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Fri Jan 08, 2010 12:07 am

well got to work on my baja today! i got the driver side fender well tacked in place, going to tack the pass. side tomorrow, do some cutting, then hopefully get both completely welded up. then i just got the front piece that holds the front end up. I'm going to make something similar to what i used before
this:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=393952
but i'm going to weld a piece of angle on the trunk side and get two long bolts, tap the angle, put the bolts in with a nut to lock them in place, and fasten a piece of rubber about 2" in dia and 1/4" or so thick to the head. that way I can adjust the height of the front end so i can get the best fit possible by the doors. kinda confusing sounding, but i'll show some pics when done. I plan on having two front ends for it, one will be a race cut and the other will be more for streeting. with it adjustable i'll have more forgiveness between the two. later

Fri Jan 08, 2010 12:09 am

my computer is a pos, it posted another thread instead of my pic. here it is.

Fri Jan 08, 2010 12:59 pm

got the drivers side tacked this morning, gotta go fix some lights at a friends house, don't know if i'll be able to work on it again til monday. I'll try to get some pics later.

Fri Jan 08, 2010 3:58 pm

An occasionally Samba viewer here. Same town, similar dream to have Baja that can be used and not fall apart or get to mucked up. I'm at stage where I need to get brave to pull the body and R/R floor pans on 69 stocker, then baja. Still debating on what front end mods to do. I do know 1 thing leads to another.

Thanks for sharing your progress.

Fri Jan 08, 2010 6:30 pm

do you have a place to do it? Where abouts are you? are you just wanting a dd baja that you can take off road or a off road baja that you can drive on the street?

Sat Jan 09, 2010 6:26 pm

got my new fenderwells fully welded. still got to make the center front piece. fill some random holes in the firewall, ect. then lots of grinding and then fit my front ends on and stuff, still will have to get some dzus fasteners and weld them in and stuff. man i just want to drive this thing. far from it though. I think i'm going to download some offroading vids, put a tv in front of my baja and watch them so i can pretend i'm driving it. would that be considered vw porn?

Mon Jan 11, 2010 6:59 pm

^^^ that is an awesome idea. you crack me up man.

Mon Jan 11, 2010 7:45 pm

Quote: would that be considered vw porn?

Hey, its a victimless crime, do it!

Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:34 pm

I don't think it qualifies as porn unless you do it with a TOOL in your hand!

Tue Jan 12, 2010 8:49 pm

so i finally got my camera back, this is what i've done, cut off old frankenstien looking fenderwell and welded new sheet metal instead. It's not perfect, kind of wavy where i got impatient and got the metal too hot. Oh well, it's going to have a front end covering it anyways and it's a baja. still got a lot of work left. hopefully tomorrow. i have to drive 1/2 hour to work for an hour then drive back home a 1/2 hour. it's money though. so here are my pics.

before

after

before

after

before

after

before

after

I figure i probably 2 or 3 more days of working in the trunk area, then more body work elsewhere.

Tue Jan 12, 2010 8:55 pm

I really enjoy watching your inner fender build. I may do that with mine.
Dan

Tue Jan 12, 2010 9:08 pm

thanks, it's been one hell of a learning experiance from cutting sheet metal to welding and fabbing it. hopefully someday i'll drive this car. lol

Wed Jan 13, 2010 6:31 am

Keep it up. I really like the original thought into your build.

Looks like you are getting better at welding with every pass.

Wed Jan 13, 2010 9:53 am

thanks, yes i've learned alot welding, still kinda rough though, i just need patience now. when i weld now it sounds good. not all crispity pop snap shit.

Wed Jan 13, 2010 6:18 pm

got the front piece done today, still have to weld on mounts to hold the front end up and for hood pins. I made it so i can take it off if needed to make working on the front suspension/brakes easier. it's held on by the two front gas tank bolts and four bolts on the sides. here ya go.

that pretty much encloses my trunk area, there are small gaps here and there, but i wanted that so it doesn't rub my paint raw.
I only had a couple hrs today, but should have a full day tomorrow. yeehaw. Well it's beer-thirty. see ya.

Thu Jan 14, 2010 8:36 pm

well today didn't exactly go as planned, thought i was going to be able to spend all day and night working on my car, spent the morning cleaning, then the wife got home from lunch and told me that she's pregnant. after i changed my underwear and cleaned my ass, we spent the afternoon trying to figure out how to get insurance. she's going to school and i've been laid off for a few months now. I guess it pays to wear a jimmy hat. did make it out to the shop for a couple hrs to help me relax and clear my head. got a little more work done. got the two stops to hold up my front end on the front tacked on, now i'm in the process of trimming the front end so it fits better by the doors and windshield, a little anal i know but might as well why i'm there. i'll get some pics tomorrow. I'm also going to fab up a couple stops by the windshield area so it's not resting on the body scraping up paint and stuff. i think you'll all like it. later, i'm going to get drunk now!

Thu Jan 14, 2010 10:13 pm

Wow that looks really good!!!!! I wanted to close in my front trunk area when I switched to a one piece on my 67 i used to have...I just got done with a similar project on my 74. I cut the ENTIRE rear package tray and rear fenderwell area outta my car and sheet metalled it all back in with 14 guage...Ill have to post up pics in my dorment build thread so that I dont hijack yours haha

Sat Jan 16, 2010 12:24 am

so i got the front end mounts done, both my front ends fit without any adjustments now. I still need to get some dzus fasteners for the sids though, prob on monday.

this is going to be my dd front end.

this is going to be my offroad/sand front end. is still need to cut it race style

this is my front mount setup, i can adjust the stops or the pins

this is where both front ends will rest. I'm going to get a hood seal to run across this, it will add a little bit of cushion and raise it up a little to match the body lines. both front ends sit at the same spot.

i still need to patch some holes and fix some fiberglass on the white front end. then after paint i'm going to put on those little round metal plates. i got some 3/8 fender washers to use on the back side and 8/32 stainless screws to sandwich the fiberglass and add strength were the hood pins are. it's funny the difference between the two, the white one was prob a better quality than the orange, it's heavier in wieght and is missing some of the fender. I might use the white as my dd and the orange as my race style for that reason.

Mon Jan 18, 2010 12:06 am

test fitted the gas tank, welded some tiedowns for my spare tire and gas can in the trunk, cut out where the old windshield water would be so i'll be able to access my front end adjusters. filled some random holes and did a little grinding. I was going to fill the fuse box spot, but due to money i'm not going to be able to do a full custom wiring job like I had wanted. I need to finish my line diagram so I know exactly what i need and where i'm going to put them. going to get some dzus fasteners tomorrow and get those welded in place, then try to get everything sanded down on the front trunk area and move on the the rest of the car.

Mon Jan 18, 2010 7:27 pm

got my dzus fasteners today, drove all over to find them at a shop 2 miles from my house. Got those welded in and also made some dash plates out of 1/8" aluminum, need to get one more piece to make my glove box door. kind of nice working on something besides the front end. Have to do my weekly job search tomorrow and some house chores, don't know if I'll get much time to work on it.