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HerbieDave
Samba Member
Joined: June 08, 2007
Posts: 105
Location: Ventura
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 Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2014 3:57 pm Post subject: |
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OK, now that you guys got all the bugs mostly worked out, let me know when I can bring mine by for you to cage it?
Seriously, any know any good fabricators around the Ventura area? most are a good 75+ miles away. |
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EnjoyNukaCola
Samba Member
Joined: January 27, 2014
Posts: 491
Location: Santa Clarita
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| Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2014 7:48 pm Post subject: |
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| BajaRag wrote: |
Just wanted to give the thread a little bump back to page 1. The old starter we had ended up going bad so we picked up another one and the cars back on the road now! Dad took it for a drive 2 days ago and got 24+ MPG, so that's pretty nice 
We still gotta get those skid pans on the car and some windows in it. Oh and we are planning on switching out transmissions to one that is geared a little better for the street.
Idk if I'll ever commute to school in it but it would be a pretty nice thing to pull into the school parking lot 
Jumping in with both feet might have been a mistake as far as school goes. Im overwhelmed right now with juggling 3rd year Calc and physics, with an almost full-time work schedule as well. Im hoping that this will only get easier because I honestly doubt it can get much harder.
Thanks for all the support on this thread! its awesome to interact with people that have similar interests and hobbies |
Yup, stay strong. I took Calc 1 three times between high school and community college. In Calc 2, Physics E&M, and Statics of Engineering currently. Stay strong.
EDIT: Did I mention to stay strong? |
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1fastbigguy
Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2012
Posts: 310
Location: Ojai, CA
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| Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 7:51 pm Post subject: |
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Hey HerbieDave,
I don't know of any local fabricators that build Baja Bugs and I know our chassis wouldn't work in you application. The Sand Sport show is just around the corner and I would think that would be a great place to find a builder!
I hope you find someone soon... It would be cool to have two tricked out 4 seat Rag Tops running around Ventura Countyl
_________________
Cheers!
59 Ragtop
61 Ragtop Baja
69 Squareback
@Dustydrone
#Ohibaja
Our Build
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=545394 |
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1fastbigguy
Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2012
Posts: 310
Location: Ojai, CA
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| Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 9:12 pm Post subject: |
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We have put just over 1100 miles on the car and it has been nothing short of a treat every time I've got behind the wheel!
About a week ago we took it up on the ridgeline above our home and put about 80-90 dirt miles on it over two days. It handles great on the twisty fire road sections (Electric Power Steering works Amazing!) and it eats up the small bumps very well, but the car bottoms out on G outs and big hits do too the fact that our spring are way to soft!
So that brings use to the question of Spring rate...
I would like the car to sit level with a 16" ride height which would still give the car plenty of down travel (Drop) and good ground clearance for the rocky areas we ride.
The car weighs 2720 total. 980 front and 1740 rear with a full tank of fuel.
Our current set up is...
Front- 10" 2.0 shocks with 200/250 springs with 2 1/4" of preload and a ride height of 13 1/2".
Rear- 14" 2.5 shocks with 350/450 springs with 3 1/2" of preload and a ride height of 15"
I would like too get the car as close as possible to desired ride height (16") with a minimum of preload on the springs.
Any knowledge on getting the right set up would be greatly appreciated as springs aren't cheap!
_________________
Cheers!
59 Ragtop
61 Ragtop Baja
69 Squareback
@Dustydrone
#Ohibaja
Our Build
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=545394 |
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Bad_chopper
Samba Member
Joined: August 15, 2012
Posts: 295
Location: Portland, or
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| Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 4:35 am Post subject: |
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I know your asking for peiple that know to help but i do not know much about it.
With that being said..
Dont you want a few inches of preload just to help keep the tires planted and push threw the shock rebound valving. If other than the hard landings it rides good would a set of air bump stops help.. Are you running air bumps?? A buddy of mine put those on his prerunner and it stopped bottoming out on hard landings.
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my build page http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=536267 |
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HerbieDave
Samba Member
Joined: June 08, 2007
Posts: 105
Location: Ventura
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| Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 7:30 am Post subject: |
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| I thought I saw a calculator for spring rate on FOA shocks website, not sure if it will be helpful for what you need or not, but worth a try! |
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dustymojave
Samba Member
Joined: January 07, 2007
Posts: 5802
Location: Lake LA, Mojave Desert, SoCal
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| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2014 12:46 pm Post subject: |
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Your car is a Crumco. Rick is the BEST at setting up shocks. Even Brett King gives him lots of props. I suggest you call to talk to him about it.
_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet. |
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1fastbigguy
Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2012
Posts: 310
Location: Ojai, CA
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| Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2014 3:10 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the info and direction!
I've done a bit of research, made some phone calls and received some great education.
It looks like I need a set of 1400/300/0450 springs (14"spring, 2.5 shock, 450lb rate) for the rear which would put it at 450/450.
As for the front I need a set of 1000/250/0350 springs (10"spring, 2.0 shock, 350lb rate) which would make the front 200/350.
If anyone out there has a set of either or both and wound like to sell them please send me a PM.
_________________
Cheers!
59 Ragtop
61 Ragtop Baja
69 Squareback
@Dustydrone
#Ohibaja
Our Build
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=545394 |
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WrRider
Samba Member
Joined: November 17, 2011
Posts: 114
Location: Hemet Ca.
