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Tue Apr 06, 2004 11:44 pm

Anyone have any good advice on what's best as a donor car for a Baja? My wife and I have just recently moved to Montana, and in the past few weeks we've been doing some long forgotten logging roads with our f-350, but it has it's limitations, first and foremost, some of these roads don't like the weight of the truck under spring conditions, second, if we get in a bind, there's no way to turn that truck around on the trail, so we've ended up backing up over a mile on snow covered roads, with a few hundred foot drop on the sides. Third, if we do get in a little trouble (i.e. getting stuck,) there's nothing two people can do to help nudge a 6,000 lb truck, and last, but not least, if we bang into anything, it can be quite expensive. since I know when somebody hit the truck while parking, it cost them over $900 for the front bumper alone. I've had many bugs, from my current '64 all stock 6 volt, to a stock '73 super, stock, to a '68 drag car, but I've never done anything as far as off road, and my question is what car should I choose as a base, a standard or a super, and considering that some of the hills we were going up this past weekend cause the 7.3 powerstroke to moan and groan, what would be a good motor size without going overboard? I'm not looking for any kind of speed demon, as there's no way to appreciate the scenery if I'm going 70 miles an hour, but some of the grades are quite steep, steep enough that I know my stock '64 probably couldn't handle 15 mph, and I want to run at least 31" tires, since the truck, with 33" tires, bottomed out on the differentials a few times on the rocks. Is it possible for a stock 1600 to pull grades with large tires? If so, how much wear will running in 1st or 2nd for extended periods of time do to the stock trans? If anyone has any experience in this, please let me know. The range of the rockies that we're running in is the Mission Mountains, north of Missoula, MT, if that helps.
Thanks,
Tim

Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:37 am

For a base, standard, standard, standard. Did I mention standard? :D The supers do not lend themselves to any kind of repectable baja by any means. The best setup in terms of suspension is an IRS rear with a king/link of ball joint front end. As far as horsepowe goes, a nice built motor will do you well depending on the size of the tires and the tranny gearing you go with. Gearing can do alot for a vehicle. Check this page out for info: http://sandlizrd.baja.com/bajatech.htm

Wed Apr 07, 2004 10:51 am

if the diffs on your truck hit at 33" tires, i would suggest some heavy skid plates and not the stuff you can get pre-fab

Wed Apr 07, 2004 11:07 pm

The diffs hit under heavy hill climbing, where the truck was bouncing badly, and with the weight of the truck, even though it's a one ton, we had wheels off of the ground at times, so it was coming down hard. I need to note that I was not driving, it was my wife, as this truck is her horse trailer hauler, and the whole way I was listening to "I better not hurt my truck, I have a rodeo this weekend!!!!!" Prior to now, I've had an FJ-40, an FJ-60, and an '85 Toyota with a shortbed that kicked ass in mud, but I only ever used them in mud, this rock bit is completely new to me. If it were completely up to me, another FJ-40 would be perfect, it had the weight to make it through any mud, (severely unlikely here,) and the 35" mud terrains would clear rocks. Here, however, to clear the diffs, even with 31" tires, it would be extremely top heavy, and I don't want to roll 462 times until I hit the bottom. I live for 5 point harnesses, and rollbars, but I really think that neither would save me. I just got a reply from the original Beetle forum, since I posted the question there, and they didn't seem to be happy about a Baja at all, since I'd be cutting a Bug. I'm sortof pissed here because I live in the hippie capital of the world, Missoula, Montana, and here, bugs are disposable. If people want to argue about using one for a project that will lengthen it's life, then go with it. I want a something that is junk, and I want to make it work for me, off road, and I don't want to fight with facist's for advice. As far as protection goes, is it really necessary when we're talking about 1/4 the weight of what I'm used to, and almost the same size tires? I'll be happy to take advice on this part, since it can get quite lonely in the Mission Mountain range of the Rockies at night, and even though I know I'd be far less likely to break something on a bug (hence my original question) I still know that if something breaks, I'm looking at a hellofa walk, through predominantly Bear owned territory, to get back the 40 miles where my cell phone will work.
Tim

Fri Apr 09, 2004 5:48 pm

If you go with an IRS rear you might want to beef up the trailing arms. The handling of the IRS is worth the extra work. With an IRS car your going to have a ball joint front end so you're limited on how much travel you have. (I have a widened ball joint beam on mine with raised spindles and get along real well with it).
As far as the bottoming out thing; a bug is a lot narrower than a truck so where your truck was bottoming out, I would be willing to bet that the bug will find a better path to run in. I had an old Dodge Ramcharger with 38" tires that wouldn't go places that my baja would. Except for REALLY deep mud.

Sat Apr 10, 2004 8:17 am

like above I'd go with a '69 or newer standard beetle, you'll like the IRS alot better. I've built a '68 swing that I replaced with a bus gear reduction swing. Was hell in mud, gotta get used to the constant way the back of the car raises though, got rid of that one though. Then went on to a '69, with a 2007, dual 40 dells, 044 heads, connected to a bus tranny with berg front housing, 3" body lift, adjustable front beam(up), suspension stops on the beam. Plenty of power and torque, it'd fly, with 32 allterrian's, I could pull the front tires. I finally went with 34 super swampers and had a blast with it. Your imagination is your only restriction. Good Luck! Here's a pic when I had the 34's on it...

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=69026

Wed Apr 14, 2004 10:36 pm

That is one gorgeous car, badfrog. It's a little more extreme than I want, but I needed to tell you that it looks good.
tim

Wed Apr 14, 2004 11:09 pm

how did you get tires that large on there? i thought with the stock rear arms and the late model torsion housing (with the tubes that stick out from the spring plates), the largest you could fit were 31" tires... :?

Thu Apr 15, 2004 4:37 am

Don't let the purists get you down. Start with a good standard late model base. Build and install good bumpers and skidplates front and rear. gearing and tire choice is more important than overall HP.

Sun Apr 18, 2004 5:53 am

Quote: how did you get tires that large on there? i thought with the stock rear arms and the late model torsion housing (with the tubes that stick out from the spring plates), the largest you could fit were 31" tires...

I was running a 3" body lift, and if you noticed the high fenders not the regular baja fenders. Theres plenty of clearance, had a buddy that ran tractor tires on his in the mud bogs.

Sun Apr 18, 2004 3:22 pm

How did you fit the large tires on there with the late model long torsion bars?