As Dave said. Remember on Colchester bypass, I had to pull over because the engine had no power at any speed but OK when going slowly. After that trip carbs had to be cleaned before I could use it again.

Single carb has some distance from the rear wheels

My filters are oiled wire type, they let wet air through, but a bit too wet in that instance

My filters are pancake ones, and I was going to simply block off around a quarter of it with a curved plate, so that there was not an open side towards the wheels if that makes sense?

Before anyone starts to panic with twin carbs fearing a similar scenario, it must be remembered that the trips we made recently were biblically wet !!

Before anyone starts to panic with twin carbs fearing a similar scenario, it must be remembered that the trips we made recently were biblically wet !!

I have fitted outriggers to mine as well, I had to put the plugs in the floor to stop it sinking

Water injection was around in the late 70's for more power and cooling, but on the filter front i had pancakes let water in stationary and that resulted in a bent conrod.

The cone filters on the buggy have been fine in the monsoons so far as were the Washable K&N elements fitted before it could depend on tyre type and how the spray comes off them as knobblie tyre tend to put more of a rooster tail out behind as road tyres push water out side ways more from my observations following buggies in the rain.

Any baffle/ protection to stop the direct flow has got to help even on the electrical front where my daily has the dizzy wrapped in a rubber sleeve to reduce the impact water has.

Found some time today to bolt the gearbox back in. I`m so glad that I test fitted the front mounts first and opened up the holes a little, as the gearbox slid into place with ease. The same cannot be said though for the two nuts that hold it in place. Like the sides of the Rhino Mount, that central vane on the gearbox mounting is so close to the sidewall of the nuts that you cannot get a socket on them at all. I used a slimmed down ring spanner and slightly smaller nuts, and even then I only just did it. As you can see, there is still good access for the reverse switch and wires on the right.





The rear cradle has now been bolted on, and Rhino Mounts fitted using new M8x25 high tensile bolts. I know that everyone says that the Rhino Mounts should not be machined or shaved to make them fit, but now that this in all in place I do feel that a little fettling is required before I go any further. For instance, I feel that the bolt heads protrude a little too far into the gearbox housing and I do not want them to foul the flywheel, so these will be attacked with the grinder making sure they do not get too hot in the process as that would be disastrous for a plastic mount. Also, I am going to shave off around 1mm from the front face here, as despite me pushing them as far back as I can, they still protrude past the front of the bell housing, and I do not want any clearance issues when the engine is offered up. There is an optional strap to go over the top of the box, but I am undecided on this one as yet, so may wait until the engine is in.





As well as the normal braided earth strap that goes from the Engine mount to the box, this is where my secondary one is fitted and goes back directly to the battery negative terminal. You would be amazed as to how much difference this can make, and a secondary engine earth is something I do to all of my vehicles.





Universal Joints bolted on and time to fill the box with 2.5L of EP90 gear oil while I still have good access to the filler hole

There is often much talk on the forum about clutch cable shortening, or having the correct amount of bend in the Bowden tube - So I thought that whilst I am playing here with a camera in my hand,  it might be an idea to show you my own setup, in the hope it may help others.





Ignore the cable going off down the bottom left of the picture - its my throttle cable and I haven`t connected it yet

I do wonder sometimes if my Buggy has ADHD and is craving attention this year, because the failures seem to be coming thick and fast at the moment, and this afternoons observations are no exception.




For a while now, my starter motor has been playing up. It can spin the engine over far quicker than many others I have ever had, but every so often a graunching noise can be heard upon pressing the starter button, where it is obvious that the gear wheel has not engaged properly. 2nd press on the button usually has the engine bursting into life, so I have generally ignored it. I was just about to put my engine back in when I noticed that the teeth on my flywheel were not quite the shape I was expecting them to be.





Its quite clear what has been happening though. The starter motor is rotating quickly, as it should. The solenoid is pulling the gear wheel out nice and strongly, as it should. The problem is one of timing, as the motor is turning at high speed a few milliseconds before it has had a chance to engage with the flywheel, so instead of meshing with the teeth, its now acting as a grinder and removing them.





Well let this be a lesson learned on how those nasty noises should never be ignored, as my flywheel is now toast. I have lost the front edges for around two thirds of the teeth on the flywheel ring gear, with some of them losing near on 3mm as can be seen.





A replacement flywheel is required, but I am also going to replace the starter motor as well for obvious reasons - but this isn`t as easy a decision as it should be because I am not sure which one to go for.

Looking at what is on offer from the usual suspects, the Genuine Bosch ones are actually remanufactured ones, which I wouldn`t normally have a problem with except that whilst they are in Bosch casings, they are often not refurbished by Bosch themselves, and can contain internals of dubious quality and yet still command a top OEM price tag. Or the alternative is the hi-torque starters that supposedly come from the USA. Thats what this one was, and yes, it may well have come from the USA, but I suspect it was a detour from China.




In the good old days, we all used to use Lucas motors, and even they came with a sticker that said "hit here with a hammer to make it work". 

Looking at the pics it seems as if the bendix is hitting the bottom of the teeth before engaging.
When the new bits are in  you may just need a tweek of the engine to centre it when it is in before fully tightening the engine bolts so it is all lined up.

I have had flywheels kissing the bottom of the bellhousing before now, a fubard starter bush can do the opposit.

Best way as you say is a high torque or vw auto starter which are self supporting.

Yyou are not having much luck.

I was looking at those self supporting starter motors, and I must admit was somewhat doubtful over the descriptions that followed.

The mounting holes are different sizes and the "D-Bolt" no longer locks against the side of the motor and the spade terminal is now an M4 bolt

Really comes across as a very ill fitting bodge   

Where have you been looking at starters the semi auto beetle one is spot on, same fitting and connections if genuine just as vw fitted them.
I got mine from machine7 very happy with it on the big fiat motor turns over well and noise free.

This was the one I saw on the VW Heritage website



https://www.vwheritage.com/shop/311911023GEN/starter-motor-12v-gen-vw-or-bosch-vwb-a-c-w-c-8-67-1-13/?crumbStartPage=1&crumbStartRow=1


I`ll have a gander at Machine7 though 

That does not look like a proper bosch one, I will try and get a photo but it is dark and dirty under mine.

Just looked at the Machine7 one, and looks a bit "beefier" to me - more in line as to how I expected a Bosch one to be.

http://www.machine7.com/product.php?xProd=2959&xSec=172




Also looks to be a direct swap without the faffing about that the Heritage one is advising. That Heritage one just smacks to me of a "this`ll do" rather than a correct replacement.

Bloomin thing is out of stock too - just my luck 

Unable to get a photo as it is but mine has the 2 large flat head screws holding the solenoid on just like an old beetle one.
The photo is different to mine but looks better than the heritage one at least number 2 is made in brasil not china buy the look of it.

You can use golf diesel ones but not sure which year or model that is perhaps what number 2 is as it has the vw audi symbol on.

This is the one I got - not 'genuine' but fits without any bodging and works fine!


https://www.vwheritage.com/shop/beetle/311911023DX/starter-motor-8-67-type-2-75-no-exch-req-d/?crumbStartPage=1&crumbStartRow=1