My first baja project

Hello all!

I heard a lot about this group around the web (namely the Legendary Camo Baja website), and decided to go to you guys before starting up my first baja project.

Currently, all I have is a stock tranny and the Dual-Port 1600 stock motor out of my '73 Super Beetle. I already have the crank case opened, cylinders are honed. Gonna stick with stock size for now, just for reliability.

My plan is to get the engine completely assembled and install a sand-seal pulley and a full-flow oil kit while I search for a good vehicle to throw it in.

My one HUGE concern here is that if it takes a year or two to get the body ready, is there any way to seal my engine off to avoid rust problems? I really don't want to have to tear the whole thing apart down the road before I even get to use it - and have to hone it and re-ring it again, replace valves, etc.

As far as the body, I found a $50.00 '68 already cut with the baja body kit already installed. No holes in the floorpan and all rust seems to be on the surface. ALL of the rubber is bad (bushings, etc.) but I'm planning on doing this from the ground up...

-pulling the body off the floorpan, cleaning and "rhino-lining" it, putting a 2" (or 3") body lift on (buy? or build-my-own

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?)-new balljoints, urethane bushings, boots, and tie rod ends-complete brake line and master/slave cylinder replacement with steelbrake lines

-new wheel bearings all around

-adjustable torsion bar on front (weld-on adjusters or purchase the whole bar?)

-urethane transmission mount kit and a tranny strap

-steering dampener(s?)

I know if I buy the '68 I get the undersireable balljoint + swing axle combo, but this won't be a true performance vehicle. I just don't think it is that big of a deal for my mountain-road-driving here in Idaho - and though I'm not yet sold on it, $50.00 sounds really good to me!

You guys and gals are the experts, so I'd really like some input on the plan I laid out. This seems like a huge undertaking to me, and I don't want to get half-way in just to find out that I made an error in judgement and have to do some major re-working or re-calculating. What may help best is a plan of attack - what to do, in what order. When I fire this baby up for the first time, I want her to be (off)road-worthy.

To those swing-axle people out there, how have you increased tire wear time? any specific brand tire? I'd like to put some nice 10" wide mudders back there, but though this won't be my primary vehicle, I'd like to drive it around town a bit... and I REALLY want to turn the torsion bars down one spline for that added clearance!!! (In the future I'd like to go to IRS to save tire wear. )

Other than that, ANY pointers or tips are welcome - no matter how small. Like I said, I'm on a budget so this will be a work-in-progress for quite a while before she first tastes the dirt, so I'd really like to have a good plan going in.

Thanks in advance! Ben in Boise

Reply to
blk_addr
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Where were you when I put the LCB up for sale? :-)

I ran with a 1200 SP motor. I can't believe a 1600 in good shape won't be plenty of reliable power for you to have fun with offroad.

Not sure what to tell you there. I never let an engine sit long enough to rust. :)

I can't speak for the balljoint front end, but I really don't think you'll be discouraged with the swing-axle rear end. Just don't try to turn a corner super-fast once you crank down that torsion bar an extra notch, or you might find yourself in trouble. That never happened to me, but I've heard stories of bugs rolling due in part to the swing-axle rear.

I can't help you there, either. I can't stand to have a car in an undriveable condition for long so when I transformed my '63 Beetle into a baja, I did it just a little at a time so I could still drive it at the end of each day. I never took the body off of the pan and got way down into it like you sound like you're going to. If the body/pan is as rust-free as you describe, then maybe you would be overdoing it by pulling the body off of the pan?

I had the swing-axle rear and turned my torsion bars down a notch. The car is so light that even though the rear tires will wear unevenly, they'll still wear VERY slowly. I put several thousand miles on my rear tires with the torsion bars turned down a notch, most of those miles on the roads, but a sh*tload of them off-road, too. When I got rid of the car I didn't look *closely* at the rear tires, but I did look at them and didn't see any uneven wear pattern even starting to show up yet. I don't think that going to IRS *only* to save on tire wear is worth the $.

Have FUN with it. That's the whole point, right? Don't waste more than $50 on the paint job and you'll be able to have even more guilt-free fun with it. Put a fire extinguisher in it before you even start it up the first time. It doesn't take long for fire to un-do all of the time and $ you put into it. One last tip... You could threaten to convert a pristine VW Beetle into a baja unless people pipe up and start giving you suggestions on how to work with the '68 baja that you're describing... That might get the suggestions going. Just be prepared to hear words like "butcher" and "@sshole" and stuff like that. Trust me. ;-)

Reply to
Shag

I don't see why anyone would use a body lift kit. You'll be able to get large enough tires under the baja fenders to go almost anywhere. It's not worth the extra work & expense & only serves to raise the window level when sitting in the car. ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver"

Giggle Cream - it makes dessert *funny*!

Reply to
ThaDriver

Hey, thanks for the pointers there... I really wish I could have taken the LCB off your hands! Though the commute to Idaho in a baja may be a little rough!

It's really good to know that the tires won't wear like crazy. I don't plan on driving too many miles on the highway (my commute to work is about 5 minutes), so that should help even more.

As far as the pan is concerned, I want to take it down to bare metal and put a protective coating on it. I also want to seal it up as well as I can to keep pools of water forming around my feet ;) I have plenty of time to work on it, as it will be slow getting all of the money together (luckily I got a raise yesterday... WOOHOO!!!) so I figure I might do it as right as I can.

This car is being BUILT for fun! I'm going to put a sweet light gray, dark gray, and black camo job. That way noone will see me, and they'll wonder where that badass noise is coming from until I drive over them in their 4x4!!! Bwahahaha!!! It will sure be a lot of work to replace everything I plan on replacing, but when I'm done I believe it will be worth it. I will know that car inside and out, and will have worked on every mechanical part of it... so I will have real trust that my baja will make it home (with a few extra parts, maybe limping once in a while when I ride her really hard)

You know, I read the group threads back to where you were putting your Baja kit on, and I saw you get just CREAMED for cutting it up! And I thought to myself... I could say I'm cutting up an oval window for a baja... it's in perfect working order, completely cared for and garaged by an old lady, only 25,000 original miles... "perfect for a baja" I would say!!! Now THAT would get me some attention ;)

Thans again for the reply... I really need all the pointers and support I can get!

Reply to
blk_addr

You know, you may be right. It would be a lot of work, and it's not like I'd really gain too much from it at this point. I want my baja to "Stand Tall", but that may have to wait for another day. Thanks for the input, it was exactly what I'm looking for!

Another question for those out there that may come across this... what type of seats do you recommend? I've read that sports car seats are nice because they're firm and hold you in the seat really well. Has anyone noticed seats that are better than others? Or very common sports cars that I can find in the junkyard for cheap? Perhaps Fiero or something...

Reply to
blk_addr

type of seats do you recommend? I've read that sports car seats are nice because they're firm and hold you in the seat really well. Has anyone noticed seats that are better than others? Or very common sports cars that I can find in the junkyard for cheap? Perhaps Fiero or something...

********** I would suggest you go to the junkyard & pick out seats you like. Keep in mind, though, whatever you find will require custom built brackets - & they are a pain 'cause they will have to mounted higher than in other cars. I've used Honda & Subaru seats, but find something *you'll* be comfortable in. ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver"

Easy on the Giggle Cream!

Reply to
ThaDriver

Go to your local Speedshop/motorsports/Rallye supplier and buy some cheap "Sparko"'s. Should be less than 300 US dollars a piece...

J.

Reply to
P.J. Berg

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