Great buggy day

[Ken]

What a beautiful day. Sunny and temperature in the sixties. But best of all I spent time on my buggies. It's time I admit that both my rail and the manx have both been out of commission since the Christmas parade in Dallas. I lost the clutch slave cylinder in the Manx and pulled the cylinder from the rail to get her running. I'm ready to order parts so today I put the cylinder back in the rail. Good to have a running buggy again.

[Ken]

And no I did not work on the baja.
Thanks for not asking... uumm Bob!

[johber41]

Ken, you have a clutch slave cylinder on your Manx? Mine is just a cable through the tunnel to a Bowden tube, to the clutch lever on the trans....mine is totally mechanical, not hydraulic. That is interesting. What year was your donor car?

[GregR]

Ken's Manx is converted to hydraulic, clutch, 4 wheel disc.
Throttle uses a Morse push-pull cable.
All upgraded from original.
Nice buggy Ken…..now about that Baja….

[Ken]

Yup, hydraulic clutch in Manx and rail. Donor's were early 70's for both. I don't think any stock bettle came with hydraulic clutch. It's a fairly easy upgrade that requires a peddle with master cylinder, brake line and the slave cylinder.

Never had a problem until the Manx blew a cylinder seal, which I noticed while I was loading her to go to parade last month. Fortunately, the rail volunteered to donate the part for a quick temporary repair.

Manx is now waiting on a replacement slave cylinder.

[johber41]

Nice upgrade......is there a big difference in the way the clutch pedal feels with the hydraulic system? Seems these cars do not have a heavy clutch pedal anyway.

[Ken]

John, I never paid any attention to it before, but moving my cylinder back to the rail, the peddle is stiffer than before.
I'm going to play with it and see what the heck is going on.
Since both mine are hydraulic we'll have to compare them at a get together.
I've got my new cylinder ordered, so Manx should be up soon.

Looks like a fantastic buggy weekend coming our way... Man I hope I can get find some time to go for a nice long cruise.

[johber41]

Sounds good Ken.....rainy and cold here (SE Houston toward Galveston) but we are hopeful for some sunny days coming up. Need to get the car out of the garage for a while.

[staggerwing]

What the heck is a "bettle" anyway.

Today AND tomorrow are going to be really nice, weather wise. I'll be cruising later this afternoon!

[jpbaird]

Made it out for the first time last weekend as well. After getting some work done (cut in transaxle boot and new limit straps) and adding some motorcycle exhaust wrap to the baffle to prevent the ringing - it was time to get it on the road! Unfortunately one of the baffles wasn't tight enough and it shot out the back at about 30 mph! Thankfully no one hurt and very glad not to be seen... for obvious DOOM BUGGY stigma reasons.

But did drive home and pounded it back in shape (slightly run over) and reinstalled. Giving it a go again today and hope things go better!!!