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Wed Feb 20, 2008 4:27 pm

I picked up an Outfront 2.0 over the weekend and now have a lot of work to do. The baja started life as a 57 Oval. It was already cut when I bought it, so please no lectures about destroying a classic. This will be a prerunner/ play car and I would like to keep it a 3 or 4 seater. I will post some pics later.

My first question for everyone is where should I put the radiator? I have seen them mounted in the front, in the back and in a wing. Outfront recommends the radiator be mounted vertically, so that may rule out mounting in a wing.

Second question, if mounted in the front, will the water pump be adequate or will it have trouble moving the coolant? Are the coolant lines typically routed through the cab?

Third question, when mounted in the rear, is their enough airflow to keep the engine alive?

Any suggestions and/ or photos will be appreciated.

Wed Feb 20, 2008 4:49 pm

I ended up mounting my rad in the middle. It's just behind my front seats. This won't be an option for you though since you want a 4 seater. Lost of people put them above the trans. A good option might be right where the rear fire wall is. I believe the pump is strong enough to push the water to the front just fine. I opted not to do that because 1 1/2" line starts to get pricey so I wanted to keep them as short as possible. It's a tough problem to say the least.

Wed Feb 20, 2008 6:07 pm

I have no problems cooling with mine set up as a wing. The plastic fans were a bitch to keep them from breaking apart, but other than mounting issues the two 14" fans cool it fine where it is. I have only heard the second fan come on once, and the first fan doesn't come on that often (but it does more than the second). I was leary about the Suby pump holding up to pumping the extra coolant for a front mounted radiator, and I like the wing look anyway. Just my opinion... The coolant volume with my custom built radiator and the shorter lines keeping it in the rear added up to 2-1/8 gallons. This is only a little bit different than the Suby motor originally had. The angled wing made it wasy to keep the cap as the high point in the system as well...

Thu Apr 10, 2008 12:26 pm

I'm getting ready to have an 091 built for the car. I was wondering what type of gear ratios I should use. I would like to get ~100 mph and there should be ample power to pull higher gears. Any input would be appreciated.

Thu Apr 10, 2008 1:51 pm

Skidmark, Because pumps are rated at how much head (vertical distance) they will pump the additional piping to the front of the car there will not be enough pressure drop in the system to be concerned with as long as the lines used are not reduced in size.

Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:10 pm

looking forward to the build post some pics man

Thu Apr 10, 2008 10:10 pm

if it was cut when you found it you have the samba blessing

Thu Apr 10, 2008 10:54 pm

i'm planning on some Ecotec power and i'm leaning towards running my radiator in place of the rear firewall.... I was thinking of running some air inlets and ducting kinda like the "Trophy Bug" did for its oil coolers...

and pics pics pics... lets see this saumbeech....

heres that Trophy Bug

Mon Nov 03, 2008 10:29 am

The baja has sat all summer and I hope to get to work on it again. I'm in my last few months of a masters degree, so time has been really scarce. I recently purchased a new camera so some pics will follow.

I ordered an a-arm.com kit and it should arrive by the end of November. I still need a radiator and have been reading that a Scirroco or Jeep Cherokee model is the way to go for the Subie motor. Any pros/cons to one of these rads?

I am having trouble getting the rear torsions out. I have followed the Hibbard procedure and have bent two screwdrivers and a prybar and the spring plates haven't budged. Since I have new arms and will be replacing the torsion bars, is it really necessary to pay attention to the current indexing? Also, how big of tosion bars for 3x3's with the extra weight of the Subie powerplant?

Mon Nov 03, 2008 10:48 am

zmotojason wrote: The baja has sat all summer and I hope to get to work on it again. I'm in my last few months of a masters degree, so time has been really scarce. I recently purchased a new camera so some pics will follow.

I ordered an a-arm.com kit and it should arrive by the end of November. I still need a radiator and have been reading that a Scirroco or Jeep Cherokee model is the way to go for the Subie motor. Any pros/cons to one of these rads?

I am having trouble getting the rear torsions out. I have followed the Hibbard procedure and have bent two screwdrivers and a prybar and the spring plates haven't budged. Since I have new arms and will be replacing the torsion bars, is it really necessary to pay attention to the current indexing? Also, how big of tosion bars for 3x3's with the extra weight of the Subie powerplant?

Congrats on the a-arm kit.

Mon Nov 03, 2008 6:51 pm

Good luck with you project and post plenty of pics! Mack at Outfront is one hell of a guy!!

Mon Nov 03, 2008 7:30 pm

Its disappointing to open a build thread and only find pictures of the pope. :wink:

Wed Feb 04, 2009 3:31 pm

I have finally started back up on my build. An a-arm kit was ordered from a-arm.com and should arrive in the next week (pics to follow). I am switching out the rear arms to match the front track width and getting rid of the torsions in favor of Fox Coilovers and the Eagle Performance coilover conversion kit. The drive train will be an Outfront Motorsports EJ20T mated to an 091 with full Weddle internals. I haven't purchased the brakes yet, but I am leaning towards Gear One four pistons front and rear. The budget on this car has gotten a bit out of control. I have $14k in parts and will probably be pushing $20k by the time it's all said and done.

