Hello all,
This is the update on the rail buggie. I took it over to a friends shop and we worked on it for about 3 hours.
He is what we found:
solex carb - we took it aprt and found the insides all gummed up. Clean the parts and put it back together. We got it to run but you need to feather the gas to keep it running. It could use another carb used carb for quick fix...

Gas in tank was bad. I drained it out and put fresh gas in it today, but the carb gummed up again. had to take it apart again.

trany -(5 rib sedan) 1st and 3rd gear issue - It will not go into 1st or 3rd gear, we removed the shifter and try to put it into gear when it was off but it just will not go into the gears wants to kick out and grind. we looked at the shafted and seams that it should go into the case another 1/4" but will not.
Does any body know how to fix this? the nose cone does not look broken or anything.
2nd , 4th , rev all work fine.....
any help with would be great!

Thinking you may be running a aircooled vw motor, I am thinking you need to go through your gear box. Here is a number to call to find out more, Bugformance in San Jose 408-926-8830 ask for Charles, or anyone there really. They are very very knowledgeable on these..