Refitting ScatHigh Lift Rockers

19th April 2013
My beach buggy had been in storage most of the winter due to the rubbish weather and constant rain that we were having in England This had put even Mother nature back 21 days. My first outings in the buggy in the new sunshine where short and under powered. I wondered if this was my caliper sticking issue returning  or if the valve clearances just needed re-setting. I decided that as I had to re set the valve clearances it would be a good idea to put my High lift Rockers as these gave the car a much more interesting sound when it was ticking over. I located the Valves in my storage unit and checked them over they seemed to be in good condition . I noticed that 1 of the .60mm shims was missing. I spent a lot of time looking for the spare shim only to find later that it was stuck to one of the others.

Setting up the rockers has already been covered in a previous section on this blog . I will not cover this again and assume you have read this. My Rocker covers where the bolt on type and were held on with two 13mm bolts. Once thse was removed the 1.2 rockers where visable and could easily be unbolted. Whilst I had the rocker covers of I decided that they was in desperate need of a clean up.

I knew the high lift rockers would need shimming as the previous installation used two roker shims  After starting with .60mm which  presumed  would be a good starting point to work from. This meant placing two new rubber seals on the rocker shafts and then placing on one greased shim on each shaft. The rocker was then placed onto the shafts , whilst aligning the push rods into the rockers cups. This can be a little tricky but can be achieved by holding the rocker in place and gently moving the rods into their respective cups. The rockers where then bolted to the  head using a torque gauge set to 18 lbs/ft or 2.5 KG/m. Once these was firmly bolted the car was left a couple of hours to let the temperature of the parts become the same. I took my covers away at this point and started to clean them up. When I looked further this was just not rust just a coating that was on the .Once I had  assembled the rockers I  adjusted the tappets and took the buggy out for a run.

Fitted a new Battery as the old battery

2nd March 2013
This year as normal I am replacing my battery in my buggy. I have been doing this regularly as I am finding that not using the buggy for half the year and running the alarm on the buggy has had its toll on batteries. The new battery I fitted had a slightly bigger handle as it was an Exide. This caused an issue with the bolts on the connectors meaning the battery box lid would not fit. I was intending to cut these down but found to bolts from a pair of skate wheels that fitted flush and removed the problem totally . The new battery allowed the engine to fire straight up.

The engine started well . I was quite pleased about this as last year I had to replace the ignition lead set. I took the buggy out for a run down to the beach. It was a gorgeous sunny day.

Steering cunnumdrums

1st September 2012
I had not used my buggy much in the last month as there seemed more important pressing matters that made having time for this very difficult. I also was aware that my steering box seemed to be acting rather oddly when it was turned full hard lock to the left . I had thought this was because of adjustment of the box but further examination proved that the front bearing on the box was shot. This had not been a new box I refurbished and the wear on it was an unknown factor. 

I knew I would have to remove the Steering box and examine this further. The steering box was removed from the car by first undoing the steering column bolts on the universal disk. This released the column from the box. The tie rod ends where then undone and knocked out whilst the box was still bolted onto the beam. This made the process much easier. The box was then removed by undoing the two big bolts that hold the clamp around the beam . With the box removed I could see clearly that the box was unusable without serious repair:

 

The Video shows the extent of the wear on the main spindle of the old box.

 I found my original steering box that I took of of the beam during its restoration. This seemed in much better condition and started to clean it up so that it could be fitted in place of the warn one. I cleaned the box down with a wire brush attached to my angle grinder . This took most of the rust of and was then able to paint the box with Red Oxide and then Hammerite.

The box once painted was re- assembled and the top removed and filled with grease. The newly painted box was then fitted into the car. This was in principle exactly the reverse of removing it. With the box in situ .The bolts was all torqued up and I took the buggy out for a tentative run. It was apparent from my first run that the box had to much play on it and the top nut on the top of the box had to be screwed in to adjust this.

Making a battery box cover

22nd April 2012

Last week I successfully relocated my battery so that it sat in the middle of the rear seat panel.

I knew that the battery was just lower than the edge of the box I had created and had intentionally made it this way so a lid or cover could be attached over the battery securing it  from fingers that may be on the back seat.

I started designing the lid by measuring the aperture in the top of the box. When I created the box I had noted that the two corners that I had used that was already joined flared  out slightly and had made my two new corners to look the same. This meant I had to measure the inside area allowing for a 2mm tolerance. You can see in the diagram to the right the sizes marked up. Once I had my measurements I made a paper template this size and put it through a plastic envelope heat sealer to make it plasticized. I found a piece of flat Stainless a tea tray and laid this on the surface so that I would be able to put the fibreglass on top and gauge the size I needed. I layered up four sheets of fibreglass with fibreglass resin  this took longer than normal to set because of the weather so I used a paraffin heater to raise the temperature in my workshop.

