Thread: 1970 baja build

any thoughts on the dual rear shocks..??? had to put the front one slightly compressed and full droop to get the shocks at 90*. Hoop now has a triangle gusset where the front tub and stock part of the frame meet. It aint going anywhere.

woohoo. engine assembled and drove it, ( sat on a milk crate) but still drove it. Had to go through the gears, tranny seemed fine....good. Found out all the wires were chewed through inside the cab by..............rats. I would guess, so have to try to rewire the whole car. That will probably set me back a little while.

drivin!

Nice work!

Looks bitchin. Glad to see it rolling. One bit of criticism tho, That fan shroud you're running will cause your motor to run hotter than it should. That type of shroud doesn't have the proper fins inside to direct the airflow where it needs to be and it's not a very efficient design either. Look for a dog house style shroud that was built properly. Use the doghouse cooler ans well as an original doghouse shroud or equivalent like the Scat one. Scat makes a 36 horse style w/out heater holes and has all the internal fins in the right place as well as the doghouse cooler. Your motor will thank you. Shrouds like the one you have now have a tendancy to warp cylinders and crack heads. You may not notice it right away but when blow by starts to contaminate the oil it will burn bearings. You might even cough up a spark plug out in the desert. Don't get me wrong tho, the build looks great. It's just that it's actually quite difficult to out do Volkswagen in a lot of cases. From the stock size front pully to the 009 dist. w/ retarted #3 timing. They knew what they were doing and it all works even when you're making a lot of new horsepower or driving off road. If you have questions, feel free to ask as I've done it all wrong at least once before haha!
Aloha
-Jason

well thank you. I still have a couple months before this thing will actually get used.. We do a baja trip in october. So i will probably change it by then. Also like you, my dad has done tons of bajas and vw related projects.

Just dragged the baja home. need to prep and coat the interior.

ok, what color should i paint it???

im so lost. I have FOUR ideas.

1. all blue
2. all white.
3. all orange ( like whisky tango's car) sorry......its a sweet color.!
4. two tone, body and fenders either all blue or all orange and the middle section white...like this...

two tone, orange and dark green

??????????hhaha. Nah.

Im leaning towards white...that way it will be easy to paint over for me or someone else..

are you going to rattle can it or take it someplace?

im thinkin rattle can...

lookin good man ... ya i second the dog house ... i ran the same shroud style on my street bug thinkin that it would help ... and i was set straight by warped cyliders and a cracked piston... and a slap to the face by some guys at vee dub parts ... lol .. jk ... love those guys ... they are awsome ... but ya run the dog house with the dog house cooler ... i dont even have a aux fan on my cooler ... i dont think it needs it ... i was drivin my bug when it was 105 from south oc to long beach and back 3 day in a row (man my drive to school sux ... woot DD trucks) and never once had a problem with her ... vw def had specific reasons why they did things... and when you start straying from those settings ... your car will let you know ... and usually in a bad way .... .

but non the less the bug looks like shes comin along nicely good luck with the end results

o ya im runing the scat dog house with the heater holes pluged with caps ... they make ones with out the holes already .. but i couldnt deny a free dog house ... trust me your baby will thank you ... mine did .. lol

been priming and painting the inside. Painted the inside white. Put back on the door panels. Will definitely be getting new ones, cuz they are kinda warped.
Sprayed about 4 cans of rubberized coating on the floor. Its kinda like a bedliner just not as much to it. Looks good, and shouldnt rust anymore. Also works as a noise reducer.
Gutted all the wiring.

Thinking about getting a buggy wiring harness instead of a stock bug harness. Im guessing i dont need alot of the wires, and the price is drastic.

i need:

suspension seats------prefer gray
harnesses
lights
rear racing fenders

let me know if you got any of these........

Poly Performance has a good price on 3" Crow 5pt harnesses.


Why are you using a suspension seat in your bug? You won't have enough room between the bottom of the seat and the floor board to safely use them. I personally will not put a suspension seat in my bug, I'm putting in Sparco Sprint 5 seats. They are FIA approved and will be very supportive.

http://www.sparcousa.com/pseats_comp.asp?id=622

I think the harnesses are $89 for each for the 3" wide ones. Not positive though.