After the Baja project, I have a Manx that needs a cage and some paint. I bought it for $2k with a very well built 1915, which was replaced with a freshened up 1641SP. Once completed, this car will be sold and the money will probably be used for a 5-1600 car.

The 5-1600 has nearly all of the part needed to complete except a SCORE legal cage and transaxle. I have a race-legal 1600 motor (pictured below) and a FAT 1600 race motor that needs to be assembled. This project may be scrapped in favor of a 1/2-1600.

The plan for this week is to get the transaxle in and the torsion tube/frame horns painted, then hopefully pop the EJ20T into the car.

Here are a bunch of pics for all of you pope-haters. They were taken with my cell phone and the lighting was not great...sorry about that. I didn't get any pics of the Baja since I rolled it into the shop later in the evening.

Outfront Motorsports EJ20 Turbo that is going into the Baja:

The 1915 that came out of the Baja:

SCORE legal 1600 race motor (that’s another project)

Built 091 for the Baja:

Wed Feb 04, 2009 4:44 pm

Nice projects!

I say absolutely ditch the 5-16 before going any further and do a 1/2-1600. You won't regret it. Back in the day it used to be more economical to run a 5-16, but times have changed. Microstubs, disc brakes, power steering, hydraulic pedals, bypass shocks...you name it 5-16 has adopted it right along side 1/2-1600. And if you roll a 1/2-1600 you replace the antenna and have to bend back the roof. You roll a 5-16 and...well body work becomes a large part of your "prep".

This is with the notion that you're looking to go faster for your dollar. If you just like the nostalgia of 5-16 then by all means...but you won't be close to being able to keep up with the 1/2-1600s.

Whatever you do, have fun!

PS: We have a 2-1600 for sale. Check out http://www.wisdomracing.com/bonnerhawk.htm for pics and e-mail webmaster@wisdomracing.com for more details. It's a solid car...I'm not pushing my own product as it's my uncles, not mine. He's asking a very fair price, too.

Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:55 pm

I thought you wern't gonna do the A-arms??

if you need some help this weekend let me know. we need to get both our toys going. i want to drag you out to the dunes with my ford 2.3 powered baja soon.

mine is getting closer and closer.

as soon as I get my motor sorted out.

Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:09 am

My favorite pic is the one displaying the transmission... :lol:

Thu Feb 05, 2009 11:19 am

There is a transmission in that picture?

Thu Feb 05, 2009 11:47 am

The a-arm kit is back on. It was ordered at the end of October and I hadn't heard anything from Pete until last week. He tells me they are done and will be shipping out. If you are free this weekend, I could use a hand taking the body off the pan.

Last night I cut the front half of my cage out and took a bunch of photos of the crappy fab work by the PO. I forgot my camera, but will try to remember to post them tonight.

As for the 5-16, nothing has really been done besides gathering suspension and engine parts. It would be really easy to put it together as a play car and sell it. I need to free up some cash anyway. The race motors and suspension can sit on the shelves while I look for a 2-1600 chassis.

BTW, I strategically placed the transaxle during that photo and made sure the background was in focus.

Fri Feb 06, 2009 4:08 pm

I made some progress in the past two days. The rear torsions were removed using the Baja Bible chain and floor jack method. They came out of the torsion housing but are stuck in the spring plates. It took a BFH to knock the passenger side loose.

The plan for the weekend is to finish removing the cage and take the body off the pan. The pan is going to be painted with POR-15 when the paint comes in. If I need to weld on the pan, can the POR-15 be ground off and then repainted later? Will it look like crap?

Here are some pictures of the crappy cage installed by the PO. It looks like a Class 11 cage that was modified, mostly joined together with unsleaved butt-welds. A body lift was added some time after the initial cage install, so standoffs were welded to the pan to raise the cage.

This joint is where the Class 11 cage would bolt together. It's sleaved, but notice that the weld did not go all the way around the tubing.

This joint is not sleaved and not welded all the way around.

Another bubble gum butt-weld.

The wiring was a mess too. All of it is coming out and being replaced by a harness that I'm building.

Here's a side view of the car. The body is good shape with no rust.

And a front view.

Now I have a question....Below is a picture of the seam at the bottom of the door frame. Would it be good to weld this shut?

Mon Feb 09, 2009 12:27 pm

This weekend I removed the body and started getting the pan ready for paint. The pan had a bunch of the tar paper insulation still attached and it was a pain to remove. I flipped the pan and started to wire wheel the bottom. The 10* transaxle mount has been tacked into place. The shift rod was very bent and would not line up with the transaxle nose cone. Once the shift rod is replaced, the mounts will be securely welded and painted with the rest of the pan.

The (mostly) finished product.