Atomic Baja Bug Build

[jemorgan111]

After several more months the car is rolling on all four wheels! Here is a few pictures of the “completed” front suspension. It still needs a fair amount of work with gussets on the upper and lower arms around all the pivots and tie rod ends. I tried to show several different angles for anyone who wants to copy it. The dimensions are after the pictures as a front view stick drawing. The first picture shows full droop, which will be about 11” down from ride height.

The second picture shows full bump, which is 9” up from ride height and just under the fender. Limit straps and bump stops are mandatory to prevent binding and wasting the heims.

Top view of the a-arm design. From Race Car Vehicle Dynamics, an a-arm that has one leg at 90 degrees to the frame will be stronger than an A shaped arm where both legs are angled. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough room to make the upper arm a straight leg arm.

The upper arm only needs to be strong enough to resist the braking forces and hold the wheel upright. The lower needs to be very strong to absorb the impact of jumps and bumps because the coilover mounts to the lower in this design, which means spring loads and dampening loads both go through the lower arm.

Here are the dimensions for the front suspension as promised. All dimensions are to the center of the heims/pivots. The “spindle is on the left and is 14” from the lower pivot to the upper pivot. The tie rod mounts approximately 5.5” up from the lower pivot and is 5” long on my modified Toyota spindles. The spindle has a 14 degree kingpin inclination.

This setup will deliver 20” of travel easily with 1” uniballs at the spindle. 10 “ or 12” coilovers will work the best, 14” gets a little long to fit under the body.

The dimensions for the arm pivots is from the centerline of the car. The uniballs or arms must be pre-clocked at least 10-14 degrees or too much of the travel is above the bottom of the chassis.

The rack needs to be 12” eye to eye and is mocked up on the car right now because this setup was tuned to minimize bump steer. It is the 6” dimension on the right because the picture is only half of the front suspension. The outer tie rod heim also needs to be in double sheer, I just haven’t gotten that far yet. Never put a heim in single sheer if it can be avoided.

I also should have made the drawing of the opposite side of the car to match the pictures but hopefully everyone can figure it out.

Here is the car’s first trip out of the garage! It looks very cool in person, low roof almost like a rod but 16” of clearance under a smooth belly!

Different angles of the car.

I definitely like the way it looks from the front. The headlights will be mounted in the front bumper.

The rear tire mount gives the car a unique look and keeps it off the roof. Still is higher than I like.

Back in the garage to keep the rust off.

[takotruckin]

man that thing is cool. other than the spare tire mount(no more rear window) i really like it. good job
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Member of the baja's that don't run club, for now!!

[turnaround89]

AWESOME great job, i want your car!!!!!
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1971 Baja Bug
1972 Porsche 914

[riNR]

Nice job. I like that you're thinking outside of the box. That thing looks mean!!!

[turnaround89]

If you don't mind, how much did everything cost, steering setup, steel, heims, etc? I have read all of the a arm build threads and once i finish my baja i want to try to make a arms for another baja project.
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1971 Baja Bug
1972 Porsche 914

[oneUPfabrication]

awesome dude! i love the look of the front view! did you build your rear arms?? if so do you have the jig to make another pair? im interested!!!!! pm me please!

[motorbreath53]

[jemorgan111]

Here is a basic breakdown of approximate costs for an a-arm suspension from memory.

Toyota spindles, hubs, rotors, calipers 0-$500 depending on the junkyard or if someone is doing a SAS conversion to there truck and just wants to get rid of them.

2” bushings $15-50 depending on mild steel, cromo and or delrin or urethane bushings x 4 = $60-200

Uniballs $75x4=$300 each with cups and misalignment bushings

¾x1/2 heims for uppers 25ea x 4 = $100

¾ heims with misalignment spacers for tierods $40ea x 2 = $80

¾ x 9/16 heims for rack side tierod ends $40ea x 2 = $80

¾ RH thread bushings x 4 for 1.5 tube 10 ea = $80
¾ RH thread bushings x 2 for 1.25 tube 10 ea = $20
¾ LH thread bushings x 2 for 1.25 tube 10 ea = $20

Steel for arms $200-400 depending on material used

Total is approx $940-1780

I discovered a company called Midwest Controls halfway through the process, they have the absolute cheapest prices I have ever found for heims, spacers, tubing inserts etc. Only catch is there are no returns for them to offer such rock bottom prices.

Question about trailing arms.

I did use a jig to build them but the part of the jig was the chassis itself. If you look at the earlier pics on some of them you can see the jig clamped to the chassis table and has the hub on the other end. I then connected the dots between the hub and the frame pivots, once it was all tacked real solid, I pulled them and welded them up and only got minimal distortion. Fixed that with a bottleneck jack.

If I had another tire I would stick it up for the spare, but I don’t have one right now. I may try to raid one of the fronts for a pose to give a better look for ya.

Hubs:
Rear hubs are ½ ton chevy 4x4 front unit hubs, all the companies selling “micro hubs” are really selling small chevy 5 lug unit hubs, like S10 4x4 or they may be Ford unit hubs like F150, I haven’t bothered to figure out which ones they are, but I do know they are charging a bunch for them. I cut the CVs off and welded on a ring that is set up for 930 CVs, not any good for racing, but a play car is just fine. We built lots of them at the offroad shop I worked at in Tucson while I was in college and “micro hubs” were just catching on. There are a couple options for rotors, either the ½ chevy ones with the sorta heavy calipers, GM metric calipers might work, or straight axle Toyota 4x4 solid rotors with Wilwood calipers, but the unit hubs would need to be turned down to clear the brake hat on the Yota rotors and the stud holes opened up to the larger stud size.

