- This topic has 57 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 5 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
OK, I got my London Roadster home to Phoenix and now she doesn’t want to start for me. I might try a few checks on my own (with the Idiot’s book) but failing that, I’ll have to have her towed to a shop a few miles away.
I have a small hitch on my Honda Odyssey and a transmission fluid cooler installed, so the towing weight should not present a problem. But I’m not sure of the year of the donor car. It was titled as an ’87 London Roadster, but since I didn’t get the car from the builder, I don’t know what year the frame is.
I have looked on-line and it seems there is a difference in tow bars for VWs based on their year.
Any advice is welcomed.
Mark
Unless your London Roadster is one of the rare ones on a custom chassis with coil springs over the shock absorbers, a tow bar for the standard VW beetle should work. The super beetle has strut suspension and requires a different tow bar to hook up.
In my view under the driver’s side of the shock, it looks like it just connects to the body or frame. There is a coil around the shock. Is that a coil spring?
Look up in the photo gallery at Calafer’s photos. He’s got some great photos of a VW chassis. What’s not standard is disk brakes all around but the photos show the shock setups. His shocks are white and there is no coil spring over the shock. Hope this helps.
Allen Caron
VW based 53MGTD - "MoneyPenny"
"If one thing matters, everything matters" - from the book The ShackThis is what you want: Bug, Ghia, Thing bar, retails for $80, everywhere. I got mine used for $40. I don’t believe coil-over helper shocks will interfere with it, but they may be a sign you should think about working on the front suspension once you get the spark and fuel squared away.
Rats, I just paid $60 for a tow bar from someone local by meeting them at a place 1/2 between us. I got it home and it doesn’t fit my front axle. I’ve got rectangular piece of metal to deal with, not a round axle. My axle is too wide for the openings in this tow bar.
edsnova, I like the one you linked to, but I don’t think it will fit either.
MGLondonRoadste; Post please post a pic of what doesnt fit. I have a srazy front end as well and would like to make sure I get the correct tow bar. I will be starting on a rewire of all the lights to give it an update and will need to tow it to shop.
Thanks
Chris
edsnova,
What should I do to the front end? My car work experience has been limited to oil changes and spark plugs, points and condensers on my old ’67 bug.
Mark,
Definitely not a stock VW front end! And as Larry wrote earlier, you may not be riding on a stock VW floor pan/chassis.
The stock VW tow bar attaches to the lower of the two torsion tubes in the front suspension..
In your picture, we are looking at the “moveable” parts of the suspension. What is just to the left of the image you posted?
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
That tow bar is not going to work with your front end. You’ll need to rent a tow dolly or enroll in AAA and have it transported via a flatbed roll-back to the mechanic.
Your front end is one of the rare, custom chassis that Larry Murphy mentioned in his previous thread. It is NOT an OEM VW twin beam trail arm style front suspenion. You have an unequal “A” arm suspension (much better IMHO). Except your pics look like that shock/spring is at WAY too much of an angle to work properly. The closer to perpendicular to the ground, the better they work.
Coil over means the coil spring is over (surrounds) the shock absorber. Your front end is custom coil over.
Yes, what Pink (Mark) said. Sorry. The one I linked to is the one you’ve got. You can resell the tow bar & get your $60 back. Just put it on Craigslist.
On the good side, you have a more sophisticated and probably better front suspension than most of us. Towing this is now complicated. There used to be “universal” style tow bars available. Not sure they ever really worked though. Tow dolly might be the best option.
Another option, depending on how “different” your front suspension is, might be to adapt your used VW bar to what you have there.
But that’s a job for later. First get her running.
Sorry for your trouble. Good luck & keep us posted.
No trouble at all, my buddies! I welcome all of your input, as I had no idea what a coil over shock was, or even what kind of donor or base car I had purchased.
I had an adventurous day, first at one UHaul dealer trying to get the lost-key lock drilled out so I could remove the sizing adapter from the small 1 1/4 inch to the 2 inch size, that I used to fit my bike rack on on my Honda Odyssey, which will be my tow vehicle. But they were unsuccessful after about 2 hours, and sent me to another UHaul shop, which did drill out the lock, but were unsuccessful in removing the adapter. I was right there as the technician tried and tried for about 30 minutes, but no luck. It was probably rusted and stuck for at least 10 years. Now I need to tow something with the hitch.
So I bought a new one and it came with a 2 inch receiver so this course keeps changing all the time. Now I need a 2 inch ball and a 2 inch tow bar. Done.
With this new set up, I returned home and looked up a shop that was willing to re-work my new VW tow bar rig. But I had to get to the next town to the west before 5:00 p.m.. But by closing, the welder had already cut out the size I need for the rectangular axle and will be adding a 1/4″ steel reinforcing sheet to each side. With some better bolts, I hope to be able to tow her by tomorrow afternoon. Ops, almost forgot that I’ll need brake and turn signal lights on the London Roadster, so wiring on the van is scheduled for tomorrow and the suction cup lights were just ordered online. Shops in town only had magnetic lights. Funny how those won’t work on most kit cars.
This all cost me more than a tow to the shop 5 miles away might have been, but now I’ll be set to be able to tow her myself, when needed.
