Ol'fogasaurus black buggy

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I got the pan back up and on the rotisserie yesterday. It turned out to be over a three hour process. I'm getting too old to put the "cherry picker" back together then take it back apart and store it. Geez, not only is each part is getting heavier but the cotter pin on the pump decided to fail and the pivot fell and I couldn't find it until I was in the process of tearing it down and putting it away... that Murphy guy who set the law is not a nice guy .

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I got it set a bit higher this time with one small, inconsequential result both front and rear.

I have some other things to do around the house that might keep me out of that part of the garage for a day or two... not sure, it depends on Mother Nature but I think I may have something fun to post assuming it works out.

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A tease

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

With all the heavy dew we are having now that fall is here I had some time in the garage this am that I didn't think I would get.

In the last photo I showed the hole in the tunnel for the e-brake. I think I removed the two ears for the pivot a long time ago because e-brakes usually are not necessary in the sand. If you want to stop on the face of a dune you just quickly pop the clutch and dig a shallow hole and there you are! The e-brake is basically just extra weight. Anyway, back to the fight.

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In the last pix in the previous post it showed the bare hole so I took some masking tape, covered the hole and then, using a ballpeen hammer I cut the tape using the edges of the hole as a template....

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… I then placed the tape on a bit of scrap I had that had a similar wall thickness to the tunnel.



This morning I removed the tape, deburred the scrap then put it in the blast cabinet to get it ready for the next round of this fight. On cleaning the crud off the now blasted piece of scrap I noticed...

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… on the underside of the metal so I move the tape to a place way from problems then proceeded to cut the stock to shape.

You will notice that there is a dimple for a hole where the notch is to be so I did the hole first. Was it is good idea to go this way... yeah... maybe. I did get rid of some material that I would later have to fight with so yeah... it was OK. I then cut the rest of the shape on the band saw then started fitting. The notch ended up having to be a bit deeper than I planned in order to get the proper clearance (gap) for welding as this isn't that thin of material like say a body panel is.

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This is how it sits now. I still have some fitting for the welding gap but it gives and idea of what can be done in a short time by starting with the tape method of size and other necessities. That bar is a big magnet that every-so-often comes in so handy.

Now I have to finish cleaning the tunnel face up enough to do the welding that needs to be done but that is another story .

Lee

Ignore the two duplicate pix on the bottom as I am having problems again trying to post.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

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I got thinking about this again so I moved the magnet (a very strong magnet by the way) over to check the gaps. Not as bad as I thought so maybe some beveling on the straight parts. The little tang is not dipped down like it looks but very flat. If I do this this way then, if someone later on wants to put the e-brake back on then it would be easier to remove the plug this way.

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

's done. Not a pretty job as the spray covering I used over the area must have sunk into the metal and all the welding did was spit and sputter. After the third grinding I got some welding done but it was hit and miss... ground some more in order to finish it.

After a blow through in the rear of the new piece I did find that the top of the area is a single layer but on the sides it I reached in and it felt like there was a doubler inside the tunnel for the e-brake handle so two different power settings were needed (also I am not that good of a welder to start with ). I should have figured that there was and checked for it before I started so a warning.

It isn't as pretty as I would have liked but since the turning brake assy will cover most of it my ego is hurt but not as bad as it would have been if this was to be seen all the time .

Lee

Update: I think what I was feeling was the plugs I had made for the slots that the air handles sat in. Since the shift rod is still there limiting the depth I could feel that mush have been "the doubler". Still be careful with the heat.

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Back to the turning brake handle mounts (two parts because of the pix).

Did you ever do something expecting something to happen but that something caused something else to happen ?

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I cut the opening for the turning brake handles in the 1 X 3 X 0.095 (wall thickness as I remember) rectangular tube then using a couple of stepped wedge shaped triangles joined together to form (spread apart the sides of the opening) the proper width for the opening I beat the crap out of them assuming that the sides would deform to keep the bottom of the opening flat. Silly me....

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This is what happened... the bottom (facing up in t he pix) of the rectangle raised as the sides (stiffening flanges in this case) over powered the floor so it up came vs. the sides pulling down. I thought I had it clamped down enough to stop it but apparently not.

I should have known this as the flanges were too thick (width plus height) to get pulled down but... maybe not is all lost as I think I can make a wedge to fill the opening which just might make installing the front of the tube mount easier via. the use of CSK fasteners in a fore and aft stagger.

To go with cap screws where the handles are is/might be pushing things a bit clearance wise.

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

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This is the bottom of the rectangular tube showing its seam.

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This is the bottom of the turning brake assy I have now. I will probably have to grind the seam flat then add a doubler in to strengthen it up. The rear of the mount I think it going to take a lot less loading on it compared to where the handles are due to panic by some people (usually not necessary or too late to do anything about it . With steering tires the turning brake is less needed as would be with "baldies" on the sand. A quick turn maybe or locking the diff if you get tuck I would hope would be the most needed.

