Administrators Eric Posted June 18, 2019 Administrators Share Posted June 18, 2019 This is a 1945 VW Beetle which is currently for sale on Hemmings. The car has received a beautiful restoration, but what interests me is the ground clearance and how they got there. The swing arms in the front are extended, but what I really love is in the back. This Bug has portal hubs in the back. That is as cool as hell. You get great ground clearance without huge tires and you can multiply the available torque with the geared hubs. I wonder if anyone made these dropped hubs aftermarket for VW Bugs? It would be a great way to set one up. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Posted June 18, 2019 Author Administrators Share Posted June 18, 2019 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steelharp Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 Beautiful!!!!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janice6 Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 52 minutes ago, Eric said: I understand that the offset hubs like this were standard equipment on the VW Buses. During the dune buggy craze a lot of people around here used to look for them in the junk yards to provide additional clearance to the Buggys, so the belly pan would get the car "high centered" on rough terrain. I don't know home much torque they could handle. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Posted June 18, 2019 Author Administrators Share Posted June 18, 2019 3 minutes ago, janice6 said: I understand that the offset hubs like this were standard equipment on the VW Buses. During the dune buggy craze a lot of people around here used to look for them in the junk yards to provide additional clearance to the Buggys, so the belly pan would get the car "high centered" on rough terrain. I don't know home much torque they could handle. It's OK. Those old Bug engines weren't producing much torque. A little gearing in the hubs would probably come in handy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Posted June 18, 2019 Author Administrators Share Posted June 18, 2019 5 minutes ago, janice6 said: I understand that the offset hubs like this were standard equipment on the VW Buses. During the dune buggy craze a lot of people around here used to look for them in the junk yards to provide additional clearance to the Buggys, so the belly pan would get the car "high centered" on rough terrain. I don't know home much torque they could handle. FWIW, I don't remember ever working on a VW Bus with portal hubs. I think if they were in such wide use back then, there would be more info available about them now. I can find very little about them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Posted June 18, 2019 Author Administrators Share Posted June 18, 2019 7 minutes ago, janice6 said: I understand that the offset hubs like this were standard equipment on the VW Buses. During the dune buggy craze a lot of people around here used to look for them in the junk yards to provide additional clearance to the Buggys, so the belly pan would get the car "high centered" on rough terrain. I don't know home much torque they could handle. BTW, I miss dune buggies and sand rails. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janice6 Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 My wife's early year VW taught me the importance of the Capacitor on the distributer. One day it wouldn't start. Everything was there, spark, fuel, air, I could find nothing that would stop it from running. On a lark, I took an oil filled capacitor I had in my shop and paralleled the Ignition Capacitor. It started and ran fine. It suddenly occurred to me, that while I used to think the capacitor was for spark control/suppression for point life, in reality it was the only discharge current path for the coil. When the points closed the coil would saturate due to the current through it. When the points opened, the saturated coil magnetic field collapse, caused the actual spark at the distributer that allowed for ignition of the fuel air mixture. It is the return current path for the Ignition coil and is chosen for a value that with the inductance of the ignition coil, produces a sufficient duration of the spark to make everything run. It was enlightening to me. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janice6 Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 3 minutes ago, Eric said: It's OK. Those old Bug engines weren't producing much torque. A little gearing in the hubs would probably come in handy. I was thinking of use with bigger engines. I don't know of any bigger engines connected to the offset rear hubs but then someone might know of one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janice6 Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 6 minutes ago, Eric said: FWIW, I don't remember ever working on a VW Bus with portal hubs. I think if they were in such wide use back then, there would be more info available about them now. I can find very little about them. They also had some gear reduction to aid in the heavier chassis of the bus while using the same engine as the bug. Some people used to like them just for the additional gearing. At the time, late 60's early 70's they were very common in junk yards. Just not a tremendous number of buses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janice6 Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 (edited) https://duckduckgo.com/?q=vw+buss+reduction+gear+boxes&atb=v109-7__&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2F9SFDQ-LdPzs%2Fhqdefault.jpg Here is a picture of the "innards" of one. Edited June 18, 2019 by janice6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janice6 Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 Here is some history on them: http://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-european/curbside-classic-1965-vw-deluxe-micro-bus-samba-tinnibus/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Posted June 18, 2019 Author Administrators Share Posted June 18, 2019 3 minutes ago, janice6 said: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=vw+buss+reduction+gear+boxes&atb=v109-7__&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2F9SFDQ-LdPzs%2Fhqdefault.jpg Here is a picture of the "innards" of one. I know they were on some buses, but I wondering if they were standard equipment. I haven't found a single set for sale and there is very little information out there about them. I'd like to get a set and build a Bug around them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Posted June 18, 2019 Author Administrators Share Posted June 18, 2019 I did some looking and it appears that they weren't available from 1967 on. I've worked on a few VW Buses. I must never have worked on one older than 1967. Anyway, I want a pair of these portal axles. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Posted June 18, 2019 Author Administrators Share Posted June 18, 2019 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Posted June 18, 2019 Author Administrators Share Posted June 18, 2019 18 minutes ago, janice6 said: Here is some history on them: http://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-european/curbside-classic-1965-vw-deluxe-micro-bus-samba-tinnibus/ BTW, I appreciate your input on this. I always enjoy learning a new car fact I wasn't aware of. Now I just need to find a set of these bad boys. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tous Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 3 minutes ago, Eric said: BTW, I appreciate your input on this. I always enjoy learning a new car fact I wasn't aware of. Now I just need to find a set of these bad boys. Will it fit into a Maxima? 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Posted June 18, 2019 Author Administrators Share Posted June 18, 2019 1 minute ago, tous said: Will it fit into a Maxima? I am tired of working on that freaking thing. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borg warner Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 (edited) Nice bug but it looks like it has the original 36 horse engine. While those were reliable engines, I'd opt for a dual port 1835 with a center mount 2 barrel Progressive like a Weber DCEV (“E” stands for electric choke) Edited June 18, 2019 by Borg warner 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Posted June 18, 2019 Author Administrators Share Posted June 18, 2019 I like the semaphore turn signals as well. I've always loved those on old cars. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BamaBud Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 It's very cool, but it's in Australia! Description says it was based on a kubelwagen. Makes me wonder if the later VW Thing had a similar axle setup. Besides, who doesn't have an extra $280,000 laying around? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_Hallbert Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 This is the real deal!Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tadbart Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 Oh man. That thing is gorgeous. My first car was a 72 Karmann Ghia. I've thought about picking one up as a resto-custom project after school. Just gotta figure out how big of an engine and air conditioner I can wedge into one... I notice that Bug is in some pretty distinguished company. And it looks like it fits right in. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Posted June 18, 2019 Author Administrators Share Posted June 18, 2019 22 minutes ago, BamaBud said: It's very cool, but it's in Australia! Description says it was based on a kubelwagen. Makes me wonder if the later VW Thing had a similar axle setup. Besides, who doesn't have an extra $280,000 laying around? Porsche built a similar vehicle in 1957 or so, to compete for a military contract. It was the Type 597 Jagdwagen. The clearance, wheelbase & track and what I can see of the suspension seems like about the same setup. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janice6 Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 1 hour ago, Eric said: I am tired of working on that freaking thing. I found that often the most frustration with a project and the conclusion of it occurred at the same time. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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