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A dry steering box can do that.Make sure there is some lube in it,plain grease squeezes out and will let it run dry.It needs something like gear oil to lube it.Also,make sure the tie rods and the steering damper are not rubbing on the frame head anywhere.A frozen damper will do it too,but from what I have seen over the years when the damper goes it dries out and just gets loose.
MG Magic in FLA still has them listed.No website,but the phone number can be found in a dozen places if you look around this site.
The caster shims go between the beam and the frame head.They will tilt the beam ahead or back,depending on where you put them,top or bottom.The ball joint eccentric is for camber,or top of tire tipout as looked at from the front of the car.I never really thought of it,but that will affect caster,but it must not be enough to bother the handling.The germans would NOT have built them that way if the handling was going to be affected.
Mine had buttons to cover up the rivet heads,not pearl,but plastic.Yours is probably fancier.They were cracked with age so I never replaced them.I just used stainless bolts but the heads are recessed so they really are not seen.There are some silver and chrome powdercoats that look pretty good.The chrome looks like brushed stainless when done.Pewter looks good,as does the aluminum coating.
I have a dune buggy that had a rusty steering wheel,I drilled out the rivets,blasted it and painted it body color.You can have it powdercoated too.Does your wood come off in two peices? Top and bottom? Mine did so I bolted them back together with stainless machine screws.
Poke around on ebay until you find what you have.Look under,vintage Volkswagen,sand rail,dune buggy,something will show up.Have you tried MG Magic?Is it held on with a ring of a half dozen bolts,or just three,or is it splined with just the big nut to hold it on?You can buy two or three steering wheels for the price of chrome now.
I created studs in my car.I just drilled holes in the tunnel,on both sides of the shift joint cover,then stuck bolts through the holes from the inside out.Put a nut on the outside and had a stud to hang the seat belt on.On the outboard belts I used a backer behind the bolt as the metal is thinner there.I used lock nuts to hold the belts so they can swivel.I would have welded mounts in normally,but the car had the carpets glued in and I did not want to take the time to protect it,and my wife was waiting to use the car.By the way,I still have the chassis the dune buggy body flew off of,and I am going to use it under a Deserter buggy body I have,or under the new TD kit I have.
I think you are right.If safety is a big concern then he needs to be driving a different car.All the improvements and doodads we swear about in new cars =a much safer vehicle.Toys are unsafe no matter what you do.I put lap belts in one of mine,I bolted the inside halfs to the tunnel,and the outside half through the rear bulkhead near where the jack point used to be.Years ago I sold a dune buggy to a fellow,within a couple of weeks he crashed it.I was called out to pick it up with the wrecker and all there was together was a VW chassis.The body was bolted down tightly but at each bolt there was a circle of fiberglass left.That chopped body had disintegrated.He was wearing a seat belt,but only because without one it was hard to stay in the seat on a sharp corner.(it had stock VW seats)He had a bloody nose and a lump on the back of his head where the body slapped him on its way off the chassis.The TD my wife drives was bought because the wife of the previous owner realized how it was built.She is a safety minded yuppie that drives a Volvo and would not ride in it nor let her kids ride in it.I guess that you can look at it as being either over protective,or just smarter than most of us.Having a toy involves risks and the owner has to decide just how much of a risk taker he is.All my life I have ridden motorcycles,driven odd cars,(BMW Isetta for one)antique cars with all steel around you and the only thing that has bothered me was driving a cabover truck.If you hit anything you are the buffer between the truck and what you are hitting.
The cable adjustment only takes care of your free play,the distance between the throwout bearing and the clutch fingers.As the disc wears the engagement will be closer to the top.When it is really worn the engagement will be right at the top and will slip.As the pivots wear in the pressure plate they will drag,hang up,and make for a stiffer clutch. A stock VW clutch is probably one of the easiest clutches there is to push.Some people go with a heavy duty clutch thinking,that will last me forever.It might but it is stiffer too.I think you need to try a couple first before you invest many hundreds of dollars in a hyd.setup only to find you needed a $79.clutch.
The hydraulic self-contained setups are made by Neal,among many others.You can position them anywhere you want fore and aft,if you use the throttle setup on them you have to keep it close to the tunnel for the cable to feed into.I have that setup in one of mine and did not use the Neal throttle.I used a stock type pedel and moved the hyd.assembly to the left.There was not enough room between the brake pedel and the tunnel for my foot.I took the front discs off my TD,with the weight of the car I was overbrakeing.There are adjustable valves to take care of that but the drums work fine without fading as it is.The only drawback to the hyd.pedel setup I found is the price of a good one.I have two cars on the road,one with the hyd.setup and one with the original VW setup.You ought to drive one of each first,the cable setup in one of mine pushes easier than the hyd.one.
