Ta 

I'll have the pulley cover.

Are you going to Tatton Park?

Hello and welcome!

    

Don't you guys think that you're over complicating what was designed to be a really simple car to build and maintain, especially considering the original poster is a relative newcomer to the hobby?

A buggy with basically standard Beetle mechanicals that's not too low to the ground and running street tyres with a sensible profile; ie not too low, will ride and handle just fine.

Anything other than standard shocks, ie coil overs and most gas shocks, low ride height and low profile tyres and you risk shaking your fillings loose.

Keep it simple folks or you'll be scaring people off 

Let's face it the roads have never been fabulous but I have more problems with speed bumps than potholes.

Standard ride height but softened with all of the thin leaves removed, cheap Copap oil shocks and 185/65 15 budget tyres and it rides and handles great.

Quote from: buggypete on June 28, 2026, 06:37:03 PMIt's not just the dodgy welding,the vast majority just used a ring of mild steel ,and I can guarantee that they weren't trued or balanced after they were welded

There's no reason given modern technology that a better job can be done than the crappy ones that were turned out in the 60s and 70s, to my eyes this one is shocking though.

From a found advert on Facebook.

Banded wheels done about ten years ago by a company that are still in business, does this welding look good enough?

ps I hate banded wheels, they should all be resigned to the scrap bin of history imho, there are so many better options 

Strip it, clean the old grease out, reassemble with new oil seals and refill with the thickest gear oil that you can find or John Deere Cornhead grease if available, adjust and you're good to go.

Tip: if anyone is struggling to find something to tighten the screw on the big adjuster try a lawnmower spark plug box spanner, mine's a perfect fit 

I'm old enough to have been taught 'cadence braking', the forerunner of ABS...

    

Until recently I was running those exact wheel sizes with 275/60 15 rear and 185/65 15 fronts and it stopped and rode brilliantly.

Quote from: Doon L001 on June 02, 2026, 09:37:29 AMI found biggest impact on stopping power is soft compound tyres at the front. Ditto for road holding.

I used to run Colway (as in really good quality) remoulds when they were still available for that very reason.

Years ago Top Gear when they were a proper car show and not a circus act did a braking test on various types of tyre. Remoulds stopped best with the least amount of fuss, followed by budget radials, then heritage brand radials...it's mainly about the rubber compounds used, soft to hard.

185/60 14 Colways on the front, everything else standard for a 1970 chassis, stopped brilliantly!

As I said I've never found it makes much difference but there are more things that come into play apart from cylinder sizes when it comes to brakes locking up, eg wheel sizes, widths and weights, tyre sizes, tread patterns and rubber compounds, weight distribution (petrol tank in front, full or empty?).

I'm sure that others will have different opinions though.

TBH over the years I've tried all of those combinations of parts and not found that much difference in any of them, personally I'd just leave it all standard and you'll find it'll be fine, unless you're building to pass IVA test but that's a whole other ball game. The only useful mod would be to fit Type 3 (Fastback etc.) rear brakes but they are getting scarce these days.

Quote from: Paul1953 on June 01, 2026, 02:00:23 PMCheers Dave  Really appreciated. Will be in local town centre tomorrow pm and will donate to both charities.

Just make sure that it works and that the 'Royal Mail lunchtime football team' haven't had their fun with it before parting with a cent! 🤣🤣🤣