TheSamba.com :: View topic

Mon Nov 15, 2004 11:22 pm

Ok, let me start by saying there is a lot of helpful information here. I’ve owned a few dubs but this is my first Baja. I recently purchased a 57 chopped Baja, I’m not sure why anyone would chop an oval, but he told me it was rolled and the body was beyond repair. Anyway, I’ve read through pretty much every post here related to Front and Rear suspension. My current suspension seems to be maxed out. The front has minimal travel and the rear has none I went out to Dove Springs and got beat to H#@!. The rear tires are 33” so I’m assuming the previous owner maxed the rear torsion out to its max; I also have Positive Camber which adds to my assumption.

A second sticking point for me is the Baja has only a 1600 single port which I plan on upgrading to a 1776 for reliability purposes and a more heavy duty trans.

As far as the front suspension goes I plan on upgrading to a widened adjustable front beam (current beam is flipped and welded) and the AS-445 front arms by Affordable Suspensions. The one question I have is, what shocks should I purchase to compensate for this extra length and travel?

For the back end, I plan on converting it to an IRS. To start I have a line on a 002 Bus Trans for around $250. I plan on purchasing the Suspensions Unlimited mount kit that allows the nose cone to remain in the tunnel. I also plan on purchasing the stub axels that already have the type 2 flanges along with the new CVs. Along with all this, I plan on replacing all seals and rubber while I’m in there.

From reading all of the post I will most likely only have enough $$ to complete this portion of the upgrade. I will then move to the motor which I’ll come back for advice.

My question is, before I go out and start purchasing all of these items, do I have all my ducks in a row? Am I missing anything? Am I on the right track? I understand that with the Swing to IRS conversion there is some welding required which I’m prepared to do and the suspension components from an IRS bug will be required.

One last question, which parts from the IRS suspension are required during this conversion.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

:roll:

Tue Nov 16, 2004 1:24 am

Sounds pretty good, so far.
For the front , after you widen your beam, you'll need coil overs.
I think you'll find the easy one to find is the Fox shock. Most off-road stores will carry one to fit your needs and is a very good shock for the money. If you want to get sick with it, 'King' is the shock of choice, but you'll pay, too. There are a couple of others that would be fine. (Race Runners, Sway-aways, etc) Also, keep in mind that these shocks are all rebuildable, so you'll be wearing out other parts of the car LONG before you'll have to buy anymore shocks. Just rebuild them.

For the rear, don't forget to pick out some larger trailing arms. to go with your wider front.
The same pretty much applies to the rear shocks as for the front.
Hope that helps.
just my 2 cents.
I'll continue packin for Baja now :P .

Tue Nov 16, 2004 1:56 am

just a note, i'm not sure if you planned on keeping the torsion leaves in the front end or switching to coilovers, but with my rail and the extended front arms with stock torsion springs, the suspension is waaayy to soft.

it's time for bed. i'll contribute more here tomorrow

Tue Nov 16, 2004 8:40 am

Converting to coilovers is way expensive, Trust Me. Although worth the $$$. As for an adjustable front beam I think i would just bolt on a warrior front beam with the shock mounts built in. Also plan on buying the kit that bolts from the beam to the body for support. There is nothing wrong with using leaves and torsions but heavy duty torsion bars will be in order for the longer arms in the rear, and with a wider front end comes longer leaves. As for shocks, Fox or Bilstein would be a great choice. Oh ya, 33 in. tires might be a little overkill and rub, I run 31 in in the rear.Check out the baja build at WWW.chirco.com. Lots of good ideas.

Tue Nov 16, 2004 10:04 am

you dont need longer leaves for the wider front suspension, you will need four leaf packs (twice as many as a stock beam)

Tue Nov 16, 2004 10:46 am

Cool, thanks for all the great info. I'm going to go purchase the front end stuff this evening and with your help, feel better prepared to get what I need. I'll let you know how it turns out and double check with you guys before I get the rear end stuff.

Thanks Again! :roll:

Tue Nov 16, 2004 12:41 pm

Thanks Brad, you're right about the leaves.

