Hey Dave

Have you checked out YouTube and looked at The Fabrication Series ? Guys knows his stuff and runs through many aspects of TIG welding, and machine set ups etc.

Quote from: simon-dubman on September 03, 2019, 03:22:01 PM
Have you checked out YouTube and looked at The Fabrication Series ? Guys knows his stuff and runs through many aspects of TIG welding, and machine set ups etc.

Not seen that series as yet, but will search it out and have a look   

Time to do something drastic with my Buggy.

As many of you know my front suspension has been getting worse and worse over the years, the beam has been welded within an inch of its life, the bearings are all seized, the leafs have cracked, the shocks are those awful blister carded ones and tha steering box is so sloppy that I look like BA from the A-Team when driving down the road. Farmer Rob told me many years ago that mine was the worst Buggy he had ever driven, but like everyone else, we just grin when we drive and don`t really care about the quirks.

I didn't get out in it much last year, but when we did, it was getting very obvious that despite the smiles, my partner, Lisa was suffering from being shaken about too much and although she has never admitted it, I could tell that her brain injuries were now meaning that the enjoyment was fading. I decided back in the summer of 1999 that the car would be taken off the road for this year and I would find a way to make the ride acceptable. As much as I would just love to hunker down in the garage for a few weeks, I just don't have the time - this was going to be a long term project.

I was looking at various options from replacing everything with like for like, and the Lime Bug front beam was near the top of the list. Unlike most of the others out there, the build quality is excellent, but it fell short of the mark for me as all of the other ancillaries are still made of cheese. I started looking at some of the alternatives. The Red9 that Gary has on the front of his was discounted immediately, not because of the stories you hear, but because the steering rack is placed right at the front, and thats ultimately where one day I may want to fit a radiator if I ever get round to a Subaru conversion. The Mendola one looked good at first, but reading the forums, it has so many bad reviews that I thought I would give it a wide berth. Unknown to many of you, I was working with Ed from Pie Valleys (think awesome over engineered Bug Chassis you always see in the Manufacturer Halls at Stoneleigh) with many diagrams, technical suggestions and the like, with the intention of getting a bolt on alternative to the Red9 released into the UK. I even managed to get Dave Fisher involved to back it. So you appreciate how excited I have been for this top secret venture to materialize and I have been hanging on and hanging on to see what would happen. The Prototype was unveiled at Stoneleigh last year and thats when I decided to take my car off the road to do something. I was utterly devastated with what I saw - the prototype was left hand drive because it was cheaper to build and 12 months later, despite further conversations, nothing useable has come forward and I have now sadly given up waiting for it as I want my Buggy back on the road.

So, what of the ultra sexy looking one from iMohr that we keep seeing from Brazil? The reviews have been awesome but it still has 2 major drawbacks, the first being that it is in Brazil and the second is that it is also only made as Left Hand Drive. Credit where credit is due though, and I have sent many emails over the last few months to Ricardo at iMohr, and his assistance and technical replies have always been very good and easy to understand even though I suspect he may be using a translator. The email he sent me at the start of the year though got me quite wishful - he had now manufactured a right hand drive solution using the steering rack from an Opel Chevette (whatever that is).

https://imohr.com.br/en/products/7/vw-beetle-double-aarm-front-suspension--str--rhd





The suspension package itself was advertised at a shade over $1800 dollars plus shipping and from the excellent communications they informed me that it could be shipped as 3 cardboard boxes at 18Kg each or as a 1200 x 600 pallet. Shipping prices from Brazil can be quite volatile though and over the recent month and most quotes have near doubled. There are some out there who know a few back doors and means for shipping to avoid import duties etc, such as throwing it in the boot of another vehicle coming over or spare space in an existing container etc etc, a bit like our humpers and dumpers on here, but being such a high value item I decided not to go down this route and only deal with people I felt comfortable with.

With my job, I am used to importing parts from around the world and am fortunate enough to have accounts with most of the courier companies out there. With a RHD option now endlessly buzzing in my mind, I even found myself ringing a few of them for quotes to get it collected and I was a bit surprised at the same answer that everyone gave me - Contact the Country direct for a quote. Normally I would ask my Sales Account person here for a quote, log in to my account, enter the collection address and Bingo - parcel on its way, but not this time - for some reason, none of the logistics companies could quote for me paying at my end for a collection. I contacted Ricardo and asked for an actual quote for shipping, to which the answer came back of fully insured at 900 bucks. Yes, it was expensive - buts its also 55 kilos of weight. At least I now had a firm figure to play with.