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

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Got a few minutes in the garage this am so I got the cylinder's mounted. The big oval was a pain to do although I didn't really need it. The hole saw kept wanting to travel as I didn't use the drill press, just a hand drill. It is OK but not purdy (although, until the car is sold, no one should see it ). Lesson learned!

Waiting for the bluing to dry so I can mark the mounting holes for the handles. I did check and the spread is a tad more than needed but either a washer or the bolts will pull the two sides together and it will work.

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Got back in the garage as it supposed to start raining.

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Got the handles drilled and mounted. The pivots that are sitting on the cylinders will go on the handles and I have rod and cover to fit the pivots. the problem is, what do I get for the cylinders... I'll try to see if there is a universal that will be the right size thread to mount on the cylinders and connect to the all-thread. For some reason I thought I already had something.

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Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Boy, I am embarrassed . I went up to the fastener store where I get a lot of the fasteners I use and took along the whole turning brake assy. It turns out that I have over thought what I am doing and, as it turned out (and I thought I had already done it), I forgot that even though there is a small arc in the coupling to the handles there is a certain amount of flexibility in the connection of the cylinders.

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You can see the droop here of the farthest push rod into the cylinder which is going to be way more than the arc would need. You can also see the clamp I had (the ones I got today are slightly off thread and might be SAE vs. Metric or vice-a-versa. Close but not quite.

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This shows the all-thread in the nut with the jam nuts and the sleeve over the all-thread.

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This shows the clevis hooked to the handle.

I think this is going to work when we get back from the dunes in a week.

For what it is worth...

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I was thinking about this on the drive down trying to remember why I bought two lengths of all-thread then it dawned on me that I have to wait until the body and seats are back on the pan to figure the minimum and max lengths of all-thread and the tube cover when cutting the all-thread to fit seat and shifter locations. Not everyone in our group will have the same fit to use the turning brakes. I'll probably rough it in with one cut length (sleeve may or may not be cut to fit) then see just what the length has to be to get the proper shifter handle setting based on length. Seems weird at times but if one thinks about it, a little change at the bottom is going to end up being a big difference at the top of the handle where the grip ball is.

The same for whether or not I will need to make a protection cover for the shifter rods when the seats are in place. One never stops thinking about things do they .

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Got some time in the garage so I worked on the turning brake assy.

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This didn't take all that long to do, it was the finding of the locking pin for the handle connection that had taken a long trip on the floor.

With some playing with the threads on both ends you can get quite a bit of handle fore and aft adjustment. Just one way of doing this I think.

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

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I forgot to post this. It shows the all-thread in position with the sleeve sitting below the assembly sitting on the VW pan's tunnel.

Lee

[ninelives17]

That looks nice and clean.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

That looks nice and clean.

Thank you.

Now that I know a bit more about this I am going to make a new mount 'cause I made a mistake that can't be seen. I hand drilled a 1 1/4" hole the same as on the stock mount and, even though it was piloted I had the hole saw slide off in one direction on me so that is going to have to be eliminated as It rides the radius of the tube. I also now have an idea of where to put the mounting screws and access holes in the top surface for them.

While I don't normally like to use cap screws (don't get me wrong, they have their uses) with the shift rod close to things I have to make the mounting holes more outboard, closer to the tube's radius than I would like so cap screws w/split washer is what I think I will need to use. That means access holes in the mount for the driving tool to get into to mount the almost bare mount. I went down and looked at the head height of cap screws and I think I am going to be OK with them. The screws will be in place as the mount is dropped over the tunnel then the threads will be started.

I think just the cylinder will be on the mount but turned sideways for hex head driver access. The forward most bolt of the cylinder has to be in place then can be tightened up later (I think). Access to insert the rear bolt should be OK when things are tightened down but I have to check that out too. Got some more lookin' to do. If this doesn't work then there are a couple of other options... I think.

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I took RyanB's idea hopefully to the next step. Thanks Ryan.

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I had another length of 1 X 2 in the garage so last night I started by cutting the tube to length; 20" long. I was wiping old markings off it with a solvent it so I could put new cut marking on when, checking which of the two inch sides had the seam (by feel) and... nothing! I picked it up and sure enough, the seam is on the 1" side.

This is going to be interesting; how to spread the opening for the handles (a slight but definite widening of the opening) without problems with the seam then the drilling of the pivot holes which partially involving the seam. Whoof! It may end up not being a problem and I am panicking too early but I am prepared for the worse as I was going to try a bit different method of spreading the opening this time.

I sent BrianB an email showing and thanking him what he had driven me to do and he replied back. His mom still has the buggy and they use it a lot mostly on trails. He is doing other non bug car things now.

Lee