I have also noticed that Kartek is selling “heavy duty” 6 lug unit hubs now….hmm. Anybody know or wanna take a guess that they are the same as the ½ ton chevy ones. I would love to know because then you could buy the center “axle” with the 930 flange on it and use them instead of my homemade special. The ½ ton ones are at least 30% larger than the ones most shops are using right now.

Current situation with the car:
I may also be selling the chassis due to the larger family situation than when I started this project, I am torn on the whole idea but there are only 2 seats in it and I don’t want to destroy a bunch of hard work to try and stuff a couple more seats in it or a bench. Murphy has raised his head again….I knew I should have designed a four seater from the start!

[turnaround89]

thanks for the breakdown in price, i might have to try this sometime. I thought the price would be much worse. Can't wait to see your car in action!!!
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1971 Baja Bug
1972 Porsche 914

[motorbreath53]

I am intrigued by the rear hub idea.....

What kind of welder did you use, and how did you jig the plate up prior to welding to ensure that it was center/square?? Do you have pics of the hub set up?

It would be neat if those stub axles fromm kartek would work... cause the set ups that come prepackaged from those places are a bit out of my blue collar price range....

Thanks for letting me bug you about all this.
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Shameless buildthread plug:
..."cut n' turn in progress"...

[DONT]

[jemorgan111]

Here is a pic of the modified Chevy ½ ton 4x4 axle with the 930 flange welded on. I preheated the spindle, welded it, post heated, then put it in an ammo can with the lid on to cool slowly to restore the strength.

Here are various views of the chevy ½ ton 4x4 unit hub mounted on the trailing arm. One of the offroad companies is selling the large diameter tube needed to build the end of the trailing arm and several companies can cut a circular plate with the three hole pattern for the unit hub. Basically it’s the exact same thing as the $$$$ “micro-hub” kits that shops are selling but made from junkyard parts to keep it to $$. Being the single bread winner for the family tends to drive a junkyard solution whenever possible.

All the welding is mig because that’s all I have (Lincoln Wirematic 255). I use ERS70, which is 70,000 psi UTS wire. This wire is not really acceptable for cromoly welding but works great for all mild steel applications.

Several earlier pictures (page three) have the “jig” shown in them, It is constructed of 2x2 square tubing, unistrut and some ½ plate that bolts to the wheel hub. I made it universal with lots of adjustments so I could use the same jig on all four corners. It clamps to the jig table with C-clamps and an alignment pin at each corner of the car. For the front I added a caster adjustment that bolts to the caliper mounting ears on the spindle. I use an angle level to set the camber and caster and a laser level to set the toe. I measure the toe off the chassis table right in front of the rear wheel and also at the front of the table by the front fender, then compare the two numbers. If it needs to be tweeked I use thin washers behind the unistrut to angle the hub in or out until the toe is zero. An easier option is to make the outer trailing arm pivot a heim that gives a threaded adjustment to adjust the toe.

Here are the rotor options, the chevy ½ ton 4x4 on the right and the Toyota straight axle rotor on the left. The Toyota is a better match for rear braking but will require the unit hub flange to be turned down about ¼” to clear the brake hat and the wheel stud holes need to be drilled out.

Here are some pics of the spare tire mount with a tire sitting in it.

I definitely understand the ROI is much better for a driver than a roller. Thanks for the encouragement. I am taking my time at this point as I try to decide the best approach to move forward.

[takotruckin]

i like what you did with the rear hubs, i might have to try that when i go to 930s
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Member of the baja's that don't run club, for now!!

[motorbreath53]

Those hubs are a great idea... I would like it even more if there were "off the shelf" stub axles available. (no shame on yours though... if they work, then why not right?)

I personally think that spare tire cut into the body looks absolutely sick. If I hadn't spent so much time on the roof rack I keep catching sh!t for, I'd be working on my own version.

I am curious as to where you are going with the rear quarter windows... I'm not saying I don't like it... but its just so different as of right now, I can't see the end result. What are you planning?

Please.... tell me you are going to cut a big VW logo, or one of those trucker mudflap girls out of some plexi for your rearquarters... or maybe one of those bubbled out teardrop porthole windows from the 70's vans!?!?!?.......................no?........not into it???
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Shameless buildthread plug:
..."cut n' turn in progress"...

[cwrisley]

[bajabuzz]

Would it have been a bad idea to fill the existing holes on the chcvy axle and drill and tap new ones to fit the 930 cv, instead of sacrificing the 930 stub axles? I too am trying to find the most cost effective way to get some better stopping power in the rear.

[BugMan114]

wow, i have to say, thats the most BAD-ASS Baja i have ever seen. All your missing is the mini-gun on top , lol. I hope you finish that thing, and post a video of it on you-tube for us to see .
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1974 Super Beetle: Custom resto in progress
1972 Super Beetle: Daily Driver
1971 Std. Beetle w/ 1929 Mercedes Benz Gazelle kit
1960 Baja Bug
1969 Baja Bug
Sand Rail- Homemade
Sand Rail- FUBAR

Aircooled Airheads

Why the hell do they call it a gland nut. its obviously a big fat bolt!!!

[BugMan114]

Oh, and when i saw how you are able to input stuff in solidworks, i am now downloading solidworks 2008 off emule . Almost done, all 5.7 gigs of it, lol. I will most likely bother you.....ummm.....i mean ask you how to use this program, lol.
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1974 Super Beetle: Custom resto in progress
1972 Super Beetle: Daily Driver
1971 Std. Beetle w/ 1929 Mercedes Benz Gazelle kit
1960 Baja Bug
1969 Baja Bug
Sand Rail- Homemade
Sand Rail- FUBAR

Aircooled Airheads

Why the hell do they call it a gland nut. its obviously a big fat bolt!!!

[socalfighter909]

youre doing a dam good job keep it up

[BugMan114]