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Thu Feb 03, 2005 12:50 pm

What is the drawback of making a Baja out of a super ? Will it not even work ? I can get a 74' for a song but it is a super , will it work or should I just skip it ? Anyone have a pics of a 74' Super turned into a Baja ?
Thanks,
Raz

Thu Feb 03, 2005 12:55 pm

it will work, but the weakness is the front suspension. it lacks durability and modification

read more here:

http://sandlizrd.baja.com/superbad.htm

Thu Feb 03, 2005 5:16 pm

Ditto to what Brad said. Also, the fiberglass baja kits for super beetles are way more money, and they are hard to come by.

SHMO

Thu Feb 03, 2005 5:19 pm

SHMO wrote: Also, the fiberglass baja kits for super beetles are way more money, and they are hard to come by.
http://www.markvfiberglass.com/catalog/kits/kitK201.html
http://www.markvfiberglass.com/catalog/kits/kitK202.html

not really hard to come by :wink:

Thu Feb 03, 2005 5:32 pm

a few people have said that the super can hold up better than you would think, check into it more and try to find owners of a super baja to get first hand info. if you do decide to go this route becouse the super is so cheap think about keeping it an all metel baja and trim the fenders, maybe a body lift so you can run the tires you want.

if you trash it super quick (nice pun eh? :roll: ) at least you didnt put much money into it.
if it holds up for a while more than expected all the better, of course that all depends on how hard you thrash it. maybe this kind of car will serve you for longer than we think if you dont abuse it, but you will never have the kind of front suspension travel that a king pin w/coil overs will get you.

do you have a welder? if so then think about caging the car front to rear and all your macphereson(sp?) strut problems go away as you run whatever kind of front beam you want.....hell you may even decide to go with A-arms.

Thu Feb 03, 2005 5:56 pm

Chances are with all the left over supers running around more and more people will be running them as baja's. I've got a few supers and the thought has crossed my mind, but here is one thing that stopped me.

Struts. I beat the heck out of a 411 last year. One of our major problems was the struts. We blew the heck out of them when the front end came down. The right side broke and the whole assembly came out of the wheel well.

my .02

Thu Feb 03, 2005 7:49 pm

I agree EXACTLY with vanhag. I have heard of guys running the supers off road, but they are considerably weaker up front. Might as well buy an old honda civic and run that. It would be faster and just about as strong. If you are simply wanting a "baja look" for the streets or gravel road, then by all means.

And Brad,
what I meant by "hard to come by" is the fact not many manufacturers build kits, and that they are generally higher priced. I didn't mean they were non-existant

I don't intend to sound negative. I just don't want razbarlow to think a super beetle is a good off road option.

They are weaker and baja kits are more expensive and harder to find.

SHMO

Thu Feb 03, 2005 7:54 pm

FYI

I scoped Brad's link. The super beetle kits costs $110 more than the same kit for a standard beetle.

SHMO

Thu Feb 03, 2005 8:00 pm

i wasnt arguing the fact that they dont cost more, i was just saying that they werent hard to find

Thu Feb 03, 2005 11:02 pm

Gotcha Brad :wink:

SHMO

Sun Feb 06, 2005 4:17 pm

SHMO wrote: I agree EXACTLY with vanhag.

Might as well buy an old honda civic and run that. It would be faster and just about as strong.

SHMO

I don't know much about Honda, but a old Subaru that a guy bought for $75 gave me a real good race this weekend. But his clutch went on the last lap. His 2.3 vs my 1500 cc rail. So I won the 2005 Winter Baja. Moral If it brakes you can't win, losing sucks.
K G :D

Sun Aug 31, 2008 1:09 pm

So are you guys saying there is no way to beef up the fount to make it stronger? If there is what would have to be made stronger?

Sun Aug 31, 2008 1:13 pm

Shawn197331 wrote: So are you guys saying there is no way to beef up the fount to make it stronger? If there is what would have to be made stronger?

Read the stickie that says Super Beetle as a Baja

Sun Aug 31, 2008 2:20 pm

RazBarlow wrote: What is the drawback of making a Baja out of a super ? Will it not even work ? I can get a 74' for a song but it is a super , will it work or should I just skip it ? Anyone have a pics of a 74' Super turned into a Baja ?
Thanks,
Raz

Get the super for a song. Pull all the parts you want as spares and sell the rest. Then go find a standard... If you want a baja, then build a baja. The main ingredient is a standard beetle. IMO.

Sun Aug 31, 2008 2:31 pm

You can use Sway Away bushings in the control arms and use the biggest Sway Away sway bar. That sould work as long as you drive it at or uner its limits. You can modify A-2 struts with VR 6 mounts to beef up the struts. The early control arms are forged while the later are stamped steel. You can make your own control arms. You could eliminate the sway bar and use a right track arm. BMW 320 had a larger ball joint similar to a super that with the bigger BMW spindle might be useable. I did make a cross bar and x between the strut towers for some one who lived on dirt roads..
The rest were ideas I had to make one with other German cars parts. I never bought the lathe and mill so they stay ideas. The quickest way would to swap frame heads for a ball joint or king and link pin front end. The spare tire well gets notched.

Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:07 pm

i have a super as a baja and its just fine offroad for like the woods and trails not so much for jumping dunes or anything, like they were sayin youll shoot the strutt straight up and out of your hood lol.

i have mine lifted as high as the strut will stretch and some camber adjusters to tuck the wheel back in where its sapposed to be :P

Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:27 pm

baja it and run it until the front end falls off and then install a beam.....

Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:45 pm

They do make good trail rigs. I've seen 2 of them that were just used on lighter duty trails and they were great. This is something that a street car couldn't do, but a 2wd truck could. We didn'y go over huge whoops, jumps and 7" mud. But then again it wasn't half as fun as a prepped baja. I'd buy another for $200 in a heartbeat. Then as mentioned, run it to death then upgrade.

Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:46 pm

agreeed ^^^

just cutt the frame head off, and install a LP frame head, and beam.

or tube the front out and hang the beam on the tubing.

Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:52 pm

Frame heads don't exactly just go on like you would with a ball joint car.