The matting I applied was just larger than my paper pattern that sat in the A4 plastic heated liner. This is the same machine that does plastic badges. This stopped the fibreglass sheet sticking to the tray. I left this over a day to dry and cure. Once hard the fibreglass was turned over to expose the pattern on the other side. I used an angle grinder to cut through the plastic and fibreglass around the edges of the template pattern so that the sides were clean cut and crisp.

I then removed the template which peeled of leaving a smooth surface The fibreglass panel was then sanded on the opposing side until the thickness of the fibreglass was consistent all over the panel. Once the panel was smooth I painted the rougher side with black Hammerite hammered paint. This sealed the surface on one side. So that I could concentrate on the other. I used Car under seal to spay the other side leaving a rippled effect . This was the same process I had used inside the car.

The underseal surface dried quite quickly leaving a slightly textured surface. This need no further preparation and I was able to spray m 1k black paint onto the surface . This sealed the under seal and fibreglass . I knew I had run out of thinners and would have to buy some more . I wanted to finish the panel and decided to try making up the 2k Lacquer and hardener and adding the gold leaf with a view to using a large brush to apply it.

 The finished lacquered panel looked amazing and you really could not tell it had not been sprayed  with a spray gun. The panel was then checked for size and it fitted neatly into the top of the box. I had purchased some stainless fixings to secure the top from a boat chandler I offered these onto the lid so that I could gauge how they looked against the finished surface. They fitted in four places and I was able to decide were they would fit.

I attached the eccentric / pull over fastener to the panel with M5 countersunk bolts I used these as I did not want them to interfere with the battery and to be pulled in flush to the fibreglass. Once these were all bolted in place I offered the panel up to the box and marked the positions of the stainless box to locate the eccentric keeps. I fixed theses to the rear of the box through my body bar . I used self tapping screw's to fix the front eccentric keeps.

The lid was latched in place and sat neatly over the battery . The eccentric / pull over  latches had little loops on them that either a wire and a single padlock could be used or four separate padlocks could also be used to secure the battery from theft. I was very pleased with this as it made the rear seat area a much safer place to be. I was also wondering whether I could build a seat to go on this new area.

Moving Battery to a Battery Box

12 April 2012

Two weeks ago I replaced all my convertible roof studs but two as I needed to get longer bolts that i could tap out. Unfortunately the latest revisions came out for the 2012 UK MOT a condensed two page document that has created work for all V.W owners. My existing battery location became foul to these regulations as it was not totally secure and was not covered.

Having seen buggies with a recessed battery box in the back seat where the back seat was a long bench, I decided that it would be interesting if I could recess my battery into the rear seat area and release the space that the battery had previously occupied. I started looking for large pieces of stainless sheet .
I  measured my battery  which was 205mm x 175mm x 175.  I made a paper stencil to check the size of a box dimensions which would contain the battery and allow for the battery to be secured and the wiring to all fit . The dimensions of the box top I arrived at was 230mm x 190 . The template I made was very useful as it allowed me to place the template on the rear parcel area and check that it would fit. I had already decided that I really wanted the battery in the middle of the seat and was pleased that it appeared as if  I had enough room to fit the battery here.

I discussed this position with a friend Jon as I quickly realised that it would quite successfully free up two passenger seats. The outcome of this discussion was the question was whether the box would hit the gearbox. I measured the distance between my highest point on my gearbox near the new battery location and this was 190mm . Luckily my 80mm lift kit had given me the extra height I needed. I quickly worked out by drawing a flat layout of the box that I would need a piece of stainless steel minimum 1m x 400mm . I checked various metal stock companies and realised that the cheapest i could find this was on eBay at some £69.00 GDP. Clearly this was too expensivet and I would have to source the Stainless Steel from a different source.

Fortunately the solution was not to far away. For several years I had been storing my Welding spares in this stainless Steel tin . It was made from 1.2mm Stainless and looked quite adequate in size to be cut down . I started marking out the two opposing corners one with a floor and the other without . I used pencil to mark the outline and cut the two sections out with a 1mm angle grinder blade. The resulting parts were then chased along the edges to debur any sharp edges. The two parts were then assembled to see how they would fit together.

The resulting box was not bad and the two pieces fitted well clicking together to form a strong small box. I decided that I would have to bend the top mounting plates over . I used two pieces of right angle iron in a vice to clamp the stainless sheet along the line i had drawn to indicate the fold. I then struck the stainless steel with a rubber mallet to bend and fold the stainless along the angle iron at a right angle to the two irons in the vice. I repeated this for all four of the sides.

 I took the two box sections to Fullers Steel fabrication to have the two parts TIG welded. The resulting box was strong and gave me the dimensions that I made a template up from . This I stuck the the back centre parcel shelf of the buggy with tape . I used a Starret hole cutter to cut out the corners and used an Angle Grinder to cut between the four holes . This made a hole in the rear seat area directly over the  gearbox.  I drilled some holes in the box supports and made a rubber seal from an old rubber mat. The box dropped into position.  I used a rubber mallet to bend the sides to fit the profile of the seat and cut the front down to sit flush on the front of the rear seat area. The battery was then placed in situ and the new battery placement could be seen for the first time.

