TheSamba.com :: View topic

Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:44 pm

This is my first bug and I will admit I don't know anything about them, so I really need a lot of help! I just bought a '61 baja bug, my goal isn't to make this a hardcore offroader more so a reliable daily driver that will be alright offroad. From the outside mine looks to have a good body, but after investigation I have learned otherwise mainly the back end is one big rust bucket, I plan on having the whole body fixed first. Is it possible to raise my bug a bit? What are good suspension parts? I honestly need help on everything, I plan on putting a good amount of money into this just because I would like to keep it for a long long time. So any suggestions would greatly be appreciated.

Tue Sep 01, 2009 7:15 am

Fixing the rust first is a good idea. Yes you can put a body lift on it. And get the book by Jeff Hibbard. That give you a good start.

Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:25 am

put up some pics of your car.

i had a ton of rust spots to fix on my car too and ive had it for about a month and a half and were slowly getting there, but im having all kinds of fun which is why i bought the car.

heres my build thread, check it out if you get a chance, all the guys have been really helpful and theres some good info there.

http://www.azbaja.com/ForumsPro/viewtopic/t=5767.html

i dont know how yours compares but mine was pretty bad as far as rust goes.

and definitely get the "baja bible" its a amazing book packed full of good stuff.

Tue Sep 01, 2009 3:00 pm

It's a money pit! Hurry sell it back before you get sucked in!

Haha, its fun. I have had my buggy for about 2 months now. I have learned a lot just by shopping for parts. I haven't bought much but I go to places like dan's performance parts and aircooled.net and just look at stuff and when I don't know what it does I come back on here and do some searches to to find out. Picking up a few books will help too. I got Jeff Hibbards Bugs and Buggies and Muir's How to keep your VW alive the complete idiots guide both on ebay for less than $30 shipped to my door.

Tue Sep 01, 2009 4:57 pm

what is this "rust"?

Tue Sep 01, 2009 9:48 pm

Ok these photo's aren't the greatest but I hurry and
took them with my cell phone, i'll take better ones but
this should give you a little idea.

Like I said i'm going for mild not wild and this is the stance
i would like mine to have, suggestions?

[/img]

Tue Sep 01, 2009 10:49 pm

rust could be a issue but can be fixed, worst case you do a body swap down the road. suspension, you have one of the better frontends for a lift (linkpin) but the problem is you have a swingaxle rear. you start to lift it and you will get positive camber like in the picture which make driving get a little squirrelly and uneven tire wear. the red car you showed looks you have a irs rear and balljoint front. if i had your car i would trim the fenders up and add a body lift (not a suspension lift) that would let you run larger/taller tires (31s rear and 700s front) and give you the taller stance and later or sooner convert over to IRS and start turning splines and cutting and turning the front end.

Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:02 pm

to swap to irs do i have to swap pans? or can
i bolt up or weld it on? I honestly don't like the
look of body lifts so i'd rather keep it the same
set up it already is.

thanks for the feedback, it is alot of help.

Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:03 pm

also i hear that putting coilovers can raise it
a bit, is this true? because some of the coilovers
i have seen aren't very expensive. but do they
really do anything?

Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:34 pm

between this forum and google searches there are lots of threads on IRS conversions but they are not for the faint hearted. another IRS pan could be the way to go and add your framehead and beam to it. the cheapo coilovers will add lift but add a not so good ride. you get what you pay for.

guys spend days, weeks, months and years working on their cars to get them looking the way they do. some give up and sell half built cars for half of what they have in them. get yours running and enjoy and add small changes along the way so you dont lose interest. do your research and see what kind of changes you can make without having your car down for months.

Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:39 pm

inner irs pivot mounts can be wleded on to your torsion housing, there is a jig required to do so. if you are nice, you may be able to find somebody local to you that may have a jig to loan you.

as far as coil overs go, do not even think about running empi coil overs. they are not a good shock.

if you wanna do things right, go with the conversion for the rear and adjust torsion splines to get your lift then get shocks that will work with that, im sure others will chime in with brands of shocks to runn for this application.

the front end can be cut and turned to match up with the rear.

if you are gonna build a cage and go all out the least expensive way to go for true coilovers would be FOA shocks http://f-o-a.com/index.php

Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:33 pm

so i was reading about the red bug i want mine to look like,
just so everyone knows he says he only has coilovers on it.
either way its headed off to the body shop next week
to get fixed and i will go from there. i will be putting in a cage
i traded beer for use of a tube shark. thanks for all the advice
i'll post more when my rust bucket becomes rust free.