Woodsbuggy1 2276 Turbo Build

[madmike]

Yea bummer pete I'm probably 5 hours from the Indiana border?
I was going to let you drive my Bug too

[woodsbuggy1]

Thanks for all of the suggestions and input.
I have seen a few guys try to run paddle tires in the woods, rocks roots and trees had them destroyed in less than a day. About the only tires that seem to hold up are 31" v treads and boggers, other tires either don't hold up or provide too little traction. I am on the fence right now, I am going to try my same setup for July 5th trip, hoping a lil more tuning will provide better results. I am still looking for a VF30 since it will bolt right up to my current setup without any cutting or welding. I should have had a few other sizes of Subie turbos on hand before I started this, I have a couple VF39 turbos but both are junk and a rebuild would exceed my available budget. I am confident that the turbo that I need will show up at a good price as long as I can be patient.
Kenric

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Remember that on a stock suspension VW then you have a limitation of something like 30" or 31" dia. tire size to play with. In the old days the paddle tires were made from old racing slick with paddles bonded on. The tires were full paddled then you could cut off entire paddles (every other) or part of the paddles (in a staggers sequence) so that they fit your situation on the media you were playing in.

When I posted the Kartrack picture I was only interested in showing you the tire and did not read fully down the script. One thing I might add is that the Desert Tracs have a much stiffer side wall and carcus than a paddle tire. On the car when the air leaks out the paddle tires flatten out and the rims are almost in contact with the floor and it doesn't take much effort before you can easily get the sides to move when you push them. One of the reasons you either store the vehicle with the tires replaced or put the vehicle on jack stands.

I do store my buggy on jack stands with the desert tracs but to be honest, on my glass buggy and like I am sure your light rail would do..., the tires hardly show any indication of no air inside of them. That, and when pressured up you ride more on the tread not the tire's carcus with the paddle sticking down so on hard packed media you feel each paddle as you ride over it (bumpity, bumity, bumpity). The desert Tracs do ride much smoother on hard pavement or hard packed surfaces.

There are also some traction tires now days that look like snow tires that I have seen that are supposed to work fairly well in the sand; they might be worth looking into. From what I think I heard that they are more for heavier rigs but that is a question that needs to be asked before purchase.

Some things to think about.

[petew]

Yea bummer pete I'm probably 5 hours from the Indiana border?
I was going to let you drive my Bug too

DANG!

[madmike]

Maybe next time Pete

[woodsbuggy1]

I wish that I had a light buggy but we add a lot of bracing so they hold up to bouncing off rocks and trees and can handle a roll or 3. I have not weighed my buggy but based on what I have seen other buggies weigh I am sure that the buggy without driver and passenger is over 1600 lbs. It is difficult to explain to sand riders how much different our buggies are, we have double wall tree bars, heavier front beams, 5x5 rear arms, double head bar and lots of gussets for added support.
Sometimes we have jeep guys ride with us and they always get stuck even in mud that is less than a foot deep. There may be a better tire out there but for the conditions we ride in I am very pleased with boggers, just need to find a VF30 or VF22 so power comes on a lil slower, I can let out the clutch and go without touching the throttle and idle through the sloppy stuff just want more control of when I make more power.
Kenric

[Clonebug]

You need a lighter foot than what you are used to.........

I think you could learn to control it given a little more seat time...........

[woodsbuggy1]

Time will tell, heading to Rush Offroad on July 5th, they have long hills there and great trail riding, planning to do some more tuning and maybe I can learn how to drive without igniting the tires.
Kenric

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I wish that I had a light buggy but we add a lot of bracing so they hold up to bouncing off rocks and trees and can handle a roll or 3. I have not weighed my buggy but based on what I have seen other buggies weigh I am sure that the buggy without driver and passenger is over 1600 lbs. It is difficult to explain to sand riders how much different our buggies are, we have double wall tree bars, heavier front beams, 5x5 rear arms, double head bar and lots of gussets for added support.
Sometimes we have jeep guys ride with us and they always get stuck even in mud that is less than a foot deep. There may be a better tire out there but for the conditions we ride in I am very pleased with boggers, just need to find a VF30 or VF22 so power comes on a lil slower, I can let out the clutch and go without touching the throttle and idle through the sloppy stuff just want more control of when I make more power.
Kenric

Kenric, I used to have a '42 jeep and a small 55cc motorcycle both of which I rode off-road so I am aware of what you are saying. 1500# to 1600# for a sand rail isn't that far off with a glass buggy usually being a bit heavier, maybe 100#s so what you are describing isn't that much different than what we run on the sand. Some of the buggies I see are also run on the street (ours aren't other than to access points), some are off-road in rough conditions besides the sand. My blue buggy (80" wheel base) was street legal until I change it for several reasons. Wheel base around where I ride for rails runs in the 95" to the low 100" wheel base which is normal with the shorter wheel base rigs being good for tight turn requirements.

Some of the sand rails run wide and long travel conversions and get mass amounts of travel and can have pretty powerful engines. The current movement is towards IFS and electric steering. Sand cars 120" wheel base and up with over 26" of travel is something very different that we don't see much of where I ride as they can't open up the engines that much so they are kind of a waste of time here but down south, that is another matter from what I understand. We see and hear them once-in-a-while but not for long.

The jeep guys are about the same here; they are heavier, more powerful and top heavy. They also try to use off-road tires and while they do get around fairly well but some do trailer in and use more sand friendly tires too.

In the sand: idling along can be done I guess but there is a lot of drag in the soft sand (load from the sand) so we have a tendency to go fast enough to get up on top of the sand. The tires I said I run are considered to be a dual purpose tire.

Dune house diary 080.jpg

Dune house diary 082 (2).jpg

Street legal with paddles and steering tires.

2015-09-10 (!).jpg

Same front tires but with the Desert Tracs plus a bunch of mods to stiffen things up pan and suspension wise.

In the sand we do have things that happen that off-roaders would not dream of but that is a different subject .

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Clarification: In the sand we don't normally use front brakes but you do see them used in dual purpose rigs. In the soft sand the front brakes have a tendency to lock up very easily and dig into the sand when you use the foot brake with the result being it can pull the steering wheel out of your hands. I've heard people say that you an put a shut off valve on the front brakes to stop the lock up problem but I have never tried it.

On the dual pictures: every so often this happens and usually it is when I do a preview to check to see if everything is OK.

[woodsbuggy1]

Not sure where the summer has gone, still looking for a good deal on a VF22 or VF30 turbo but I have other problems at the moment. As luck would have it my laptop died and and I somehow managed to replace the tune on my MS1 with an example V8 tune from TS, so my buggy is running quite poorly at the moment. I spent several hours today trying to improve my tune but could really use some help.
My specs are:
2276 8.5 to1 cr
mild cam
EDIS
MS1 v2.2 extra
single TB
E85
currently NA
Thanks
Kenric

[petew]

Oh man! That's terrible.

[buguy]

Have you ever had it on the street with that 13t on it? I'm about to build a 2276 and I had a 13t on my stock engine. I didn't think it would work at all since it's so small. I'd like to use it if I could though!!

[woodsbuggy1]

Update!
My daughter stopped over last night and figured out how to retrieve my tune files and load them to a flash drive so I am back in business!
buguy, I have not had my buggy on the street but it was a blast on the trails with the 13T, just not good for climbing hills. I think it would be great on the street should build boost quick and be a blast to drive.
Thanks
Kenric

[buguy]

Good news! Thank goodness for these smart kids huh?!
Thanks brother. That's exactly what I'm after!