based solution that displaces water and acts as a lubricant. It is also able to penetrate grease, dissolve adhesives and loosen the bond between rust and metal.

WD-40 stands for Water Displacement, 40th attempt. It was named by Norm Larsen, the chemist who developed it in California in 1953. Larsen was the founder of a small firm called Rocket Chemical Company which was attempting to concoct a formula to prevent corrosion. The formula he came up with was first used by an aerospace contractor to protect the outer skin of the American military’s Atlas missiles from rust.
WD-40 remained primarily in use in industry until 1958, when Larsen produced the first aerosol cans for the home. In 1969 the company changed its name to that of its only product, WD-40.

Over the years it has proved an extraordinarily versatile product, used not only by mechanics but also by housewives as a grease and stain remover. Books have been written on its uses, including an account of a bus driver in Asia who used it to remove a python that had coiled around the undercarriage. Today the WD-40 company has more than 200 employees worldwide and annual sales of £135m

The necessary tools for you to perform an oil change and tune-up include a 3/8-inch ratchet, 13/16-inch spark plug socket, 13mm box-end spanner, flat-bladed screwdriver, 10mm socket, feeler gauges in 0.006-inch and 0.016-inch, some type of spark plug gapping tool (or a 0.024-inch feeler gauge) and a compression tester. You will also need a 3-inch extension for the 3/8-inch ratchet and a rather standard extension. Commonly known as a “wobbly,” this handy little item comes in 1-, 3- and 6 inch lengths and allows whatever socket is fitted to it to wobble around, which makes installation and removal of certain items possible if you cannot get straight-line access for the socket and the extension.

For setting the ignition timing, you will also need a timing light, although a static test light will work for most early models. From the factory, VW engines are equipped with Bosch ignition equipment, and we would suggest that you stick with the factory example and purchase a Bosch ignition kit (points and condenser), rotor arm and distributor cap (if needed). For spark plugs, VW recommends Bosch 145-1 plugs. Although 175-T1 plugs are a little cooler, they have less tendency for run-on or pre¬ignition, and they transfer their heat to the cylinder head quicker; 145-T1s are listed as the correct plug to use. Actually, the difference between the two plugs is very slight under normal circumstances.

Since we know you will change the oil when administering a tune-up, you will also need six pints of oil, two valve cover gaskets and an oil strainer gasket kit. When looking for a strainer gasket kit, try to find one with the thick copper gaskets, as they have less of a tendency for leaking than the thinner brass¬colored gaskets. Depending upon the age of your engine, the strainer plate may, or may not, have a drain plug. Originally all VW strainer plates had a drain plug, which mad the draining of oil a lot easier. The problem was a lot of people didn’t remove the plate to clean the gauze screen. Without the drain plug you will need to remove five of the cap nuts and slowly loosen the last one. You may need to pry the plate down a bit.

Volkswagen recommends you change the oil and clean the strainer, plus adjust the valves on your aircooled engines every 3,000 miles; do a tune-up and either clean or change the air filter every 6,000 miles, plus do a compression test at this time. Check to make sure the points gap is set at 0.016 when they are opened all the way, and remember to grease the small block on the points.

Specifications through to 1974 : Type I Engine Code Letter Ignition Timing TDC: Aug. ’60-July ’65 D 10 degrees before. Aug ’65-July ’65 F 7.5 degrees before. Aug. ’66-July ’69 H 7.5 degrees before. Aug ’69-July ’70 B 0 degrees TDC. From Aug ’70 AE 5 degrees after*. From Aug’71 AK 5 degrees after. From Oct. ’72 AH 5 degrees after. From March ’73 AM 5 degrees after. (* From April ’73: 7.5 degrees; checked with vacuum hose off)

As I read on, I came to Keith’s thoughts on safety. “On the subject of safety, there is one aspect of a well conceived buggy which we must emphasize: The roll cage. In the past, all too many buggies have been built either without driver protection of any kind or with a next-to-useless single roll over hoop. While it could be argued that anything is better than nothing, A single unsupported roll-bar will do little to protect the driver and passengers in the event of a roll-over accident. Without any form of bracing, the hoop will simply collapse, leaving the occupants highly vulnerable and exposed to injury”. Yes, the driving public has been media-blitzed about safety, and rightly so. Since I created the Meyers Manx thirty-nine years ago, roll cages have appeared in increasing numbers. The new Manxes (ie. long wheelebase Manxter) of the future are planned with them as an integral part of the design. Keith’s remarks about ‘collapsing single hoops’, and `next to useless’, sound pretty scary, don’t they? I have a lot of years and miles on this subject that perhaps my English friend does not. So, let me reminisce about upside-down dune buggies.

