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Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:03 pm

Thanks, Skid.

Tomorrow my goal is to finish the drivers-side seat mount, front bumper, and some more of the wiring. Hopefully should have some more pictures then.

: Greg

Sun Oct 25, 2009 7:46 am

Great looking build,

Mon Feb 15, 2010 10:17 pm

Well I put the three day weekend to good use, was able to accomplish a ton. I'm so close to being able to drive my baja somewhat legally on the street :)

Items completed recently: Completed front bumper, hood mounts, and light mounts, including paint and tabs for skid plate; finished installing Painless wiring kit and cleaned up wiring (still need to route headlight wires); cleaned up the interior with zip ties, secured wiring, and added a sweet LED dome light (see pics below); added 3-pt seatbelts and mounts; rebuilt wiper motor and cleaned of old grease; rebuilt speedometer and cleaned / greased speedo wire input so that it will turn now.

More work to come, but here are some recent photos:

Mon Feb 15, 2010 10:31 pm

Pics are very cool. Especially nice job on the wiring.

Tue Feb 16, 2010 2:51 pm

Cool idea for the seatbelt mount!

Tue Feb 16, 2010 8:05 pm

first of all: nice build, jealous. are you happy with your cage? was needing to get one also, not sure what to get. wanted something basic like that to start with and then go from there. i did notice that in this picture
Gregorio wrote:

that the upper bar isn't parallel with the windshield pillar. and you said that you only trimmed a couple inches off the back pieces. is this cage for a 3" lift? just wondering cause i have a lift on my car and wanted to make sure it would fit. thanks
nice wiring job also. I'm in the process of figuring out how i want to wire mine. keep us posted on your progress.

Wed Feb 17, 2010 7:20 am

Hey Chubby -

I think the roll cage is meant to fit in cars with up to a 3" body lift (look at Neil's baja build post a few down from here I think - he's got a lift and the same cage). I trimmed about 2" or so off the back legs, and overall I'm happy with the cage. I'm not going to be racing, so I wanted something functional and this does fine.

For wiring, I really had no idea what I was doing which is why I purchased the Painless kit - all of the wires are labeled and really easy to hook up. A bit pricey, but better than a headache trying to figure out what's going on.

: Greg

Mon Mar 15, 2010 7:11 pm

Well, I've completed quite a bit more. Got all of my wiring ran and cleaned up, built a skid plate and mounted it, pointed headlights & off road lights, and painted the hood. Here's some recent pics of the skid plate, as well as a cool retractable light I mounted under the hood.

Mon Mar 15, 2010 9:12 pm

Man, that is one beautiful front Bumper!!! Sorry for the dumb question, but what's up with the lightbulb? Is that on a heatblower? Nice build!

Mon Mar 15, 2010 9:18 pm

jeep makes a similar trouble light that mounts to the front hood, also retractable, i've thought about something like that also. nice looking rig

Mon Mar 22, 2010 10:31 pm

i really like the look of your baja. i myself am sticking to swingaxle in the rear and am wondering what'd you do in the rear for that kind of clearance? i'm looking to do the same thing

Sat May 01, 2010 8:55 pm

Oh wow man, I really like your bug and you have done such a great job assembling everything. Those little GM truck underhood lights are real neat and a great accessory. Please keep us posted as you continue. You are building a real first-rate car.

Sat May 01, 2010 11:06 pm

Thanks, dragon, for bumping this thread.

Nice Wiring!!!
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Sat May 01, 2010 11:22 pm

Quote: i really like the look of your baja. i myself am sticking to swingaxle in the rear and am wondering what'd you do in the rear for that kind of clearance? i'm looking to do the same thing

I've got early bus reduction boxes, flipped upright which adds 3" of lift. Since more of my driving will be in the mountains as opposed to the desert, they should work great.

Since my last update I pretty much finished up the car enough to drive it around and break it in. I started with a very rough used engine and my transmission would pop out of 3rd and 4th gear, so with my tax return (much better than I expected) I decided to pop for a new longblock and tranny rebuild. Sticking with a stock 1600cc longblock, full flow, oil cooler, etc and the transaxle will be 4.12 geared with the reduction boxes, Super Diff, Aluminum Side Cover, Welded 3-4 Hubs, Hardened Keys, etc (essentially a Pro-Street).

Engine will be coming from Art Thraen @ ACE and I hope to have that in 2-3 more weeks. Having a local guru rebuild my transmission and reduction boxes. Once those are in, I should be bulletproof for a while. I'll post updates soon. :)

Mon May 10, 2010 7:58 am

Sweet ride. Looks like you have thought out problems before you put it together. Nice job on the wiring too.

Mon May 10, 2010 10:56 am

HOLY NICE WIRING BATMAN!....Is that a wire premade wireloom or custom?

I need one of those bad boys!

Mon May 10, 2010 5:48 pm

Here's the wiring kit I purchased, made by Painless. A bit pricey but totally worth it.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PRF-10308/?rtype=10

Tue May 11, 2010 2:15 pm

perfect, thanks

Sat Jul 10, 2010 12:03 am

Well, back in the swing of things. Used my tax return to rebuild my transmission (Pro-Street package) as well as purchase a new 1600 single port long block from Art Thraen (ACE in Salt Lake City). I also opted for full flow so I can add a remote oil cooler. Here's some pics:

Next steps: had a leak in my left rear reduction box and found that a stud was stripped and allowing oil out. Have a new redux cover that should be here Monday, along with the gaskets and other parts needed to complete the job.

Should have everything working by next weekend and the baja back on the road.

- Greg

Sat Jul 10, 2010 12:38 am

sweet! :shock: