Transvair Buggy HELP!!
Transvair Buggy HELP!!
Restoring Corvair powered Manx style buggy [have 2 complete Transvair kits]. Both have rear air shocks...both have bent upper & lower shock mounts. Was this a typical weak spot in the design & has anyone out there come up with a fix? Any info on other trouble spots I may encounter is appreciated. Copy of original installation instructions? Will be using a Powerglide trans to simplify things. Street use only.
69Again, Welcome to the board. Where are you located? There is a 12 page article about the Transvair in Petersen's "The Complete Volkswagen Book No. 2" published in 71. http://www.biblio.com/details.php?dcx=47546237&aid=frg http://www.gasolinealleyantiques.com/transportation/automobilia.htm Also back in August, Rick Leddon bought a Transvair Manx that came with Transvair literature. He may have the instructions. I don't know if failure of the upper and lower shock mounts was typical on the Transvairs, however, I think the problem might be the air shocks. It sounds like instead reindexing or even getting heavier torsion bars, the previous owner just used the air shocks. Even on a stock bug the shock towers aren't engineered to carry the weight of the car. I'd repair/redesign the shock mounts, get bigger rear torsion bars and replace the air shocks with stock oil filled ones. 
There's a couple of big dune buggy supply places that carry all sorts of pre-fabricated tabs and brackets suitable for shock mounts on tube frame buggies. I'd see what's out there and try to adapt whatever you think would work best. Stock shocks have rubber bushings at the top and bottom which should be adequate for the angle changes of a swingarm rear end.
Cairo Manx...you mentioned a Rick Leddon had Transvair lit. Were the images you sent me his or your's as I would love to get Xerox copies? I'll gladly pay for your's or Mr.Leddon's time & trouble for copies of anything Transvair. This am., I purchased the Petersen book you put me on to. When you have nothing to go on any info is extremely helpful. I'm in So. Ohio, not exactly a hot bed of buggy info, especially Transvair. Thanks again for your help.
Welcome 69again! I?m pleased to see another buggy owner using ?old school? Corvair as power. I also have a Transvair setup saved from an old buggy, When I disassembled the buggy I found most of the suspension weight was supported by the stock VW torsion bars, but there was also a set of coil-over helper springs used. The shocks/booster springs used the Hadley mounts on the engine cage at the top, and the Hadley supplied swing-arm adapters at the bottom. None appeared bent in my case. You might contact Steve Goodman of Rear Engine Specialties, http://rearenginespecialists.objectis.net/, He seemed quite knowledgeable on the Trans-vair setup, and provided me with some documentation several years ago. I also remember that Hadley had a torsion bar adapter called ?The Snubber? (?) that used VW bus torsion bars for a little extra rear suspension support. I still have the Trans-vair components in storage, and would be willing to donate them to a good home, as I decided to go with the flipped ring gear/adapter method for my Corvair powered buggy.
Manxrob...thank you for the info & tips. I will contact Steve Goodman tomorrow. I will gladly give your Transvair pieces an excellent home...any and all that are shippable, especially the unbent swing arm struts/lower shock mounts. If you're serious about the generous donation, please let me know & I'll contact you privately thru the member's list to work out the details. Again, thank you.
[QUOTE="69again"]Cairo Manx...you mentioned a Rick Leddon had Transvair lit. Were the images you sent me his or your's [/QUOTE] The materiel belongs to Rick Leddon The pictures were taken by the person he bought it from. You can find Rick on the members list and contact him directly. I'm sure he'll try to help you. Use the forum's search feature to search for Transvair. You'll find the thread with a link to where I got those pictures. There's another piece of literature you definitely want. Its a copy of Finch's book, "How to Keep your Corvair Alive". Its on Amazon and ebay for over $150, but you can get a new copy from Clarks Corvair for $16. Open the page and click on the part number to see the price. http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/catalog.cgi?function=goto&catalog=MAIN§ion=MAIN&page=249 
WOW!! from a newbe!
First post, don't want to step on any toes! Just bought a Manx clone with TransVair 140, 4 sp. Needs a lot and just found coil/over shocks rusted locked. I was going to go to air shocks but may rethink it after seeing this post. I don't think it has rear torshions but have not pulled the plates yet. Thanks for the info. and know the club is going to be good! Thanks, Dick
Yep! that's the one.
Good to hear from you! I did not see your location untill after the post. We dorve through Dixon to get to the Blue Max GoKart track in Davis. Sort of off topic but a breakfast would be good. Need some time untill the bug runs though. Dick