When the first single hoop roll-bars appeared, they seemed to be only a simple foundation for a top. Like all simple things there is the mistaken perception that it was dashed off, without design or thought. Actually, simplicity is the result of much paring down of extraneous elements until only the really important things remain. The original Meyers Manx roll-bar has had to prove itself several times. It is made from a 2 inch diameter X .120 wall thickness, mild steel round tube. Its bracketry has been carefully planned and if properly installed can be trusted to keep the car off of its occupants – short of the worst kind of catastrophe.

The first time I became inverted, was while playing in the biggest kind of sand dunes at a place called Buttercup in California. The sun was low in the afternoon and a group of us were shooting bowls, that is racing around clockwise inside a huge sand bowl of several hundred feet diameter at speeds of about 40-50 mph. Diving into the bowl was to drive into the shaded, steep side of the bowl, to circulate around, like the ball of a roulette wheel. When coming out onto the less steep side of the bowl and into the sun, I kept flipping my dark glasses up onto my forehead and down again as needed to see into the glare. I had taped an old fashioned bamboo pole with flag, to the passenger end of the roll-bar, the passenger being my (first) wife, Shirley. While tearing along the crest of the next dune downwind, to my left, and watching the guys in the other cars, to my right, I drove off the crest at about 30mph. As I left the crest on a diagonal line, the car corkscrewed through the air, dumping Shirley and I out of our seats. As we landed face first in the soft sand, the car followed us upside down. I had fallen out of my seat with no seatbelt and my head was near the roll-bar. As we hit, the roll-bar pushed my head into the soft sand and at the same time the bamboo pole at the other end of the roll-bar broke. My skull was hard against the steel roll bar which transmitted the crunching sound of the bamboo breaking, only I thought it was my skull crunching. The car continued on, flopping up onto its wheels with its front wheels jammed hard right into the sand and a mound of moist sand piled on top of a front fender that had dug deep into the dune. The broken bamboo pole was draped over a rear fender. The buggy sat quietly, engine off, like it had just been scolded. There was no other damage to the car including the intact roll-bar. My dark glasses had been smashed against my head with bits of glass in my scalp. I was in shock as I scrambled over to Shirley and she was motionless, lying face down in the sand. I didn’t want to make things worse by moving her, but I yelled “Shirley, Shirley”, whereupon she slowly turned her face from the sand saying that she was OK, though she thought she was dead until she heard me yelling. We were both still in shock as we drove back to our friends, me thinking about the usefulness of seatbelts. This happened in ‘Old Red’ the very first Meyers Manx.

Come to think of it, Old Red and I got upside down twice. The other time was on a rainy Sunday in the bluffs of the back bay of Newport Beach before all those condominiums were built. A couple of Manx Mania issues back, I was telling the story of ‘Quatro’, My Personal Manx, and there is a picture of Quatro driven by its original owner climbing a very steep, muddy little hill. I had attempted the hill in Old Red and on one try stood the car straight up, balanced precariously on its two rear wheels and exhaust pipe, like a kangaroo stands on feet and tail. I hugged the steering wheel close to my chest, so as not to fall over backwards, and yelled to those spectating below to get up here and pull the front end of Old Red back down. Everybody scrambled up the steep muddy slope – Shirley got there first, and reaching up to the front bumper, pulled, but instead of pulling Old Red down, slipped in the mud and slid under the buggy. The next guy behind her decided Shirley’s safety over mine and pushed the Manx on over backwards with me in it. Over I went. Old Red and I doing a backwards somersault. The car landed on its wheels, the folks scrambled off the muddy hill laughing with the guy who pushed me over backwards. The only damage was a broken tail light lens!

