Eric's Rail Buggy Page

Flywheel Holder

Here is an easy way to make a flywheel holder to use when you are removing or installing a flywheel. Those "flywheel locks" that you can buy are marginal at best. I once busted my hand when one of those broke on me. Take a old pressure plate (the kind that has the three "arms" in it. Take it apart, leaving only the outer part that bolts to the flywheel. Weld a one inch or so pipe rod bar or whatever onto it. Make sure that you dont weld it over the hole where the gland nut goes. All you have to do after you are finished welding is bolt it on, and remove/install flywheel. No more having to use 2 people as with this tool, one person can do it easily without the engine flopping around all over the place.

Alternative Electronic Ignition Distributers

Here is an idea that I discovered several years back and I THOUGHT I had it on here, but I missed it somehow. There are several electronic ignition distributers available today. I am not talking about aftermarket ones, I am talking about ones you can find cheap in the local salvage yards. They really work great and will crank until no tomorrow. Here is some of what I have found: Mitsibushi engines (2.0, 2.6)have good ones. These are in Dogde Colts, Dodge vans, K-cars, etc, as well as Hyundai (ever how you spell it!), Precis, and others. Next, the older Toyota engine distributers work great. These are found in any Toyotas that have the 2-TC, 3-TC, 18, 20, or 22R engines. Make sure you get the "ignitor" if you are getting a Toyota dist. These are attached to the coil. It is also a good idea to use the factory coil with any distributer. Make a note of the wiring if you take it off of the coil. If you switch them, it will fry the module. Next, all you have to do is dis-assemble the dist., shorten the housing and shaft, bore the end of the housing so you can use the bushing that you cut off on the end of the housing, and then drill the shaft (5/32) so you can install the VW drive gear. On the Mitsibushi distributers, some of them have the advance right under the rotor and you can adjust it real easily. The others are in the bottom, but still not too hard to adjust if you want to. Here are a few notes: You do not have to take off the vacuum chamber on the outside, but I always do because there is a mechanical advace built into each of these distributers. If you leave it on, do not hook up a vacuum hose. If you take it off, you will need to block the plate so that it will not turn. Once you take the dist. apart, you will see what I mean. You can spot weld it with a mig, or break the arm off of the vacuum chamber and drill a hold in the end of it and screw it solid into the hole that originally held the vacuum chamber in. Also, BEFORE you block it, make sure that the "plate" is in a close enough position you that when the reluctor (the little square thing) is aligned with the pickup, that the rotor button will be in line with one of the 4 posts in the dist cap. Again, once you get it all apart you can tell what I mean. Another note: Make sure, especially if you are using a Mitsibushi dist., that you get the advance pins into the 2 slots. Just look at it when you take it apart. They are easy to get out and if you do, the mechanical advance will not work. I am going to get some pics of all of this as soon as I have more time. One last note: If you are using a Toyota dist, the shaft in these are REAL hard to drill. Heat it up cherry red first and it will drill a lot easier. If you have any questions about these, just e-mail me- Eric

Flywheel Puller Tool

Flywheel removal tool. Some flywheels can be a REAL pain to remove. Are you tired of using screwdrivers and pry bars that do not pull the flywheel off straight? Setting up end play can be a real hassle especially with the forged 8 dowell cranks..they seem to be extra tight. Well, you can make a CHEAP flywheel removal tool. WHat I did was take a old flywheel, drill out the 6 holes (threads) where the pressure plate bolts on with a 5/16 or 11/32 drill bit. You will need 3 bolts longer than the ones that hold the pressure plate on, but the same thread (8mm x 1.25) about 1 1/2 inches long. Then all you need is a long threaded bolt or rod with about 6 inches of thread on it. If you have a rod instead of a bolt, you can weld a nut on it or if you have an old busted socket you can weld the square hole off of it onto the end of the rod. The rod can be 1/2, 5/8, 3/4 or whatever in diameter(just as long that it is not too big so it will hit the threads where the gland nut goes). Next you will need a nut that fits the threads on the bolt (or rod). Then all you have to do is weld the nut in the center of the old flywheel. When you are ready to remove a flywheel from a engine, all you have to do is take this tool you made, bolt it to the flywheel you are removing, (you put ring gear against ring gear). You dont have to use all 6 bolts, 3 spaced apart will do. then all you have to do is turn the bolt in against the crank and the flywheel will come off STRAIGHT, the way its supposed to. Just make sure that the bolt does not hit the threads where the gland nut goes. As long as you havethe nut welded in the center, even close, it should not hit. Note: All-thread will work, but since it is not a very hard material, use the 3/4 size.

