Whilst playing around with the wiring for the new fuel pump, I thought I may as well run some cables for a CB Radio. I know they have pretty much died a death around here, but I have noticed that a lot of the Buggies seem to have them fitted and they are used when cruising, so it seemed a good idea.



I have opted for a Polmar Venus, certainly not the cheapest of rigs, and the reviews are only marginally better than average - but what caught my attention was not just the physical size of the thing, but the fact that the controls are on the Microphone meaning that the box with the gubbins inside can be hidden away somewhere. Mine is going to be mounted on the top of the bulkhead where the bracket is shown.

My original flat Porsche seat runners were bolted to a couple of bits of box section to give the desired height in the Buggy, and these were replaced by the Suzuki runners as seen here. This was a right PITA to do, as I cannot weld, and had to mark these up, run down the road to my mate, get him to tack them, run back, check them, run back for proper welding . . . . . AAAARRRRGGGGGHHH !!



There was no alternative - I really must learn to weld, and trying to get this bracket sorted was the clincher. A few of you have asked me if I would repeat my "learning to weld" thread from the old forum, which I certainly will do, but I am going to wait until I have dug my new welder out of storage and need help in setting it up.

For those that don`t know me, I have been known to dabble a bit in car audio. From building several manufacturer demo vehicles for the likes of Kenwood and Sony, TV appearances, Custom Builds, and countless trophies after helping to set up the UK competition scene . . . It is somewhat embarrassing whenever a simple question is asked of me:

"Can I hear my stereo over the noise of my exhausts?"

You all know full bloody well I can`t, no one can - but this time, I`m going to have a crack at a different answer next time I`m asked. As my car is pretty much Jet-Washable, inside and out, anything electronic I put in there has to be the same. So after a quick call to my mates at Clarion, I now have some high end Marine equipment to play with, (currently not all available in the UK). These amplifiers and speakers are all water resistant, hermetically sealed and coated, and happy to play in the wet.

When I had my roll cage constructed, I had a few extra bolts and studs welded on in the corners, that would act as electrical earth points. Luckily for me, I had a spare one for the amplifier terminal.




The wiring and cables for the amplifier and speakers were then run to under the drivers seat, where the amplifier is intended to be fitted.

[DISASTER !!]

And then the unthinkable happened . . . . .

DISASTER !!

Whilst in the garage, I noticed a crack in the wall that wasn`t there the day before - the garage was moving, and I needed to get out fast - very fast.

Garage was in such a poor state, it even has its own build thread !!
http://www.beachbuggy.info/index.php/topic,407.0.html

And thats pretty much my Buggy Build thread up to its current status. The Buggy was thrown into the temporary garage in such a rush that I have no idea where all the bits are, where my tools are, and due to the chaos in the yard, access isn`t exactly great either, but that said, I`m determined to get back working on it as soon as I can.

Thanks for reading and hope you haven`t been too bored by it. 

thoroughly enjoyed reading it, well written and detailed.
you just need to carry on to the garage build and the moat fortification 

Cheer mate - glad you enjoyed it.

I must admit, writing this over the past few days has really kindled my enthusiasm for dragging it out of the garage and doing some more. Its a sunny day here today - so do I spend time building the garage, or dig the Buggy out and have a play? Decisions, decisions . . . .

BUGGY  garage can wait a day or two 
Great write up by the way mate, both of them 

Thanks mate -

Yep, sun is shining and too hot to play cement - Buggy is being dragged out as we speak.

They say bad things always happen in three`s, well, I`ve had my three for now.

Tried and failed to pull Buggy out last weekend, and discovered that it had been sat in the garage all winter on a flat tyre, and try as I may, it did not want to come out of the garage. That was problem number one.

Problem number two was that the flat tyre was not just a puncture, and where it had been sitting was now a nice crack in the sidewall of my Cooper Cobra`s - and we all know just how easy they are to obtain nowadays. That was problem number two.

And the third problem is that the only size tyre I could find with white letters that I liked (BFG) meant I would have to order a pair to keep the fronts with the same tread pattern. Bugger.

Still, as luck would have it, when I phoned Northants tyres for a pair, and a good price was given, I did ask if that was a trade price, and gave my company details - result = another £50 knocked off

Just swapped the flat one over, and will tackle the other one at a later date.

Buy one and get one free is that Dave 
You can probably sell the spare cobra and get most of your money back 

Now that I know my tank is degrading and full of crap, and fully aware that I cannot clean out all of that tank sealant, I decided to go for the Grand-Daddy of fuel filters, the Filter King. The added bonus of the model I have gone for is that is also boasts an adjustable built in fuel regulator, so I shouldn`t have any problems there either.

This has been mounted on the rear bulkhead just behind the engine, and plumbed in using braided hoses and aero connectors throughout.



Wow, its so nice to be working on the Buggy again 

See that....buggy therapy....works every time 

Yes good therapy indeed but even better when it's all done and you're out in it

This might appear a very random styled build thread from now on, as the order of reassembly is going to be dependant on which hidden parts come to light in the garage.

I found some lengths of RG58 CB cable, so that was next on the cards. I already have two aerials mounted on the rear cage, the left one is for my stereo, and the right one was always intended to be for a CB, I just never got around to it.



However, when I put the brackets there, I also made sure that holes were drilled in the underside of the rear cage so that I could run some hidden cables through them. You can see here where I have now mounted the angled DV27 connector and cable, and the cable now exits under the wheelarch.



There is a cable that has been run down the body from the transceiver at the front, and eventually there will be a plug and socket joint at the back so that the cage can be unplugged before removal.

Because I am using an Acewell digital dash, the resistance of the original VW fuel tank sender unit is incompatable and would give me a false fuel level reading. You can buy little electronic impedance matching units, but I wanted to do it properly, and that meant using an Acewell sender unit.

The Acewell unit looks similar, but has a different shape flange at the top. It has a square one with four holes instead of the round five hole one we are all used to.



I suppose I could have cut a new hole in the tank to mount this, but instead I chopped off the mounting flange, did the same with the VW sender, and got my mate to weld the two together (again - note to self, must learn to bloody weld) and this then fitted in the original hole.



It needed to be adjusted, calibrated and to check that it didn`t foul on anything as it moved, so I tied a bit of nylon fishing line to the end of the float arm, passed it through one of the screw holes, and I could then pull on the fishing line and operate the float up and down. By holding a ruler against the line, I could bend and adjust the float arm accordingly to give me an approximation of where full and empty were, as I could check the height of the movement.

After I was satisfied that I had got it about where I wanted, I connected it all up, switched the power on, and filled up the tank, one gallon at a time, making note of how the gauge moved as I added fuel.

Result = Not bad . . . Not bad at all . . . 

Quite pleased with that one