Manx Club

First...Hello all, name is Mel and wife is Shell (short for Shelly) Have been a long time car nut...mainly in the Classic Pontiac world of GTO's, Trans Am's and such. We are new to the VW/Dune Buggy World and have 2 Manx Buggies now. I purchased a turn key one (BF Meyer & Co. # M2616A913S that was listed in the registry in '06) for my wife and daughter as a Christmas gift.... ...got the "bug" myself and searched out and bought a "major" project one for myself (BF Meyer & Co. # M1751D831S) The first one is on a 71 Beetle chassis and the second one is on a '68 chassis. Not knowing much about VW's.....the '68 has a small knob protruding from the shifter hump next to the shifter on the right side. There is also gear casings on both right and left rear CV axles right next to the drum brake backing plate. Can someone explain what this is? Thanks in advance and look forward to asking many many more questions as I rebuild the project and "personalize" the turn key one!

Welcome aboard. Buy this book and it will explain many things..... 1. Baja Bugs and Buggies by Jeff Hibbard (Paperback - Jan. 1, 1987) Buy new: [FONT=Arial]$21.95[/FONT] $14.93 Here is another good reference book. 1. How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive 19 Ed: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot - Paperback (Sept. 9, 2001) by John Muir, Tosh Gregg, and Peter Aschwanden Buy new: $25.00 $16.50 Books: See all items

The chassis with the knob near the shifter is for heater control on a 1964 and earlier bug. On the other chassis it almost sounds like you have reduction boxes from a bus transaxle. It what I have seen most common out by the backing plates. Your are saying that you have CV joints, where from the factory the reduction gear axels where in an enclosed tube. But who knows what someone has come up with. If you can post some pictures it would help with determening(sic) what setup you have. Welcome to the crazy world of buggies.

Here is what the rear axles look like (and yes Joseph, looking actually at the thing, you are correct that they include the axle tubes). http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx16 ... C08021.jpg http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx16 ... C08024.jpg http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx16 ... C08023.jpg http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx16 ... C08022.jpg And this is the knob I spoke of; http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx16 ... C08033.jpg And also...scratching around in the rust, I found the chassis number...2819040....which I believe is '59-'60 chassis??? Am I on the right track so far??

[QUOTE="DuneBugFever;15987"]First...Hello all, name is Mel and wife is Shell (short for Shelly) Have been a long time car nut...mainly in the Classic Pontiac world of GTO's, Trans Am's and such. [/QUOTE] Hi Mel & Shell,, Hey we have a few things in common! Pontiac's were a big interest of mine back in the 80's, a friend and myself even planted the seed which started the Pontiac Owners Club here in UK back then.. Amongst a few of the Pontiacs I owned, two were featured in the UK Classic American mag, one was an orange 68 GTO with tri power and the other was a 72 455HO Trans Am, white/blue stripe, both cars 4 speed man. One crazy thing that happened years ago, was I joined the Pontiac Oakland club in USA in the hope that I would find my dream 73 SD455, in the very first newsletter that came in the mail, there was a 73 SD455 advertised for sale (Brewster Green I seem to recall),, not only that, the car was located in Devon UK of all places,,,, when I finally got the guy on the phone after trying all day, he told me it had been sold and was being shipped back to USA, and that was about as close as I ever come to owning what I reckon was one of the last great muscle Pontiac's. Good times they were,, when we could afford to buy the gas to run the things over here!..

First, Mel....GREAT NAME by the way!! ; ) I have been a Pontiac nut pretty much all my life and still own two 1970 GTO's. One is a bracket race car, the other is a 455 HO car. Prior to moving to Florida some 6 years ago, I had over 36 Classic Pontiacs in various stages of condition...from a 1940 tudor sedan to several 67 GTO's, 70 and 73 Trans Ams, Lemans', Tempest' and the ever present 70 GTO's both hardtops and convertibles. Prior to my first marriage and eventual first divorce, I had an all original 1971 455 HO Trans Am, blue with white stripe. Was forced into selling it in 1985 to pay my ex wifes divorce attorney... Ugh! And Joseph, it seems you are correct on both ends of the questions I asked. Closer inspect shows there are axle tubes entering the "reduction" boxes... Heres pics of them....confirming what you said. And the knob.... And the MAJOR project....think its worth it?

Welcome to the insane asylum! When you mention the reduction boxes next the the CV's, are you sure that they are CV's? I only ask because VW put out two types of drive systems. The first is a swing axle, where an axle runs inside a tube, and only hinges at the transaxle but has not actual CV joints. The rear tires on a lowered buggy would look like /-- from behind, and a raised buggy would look like --/. The second, IRS (Independant Rear Suspension) has an open axle that you can see rotate, and hinges both at the transaxle and at the wheel and does utilize two CV joints per side. BTW, another great book to help you work on your projects would be the Haynes VW Beetle and Karman Ghia book. You can pick one up at most auto parts stores. Lots of pictures to help you through what ever you are working on.

Welcome Mel & Shell... The reduction boxes will be an advantage when off roading ... Beside the lower gearing you can jump over obstacles rather then just rolling over them.

Not seeing posts I made....Am I doing something wrong?

Oh never mind... Doh!

....now that we have determined "what" they are...what is the advantages to keeping them on the project....disadvantages of keeping them on the project??? Besides jumping over obstacles??... ; ) We don't have a lot of obstacles here in Florida to jump over...it pretty flat here....this will be a street/go to the beach, occasional car show type project. Are they something that requires continued maintence? Are they worth it to keep them? There is modification done to the current set up on the trailing arms where they have been cut and mounted to blocks......... . . Does this look as if a major change should take place? Thanks for any insight!!!