TheSamba.com :: View topic - Hi, new user, old baja-er trying to get back in the game.

Tue Nov 17, 2009 12:30 pm

Hi, my first car was a baja. A 73 we built from literally nothing in my garage in VA. The stuff we couldn't handle VW Customs and Restorations in Manassas VA helped with. Anyway, car has been sitting for about 17 years. I forgot to set the emergency brake and it rolled backwards into a lincoln. Smushed the exhaustpipe and mashed in the shock mounted rear cage.

I suspect a new exhaust is all that I will technically need to get it running again (yes, I know, 17 year old rubber things. I said technically).

The pics are here, along with the little helpers...
http://picasaweb.google.com/twomonkeysayoyo/VolkswagenBug#

So, some questions...
I remember that we could only fit 29" tires on rear because of the rear torsion bars. Is that really the case? Can you jsut cut those things off? I want to put 29's on the front and 31's on the back.

It has a one piece tilt front end that is, frankly, an inconvenient pos. The hinge always hung below the torsion bar and the dzus fasteners were a pain in the ass only really good for tearing up the paint around them. Should I convert to a 3 piece front end? All the sheet metal remains if I remember correctly.

Should I put that 6" wider warrior front end on there with 10" arms for coilovers?

Any other advice, suggestions are very welcome.

Thanks!

Tue Nov 17, 2009 12:52 pm

you can fit 30" tires in the back. no, you can't cut off the bars, but a trick is to swap over to the shorter torsion bars and use the shorter spring plates. that should allow you to fit whatever size tires your fenders will allow

http://www.mooreparts.com/store/product/1389/AC501315/

Tue Nov 17, 2009 2:44 pm

i may be entirely wrong and am often but i believe if you put a bus trans on it the wheels move back a few inches to give you more clearance to your torsion bar.

see i have a non tilt front end and its also a POS, 3 piece front end would work just fine.

yes put the wider beam on, they look bitchingggg

Tue Nov 17, 2009 6:30 pm

74vwbuglove wrote: i may be entirely wrong and am often but i believe if you put a bus trans on it the wheels move back a few inches to give you more clearance to your torsion bar.

see i have a non tilt front end and its also a POS, 3 piece front end would work just fine.

yes put the wider beam on, they look bitchingggg
you are entirely wrong. unless you are using a bus swingaxle transmission with the laydown adapters, the type of transmission has no affect on the position of the wheels. As for the single piece front end, they're only as good as the mounts. Mine is held on with six bolts and I've had no problems with it at all.

Tue Nov 17, 2009 7:03 pm

twomonkeysayoyo wrote:

It has a one piece tilt front end that is, frankly, an inconvenient pos. The hinge always hung below the torsion bar and the dzus fasteners were a pain in the ass only really good for tearing up the paint around them. Should I convert to a 3 piece front end? All the sheet metal remains if I remember correctly.

Should I put that 6" wider warrior front end on there with 10" arms for coilovers?

Any other advice, suggestions are very welcome.

Thanks!

the 6 inch wider beam would be nice but then you would want to go with 3x3 rear arms because the front tires would be sitting out further then the rear and then you could run what ever tires you wanted.

as far as the front clip. the four piece baja front requires alot of the orginial metal. pretty much the only thing that is cut is the front apron. maybe you could use a different retaining device like rubber baja hood straps or jeep hood tiedowns.

Tue Nov 17, 2009 8:51 pm

WOW! MANASSAS! I grew up in Nokesville (stone's throw away) Small world. Anyway, welcome back to the addiction.

Wed Nov 18, 2009 1:38 pm

Thanks! This is good info and I appreciate it. So I did some research on your faq and now I'm more confused than ever about suspension. Thought I had it all worked out! I think I would like to eventually move to a bus motor, especially one that had a zf diff. I don't know what 3x3 rear arms are. I'm confused abotu what it would take to move to the warrior front end (I'm pretty sure I have a ball joint front end and I want the linkpin, and I'm not sure if the warrior does all that or if I will still have to do some manner of conversion). It's a whole different world for the old VW's apparently. Before we got everything from the Bug Out and magazines... now, it looks to be all chirco...

One last specific question:
If you look at the pics you see that the entire rear of the sedan is made into a box. I want to put back seats in there again (I have kids). Are any of you familiar with the baja rear seats chirco sells? Are those for the rear of a sedan?

Wed Nov 18, 2009 1:59 pm

3x3 arms are rear trailing arms for an IRS suspension. They put your rear wheel 3 inches back and 3 inches out. It gives a longer wheel base and a wider track. They also make 6x6, 9x9, 2x3 and a lot of other configurations. I hear a good idea is to use a bus trans, axles, CV's, and i think you also need the stub axle out of the buses trailing arm. Then you get your self some 2x3 arms and and put it all into your baja. This is cheaper then going with 3x3 because you can get everything but the trailing arms from a wreaking yard. If you go 3x3, you need to buy axles and maybe even CV's which can be expensive. Any one correct me if im wrong, please.

If you have ball joints right now and you want link pin there are a few ways to go about getting what you want. You can either cut the frame head off and put a link pin frame head on. (the difference in the LP vs. BJ beam is the LP torsion tubes are closer together). This is an ok way to do it but you will definitely want to reinforce the new frame head with some extra tubing. The next way to do it is to get a roll cage in the car and connect it to the front beam. You can just cut your frame head off to do it this way. I think the best way to convert to LP is to combine the two previous suggestions. The third way (you really wouldnt want to do this for a baja unless its for show ONLY) is to buy an adapter plate. I saw a pic. of one and they dont look cheap. But they will work. It will also extend your beam about 1-2 inches forwards.

Sorry i cant help you with your back seat problem. I have a fiberglass back seat, but its old. I dont even know where it came from.

Wed Nov 18, 2009 6:30 pm

if you have to order stuff like me because salvage yards scrapped everything when the price of steel went up. there are 3x3 trailing arm kits. they are called beanie boy kits. here is a example and online parts houses carry them. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=263551 if you want to run what you brung then you are fine with what you have but if you widen the front 6 inches then you should widen the rear 6 inches to keep the front and rear wheels even.

Wed Nov 18, 2009 8:43 pm

with stock irs tortions in the rear you CAN put 31s on. i have this on my car. the only thing that might change that maybe would be how knobby the tires are. but i have 31" bfg baja a/t's out back.

Wed Nov 18, 2009 10:24 pm

ya i have brand new 31x10.5x15 mud terrain km2 on mine mounted on a 7 in rim. its a 1970 with long torsion bars and double spring plates if that makes a difference or not. they fit just barely maybe 1/8 between torsion bars and the tires. awesome tire though. if i did it again i would have gone with 30x9.5x15 just to get better fit and gearing