I don”t think there is any figure as to what these bring.I see prices all over the place.I bought a driver that needed a repaint and a top for $2500.I have seen asking prices of $7-$9000. I have no idea if any of them sold.I bought a runner for $700,put another $1500.in it,but I will never get the money back for the time I put in it.You can drive them just like any other old Volkswagen.Dependable,easy to fix,and fun.They are comfortable at 50-55 MPH.You can hop them up and change the handling to suit you.I don”t believe any of the makers of these cars are in business any more.I never heard of a Moss,but that means nothing.I know the FiberFabs pretty good,(I have 3)and I have seen CMC,Classic Motor Carriage,London Roadster,and Lafer.There may be more and some of these may be the same.Open the hood and look at the firewall on the passenger side.If it is a FiberFab there will be an FF embossed into the gelcoat.I don”t know of any problems in particular with these cars.You just have to remember they are 35-40 year old Volkswagens under that glass body.You will HAVE to work on it and maintain it,it will not be your forget about it until the next time you want to use it car.Point settings and valve adjustments will be part of regular services.There are compact air conditioners made now that can be used in your car,but you have to be a little bit of a fabricator to make them fit.They will also cost as much as the car.
I think the Volvo would be a real good choice for one of these cars.You are probably going to have to make your own frame,you can either pick up an aborted or abandoned project or look for a new unbuilt kit.A lot of people built these and after a year or two the novelty wears off and they get parked out back to rot.There are unbuilt ones out there,I have one and when I advertised it most of the responses I got were from people telling me they had unbuilt ones hanging around too.If you look at any abandoned cars in back yards take into consideration the prices of the things that have gone bad.Bumpers,upholstery,W/S,top,chrome,cracked fenders,wood dash and steering wheel,guages,and the most expensive,the grille shell.This will add up to more than scouting around and buying an unbuilt kit for $2500-$3000.I am just now digging mine out of the garage to part out,(complete new kit)if you have any interest email me before I start selling parts.
I think anything you do will need a certain amount of fabrication.I can”t see the ranger trans taking up more room than the pinto C4.The biggest thing is going to be getting all the electronics that control the engine systems figured out.There are places that make the harnesses and ECM”s needed to make the ranger engine useable in other applications.Remember,they are distributerless,they rely on computer controls.It might be easier to just hop up the pinto.They can be made to fly and still be dependable.I have no idea if the ranger rear end will fit.Why not the pinto rear?The race boys around here just leave them in and pound on them.
Did the whole engine overheat? Or,did you lose #3 and were told that was common from lack of cool air to that jug?That one would go first,but only towards the end of its life.Thousands of people ran those engines thousands of miles with no problem.I think I would dig a little deeper if it got hot.At the very least,collapsed rings,maybe scored or galled walls,if the head is off you might as well take a good look.Jugs and piston kits are not that much.I don”t know if the 1600 oil cooler setup would fit easily or not.You would need all the sheet metal,and it would have to be fron a 1600 single port,but I don”t even know if the cooler is offset on the 1600 single port,like it is on the dual port.I would fix it and run it.There are aftermarket cooler setups too.Ask on the Samba website.Those guys have done everything you could think up on VW engines.You should also pick up the Bently manuel,don”t even bother with a Haynes or any of the newer chilton or clymers.
You can pretty much use what you want,as long as it is close to the weight of what it was set up for and depending on your talents as a welder and fabricator.If you go heavier then you need to get into suspension changes,experimentation,etc.Why not the Ford with an automatic?There is loads of hop-up equipment made for that engine,or,if you like,the Ford Ranger 2.3 engine is still the basic Pinto engine.There are aftermarket outfits that sell the electronics to use those engines in different applications.That engine,with the 8 plugs and fuel injection coupled with an automatic overdrive will just fly down the road and get 30 MPG while doing it.Finding and figuring out the electronics for the Miata might be a problem.If that engine relys on the ECM to tell it when to fire you could be in for a real plate of worms to work on.