It was difficult to watch TV at the beginning of March 2020 without the same "Word" being used over and over again in every sentence, and that word of BREXIT seems so long ago now. There was a talk of a trade deal between the UK and the USA and I wondered what the exchange rate would be. I discovered that when logging onto my Barclays bank account that you could watch live data of the international currency prices and you could select and hold an exchange rate to make a transaction, and then look at it again a few minutes later to see if you had done it at the right time. I found myself playing this as a game late at night and became captivated as to how much the currencies fluctuated, which ultimately meant saving money. In my mind, I was going to wait until we had a trade deal and that would be the time to do it, but events got in the way. Whilst playing one night I could see the value of the dollar plummeting and every time I clicked the button, the following rate was even lower - something was happening, something serious was going on - no idea what though. the price of getting this thing here was getting better and better, and when the dollar price resulted in an equivalent of £2150 in pounds, I hit the button for real - Replacing everything like for like would not be far off that, so this was now a viable option. Unbeknown to me, the US stockmarket actually crashed and ceased trading one hour later and it became known as "Black Monday".

The money had been transferred to iMohr - Had I done this right? Had he got it it? What would happen next?
Ricardo sent me an email a few hours later (time zone delay) and confirmed that all was well and he would prepare the units for shipping.
Sit back and wait I guess and hope nothing goes wrong.

Brave move Dave, however i must admit, its looks like a great piece of kit...

Does look amazing doesn't it?  The countless reviews I have seen also back this up   

Talk about timing though 

The word BREXIT has now been replaced by COVID-19 and the World has become a crazy place. I cannot fathom if I did this at the right time or not, but the Global Stockmarkets crashed big time just after I did this and I have no idea if I would have saved or lost any more. But at the end of the day I was happy with the price I paid and with the wrong exchange rate, its viability would have been seriously limited.

Ricardo did email me to say he had shipped this as 3 parcels and the good news is that the Tracking shows them to have now landed somewhere in the UK. I opted for the 900 dollar express shipping option rather than a slow boat, and with hindsight, I'm so glad that I did. The Couriers are still operational around here, so fingers still crossed that I may still possibly have something to play with over the next six months or so whilst in isolation.

I for one look forward to seeing this on your buggy. All the best 

Looks intriguing Dave. I look forward to reading your performance report.

Dave, hope it goes well. If okay perhaps you may become a U.K. supplier 

Hopefully it will get through the customs side quickly and get despatched you have to 3 boxes arrive hopefully together.

Their 2 minute video instruction clip on Youtube make it look very easy to fit - and well worth a watch, even if its not for you

www.beachbuggy.info/Pics/Junk/imohr.mp4

I will be retaining my original hubs and brake setup and running at stock ride height, and they have sent me 300lb coil overs which are lighter than the Beetle ones for the lighter front end. I have not yet fathomed out things like how the petrol tank will clear this - but I need a new one anyway, so will probably get one custom made, and I have to start over with the steering column setup as obviously the rack is in a different place.

I do like a challenge though, and as always will bore you all stupid with my progress on here   

Dave..... Watch out for customs... Keep an eye on the tracking info. Should end up in Heathrow customs area at which point you will see the request for import duty payment requirement. As a guide the last item I purchased in the £2000 + bracket required a duty payment of just under £300 pounds before it was released. Payment on-line as you would expect..  Looking forward to the thread continuation for the front end fitment. Take care Paul 

That all looks pretty astonishing

It will be very interesting to see how things go when it arrives.

I treated myself to some new binoculars recently, mine had literally been used to death over
40 years and the customs charge was a little higher than I had anticipated, however I do
like to be driven more by quality with some things and it was worth paying 

I hope all arrives soon and that we can see what its all about in a step by step guide to fitting!

Peter 

Dave you are giving your front end a top dollar make over, you cannot neglect your rear end, not that there's anything wrong with it ..... 

Just saw this on Imohr's website...

WOW....  wish I had a little more than just a pittance of a pension.....  Looking at the rear end it has coil springs.... Wonder if you throw away the torsion bars    or are they used as location points and do you "wind up" the torsion bars also    Mind boggling....

Front first . . .   

. . . But when I get around to the Scooby lump and start messing at the rear - Who knows?