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Tue Jul 07, 2009 3:49 am

Yeah . . . . . . there was a moment where i thought i could cut it shorter to make to fit between the windows. Of coarse, be hard to get it out.

Haven't had door windows for awhile, so no rear quarters is not a stretch :P

Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:01 am

Show and tell time! got a couple of boxes of parts this week just gone.

arms from dan's performance (I ask for forged, but got the welded chromoly one's for the same price) which is cool but going to be alot harder to hide them from the engineer and transport department :D , paint and dirt is the plan.

eurathane bushes and sand sealed pully kit is from classic vw in sydney, (I know its empi! :cry: )

and the CNC cutting brake, limit straps and rollbar padding (opps not in picture) for racer imports in victoria.
anyone in AUS looking for sand buggy gear camron is an ace guy to order though, definatly will have my business again.

also got a little time and sorted the rear limit straps straight away, started on the rack and pinion setup as well but forgot to take photos (next time surely)

Oh! and got another gearbox, thanx josh. got it for great price

Mon Jul 27, 2009 2:28 am

So i spent my weekend playing with getting the steering mocked up and measuring bumpsteer. By my measurments the center of the tierod ball needs to be 78mm rearward and 16mm above the center of the top tube of the beam. This is actually really difficult to measure in the real world without cutting a balljoint apart.
After playing around with it a little and putting the dial gauge on it ended up with .4mm toe-in to .2mm toe out at the outer balljoint, which equates to 2.4 and 1.2 total depending on tire size (based on 29inch tyre) All this falls within the boundries of stock bump figures (which I need to get the steering conversion legal). . . . .. . . . feeeew. . .. 8)
This is though 11inchs of travel, I think that is a little down on what you boys are getting? After doing some measurements my upward travel is limited by the fact that we need full coverage fenders - Bummer

Also cut the shock towers off my beam stole some metal off an old rotten beam i had lying around and made it match the bottom.

Don't judge me on my dodgy tie rod, it's only there as a mock up :wink:

Mon Jul 27, 2009 7:29 pm

I love your build!
I think that the fact that your car has to be government inspected adds a whole new twist to the whole baja thing. It seems like a huge challenge, but also alot of learning in the process.

Mon Aug 03, 2009 3:40 am

Thanks Zack, It truely is a pain in the a$$ (if you lot over there had any idea how good you have it as far as modded cars go)

speaking of, I was told earlier in the build that I wasn;t allowed to extend the front . . .. . . . but surely they won't notice 3inchs? right? :lol:
I cut the framehead off, was going to replace it for a better shape one because of all the cracks in it ( take it is in part related to the reason this thing became a Baja) But after turning it over a few times and concidering the time and expense to get another one decided to repair this one again, some clearancing needed to get the rack to fit anyways. Think the front to rear rollcage will be enough to hold everything anyways, the only reason I don't cut the frame head off is the legal side of it. Trying to decide where the fine line between strong enough for what i want and too stiff too be legal is becoming increasingly tedious.

Once i had cut the frame head off i noticed that the clutch cable was still inside. I gave it a pull only for the tube to clog up with 20years of crud and then snap :? After 3 hours of trying to push it back the other way :x there was only one thing for it, cut the tube out (at this point i wish i could afford a hydro clutch) Then cut the tube into 3 peices clean them out, weld them back together (wasn't going to find replacement on a saturday afternoon) and weld it back into the car.. . . . . . . .and then the day was over.

Head down, bum up. Sunday was alot more productive, clearanced the head for the rack ends extended te front and welded it back on, turned out well, very smooth. A bit of paint and will never know how many times this thing has been welded

And lastly, here is something for the boys playing off road show tell. HINT : it rolled out of the tunnel when i cut the frame head off

Tue Aug 11, 2009 3:53 am

Got a little done on the front end this weekend, Extended a few tubes in the front to go with my new length framehead and started the the front shock towers.

