Upgrades

 

HD torsion bars (October 2020)
Sadly my upgrade to Protech shocks (see 'shock upgrades') didn't stop the car squatting as much as I had hoped and I was still using the sump as a wheelie bar! Thus I decided it was finally time to upgrade the torsion bars. I had been putting this job off for a while as, 1) it a sh*t job involving removing the rear wings, brake callipers, spring plates etc, and 2) if you don't get the angle on the spring plates right, the car will be to low/ high and everything has to come off again! Basically, it's a sh*t job! Anyway, in the end I decided I was going to do it (I had been wanting to bring the back end of the car up slightly anyway).

I had to fit torsion bars from a later bug as early HD torsion bars were very expensive and difficult to find. Torsion bars from a later bug are actuall shorter (21 3/4") so this meant that I had to use later spring plates as well, which was actually an advantage as they are slotted at the axle end allowing toe in to be adjusted, something which could not be done with early spring plates. I chose to go with 28mm Latest Rage torsion bars as a compromise between performance and streetability. Anyway, enough talk, here's them being fitted. Of course everything was detailed!

 

Stainless steel throttle shaft (May 2020)
The car had been getting slower on the track. The engine was still strong, and even after a lot of checking I couldn't pinpoint what the issue was...... however, I finally realised I wasn't getting full throttle as the throttle shaft by the pedals was bending!! I thought about adding a support bearing, but this was a difficult solution, which would have been easier to have added whilst I was building the car. In the end I decided the best solution was to use a stronger throttle shaft, and with a lot of searching I actually managed to find a guy on The Samba that made stainless steel versions (See here). It hasn't been fitted yet, but I will get around to it soon and hopefully it will be much stronger. Oh, and yes, of course I polished the bit you can see!!

 

Handbrake disabler (January 2016)
Even back when I was racing the old drag car I had a problem with leaving the handbrake on when I drag raced (I used it as a staging brake). Thus I came up with a removable handbrake disabler. It saves me from cooking the brakes, and it can be removed when I'm not at the track. Of course I had to paint it in Deano Purple!! I will get a photo of it fitted next time I'm at the track.

 

Shifter handler (November 2015)
One final thing I have been wanting to do for ages, but have never seemed to get around to it, was to fit the personalised shifter handle which I had got in the states from Gene Berg's during a once in a lifetime trip. Well after some issues with the line lock button, I finally got the excuse I needed to fitting it, my ‘Dudes Beetle’ shifter handle!! :D

 

Weighing the car (September 2015)
Simply because I had access to some scales, I decided to weigh the car. I was very happy with the weight considering all the added components as it only 816.5kg overall (1800lbs exactly!) and has pretty much perfect 50:50 left to right balance, and a nice 60:40 front to back weight. :)

 

Rear shocks (November 2015)
Racing at Pod I noticed a few small issues with the car (Not bad considering it had never been driven in anger before!). It was apparent that the car was squatting too much, even to the extent that it was scuffing the sump nuts! Now I know the best way to solve this would be to upgrade the torsion bars. However, the car is a street car, so I wasn't keen on making it to firm. Thus I decided to fit some 13 point Protech adjustable shocks which were custom built for the car by Royal County Auto Supply. These can be set at rock hard for the track, and turned down for on the street. They also look great!! I will keep you informed on how well these all work out.

 

Throttle cable tube (June 2015)
A small issue I had been meaning to fix for ages was the throttle cable routing where it comes out of the tunnel. Even as standard (see below) on a pre 67 car the throttle cables do not run through any tube. Add in a later gearbox, it actually runs on the case. I’ve even seen it cut into gearbox cases!

Anyway here’s my solution.