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Thread to talk Manx

Wes Harden

Wes Harden

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So @ktmoutfront and I, or anyone else can talk dune buggies, and not side track the BB thrash thread


Wade another tow'd, Also before the ladies run, They do a theme and decorate for their run.

I'll ask and see if I can find your old Tow'd

IMG_20190920_092231.jpg
 
Mine will be easy to spot. Has a corsair hanging out of the back of it. It did get the fiberglass tub after Bruce Manx figured out brake fluid ate the plastic bodies.

Conversion was done by transvair out of Costa Mesa.

I road in a towd when I was a kid at Glamis and Pismo Beach. Bob Solsbee (still alive) originally built one from the myers kits.

I was on a job at my old high school and saw a cool towd sitting next to the job office. Asked super, who I went to school with, who it belonged to?
Him. It's for sale for $500 on the T trailer.
I drug it to my office right then. Called my dad to come look at it. He about fell over. It was Bob's. It had extra rolls bars running from the front beam to the double passenger hoop then down the the engine cage.
Those and the engine sold it. Still had the ttamsvair conversion sticker on it.
I put it back together and we used it for a number of years. Went back to Glamis and also Soggy Dry Lake.
Was street legal at the time.
Good times.
 
I'm sure it's still a corvair motor peps don't normally change them, nostalgia. I'll be sure to let you know what i find out. Off hand I don't recall seeing a corvair powered tow'd.
 
My other off road time consumer.
Is getting new Sway-a-Away 21 13/16" 25mm torsion bars and adjustable spring plates. Old bars were 26 9/16" and 31" tires would rub just a smidge. Stock arms.
With the new set up I should be able to fit 33s and paddles.
March trip will Oceania dunes Pismo.

IMG_20230116_180638.jpg

IMG_20230116_180656.jpg
 
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There are a ton of ecoboost Manx type buggies in the Manx club, not sure if any are automatic though.
 
Wes Harden said:
My other off road time consumer.
Is getting new Sway-a-Away 21 13/16" 25mm torsion bars and adjustable spring plates. Old bars were 26 9/16" and 31" tires would rub just a smidge. Stock arms.
With the new set up I should be able to fit 33s and paddles.
March trip will Oceania dunes Pismo.

View attachment 436419

View attachment 436422
Click to expand...
I know they sell them... but Ive always been told NOT to run the adjustable spring plates on an offroad car.

what/where were the tires rubbing?

-edit- never mind about the time rubbing. i see your post mentions the longer bars, so you were rubbing on the cap. yup. all my friends with torsion bars are running the short ones now, and have 32-33 inch tires out back, but all those cars are now running 3x3s as well. I had super digger's on the back of my hijumper "race car" that I got rid of a few years ago... i know it had stock arms. will see if i have any photos of that area, but those super diggers are 32" on a 15 inch rim?
 
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Desert_K5 said:
Going against the classic vw engine and trans, I would love an ecoboost powered auto trans Manx. I like the small 2 liter engine and it's popular amongst the desert racer crowd. Auto trans because pirate leg lol. Something like this clipper.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1971-california-clipper-dune-buggy/
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a few guys i know have, or are still running pinto motors behind the vanagon automatic. the vanagon automatic can be built strong and reliable. Ive been told it is important for an offroad car to have a good trans cooler. Any other vw auto that came before the vanagon is to be avoided at all cost (at least that seems to be the 100 percent consensus out here) - doesn't matter if it came in a car or bus- skip ahead to the vanagon transmission. (dont even think about the auto stick)

Potential fitment issues with the frame horn on a sedan pan though. pretty sure the front of the trans is too wide. a little cutting from the inside of the horns, and reinforcement of the outside might be a justifiable side project though
 
FYI - i wasnt prepared to jump into a vanagon auto with both feet... but i really wanted an automatic buggy a few years ago- my dad is 90 percent paralized on his left side, and my girlfriend at the time was manual trans incompatible... I still had dreams of family weekend trips to the cabin, and buggy trail runs to town for coffee or lunch on sunday mornings...

I have nothing against a type 1 motor in a buggy, but they dont play well behind an auto. the cam is wrong, the distributor is wrong, carbs are wrong... even if you build the motor specifically for the auto, the webbing in the case wears out on the mains faster because of the extra load on the crank. in general you need to commit to a type4 motor, corvair, or something newer...

ended up with a "Burvair" as its currently dubbed. looks very convincingly to BE a Burro, but its sitting on a pan. Its currently powered by a corvair and powerglyde. Having a 2 speed with limited gearing? -not going to be a racer or a rockcrawler, but I had hopes it would be bouncing down the trail to town by now... budget and time has not allowed. girlfriend took off, so motivation has been diverted elsewhere.
 
Club member built a Convair power glide burro for his little lady. Is a sweet build but the Convair motor was tried. Has drivability issues.
 
The tires rubbed on the spring plate torsion tubes.IMG_20230119_121648.jpg
I am curious what reason was given for not using adjustable spring plates on an off roader.
Quick search of The Samba shows many rails, buggies, and Baja using them. No explanation not to so far.
 
Wes Harden said:
The tires rubbed on the spring plate torsion tubes.View attachment 436456
I am curious what reason was given for not using adjustable spring plates on an off roader.
Quick search of The Samba shows many rails, buggies, and Baja using them. No explanation not to so far.
Click to expand...
"come apart"

"dont stay adjusted"

"will work on a street car ok"


I've never tried them personally, but the advice was coming from 2 guys that used to race 1960s thru 1980s... one ended up with his own VW repair shop, and the other ended up with a business building high end motors and race transmissions (and is either retiring now, or just did). when i ask them questions like "why wont they hold up?" i get unlimited stories about this race, or that race, or this customer this and this customer that... idiot nephew ran them on the crumpled Baja behind the shop... etc., etc...
I don't argue lol.
 
I have them now they are going on. If they won't stay adjusted, I will find something else, or make them non adjustable.
 
Wes Harden said:
I have them now they are going on. If they won't stay adjusted, I will find something else, or make them non adjustable.
Click to expand...
report back after some use so I can tell the old hero's they were right?

-or, tell them to shut their trap and keep their fake hero stories to themselves!
 
a younger guy in Costa mesa that was still racing air cooled vw off road (as recently as right before the pandemic) told me he would only use the double spring plate (long version)... they are kinda rare, but that was interesting. Forget what class his car was in, but of course I stumbled on to a set, and installed them on my single seat car I was building at the time... aaaaaaaaaand honestly, they took so much effort to twist, that I couldn't see them making any more wheel travel than the stock, and figured the welds and bolts were all being put under too much stress. Might be a bullet proof set up for a stock travel race car that would be sliding into other cars and obstacles all day long? -wasn't for me and my car though.
 
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