TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Feb 17, 2009 3:45 am

I was once told by a baja guy that "baja bugs never die, they just evolve" This i know is true in my case and as i look around this site, I know this rings true to alot of people.

I have had my Baja for about 5 years now and have gone and done some far out places (I have the 3 largest sand islands in the world on my doorstep :D ) It has gone though countless changes and is on its way to its third incarnation now, second by my hand (or grinder :twisted: )

I was going to start i build thread for this lastest, but build threads are long and drawn out, and i know you guys love ALOT of photos. So to fill in the space i will start when i bought it.

Tue Feb 17, 2009 6:10 am

Nice ride. 8) Love the old school hub caps and I like the air cleaner. Nice clean body too.

Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:52 am

x2 on the nice ride. I'm diggin' the screen guard above the engine. That would be great running around the North Georgia woods!

Tue Feb 17, 2009 11:49 am

i love those smoothie rims, did you make them yourself? those have a super vintage look to them.

only thing dude, that air filter . . . :lol: its huge.

Wed Feb 18, 2009 3:16 am

yeah, looked real clean when i bought it. unfortunately it hid alot of nasty surprises, the reason it's a baja is it had a massive front and rear ender. The frame head is nothing but a whole lot of strips of metal trying desprately to hold together twisted OG chassis and the right rear quarter is constructed out of inch thick bog. (But didn't find that out till later)
The rims are rebanded old smoothies, the front ones are actually 14's. which leads me to the first mod. Decent front tires! 195/60s just don't cut it in the sand.
The guys running reasonably stock baja's should try these, they are 27x8.5 14s, are only about an inch taller than standard tires, with a decent footprint, THEN . . . .. . . . pack up my gear and go on a short holiday in the new bug!

And the air cleaner is awesome, best working thing on the car, still have it today. unfortunatly cracked the fender up pretty bad

Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:30 am

Over the next weeks and months the beetle got plenty of drive time, and at some drunkin' moment we where playing with a mates vinyl plotter/cutter . . .. . . . . .and VOYLA! baja herbie! (some people think its dumb, but the looks on kids faces on the beach or in the bush is priceless)
Anyways,back to the beach -

Thu Feb 19, 2009 7:07 am

don't drink and decor!
seriously tho, there's nothing wrong with a Herbie baja, but I bet it gets old fast for people who see more than one or two daily.

Do you know who made that air cleaner? I am thinking I want to get one myself, just for the cool factor, it's not like I actually need it or anything.

Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:35 pm

a company called donaldson, would think for sure they would have a web site. we can just buy the parts over the counter at trunk and earthmoving supply houses. They come in sizes to suit from forklifts to mining trucks ect

Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:07 pm

They're available here in the US from the same sources...truck and equipment supply houses. Tractor Supply Co. has them I'm told. They were real popular in the early days of the Baja 1000. I have one hanging in the garage now. UMP makes an aluminum version available through Kartek, McKenzie's, ORW, etc. The late model Isuzu trucks use a lightweight one which is made of plastic and is real popular with offroad racers currently. I understand they cost about $70USD.

What I see on Nilza's car that I don't recommend is the big heavy aircleaner mounted on the fiberglass rear fender. They're prone to breakage without an aircleaner mounted on them.

Sun Feb 22, 2009 4:08 am

yeah they are pretty heavy, and mine is braced from underneath now to the wheelwell because of that.
Ran round pretty much like in the first photos for about 3 years before i did too much on it, discovered how well these little buggys run on the trails aswell, much harder on the car though, lost hucaps, spotlights, shiny paint turned out to be rubbish and started to crazy crack and peel everywhere, the carpets and door trims turned too rot after too much water and mud, bearings started dieing from the same, about the time the rears bearings (swing axle) tore to pieces i decided was time to do abit of upgrading.

Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:29 am

keep it coming! What an adventure. I like the water crossing pic. Dont be scared.

Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:35 am

Yeah Nilza! Nice jump shot. It's hard to time a shot like that and get good results. Don't try crossing moving water that deep though, or we won't be getting any more updates! Those country Buggy spindles work out well huh?

I noticed in looking at my friend's baja the other day that his early bus spindles have the steering arm forged on the lower part of the spindle, while yours have them on the upper part of the spindle. Uppers simplify tie rod clearance, But I have that figured out. By building the front cage structure to arch above the travel of the tierods, it'll work great.

Mon Feb 23, 2009 4:13 am

yfz450 - I have so many hundreds of photos i could clog up the samba site with them, am just sharing a few of my favourites so you can see the car change

dustymojave - these are all pre spindle upgrade still linkpin/long swingaxel. the only suspention upgrade it came with are rear coil overs (the penguin would love these, are actually monroe gas shocks with the covers cut off to make room for coils and homemade holders) will get a picture next i dig them out of the parts bin.
Have spent alot of time crossing water, the fire roads around here turn to rivers very quickly with a good down pour. . . . . .and there really is not a big difference between the combi and country buggy spindle untill you have them side by side, then it is really obvious (will take a photo wheni can get hold of a combi spindle just to show everyone the difference)

all that water and mud really take there toll on all your moving parts. was going to reco and reinforce the beetle spindles till a mate came across these. Will go into the photos from my first lot of upgrades in the next few days, till i put those together - here is some more water and an arty beach one

PS - too many jumps with stock suspension in hard on your body! - took 6 trys to get that photo

Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:05 pm

Quote
"PS - too many jumps with stock suspension in hard on your body! - took 6 trys to get that photo "

Wait till you get older it can take days evn with more travel. Great looking Baja. Glad to see you having fun with it. Keep up the good work/play.

Tue Feb 24, 2009 3:43 am

So as i promised, it was time to upgrade (warning . . . . .this first build is a bit of a bodge up)

First thing is first i cut the front off to make it more accessible and make room for longer shock towers - for those who look at the photos and wonder why not just use a one pce front? though you can get then here is austraila, but they are imported from the states and the asking price is $1400 and has no compliance so is not legal for the road. i swear when put it back together you can barely notice :?

extended shock towers are braced internally and externally and skinned with OG metal, Why? because we are not actually allowed to modify suspension parts. so i make it look OG and lie :twisted:
hows my welding?

the place where i work on/keep the car is not mine. . . . . can't take credit for the mess, the cleanest part in the yard is always 2 feet around my bug :lol:

Fri Feb 27, 2009 1:37 pm

Now the good bits - country buggy spindle (for those who still haveno idea what these are, is basically a kombi spindle with the steering arm forged differently

- New brakes

- gas baywindow shox, brace the beam top and bottom and have a pretty meaty set up (compaired to stock anyway)

Tue Mar 03, 2009 4:21 am

The fuel tank also got spun around and raised up abit to stop the tie rods hitting the bottom of it.

That sorted, time for a new bumper, having only 2 pionts of attachment really isn't for me. the top tubes go to the top of the beam

and a bash plate of coarse, i found the material on the side of the road, really!

Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:56 pm

Moving to the rear, budget was tight but it needed to come up to meet the front. Got hold of a small nut reduction box for nothing. The gearbox itself was cactus, but the redux where fine so knowing that the gearbox in the beetle was fine (except for the bearing that had destoryed itself) the two met each other in the middle.
Took the side covers off, (traded one for a heavy duty) flipped the diff and shims, checked the backlash and bobs your uncle. was really as easy as that! so now have a 1500 box with small nut redux :D

Thu Mar 05, 2009 2:22 am

I've gotta say that front skid plate has got to be my favorite part of this car, lol.

Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:44 am

Im seriously loving the herbie paint job. Im definatly thinking about rocking it once my bugs all long traveled out and badass