Fri Nov 19, 2004 8:33 pm

if you cut the leaves in the correct place (right down the middle) then you only need the stock set. You must be sure that the adjusters that you are going to use are welded in the correct position to accomodate this.

i found that with my buggy after i went to the longer than stock arms in the rear, and the turbo 2300 ford engine that torsion bars were no longer adaquate to serve my purposes. also bigger than stock bars are limited to the amount of twist that they are able to twist. it is on the sway a way web site.

Having said that I love my king coilovers!

My .02

Aaron

Fri Nov 19, 2004 10:32 pm

4vertical wrote: if you cut the leaves in the correct place (right down the middle) then you only need the stock set. You must be sure that the adjusters that you are going to use are welded in the correct position to accomodate this.
if you buy a pre-fab beam, you have no say as to where the adjusters are placed, and unless its setup with one single adjuster, you need extra sets of leaves. cutting right down the middle will not work. prefab wide beams are setup so you can use stock leaves without drilling your own countersinks for grub screws.

as we have discussed a few times, the guys at chirco show how it's done, but still leave alot to question. here they show you that you will need 4 packs of leaves, enough for two stock beams. http://www.chirco.com/projectbaja/baja_5.htm

4vertical wrote: i found that with my buggy after i went to the longer than stock arms in the rear, and the turbo 2300 ford engine that torsion bars were no longer adaquate to serve my purposes. also bigger than stock bars are limited to the amount of twist that they are able to twist. it is on the sway a way web site.

Having said that I love my king coilovers!
this is true. but coilovers are not in the budget of most off-roaders...such as myself. you should still be able to pull about 12" of travel with 3x3 arms and torsion bars.

Sun Nov 21, 2004 5:45 pm

A widened beam can be done with the original two leaf packs that are cut in half. You need 4 adjusters and two sections of tubing to put between the adjusters, the outer sections of the beam need to be shortened enough to allow the springs to reach the adjusters.

Sun Nov 21, 2004 6:11 pm

why shorten the outer sections of the beam when you can just move the adjusters outward of their original position?

Sun Nov 21, 2004 6:48 pm

Why buy 2 extra spring packs when you can shorten the outer sections of tube by an inch and use the set of springs that came in the torsion housing?

:roll:

Sun Nov 21, 2004 7:12 pm

it sounded like you were talking about building a wide beam from a stock one. if that was the case, you could place the adjusters wherever you wanted. i'm talking about if you were to buy a pre-fab wide beam like i did, you need the extra sets of leaves.

Mon Nov 22, 2004 8:50 pm

brad i will not argue with what you have stated, it is true. i bought and sold a lot of dub parts to help offset the cost of the shocks (read killed a lot of rusty vans and thunderbirds)

i have a lot more travel than that in the rear closing in on 18" with 4 x 5 arms.

the front beam that came with my buggy could be of either design i am not sure. it has 4 adjusters in it though. Blind chicken or tweeds builds front beams. if you have it made, you can have them put the adjusters in to your liking (or theirs?).

as a note, I had the shock towers from tweeds welded on my front beam. with out a cross brace with the coilovers I slightly tweaked the towers on the first test run.

I tried several things b4 i went coilover. the deciding factor was when the 30 mm bars i was running stripped out the center of my torsion housing. i wasn't about to tear the rail down to replace either the center on the whole beam.

sometimes, if you are serious about a hobby you are better off stepping up to the good stuff to start with. Buying parts 2 or 3 times is pretty expensive also:(

Mon Nov 22, 2004 9:52 pm

4vertical wrote:
as a note, I had the shock towers from tweeds welded on my front beam. with out a cross brace with the coilovers I slightly tweaked the towers on the first test run.

I tried several things b4 i went coilover. the deciding factor was when the 30 mm bars i was running stripped out the center of my torsion housing. i wasn't about to tear the rail down to replace either the center on the whole beam.

sometimes, if you are serious about a hobby you are better off stepping up to the good stuff to start with. Buying parts 2 or 3 times is pretty expensive also:(

...........pay once,
cry once.