projects just for fun

Build an exciting brush buggy

By DAVE BENNETT and GLEN HOSTETTLER

The trailblazing little brother of the well-known dune buggy will take hills, streams and culverts
in stride-yet it's easy to make from standard VW components

180

• HEARD ABOUT the new recipe for fun? It goes
like this: Take one sedate German sedan (Volks-
wagen) ; add an eager hobbyist with cutting torch
and arc welder; blend in Yankee ingenuity, and
before too long, you have a brush buggy—82
inches of four-wheel excitement.
Although related to the much-modified and
often exotic dune buggy, the brush buggy is pow-
ered by a stock Volkswagen engine—and is con-
structed almost entirely from standard VW com-
ponents. Much to the surprise of conventional
four-wheel-drive vehicle owners, a brush buggy
will, in many cases, outperform conventional
machines designed for rough-country use.
The secret of the starting performance of a
brush buggy is its light weight—most of which
is located over the rear axle. Coupled with the
lack of a normal transmission and drive train that
hangs down to snag rocks, and their short but
wide stature, brush buggies become capable of
climbing hills, creeping over rocks and fording
streams which would leave four-wheel-drive jock-
eys stranded—or at least winching themselves
out.
Pricewise, brush buggies are well within the
reach of most outdoorsmen. With an arc welder
and acetylene torch at your disposal, you can
build a buggy for less than $400. This estimate
No need to worry about becoming stranded in the
bush when you've got a gung-ho brush buggy be-
neath you. As these photos show, the spunky little
vehicle proves to be at home in the water, on rocky
ground, and even in the air. Needless to say, strong
seat belts and the sturdy roll bar are basic
necessities for wild maneuvers that, while thrilling,
are not for novice drivers. You can have the brush
buggy for about $400
depends, of course, on the initial price paid for a
Volkswagen. If the work is to be done at a ma-
chine shop, add another $250 to your original
investment for the VW.
building preparations
All electrical wiring between the body and
engine must be tagged and disconnected. Then
undo the gas lines and remove the body-to-frame
bolts. Gearshift, clutch, brake pedal and accelera-
tor assemblies are disconnected next, followed
by the steering column (unbolt it at the steering
box knuckle). The body can now be lifted off
with a chain hoist.
With the body clear of the frame (a full-length
belly pan serves as the frame for a VW), the
engine should be removed—this will make the
later operations of cutting and aligning the frame
much easier.
sectioning
Before removing the 10-in. section from the
belly pan or frame, mark the rear cut where the
transmission tube first begins to narrow at the
forward side of the torsion tubes. Then mark off
the next 10 in. Before beginning the cuts, how-
ever, the shift control rod (running from the gear
shift lever through the tunnel to the transmission)
181
fun projects

Section to be removed is 10 in. long, measured from front of torsion tubes to forward end of vehicle

182
When making cuts to remove 10-in. section, be care- Installing roll bar is a two-man job. When level, the
ful that control cables in tunnel aren't damaged bar must be securely welded to the torsion tubes

Cowling braces are lengths of electrical conduit Fuel tank from VW truck or bus fits snugly between
bent as detailed in drawings. Then template is fitted legs of roll bar. Filler spout is moved to center
No longer a sedate sedan, brush buggy with short
wheelbase is ready to take to the hills and trails

must be unbolted at the transmission and worked

through the front of the tunnel. With both sec-
tions of the belly pan securely blocked or jacked
up, make the cuts, taking care not to damage the
clutch, throttle and emergency brake control rods
within the tunnel. With the section removed,
undo the emergency brake bracket in the tunnel
(just inside the section above the cut).
The tunnel behind the rear cut is then split
back about 3 in. on all four sides to allow the

183
fun projects
brush buggy, continued
front section to slide into the rear when joined.
Using a chain "come-along," the sections are
matched up and overlapped 2 in. The rear sec-
tions should also be split at the forward corners
and peened to the contour of the front panel.
Before beginning the main welds, carefully
check alignment between sections. Horizontal
alignment is checked by measuring both sides
from the rear torsion tubes to the end of the
forward section. Vertical alignment is measured
from the floor upward to the joint of the sections.
Make the top welds, turn the vehicle on its
side and run a bottom weld across the seam for
strength. Finally, the section of tunnel which was
earlier removed must be trimmed, spread and
welded in place over the new tunnel joint.
roll bar and strongback
The roll bar is made of 1-3/4in., thick-wall air-
craft tubing, leveled and welded in place atop
the rear torsion tubes. (The roll bar should be
pre-bent to the required size at a muffler or ex-
haust specialty shop.) The strongback, one of
the most important items in a buggy if it is to
withstand rough usage, is a 1/4-in.-thick, 6-in.-
high steel plate cut to fit between the two upright
arms of the roll bar. The center section of the
strongback must be notched to clear the trans-
mission housing. The strongback is welded to the
torsion bars and roll bar.
gearshift
Work the gearshift control rod back into the
tunnel and slip it into the transmission coupling.
Then mark it for the proper length (use the hole
atop the tunnel where the gearshift assembly bolts
on). Again remove the rod, cut it where marked
and then weld, taking care that the two sections
are correctly aligned. Precision here is necessary,
for both the twisting and the back and forth mo-
tions of the rod govern gear selection. Finally,
the control rod is installed and bolted to the
transmission, and the shift lever is screwed in
place.
cowling and steering
Angle-iron braces are cut to fit along the front
of the belly pan and are bolted in place to serve
as a tie-in for the tubular cowling braces.
For steering, the original Volkswagen column
and wheel are retained in the buggy. After in-
stalling a seat (the stock seat guides should still
be in place) the steering column can be lined
184
up with the seat and steering knuckle and welded
to the cowling brace. A hole is later cut in the
front of the cowling for the column.
The simplest and surest method of making the
cowling is to first cut a cardboard template ac-
cording to the provided measurements. Check the
fit of the template and then cut the metal from
the trimmed template. Working from the center
outward, the cowling is spotted with small welds
to the bracing. If the metal begins to warp, cover
the main area of the cowling with wet cloths to
dissipate the heat. After grinding the welds use
fiberglass or auto-body lead to fill in the joint.
With the cowling installed, a small metal instru-
ment panel can be suspended from the cowling
braces over the gearshift—this panel need only
contain the essentials such as starter switch, light
switch (if lights are fitted) and oil-pressure
gauge.
control rods
The disconnected control rods (clutch, throttle
and emergency brake) should protrude through
the rear of the tunnel. They must be cut to the
proper lengths and hooked up to the appropriate
connections. The rear hydraulic brake line, which
must also be shortened, can be re-installed at this
time.
battery box and carrier
The battery supporting frame is welded in
place behind the right rear torsion tube. The top
of the battery should extend no higher than the
engine itself when re-installed.
The framework for a carryall box or basket is
built from l-1/2-in. angle iron and is welded to
the roll bar and roll-bar braces. Then, plywood
sides and bottom are bolted in place.
fuel tanks
For maximum range, a 10-gallon fuel tank
from a VW truck or bus is utilized. The fill spout
should be moved to the center of the tank, so it
will fit between the driver and passenger seats.
optional equipment
A Volkswagen truck reduction box on the end
of the standard VW rear axle housing will give
the buggy an additional 3-3/4in. of ground clear-
ance, and will lower overall gearing to 1.4 to 1.
Because the reduction boxes are often difficult to
come by, many builders install them afterwards,
since it involves no major redesign of the parts
but merely a slight modification to fit the con-
ventional axle housing.