I enclosed the battery in the old fabric cover and connected up the battery connecters and went out for a short run in the beach buggy to see if the gearbox knocked the box out of its position. My route I chose was a very bumpy one that I knew would make the suspension work hard. The trip took about 25 minutes and I was soon back in the garage happy as the box had remained in position. I looked underneath and had a good 25mm clearance


between the box and the gearbox. I removed the battery and old cover and knocked the box out of the hole. I cut two holes in the top back section of the box for the new routed cables to come through . I then fitted these with grommets another UK MOT 2012 item which seemed very obvious. I removed the old earth wiring from the chassis bolt and threaded the positive supply from the alternator out of the chassis and back into the battery box. I shortened this and fed the earth wire alongside it. The wiring had now all been removed from the back seat area and with the old battery mount removed I was able to see for the first time how the new seat areas would look.

I mounted the battery in the box and reconnected the new supply lines . It was immediately noticeable how much new space I had created on the rear seat area. I started to think about seating types and even new speaker placement positions that had also been created. I knew I had to secure the box and I also had to secure the battery to the box and create a lid to enclose the battery from the elements I was in two minds what to make this out of. I liked the shiny stainless but also felt fiberglass would look fantastic as it would match the car paint. I was very pleased with the new position and was beginning to wonder why I had never seen this done before as it looked so natural. The box was secured in position with some cut down flush Allen bolts .

I made up a stainless right angle battery holder that was the same size as my battery box I drilled two holes in each end 10mm and used two 10mm eye bolts that I purchased. I cut two holes in the box side walls to allow the eye bolts to go through . I cut one side away from the bolts to make a hook. I used this to secure the battery into the battery tray. The bolts and angle bracket fitted neatly onto the shoulder of the battery. I bolted the battery box in position and went for a run . I decided that I would try going for a longer run than I usually do. and set off to the town of battle some 20mins away. I soon found that the car ran better after it had a sudden  boost on the open road. I returned to the garage happy that there must have been a blockage in the carburetors. I still however had not got the buggy over 60mph and was wondering if it would make faster speeds I also happily noted that the speedometer was accurate at 40mph & 60 mph.

Paris SWB Beach Buggy Conversion to DOT fixings

1st April 2012

The Paris conversion had been pretty much successful but it was noticeable that the fixings to the body would come unlatched at high speed.

I had seen some different fittings that looked stronger and hopefully might hold the roof on more securely. The Link the Dot fixings I found seemed to have a different latch mechanism . I luckily had a small fragment of the roof material I had previously cut off. I purchased some of these DOT fixings and fitted them alongside the existing popper to test the strength of each of the fixings. Several tests was performed and the results where all in favor of the Link The DOT fixing holding more securely.

The original popper fixings was removed from the hood with a HSS metal drill, that was used on the underside of the popper to drill out the riveted section. The popper fell apart easily after this. I used a hole punch to make the hole slightly larger the DOT fixing was then placed over the hole to align its position. I used a rubber mallet and placed the fixing and hoot on a piece of wood. I struck the fixing with the rubber mallet to get the fixing to penetrate the hood. This allowed the fixings tabs to pass neatly through the hood. The tabs then was pushed through the back retaining piece . This enabled the cloth fixing to be secured well onto the fabric of the hood. I used a small pair of pliers to bed over the tabs onto the backing piece. This held the backing piece firmly in place. The pictures show the cloth hood with the front and back view of the new fixings. The rear surface of the hood fittings seemed quite able to scratch paint and I knew I would have to raise the fixings on the back of the buggy to ensure that they would not rub.

I bought 32 Link The DOT 5mm threaded studs. These went in to the dash frame easily. I tried drilling out the holes in the body work to take a sheet lock nut these although expensive and made from stainless did not secure into the bodywork successfully. I decided that I would have to put a fixing through the fibre glass and then fix the DOT stud to this.



I decided that there was two options for fixing the DOT stud one was a brass bolt and the other a Stainless Steel A2 bolt, the latter being more favorable I took an M8 bolt x 30mm and drilled the end 4.5mm x 12mm to take the Link The DOT stud. This proved to be a very good fixing and I was able to bolt the M8 bolt through the body work with washers . This had the advantage of raising the DOT stud up from the body work. The only issue was that I had to make 19 of these to fit around the back. I started making them and found it took me five hours to make five. This got harder as I broke my 5mm tap and managed to make every small drill I had blunt. I ordered a new 5mm Dormer High quality tap and a new Dormer Cobalt Jobber drill A777. The seven fixing I have mounted on so far look good have been working slowly on them. The new fixings look a lot stronger the bad weather that was forecast has put a temporary end to the sunshine and I must complete the other studs.