I do have AAA, but as a result of the 3 or 4 service calls I made to them on my journey from Seattle to Phoenix, I have no more service calls left on my account until my renewal in October. I might have one 200 mile tow still left, but I’ll save that in case another big trip comes up (not likely).
I’m only able to go outside to look at her and maybe check out some ignition or fuel systems in the early morning. It gets a bit warm this time of year about 10:00 a.m., although today was rather mild, all things considered.
You guys are a wealth of information and encouragement for me. Keep it up.
MGLondonRoadste40695.9756712963
And I also created a Craig’slist for the tow bar yesterday and deleted it this afternoon.
I’m not sure what the block of space is to the left of my first image. It is 26 inches wide, flat, and then there is the mirror image on the left side.
Mark,
Yes, one in Glendale and one in Mesa.
https://tdreplica.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=620&P N=1
The master list is in alphabetical order by last name. But…
Scroll down to the map and the datailed chart. The chart is sorted by state. It’s a little tough to read, but if you right click the picture and save it locally, you can zoom in on it.
Kevin Hux (Screen-name Red MGTD) owns a Fiberfab and lives in Glendale.
Geoff Berdick (Screen-name Geoff104) owns a CMC and lives in Mesa.
Both are front engine cars.
You can contact the locals by sending a Private message or email via this site.
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
Mark,
Yeah, odd how those magnets don’t work, eh? Except….here’s a great story from one of our Speedster friends in the Speedster Owners Club (http://www.speedsterowners.com/).
Cory Drake has an amazing Speedster. Go over there and look at his photo albums.
Cory’s insipiration was to recreate a vintage speedster, that in it’s time would have seen street and track duty. To further the “patina”, on part of the lower rear body work, he mixed some steel filings into the gray primer and let them rust. His fiberglass Speedster has real rust! The effect is amazing!
And as far as your magnet tailights….Cory drives the Hoopty everywhere. But for his own safety, at night, he runs additional, much larger tail-lights. Under the fiberglass, he bonded a couple steel plates on either side. So…his magnet tailights stick to the “fiberglass”.
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
For the fiberglass issue, I found some suction cup tow lights, so I’ll await their delivery. But in the meantime, I had three trips to the other tow shop in Glendale that offered custom welding work. A trip there yesterday to drop off the tow bar, and a trip early this afternoon to pick it up and have my 4-way electrical installed so I can hook up the lights. and a third return again this afternoon, just as rush hour traffic was starting to build.
When I got back home after the wiring and tried the tow bar again, it still didn’t fit. I measured the new opening and it was 1/8 inch too small! So back the 17 mile trip to the weld shop I went to get it ground down a bit. Now I have 1/8-inch clearance and with the help of a few 2X4 pieces got the tow bar installed on my London Roadster.
Then I wheeled her over to my new hitch and found this problem. What do I do now? Will reversing the drop to an elevation solve this? I’ve got on 1 5/8 wrench, but not two.
MGLondonRoadste40696.9053356481
Turn your ball over or they make different hieght balls. its easy. One other thought as far as tow lights I tapped into my Rear lights and ran my Tow wire up to my front. I drop her on the to bar and plug in and away I go. Its not that hard. Your having way too much fun with that tow bar. Sorry
Yes, sir! I am having too much fun. Turning the ball over requires a couple of big wrenches. I have one 1 5/8 inch that fits one side, now waiting for a neighbor who has a pipe wrench that should fit the other.
Here’s a shot of the re-worked end that attaches to the car:
After this week’s adventure trying to tow my London Roadster, when a neighbor came over to lend a big pipe wrench and his muscles to changing the ball on the draw bar, he mentioned that the guy in the apartment at the house next to me used to rebuild VW engines and make sand rails. After a brief talk with him last night, he offered to come over this morning and help me see what the problems are. I would much rather work with someone who knows how to work on VW engines and learn myself, than simply pay a mechanic in a shop who won’t let me watch and learn from him. I might not need to tow it right now, but this might be a better turn of events for me.
Indeed it is a better turn of events. Any time you can learn how to do your own work you get multiple benefits. You gain knowledge and experience, satisfaction from doing a good job yourself, save some cash and really raise your enjoyment level. Good on ya. Make it a great learning experience and have fun.
newkitman40697.406087963
Allen Caron
VW based 53MGTD - "MoneyPenny"
"If one thing matters, everything matters" - from the book The ShackWe got the VW engine running for a while this afternoon. Discovered mixed up spark plug wires, and a loose pan under the engine that was tightened up. So I took her on a test run, 2 miles of surface street to the Interstate, then 8 miles up the road and back again.
But I didn’t make it all the way back before she died on me again. I noticed her losing power, so I pulled into a parking lot of a business about a mile short of my house. Repeated attempts to start her, waiting five to ten minutes, in case there was vapor lock, only ran the battery down. So my neighbor and a friend of his drove over to meet me and give me a boost, but she wasn’t pumping fuel into the carburetor. A lift back home to get my Odyssey, and I finally put all that towing investment to work to bring her home. I’m sticking a battery charger on her again tonight. Tightening the pan underneath didn’t stop the oil leaks, and I have an aggravating tick that may be a pin for the fuel pump.
Do you think I need a new fuel pump now?
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.