Suspensions/Torsions

Sounds simple enough, but there are a few things to talk about in suspensions. If a suspension is too stiff, it will not climb very well, and if too soft, it will not take jumps very well. The IRS torsions up until 1973 have the transmission nose cone mounting studs coming straight out toward the transmission (horizontally). These are a good suspension, BUT they have to be beefed up in the middle as they will sag and your tires will be leaning in at the top (negative camber). How many times have you followed someone and notice this? A lot of people think that its the trailing arms, but most of the time it is not. It is caused by the torsion bending in the middle or a weak , soft torsion bar. (the tires naturally have negative camber as the torsion is compressed). To beef the torsion up, take a piece of 2 inch pipe about 3 or 4 inches long and split it lengthwise. Wrap this around the center and weld on both ends and up both sides. If your torsion is already bent, then tie both sides down next to the spring plates and take a floor jack and jack the middle up before you weld it. Stand back and look at the tires. Try to get a "little" positive camber. Negative camber just looks bad to me. I would rather see a positive camber of a LOT than a negative of any. The 1973 up IRS torsions have the transmission studs coming out of the bottom. These are strong without beefing. I have seen some people using the IRS BUS torsion housings. These are REAL beefy and will support a heavy buggy real well. The only weak point is the trailing arms which can beefed easily using pipe on the front side.

Spring plate Conversion and Tension Pre-load Setting

I like to use the torsion bars, rubber grommets, and spring plates from the swingaxle torsions and put into the IRS. This will do away with those annoying tubes sticking out and ALWAYS in the "stinkin'" way. All you have to do is weld the swingaxle spline into the IRS spring plate. To do this, first cut the center spline out of the swingaxle plate. Leave enough material around this, because you are going to weld it back into the IRS one. Cut the IRS one out and make sure that you don't cut the hole so big that the swingaxle spline won't have a big gap around it. Make SURE the splines are on the outside of the spring plate for the side you are doing, because spring plates have a top and a bottom. In other words, the first one you make will have to work on one side or the other, but it is possible to make two lefts, or rights. You could also just cut the swingaxle plate down to the IRS size and drill and slot the ends using an old IRS plate as a template. Either way, after you get these made, you then use the swingaxle torsion bars(which are stiffer and last longer without having to be twisted), and the swingaxle caps and rubber grommets. There are also 2 different sizes of swingaxle bars, and if you have a really heavy buggy then you might want to try to find the bigger(24mm- I think)ones. I think the smaller ones are 22mm. A good starting point to set the preload at is to align the bottom of the spring plate with the center of the hole (lower left) that holds the cap on. This will provide a stiff suspension at first, but it will soften with a few rides. How do I jack up the Spring plates? This can be a pain, too. I have seen people use all kinds of ways...come-alongs, floor jacks, 3 or 4 guys jumping up and down on the buggy, etc.. The best way I have found is to use an old VW jack and weld a 1/2" bolt on the top of it. Put it in one of the holes in your torsion and the bottom of the jack under the spring plate next to the outer edge. Sometimes the spring plate will try to rub the jack, so a bead or two of weld next to the pipe on the jack will stop this. Before you even start to jack it up, start 3 bolts in the torsion cap. This is a LOT easier then jacking it up first. Usually the one (lower left) will be covered up by the spring plate and cannot be started yet. Just tighten them a little, then jack it up just enough to get the 4th one started, and once you do, then jack it up until it clears the stop and tighten all bolts.

