Finally drove buggy.

Gene-C · Post by **Gene-C** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:18 am

Just got it back from shop . The roll cage is in and looks great. engine tuned up. sort of? sputters when I stomp on it. any ideas? runs great at a half pedal. not sure? and brakes Don't feel good. they seam very hard and not wanting to stop. everything is new. 100%. adjusted jamar brakes, may need to bleed more? or may need time to set it to drums? it has been a long time since i drove a vw.. about 8 years.

Gene-C · Post by **Gene-C** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 6:53 am

engine stuppers. accelerator, check for squirt, make sure it's not hitting the side of carb. It should go striaght down and miss the throttle plate ( as it opens ) hard brakes good they should be, no stop bad. I have to guess these are drum brakes. With old drums that have been turned, but the shoes where not achred to the drum. Everything new 100 % so that included all rubber lines right ? You did put the front wheel cylinder on the rear and rears on the front right ? adjusted Jamar brakes ??????? What do you mean by this ? The only adkustment is the free play on the steering brake handels or the rod lenght if you have jamar pedals. The front/rear wheel thing is not a joke, this helps braking big time on lite weight buggies.

Gene-C · Post by **Gene-C** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 3:13 pm

Sandtowd, Are you saying one should use new rear wheel cylinders on the front and vice-versa? Never heard of that but I guess it makes sense...

Gene-C · Post by **Gene-C** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 7:18 pm

yes, That trick has been around for ever. If it's also in here in the tips. you can find it in others sites on the net. what happens, is now the stock weight is gone from the front end, plus most people put taller wider tires on the rear than stock. so the car needs more brake power at the rear than what it had. Often people use the "buggy master cyl" which is a slip wimdow bus cyl ( 22 mm ) the car used a (19 mm ). If a guy is lucky enought to get a t III rear drum setup he' ll find that the cly on these are larger than a stock bug front

Gene-C · Post by **Gene-C** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 9:19 pm

OK so, Sand, I have a buggy MC (single res.) and my wheel cyl. are on as stock. Buggy seems to stop fine but your saying it would stop better if I switched the wheel cyc.s?

allen pierce · Post by **allen pierce** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 9:48 pm

Here's the web link. VWHelp.com Click on the Red "Brakes" link over on the left side of that web site. Enjoy.

Lee · Post by **Lee** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:46 pm

"...brakes Don't feel good. they seam very hard and not wanting to stop.." I had the exact same problem with my rail buggy. Turns out the Bus master cylinder (22mm) is the wrong one to use with the Bug wheel cylinders. You really want the smaller (19mm) Bug MC that Sandtowd mentioned. I opted for the dual circuit MC while I was at it. There's LESS chance of a single hydraulic failure causing a total loss of brakes. A Rabbit or Volvo reservoir can be installed on the dual circuit MC, depending on which one you get. I have '66-'67 brakes front and rear, and I have yet to do the wheel cylinder swap. The buggy stops great on and off pavement, but I do pull the e-brake up a couple of clicks to get the rears to engage first if going down a steep hill (thanks for that tip, Mel).

Gene-C · Post by **Gene-C** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 2:29 am

lee, brings up a piont that always drove me nuts. In terms of hydralic ratio's the bus (22mm ) is all wrong. we started using these in early 60's because of the built in res at that time they were alum. I do still have one f/g buggy set up with that cly on Dodge colt rear calipers. The other all use Honda calipers with bus master. But the rear on front works well, even on baja's. I can't really say what happens with a daliy driven street car. Everything I do with VW's is off road. Mostly sand, because of where I live. Every buggy I've switched cylinders on the driver has been happier with his brakes. This like using Honda calipers opposed to VW. There 3x the pad suface area in contact with the rotor, plus there a floating caliper. Every J/y and parts house has them. The days of getting a set of VW pionts at the local gas station are over (LOL). If your happy with your brakes I would not change anything. This change over is to get the rears to grab 1st and hard, leaving little braking on the front. To avoid front skid, which will take over control and bring the rear around

Gene-C · Post by **Gene-C** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 5:57 am

First thank you for the great info. I rejeted the carbs down one 135 jet. Now i have rip roaring power. mey try a 130 just to see what happens. the brakes seam better now? I have not been able to lock them up but it stops well. I did have the wheel cylinders reversed by accident and later swaped them becaust i could not get the e brake to work. I did not know about this trick. what about having the same size all around? I still would like a bit more stoping power.