Old Red was the first of the twelve monocoque’s (no floorpan) entirely made of fiberglass with steel tube sub¬structures laminated to the outside of the body tub as attachments for the running gear. However, the roll-bar was thru-bolted to the fiberglass body tub only at the lower inside corners and at the upper side-walls. Using 3/8″ dia. bolts and small metal plates or fender washers on the outside. My long years of ocean racing sailboat construction had taught me the wonderful tensile and shear strength of fiberglass. For instance, the wind tries to capsize a sailboat by pushing the mast with its sails sideways. The mast is supported by relatively tiny diameter wires that are in direct tension attached to metal straps called ‘chain plates’. These are through-bolted with a handful of bolts to the fiberglass hull. These bolts are in a kind of stress called ‘shear’ as the fiberglass is trying to shear them in two. The fiberglass hull is a shear panel that lifts the many thousands of pounds of lead ballast that is the yacht’s keel. The hull and chainplate attachment on a yacht is exactly the same as the fiberglass body of a Meyers Manx dune buggy and it’s correctly installed roll-bar, and the buggy has no keel to lift.

Other times I was told of incidents by my friends, two of which were nearly identical. Once Peter Rothchild (his ancestors financed Napoleon – I am told!) was traveling fast down a desert dry-wash dirt track broadsliding the turns. A drywash is normally quite smooth running its length. But the rivulets of water during rains often cut small but severe little vertical walls like a street curb. Broadsliding against these will surely dump the playful driver on his head. This happened and Rothchild rolled his Corvair powered Manx, bending the windshield frame back against the steering wheel and cutting his knuckles on broken glass. Another time Ted Mangels did the same thing in a Baja dry-wash only slower and just gently flopped the car on its side, no damage to the car – only bumps and bruises.

The most violent tale of this kind comes from a guy who driving along a trail at the top of a 100ft cliff above the beach at night, (I’m frightened already!), he had a 16 year old neighbor girl in the passenger seat and his 16 year old daughter riding in the back, holding onto the roll-bar. Happily they were all in seatbelts. Driving much too fast, he couldn’t avoid rocketing off the cliff, thankfully not to the distant beach below, instead into a deep canyon. The Manx sailed fifty feet, nose high, tail heavy, hitting the canyon wall, rearwards on its exhaust system. It then fell twenty-five or thirty more feet into the narrower canyon crevasse below, upside down! The buggy was crammed – wedged between canyon walls, its intact roll¬bar providing enough space to keep them from being squashed. Broken facial bones, teeth knocked out, acid burns from the battery, they fell even further when they released their seat¬belts. They did manage to climb out of the canyon on their own. The roll-bar didn’t collapse, providing an extra margin of safety and the only positive factor to this traumatic event.

A properly installed roll-bar in a Meyers Manx, has a very important little bracket that attaches to the torsion bar housing outside of the body. A bolt passes through this into the lower roll¬bar weldment, sandwiching the fiberglass body enroute. The upper roll-bar weldment is bolted to the body side panel which is like the sailboat hull, a very good shear panel. Now, the rollbar can’t be yanked out or shoved down into the car by its attachments to the sides of the car. The bottom of the roll-bar is bolted to the torsion bar housing, the largest, heaviest chassis component in a Volkswagen’s floorpan. If the steel tubing of the roll-bar is of such wall thickness and girth of tube, to be used in such relatively small perimeter outlines (about 31/2 ft), then it should not parallelogram, distort, or in Keith Seume’s words – collapse. In none of the foregoing stories was there any sign of roll-bar failure in any way. Not a cracked weld, a bent bracket, a distorted tube or even torn or cracked fiberglass.

Maybe in all these incidents we’ve been lucky – it could have been worse. But all these roll-bars had been correctly installed. I see so many horror stories of bad roll bar attachments. People obviously see the fiberglass as something akin to a plastic wastebasket, structurally useless like a cheap plastic toy or even worse. They avoid the correct use of the fiberglass (it’s tensile and shear strength), preferring to plop the feet of their roll-bar or rollcage directly on top of the sheet-metal floor (which is about as thin as paper) and with enough force tears like paper. At least they could mount it in the lower comer on top of the fiberglass where it’s bolted to the pan, thereby taking advantage of the shear-panel effect of the glass body.