Eek! they are definatly coming out of the bonnet, Check the line of site calculations (same as for bonnet scoops) Yes! we have those :cry:

The right way to extend tube

Exciting stuff! :D

Thu Aug 27, 2009 7:46 pm

It has been awhile since you last posted. Are you okay? Your car is scary. So many modifications and so much work. It just means that some of us need to rise to the standard that you are setting. Myself, i need to learn to weld, properly.

Thu Aug 27, 2009 11:22 pm

Yeah, i'm fine. thanks for asking :D

august has been a really busy month, very little time on the weekends spare, i have the other side shock tower done. Will post the photos when i get a chance. No time on the bug again this weekend i'm affraid :cry:

But then i have 3 whole weekends in a row! so stay tuned!

ps- and plotch, everybody will tell you how to weld. It's all about practice, time and getting a feel for your particular machine. On that note, you blokes only have 110v over there right? (as normal household power i mean)

Fri Aug 28, 2009 6:02 am

nilza wrote: Yeah, i'm fine. thanks for asking :D
ps- and plotch, everybody will tell you how to weld. It's all about practice, time and getting a feel for your particular machine. On that note, you blokes only have 110v over there right? (as normal household power i mean)

nilza, very true, practice practice practice with the welder you'll be using... (i am very out of practice) everything we use on a normal basis runs off 110v over here, except almost all electric clothes dryers run on 220v and some electric stoves as well, so getting a 220v plug wired in for you garage/shop isn't too big of a deal... (which I'll be doing, when I get to that point)

Sun Aug 30, 2009 12:45 am

hehehehe, we have 240v standard household and can get a 450v as a three phase at the shed :twisted:

Sun Aug 30, 2009 3:26 am

quick Photos as promised, enjoy

Mon Sep 07, 2009 2:54 am

Ok boys and girls, I have 3 weeks worth of weekends coming up and a head to get some major work done.

Got the rest of the bar work in the front end done, did a bunch of gussets and setup my limit straps, also strengthened up the tops of the shock towers alittle. managed some really good welds, so had to take a photo :wink:

Also went down to the auto wreckers and found some uni's, found some suitible out of a hyundi. While under there i looked at the steering colume and thought, for a few extra bucks i'll take the whole lot. Surprisingly was very little work to make it fit, The extended steering shaft even goes though the firewall in the original spot and uses the old seal. I now have a proper ignition barrel with ACC position and all, plus wiper, headlight and stuff at hands reach, not sure what to do for a steering wheel though :?

Mon Sep 14, 2009 12:26 pm

Another weekend down, unfortunatly not as productive as i would have hoped.
I went down to the tyre shop to order some BFG allterrains only have a mild heart attack when i was told the price, so looked though the cataloges and didn't find anything else suitible in the size i wanted. The tyre bloke spoke up and said "this would be alot easier if you had 16inch rims" ,so out of curiousity have a look what was on offer. Came up wiht a very nasty looking 205/80 16 for a hundred bucks less per tyre than the BF's, only problem was where am i going to get 16x5's to fit a baja. While sitting there pondering this the tyre guy again speaks up and states the powdercoater next door has a bunch of oldsmobiles down the back of his lot, so off to the powercoater. Met the bloke and as it turns out used to work with my old man back in the day and is quite happy to sell me a pair of rims for $20. Then rang one of the vw mobs in brisbane and quickly picked up some new centers for $50 a piece, popped them on a courier and they where there the next morning, break out the welder again and now i have a cool new set of rims for the front and tyres on the way.

Also spent a little time finishing up the steering, so thats done. Finally got to check the bump steer in the real world. As some off you may remember was all theory and lines on paper until now put a plumbbob of the roof to the top of the steerign wheel and moved the suspension though its travel . .. . . . . . . and it was fantastic! not a twitch until i hit full joist and had a slight wiggle, (though i did this without the limit staps on, so may be outside full travel anyway)

16x5 '42 oldsmobile rim

whats left of it after i got to it :twisted:

cleaned rims and new centers (thanks to custom veedub in stafford for there speedy service)

painted rims in charcoal hammertone

More photos in the next few days when i get my tyres

Tue Sep 15, 2009 4:38 am

ta da! these tyres are sweet :twisted: run a tape over them are about 28.5-29in tall and 7.5-8 wide

Mon Sep 21, 2009 2:29 am

Weekend number 3 down, feels like that just flew by. have to spend abit of time with the girlfriend in the next few weeks because she treats me too well (wonder if she remembers who i am at this piont?)

