On this months visit to the Oldbury workshops of Volksmagic, we continue the preparation of the chassis and begin to install the suspension.

 

As mentioned in last months article the gearbox was amongst the large pile of old greasy and rusty bits which had been treated to a short holiday at the shot blasters!

 

Upon its return it received a coating of two part black satin paint and was then ready to be refitted to the refurbished chassis. Urethane mounts were used, one at the front of the box by the nose cone and two at the rear – one either side. You need to use a small amount of lubricant when fitting them, but following that, these type of mounts are designed to be self-lubricating and maintenance free.

 

To help select the cogs in the best possible way we chose to fit an aftermarket T-Button shifter kit which was supplied by our friends at Street Style and Power and reduces travel by up to 40%.

 

Fitment is relatively easy, the new ‘quick-shift’ base plate goes over the existing plate, followed by the new lever and base plate. Don’t forget to make sure you’ve both packed the shift rod socket with grease and greased the shifter ball before assembly. The gear change movement should be checked and adjusted before the completed shifter is bolted firmly in place. For a fully illustrated how to article, check out ‘Essential Maintenance’ in the May 2004 issue of your favourite VW magazine, i.e. Volksworld!

 

At the same time we took the opportunity to replace the standard, and often troublesome, gear coupler. The standard is made out of rubber and metal, whilst our new one is a combination of Urethane and metal and looks very smart. Combined with the new shifter, it should make changing gears a more pleasurable experience.

 

To complete the tunnel area the standard hand brake mechanism was re-installed, though not before it was blasted and painted in two pack, complete with an aluminium billet grip.

 

A new standard brake master cylinder was fitted along with the original pedal assembly, once again after blasting and painting. The position of the pedals was carefully adjusted to ensure that they didn’t fall forwards at rest. The standard accelerator pedal will be replaced by an early roller-ball type, giving much better throttle control and hopefully reducing the number of ‘snap into over-steer moments’, often encountered with Buggys on wet roads!

 

The next job was to begin the manufacture and assembly of the braking system, the first part of which was to feed the front to back brake pipe up the inside of the chassis spline to keep it out of harms way. This proved to be slightly problematic, but was eventually accomplished with the aid of three people! 

John Clewer - 2004