Once again, I’d like to regale you with a story of a roll-cage mounted on the sheet-metal only. Once, after dark, there were several Manxes and a V-8 powered, monster tyred Jeep bringing up the rear. The first Manx approached a sheer, straight-down bluff – but only for about three or four feet straight down. Then it was a sandy slope of about 75-80 ft to the road below. So the Manxes all gingerly slid over the edge until the front wheels found the slope and descended safely. When the Jeep attempted the same feat, everybody yelled not to. “No Harold, no, don’t try it”, but Harold had to save face. The Jeep’s headlights came over the rim, gently arched over, doing two complete somersaults and landed on his wheels directly in front of us. Harold and his girlfriend were OK, but the Jeep’s body was demolished. The complete roll-cage was mounted on top of the floor in front, and on the raised wheel wells in the rear. The roll¬cage was OK but had poked right through, sitting on top of the rear tires, and hung inches above the ground in the front. Nothing had been attached to the frame – just the sheet-metal. Great roll-cage, sheet-metal used improperly.

I’ve had fun with these stories and I might even dredge up a couple more, but why? I think you get the point. Keith Seume, you’re one of my favorite people – a tad innocent of all this perhaps. Why don’t we go ‘pig out’ on another pot of mussels and Bordeaux wine. Au revoir. Hiccc!
By Bruce Meyers

Firstly loosen the wheel nuts on both sides and then jack the buggy up making sure that it is well supported and cannot fall. Remove both front wheels to expose the discs or drums. Remove the nuts holding the steering track rod ball joints to the axle assembly, then using a decent ball joint separator, split the tapered ball joint from the arm. Never do this without a proper separating tool, as all you will do is compress the threads when bashing it out with a hammer and or damage the assembly. Once separated swing the steering tie rod out of harms way and secure it.

The torsion leaves are held in place inside the beam by 4 large grub screws and locking nuts. Loosen the lock nuts on both sides of the suspension arms and remove the grub screws with an allen key (piccie top right). Next, it may be necessary to use a soft mallet or lump of aluminium and hammer to persuade the torsion arms out. However do not use excessive force, they can be wiggled up and down and slowly creep out. Be aware that the flexible brake lines are delicate and must NOT be stretched when the arms are nearly fully out of the beam. It may also be necessary to split the brake pipe joint from the chassis to enable the brake pipe to be removed from the drum back plate or disc caliper.

Take care when at this stage, once the brake assembly has been removed from the beam, put to oneside. Unlock the 2 centre grub screws that retain the torsion leaves in the centre of the beam on top and bottom and remove them. The leaves are fed through a square hole that is the same shape as the pile of leaves, this centre boss inside the beam is the fixed point that the leaves work on. With the torsion arms removed from both sides, the leaves can be removed by pulling them out by hand.

Note the way round they are in relation to the beam, there will be wear marks on them from the years of use. You will see that the front edge of the leaf has a shiny wear mark caused by years of rubbing on the central fixed boss. These wear marks are useful for comparing to the wear marks of the replacement leaves if they are secondhand. The replacement leaves do not want to be installed upside down as over the years the steel will have a ‘set’ in it as a result of twisting in one direction. I would not recommend fitting the pile upside down as they may break after a while!

One point to note is that the leaves are dimpled with a drill when manufactured, and MUST be fitted in the same position they were drilled otherwise the grub screw will not seat correctly.

Once the new leaves have been examined and are oriented correctly gently separate them and cover all over with a liberal amount of grease. First insert the two smaller bottom leaves and slide them into the beam and through the centre fixed boss. I find it a lot easier to do it this way, as the remaining leaves, one at a time, can be used as a guide into and through the centre boss. When both sets of leaves are installed, line up the 2 centre drilled dimples with the grub screw holes and refit the grub screws and lock nuts. If necessary fit new rubber beam seals onto each torsion arm, then grease and slide the brake unit/torsion arms back into the beam, wiggling up and down to orient the square hole inside the arms with the stack of torsion leaves. It may be necessary to use a soft mallet to help things along, do not persuade the arms to slide all the way into the beam, as they stop short of fully home, and the grub screw dimple lines up with the holes. To ensure the dimples are in the centre of their fixing holes in the arms, use an electrical screwdriver. Insert it into the grub screw hole and if the dimple is somewhere in place you will feel the taper of the dimple as the screwdriver end slides down and finds the centre. All that is required is to hold the screwdriver square with the grub screw hole. If the dimple is to one side or other, the screwdriver will not be sticking straight down the centre of the grub screw hole. Just move arm gently until it is, then refit grub screws and lock nuts and tighten.

The leaves of the torsion bars are arranged differently dependant upon suspension type. In the (pre-65) linkpin models there are four large leaves and four small ones arranged in a “square” stack. The ball-joint models have the leaves stacked in a pyramidal shape.