Originally Posted by crazyracer

Poly Performance has a good price on 3" Crow 5pt harnesses.


Why are you using a suspension seat in your bug? You won't have enough room between the bottom of the seat and the floor board to safely use them. I personally will not put a suspension seat in my bug, I'm putting in Sparco Sprint 5 seats. They are FIA approved and will be very supportive.

http://www.sparcousa.com/pseats_comp.asp?id=622

I think the harnesses are $89 for each for the 3" wide ones. Not positive though.

Everyone I know uses suspension seats in their bug. I have prp pro's and they fit fine

Paint that car orange! My color is a mix between yellow and orange. There are enough white bugs out there do something a little different

i glanced at the 'no suspension seat thread'. Everyone is entitled to there opinion. I will be getting the suspension seats. I had full size beards in my rhino. It was nite and day over stock seats.!

i just dont know about the orange. I feel like i need more "stuff", to be able to paint my car orange.hahaha. Ive still got a couple months, so anything could happen.

whiskytango, I do love your orange car though!

Pink is the new orange man! All the cool guys run "girl" colors (at least thats what I tell myself)

no response...............

i wanna do mine hot pink and black.......lol

but for real a super bright orange would look sick!

Please don't paint it orange, thats what mine is gonna be! lol. I'm doing two tone orange and white (white top, orange bottom). Can't wait, I'll post pics when its done. I love bugs

My car is a mix of two parts yellow and one part red-orange. In certian spots it looks scool bus yellow and other spots it looks orange. My plan was to go with a bright orange but I was convinced to go more yellow by my painter. Anything is better than white

Well for now, its looking like it will be white. Boring, yes, but clean looking.

priming and sanding tomorrow

well its white...........................it looks ok. I just cant justify a shiny paint job, when i know its gonna get used and abused. Im thinking ill throw a couple stickers on it too break up the monotone.

Started wiring the car.

Has anyone ever used the 'buggy wiring harness' from chirco. Doesnt seem to bad. Fuses in fuse block are only 8 amp. seem kinda cheesy, and never have seen that type of fuse before. idk

pics

lookin good man

White is bitchen, you can add color so easy. And I wired my car by hand and used circuit breakers, no fuses. Are you saying it came with 8 amp fuses or they are only rated to 8 amps (or both)? 8 amps will run your car no problem, but won't be enough for any aftermarket stuff like lights, pumper, radios, etc.

in the fuse block it has six, 8 amp fuses. I will have this run all my stock type stuff, headlights, brakes, starter, ignition, etc. it should work cuz thats what the diagram shows they sent me. Almost done with wiring, having a couple brain farts.

got new seats, low back race trims for 139, for a pair.! totaled at 214 with shipping. Seem pretty good and about 1/3 the price of my old beards........

decided to two tone the car, with...........................................
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yellow! looks pretty good and not so bland.

Mounting seats tomorrow, finish up wiring. Mount rear fenders.

Need battery, engine cage, and mount taillights.

pretty tight....Im liking the build so far

seats are mounted.

Electrical is aaaaaaa biiiiiiiiiiitch. Most everything i have works however. I have a short. Somewhere.! Car starts right up, which is sweet . But dies and cant be turned over at all. ( Turn key over, fuel pump comes on, lights work, nothing from the starter) so, most likely its the generator or the connection around the gen. starter, battery. I would love to have a new alternator setup. Soon hopefully. Ignition switch is also shit.

Getting some tubing for the engine cage. Hopefully make that soon, then can mount the taillights.

Opinions wanted---> front seats are stationary, no slide, tilt, nothing. But i want to put a seat in the back, soooo, bench seat, or 2 buckets, like the fronts?? Right now the 3rd passenger is only 16 months old. But will sometimes put 4 people in it. wwyd?

i say bench seat

Put one more low back in the middle

Only one. A 3 seater huh??? hmmmmm

gettin' there





generator is no good.....bummer. I will be putting in an alternator, but it will be a little while.

Still have misc. to finish up, mount gauges, little bit of wiring.

Hopefully fabbing up the engine cage soon.

question to all? what do you think my WHEELS are worth?

I don't know, but I'd like first crack at the fronts.

and id like the rear rims lol