I know nothing about the Chevette based cars,except the one I drove a few years ago.There is a local man that has picked one up,the front end looks way out of proportion with the rest of the car.It is way up in the air.The owner brought it to my garage as he had heard I had some of these cars.He claims it rides like a tank in the front.How does yours ride?I would like to find out how others are before we tear into this thing.Also,how is the quality of your frame?The one I have to work on was supposedly a factory built car but the quality of the frame welding is terrible.I looked at another that had perfect welds on it.
I just use VW hubcaps and old Ford trim rings.Looks old.I have a pic of one of my cars like that but it is too big for me to post on this site.If I knew what I was doind I could shrink it down.
That is the place I was thinking of. It looks as you can get one of their standard 70 spoke wheels in any bolt circle you want for around $550.each.That is for a 6 inch rim.I was told add about $100.for a narrower rim,as it is not a stock predrilled item.The 54 spoke wheels are no longer in stock,but I was also told they would make anything I wanted.Just add money.It does not seem so foolish when you see kids putting $4000.worth of wheels and $5000.worth of stereo into a $500.car.
I just thought of something else,go onto the Samba website and ask around.Those boys have done about everything possible.There is a lot of VW knowledge over there.
Yes there is,I can”t think of the name of the place right now.But,they advertise in Hemmings motor news.You may think twice about it though after you get a price.They were around $1100.each when the former owner of one of my cars priced them.I do remember that the price difference between chrome and painted was not that much.A local man took some old MG knock off spindles(they are stubs)and adapted them to some VW brake drums many years ago.He was a machinest and it was not a job a shop would want to touch.They did look neat on his old VW but they stuck out the sides quite a little bit.I will have to ask him what became of that car,it may be in his back yard.
Check with SEMA to see if there is any action being taken on the new laws.We are lucky here in N.H.,no titles after 15 years,although now we are allowed to title antiques 26 years old and older.Also,to register we are supposed to use the year the car most resembles.I have a lot of Model A Fords,and out of state buyers are always looking for an original title.The first title in N.H.was issued in 1964.They did not exist before that.Keep looking,jump through the hoops,there is a way around everything if you look hard enough.
Royse,the brackets are not VW,and the bumpers are not either.VW bumpers are much more curved.They will hit the tires in the front and the fenders in the rear.MG Magic has all of it,I just bought rear brackets for a car I am finishing.It is pretty hard to not cannibilize the unbuilt one I have.It may happen yet,as since I advertised it I have gotten piles of people wanting the fenders,W/S,bumpers,top,dash,wiring harness,chrome,lighting,upholstery,instruments,and most of all the grille shell.
Unless you can find a trim shop close to you that can do it reasonably,you are going to have to buy a top and side curtain assembly.There were a lot of different tops built and side curtains are not available separately.I hear people talk about going to boat shops,but it does not work here.The LOW rate I have found here is $60.per hour.Shops here say they can spoil a whole day in patterning alone.But,it looks as if you have a good top pattern.I bought the last two from MG Magic in Fla.I paid under $600.each,and was glad I did.I have one made by a boat shop that was very well done,and very expensive.The problem is that it is humped way up in the rear,and is ugly.Click on the links page on the left to get the phone # for MG Magic.I don”t know any other source for parts.I contacted John York in Penn.and he no longer has any FibreFab stuff.Back in the day he assembled over 100 of those cars.
Click onto the links page on this site and call MG Magic.No website.I tried to buy a couple of carpet sets a few weeks ago and found he is no longer making them.He did say he had some kits in stock in burgundy and red.The upholstery is still listed but call and find out what is available.If you open your hood and look at the firewall on the pass.side you will see a # embossed into the firewall just under the F/F logo.Give Brad at MG Magic that # when you call and he will tell you who bought the car new,what date it was bought on,where it was delivered,etc.Other than getting the upholstery done locally I know of no other sources to get parts for these cars.
After a few years of looking around I have found they are the only place to get anything bodywise.There are hundreds of places to get the VW parts.He had some front bumper seconds awhile back,I got a couple of them,if you need a top you ought to get it now,he is not sure how long he is going to be making them.I found boat canvas shops talk a good story,but in the end their product comes nowhere near the quality of his tops.He is all done with carpet,although he still has some red and burgundy in stock for the VW based cars.The boat shop fellow here told me maybe $400.for the top.I showed him the material,how it was to be done with fitted and zippered side curtains and the price went to $1000. I think I paid $545.each for the last two tops I got from Brad.That includes side curtains.So,if you go out pricing tops make sure you are pricing apples for apples.It won”t take long to put a couple of thousand into a toy car,but if you keep it under cover it will last a long time.