I extended the fuel tank 80mm and by my calculations that works out just a hair more than 20lts extra (um. . . . 4 1/2 gallons?) got the idea from one of the blokes building a turbo baja here, he does some REALLY clean work. Mounted up the tank and an old bonnet i had lying around to check that it still fit, think that i will be able to just glue a piece of high density foam under the hood and should be tight as.

Sunday i concentrated on getting the unerside of the chassis finished off, a few welds to finish the new floor pans, abit of rust under the heater channels and a few bits of the cage that i couldn't reach. then gave the whole underside a few good coats of chassis black (the gooie stuff)
was the first time that this thing has been out of its little hide hole for about 8 months, is cool to finally be able to stand back and get some idea of what it will look like when its done. (though it looks like frankenstien at the moment) but everything fits and works! :D
The camera ran out of batteries just after i hoisted it up so i don't have any finished photos.

Mon Sep 21, 2009 10:47 am

Those Wheel Centers????

Does anybody know if those are available in the states?

Mon Oct 05, 2009 4:21 am

Yikes! what a week,
Only just now had time to sit down and post the weekend progress,

Started playing with the placement of the cutting brake, made a few holes in the tunnel to make it fit. Is now in a very pleasing place as far as funtion is concerioned anyways.
Cleaned up panited and greased my pedal assembly, put in a new clutch cable and bowden tube to suit the 002 box, Works a treat, Hooray! so the cockpit is pretty much functional, needs some sealer around the new pans and then some paint! :D

Picked up my 1 piece front too yesterday! SWEEEEET!
Thanks Matt! Thanks Scott!

Sun Oct 11, 2009 12:57 am

Hi guys! Been awhile since i have been able to put a decent post together,work has been manic and has become easy to see how peoples projects can turn into 3 and 4 years. On that note september marks the anniversary of my rise (or is that fall?) to the ranks of the bajas don't run club :lol: On a possitive note, I am worker much closer to home and with the longer days have time to put about and hour in every afternoon, altough not having as much weekend time.

I got the front end roughly mounted up as I started the cutting out of the upper shock mounts I can to the sudden realisation that I will not be able to cycle the suspention though its entire travel. (stupid covered tyre laws) So for the moment I have it mounted 1 1/2 inchs high. It seems to have cased some dislike with some of the vw boys around here, I think it looks fine.

What do you guys think before I mount it permenantly?

Also, now that i have my exhaust (thanks agin Denny) I was able to bend up the stengthening bars for the frame horns finally and throw some paint around to finish up my firewall. Bolted the gearbox fast for the last time . . . . . . . hopefully, . and added the engine.
I bent up a bit of scrap aluminium to start a frame for my rear fenders. these are abit rough cause my alloy welding has much to be desireed and am going to leave these for a few weeks and see if the grow on me,

Any comments?

Sun Oct 11, 2009 2:27 am

You spelled tires wrong and your whole car is on the wrong side of the steering column, Other than that, your build looks awesome !!!!

:wink:

Thu Nov 05, 2009 3:56 am

Hi all,
Things are really hectic! Everybody wants everything before Xmas!
and i've had to deal with a sketchy internet connection, so here are a few quick photos to prove i haven't been slacking on the Baja. There are a few more that i haven't downloaded off my camera, can't think of details right now but-

front of the interior is painted, aswell as the floor
pedals restored, accellerator linkage sorted
cvs polished and installed
convertion stubs built
rear brakes refurbished, (still waiting on hand brake cables)
engine almost dressed
front arms machined for correct camber
can't think of what else, too tired- going to bed
just look at the photos and ask questions from there :lol:

. . . . . . . .ZZZZZZZZ. . . . . . .