Some questions...

[matty101_vw]

What are your guys take on side pods? Are they hard to do? Are they worth it? And where do I get them and how much? I was getting curious and thought they would be cool. Would they be affected if I lowered the buggy a couple inches? Another question, How would you go about lowering an IRS suspended rear transaxel and a BJ front beam on a budget, but safe?

[jspbtown]

My opinion is that side pods look cool on a street buggy. I like how they smooth the lines. I have built 3 buggies...2 without pods and 1 with. I think the one with the pods looked the best. They aren't hard at all. Line them up, do any bodywork that is needed to bring them up to your standards (some people don't mind gaps where they meet the body...some do), and mount them.

I got mine from Texas Buggies. They are very reasonable and the product is great.

To lower the rear you index the rear torsion bars. Cost is $0.00. To lower the front you need 1. dropped spindles and/or 2. beam adjusters. Either way works. Consider caster shims if you drop it a couple of inches.

[matty101_vw]

Good info, thanks man. Is it pretty hard to index the torsion bars?

[CoryN]

I'm a pod fan and I molded mine on. It was not difficult

As for indexing the rear it was not difficult either and that is coming from someone with no prior experience

[matty101_vw]

Sweet. Ok one more question.... Whats the best route to use to run the wiring harness up to the front of the tub? Or what are the best ideas?

[jspbtown]

Some buggies have tubes glassed in under the fenders. Here is what mine looked like:



If you don't have them you have a few options.

1. You can flip the body over and glass in some tubes to run the wires in. The tubes can be made of almost anything. Vacuum (like your home vacuum) hose, flexible electrical conduit, cardboard...whatever.

2. I have also used small plastic tabs that you can get from a Home Center. They are designed to loop a zip tie through. They are about 1" square. I have taken the adhesive sticker off of them and epoxied them under the sides every 6" or so and used zip ties to hold the loom against the side of the buggy.

You can also run them inside or alongside the tunnel as well.

[CoryN]

Mine had huge channels running along the sides and over the rear fenders. At the front I bought blue flexible conduit, designed to go with those blue plastic outlet boxes you see at the BORG's. I bought a 12 foot piece for a couple of bucks. Cut it to size and spray painted it black. They make connector ends also, I drilled a hole in my wheelwell the size of the connecter and it snapped into place. Worked great!

[CoryN]

Good info, thanks man. Is it pretty hard to index the torsion bars?

Hardest part of this is getting the covers back on. The bushings swell a little after you pull them out and its hard to get the holes to line back up for putting the covers back on. People suggest using longer bolts to get it started and then switch out one at a time back to the short bolts.

[matty101_vw]

Sweet, from all that im pretty sure I can construct something that works. Thanks guys