Wheels

A VERY often overlooked topic.. There is a BIG diference in wheels. First of all stay away from ANY "spoke" or sometimes called 5-star and 8-star design. These are simply JUNK. I have seen so many of these break. At first, friends of mine were bringing these to me to weld. They all break where the plates meet the rim. Have you seen any of this? If so, then you know what I mean. If you weld them, they will break again right next to the weld. Even the front spindle mount ones will bend and/or crack even when used on the street. They might work on a grocery getter, but never for anything else. As for any other wheel, they all seem to be good. I will put a picture up soon so you will know exactly the ones I am talking about. These are the only wheels I have personally had a problem with. Another thing to consider when buying wheels is weight. A wheel can be light and strong. The aluminum Douglas or Mitchell wheel is very light and is great for the sand dunes, moderate street, and racing (NOT obstacle course racing). Weld or Centerline makes a Very tough as well as good looking aluminum wheel. They are both expensive, but lighter weight is easier on parts (axles, transmisions, etc). If you are buying steel wheels, compare the weights. You should be able to find one around 20 lbs for a 10 inch wide wheel. The less ROTATING weight you have from the transmission, the better. Adding one pound rotating weight is like adding 10 pounds of weight on the whole buggy. The same goes for tires. For every pound you rotate, multiply that by 10. So if you are turning a 50lb tire, thats like taking a 500 lb weight and trying to haul it around plus whatever your buggy already weighs.

Shifters

WHich is best? Well, the best I have used is BY FAR the Gene Berg ones. I have one on my woods buggy that has had 4 years on it and it is as tight as new. They are expensive, but anything of quality usually is. The stock shifter is great as long as everything is setup properly. The "t" handle aluminum shifters will last a little while, but dont expect to get over a couple years on one. The aluminum ball wears out. The Scat "drag fast " shifter seems to be good (steel), but is a little tall for some people. In order for a shifter to work properly, all of the bushings need to be tight (the one in the box, AND on the trans). The plate that goes under the shifter goes with the long side up and on the passenger side. Sometimes it is hard to make any shifter work properly. The tube has to be real close in the correct position for it to work. Even then, I ahve had to grind some of the reverse lockout PIN on the cheap "t" shifters so I could get both 1/2 and 3/4 gates without having to push the reverse button in. (There was not enough room sideways) And on the opposite end, I have also had to weld a thin plate on the plate that this pin contacts so that you dont have to try to find each gate (too much room sideways). Patience is the key... Keep looking at it and figure out what is going and why "this is like this".

What About Steering?

What is good and what works.. Well, like most aspects of a buggy, it all depends on what you do to it or rather how hard you abuse it. For all out abuse, the Saco (or even the Saco copies)work really well. They are center steer and they are strong. But, they are somewhat harder to steer than a stock bug gearbox. A stock gearbox will stand moderate abuse, but everyone I ever had, really gets slack in them quickly. I have tried using (manual)rack and pinions from cars, and they steer really easy, and have about the same ratio as a stock gearbox, but they are not as strong as a gearbox either. For trail riding and street use, they work great. For hard off-roading and abuse, they do not. The bus gearboxes work great but you have to fabricate the pittman arm (it only has one hole)for it to work. You can probably mount it on the side like a beetle gearbox, but they are better mounted in the center. Center steering gives the least amount of bump steer (this is how much the tires get pulled in also called toed in, or pushed -toed out. With the car setting on level ground, you want the tie rods running lower on the end where they go into the arm next to the wheel. There are a lot of variables..spring rate, driving habits, etc.. that can change exactly how much to go, but about a inch or 2 is a good place to start. What about power steering? I have never personally ran this, but for a heavy buggy, or for someone who wants easy steering, then there are options.. The R&P from a Grand Am has a center steer setup that does work well. They are strong and don't look too bad. Again, for all out looks and strength, the Saco's are the best that I have seen. More soon..Eric

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