FibreFab Rat Beach Buggy - Rebuilding Fuggy...

So with the screen fitted, and the dash built, time to turn my attention to the bodywork... The biggest issue here, other than the masses of cracks, the roller paint job, and the general abuse of multiple owners over the years, is the fact that the panels that the headlights sit in aren't actually flat to the front of the car.



You can see how I had to put a load of spacers behind the light units to get them pointed in roughly the right direction.



Problem is I have never really liked the way the front end looks with the round lights. So, do I go for the easy life, and just change the glass over for LHD and say sod it, or do I start digging into the front end and try to pull it all back into line and fit the modified wartburg lights I started on previously.

One of the deciding factors will be when I can get it in for the roll cage to be fitted. If I am going to have weeks to wait for that I might as well have a go at the lights. Other than the painting and rewiring, the lights and cage are the two big things that will stop me getting it registered and on the road... Speed of getting it on the road, verses those ugly lights...

all cars after 1987 where fitted with rear seat belts by law

Not in the Netherlands as far as I know, they had to be fitted as of 1st Jan 1990, but only used from 1992. That said, I may yet add them if I can find a good way to fit them when I go speak to the cage guys.

Plenty of cars with recessed projector style lights that would allow you to change the shape of the wings to your own tastes if you wanted to. Plain lexan could be used to make covers if they were prone to weather damage.

For the first time in many years, the front end is now actually attached to the chassis. Ever since I've had the buggy, and for who knows hoe long before that, there was nothing connecting the body to the chassis in front of the firewall. It meant it flexed a lot! So to fix that I have made a mount that goes from the top of the front beam, where the original beetle body would have mounted, up to the body, and it also goes forward and picks up where the bonnet bolts though to the wings at the front edge. It's taken a lot of flex out of the body, and it's only tacked together for the moment.



Only slight issue is that the mount is actually trapped between the body and the beam Final welding will have to wait till I either split the beam from the chassis or the body from the chassis.

It strikes me that XJ-S lights would be about the right shape and size, although they're swept back a bit on the Jag. Just a thought if these don´t work out.

Originally it was the dark red / purple colour with red and silver flake over the top. Thinking I shall prob go for a black base with bright red flake over it this time around, or maybe a coloured base, not sure yet... Either way, red flake is the plan

I had wanted to get it in paint soon, but shall see how long the fibreglass repairs take. Need to change the rear lights as well to add reverse and e-marked glass.

Plan is to mount the light from behind and just have a hole for the lens to poke through, depending on how it looks I might look at some form of trim to go around the edge. The Wartburg they come from doesn't have a flat front panel, so the trim rings for these lights won't work. Shall see what it looks like, thinking a simple trim ring shouldn't be too difficult to knock up out of 'glass.

Long time no update - Been making slow progress, but with holidays, an ultra-marathon, and life getting in the way, not as much as I would like!

So, one job was to convert from long torsion bars to short bars on the rear suspension, might be of interest to johnthesparky .

Now the issue here, for those that don't know beetles, is that the rear suspension uses a torsion bar set up, and on the later IRS cars the torsion bars stick out by about 20cm more than on the early cars. This cuts down the amount of clearance you have for big wheels, but gives a softer more comfortable ride... Now I don't care about the ride

So, in order to fit the shorter torsion bars you have to use the early spring plates that connect from torsion bar to axle / swing arm, but the early ones are longer and wider. So, time to template:

Early spring plate on the left, stock IRS plate in the centre, and CAD template on the right. You can just see the marks on the left plate where it needs to be cut and drilled. Not only is it too long, but its also too wide. You also have to make sure you get the holes in the right place, as that is what allows for adjustment of the tracking. Not obv is that on the other side of the plate there is a long tube sticking out of the late styple plate, and just a short tube on the early one.



One thing to note, is that the tube that sticks out from the spring plates is different diameter on the early and the late ones, so you have to be careful in what you use as your reference point. In the end I double checked my markings by putting them side by side and running a square across them to make sure things lined up as they should.

So, into the pillar drill and make a few holes, finished off with a selection of files. Then attack it with the death wheel, give it a clean, and a bit of paint...

Modified early plate on the left, old late one on the right.



Get it fitted up is easy, slide the torsion bar into the tube, new urethane inner bushing, and put the spring plate on. You can't slide it all the way on yet as the bump stop is in the way. First you have to get the pre-load set correctly so that the car sits level once its on the ground. This is done by rotating the spring plate relative to the torsion bar, and the torsion bar relative to the car. The torsion bar has different numbers of splines on the inner and outer ends, so by a combination of rotations you can get quite small changes in angle.

I went with about 17° of pre-load, which is stock for a swing axle beetle, and seen as thats where the torsion bars came from, seemed like a good starting point. Once the car is fully built up and on the road I can add or remove preload to adjust the ride height / comfort as needed.



With that done just a matter of jacking up the spring plate and sliding it all the way onto the torsion bar. Now of course as you do this the whole car lifts, especially on a half built buggy with no engine or gearbox. There just isn't enough weight to twist the torsion bar. So, my method is to put a chain around the shock absorber mount point, and down to the frame of the jack. That way the jack is both lifting the sping plate, and pulling down on the chassis at the same time. You can of course buy a tool for doing this, but well, I'm cheap and I had chain kicking around

With the spring plate on, can fit the new outer bush, new cover, and try the wheels... They were the reason for all this hassle in the first place Big old appliance slotmags, and 32" BFG AT tyres, well have nothing modern here!