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BajaRag
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2013
Posts: 110
Location: California
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| Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2014 11:30 am Post subject: |
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Wanted to do a quick update on the status of the baja-
As we've commented on before, the car had an awful vibration that resonated even worse at around 2700-3000 RPM. We thought it was transmission related but it wound up being the balance shafts inside the motor. They were out of time, so my dad reset them and the motor sounded amazing.
I should mention that we also swapped the tranny, but that was not the problem. The other transmission has an incredibly tight 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, as well as a short 4th. The new transmission is much more suitable for on road (65mph is about 2500 RPM in 4th). I'm hoping that the new transmission will perform as well off road but I know it won't be quite as snappy.
Unfortunately once we got everything put back together we noticed an oil leak. We took it all back apart and replaced a gasket on the back of the motor, but when we were re-assembling the motor we broke a piece ( I don't remember what its called) Parts are in the mail right now to fix it and were hoping to get it out to the desert for a few days after Thanksgiving. |
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no1clyde
Samba Member
Joined: August 27, 2013
Posts: 365
Location: Elko Nv.
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| Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2014 8:51 pm Post subject: |
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Good to hear you got the vibration figured out
Ed |
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1fastbigguy
Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2012
Posts: 310
Location: Ojai, CA
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| Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2014 9:35 am Post subject: |
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Yeah that one took some time to figure out... Sometimes you just need to ask the right question to the right person!
Sean over at CBM has a ton of knowledge on these ecotec's and is the guy that gets the credit for solving this one!
Thank you, Sean
_________________
Cheers!
59 Ragtop
61 Ragtop Baja
69 Squareback
@Dustydrone
#Ohibaja
Our Build
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=545394 |
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LoopyAg02
Samba Member
Joined: December 31, 2014
Posts: 11
Location: Bellevue, NE
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| Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 1:14 pm Post subject: |
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Great Build. Your post has inspired me to start a project with my son. I am going to incorporate a few of your ideas into my build with him.
Keep the updates coming. It has been very enjoyable to follow. |
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1fastbigguy
Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2012
Posts: 310
Location: Ojai, CA
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| Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 4:04 pm Post subject: |
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LoopyAg02,
Glad too hear that we inspired you! It's been a fun project and a ton of great time spent with my Son and many other friends and Family members!
My advise would be to do your homework and have solid plan and a realistic budget before you get started. Our car started much more tame than what we built and took longer than we had planned but the extra time and money was well worth it!
Make sure you do a build thread here on The Samba so we can follow along!
We have been busy with other things of late but we have managed to put about 1800 mile on the car, some of which were pretty hard and exiting off-road miles! I will try to get some pictures up soon.
_________________
Cheers!
59 Ragtop
61 Ragtop Baja
69 Squareback
@Dustydrone
#Ohibaja
Our Build
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=545394 |
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BajaRag
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2013
Posts: 110
Location: California
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 7:16 pm Post subject: |
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Today me and Dad decided to take the car up to Apache canyon to do a bit more driving and testing. On the way up we were having some problems with the motor sporadically dropping power. We've had this issue going on for a while now so we didn't worry too much. However, once we got to the very back of the canyon and we turned the car off it wouldn't turn back on. I wasn't worried though since we built the car and I figured we would have no problem finding a solution. We didn't have the correct tools (the Allen wrench set we had happened to have a broken Allen wrench of the size we needed most.) Luckily though we used the incorrect sized wrench to force lose some of the bolts, and the screw driver we had happened to fit perfectly inside the head of the bolt (we got incredibly lucky there). Anyways we figured out that the fuel pump wasn't getting enough fuel pressure into the motor so we hotwired the pump to run constantly whenever we had the whip-light toggle on. With this rigging we ended up nursing the car out of the canyon and went to grab a bite to eat at an awesome restaurant in Ventucopa. We started heading back over the mountain towards Ojai and got about 1/20th of the way back over the mountain before the car cut out completely. We were climbing a grade and the car completely shut itself down. We hopped out and pushed it up the hill a few hundred feet to a turnoff where we worked on the car again. We ended up taking apart the whole fuel system. We checked the fuel filter but it was fine, so we figured the issue was the fuel pump. We spent about 25 minutes messing with the pump until we finally concluded that the pump itself wasn't the issue. We had somehow picked up a bunch of metal shavings from the fuel intake and it clogged the intake for the fuel pump. Finally we get the car back on the road and head home. All of our issues are solved; the car no longer sporadically stalls out for no reason, and we can tell that it is running way smoother than it was.
All in all we had a great day today and got to work on the car out in the middle of nowhere and on the side of the highway. I learned even more about the car than I had learned in the building process and we even got to do a little off-roading on the way into the canyon. That car continues to impress me with the things that it can do and I am so proud of the fact that we built it. Were hoping to go out there again and get a better photoshoot going for a longer period of time but we did get quite a few good pictures of the car today.
The fuel reader broke off into the cell so that might have something to do with that issue, but were going to try and clean out the cell as best we can.
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Island Bumpkin
Samba Member
Joined: April 22, 2013
Posts: 332
Location: Whidbey Island, Washington
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 7:54 pm Post subject: |
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That car is badass! I've been out of the loop for a while, so the last time I had checked in on this build was right after you installed the ecotec!
I hope to build a car like that someday!
-Jameson
_________________
Vehicles:
1971 Baja Bug, 1600dp, summer/winter/summer project
Follow my progress!
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=556996
1988 F250 SC/LB 7.3 IDI/ZF5/Dana 50 front, Sterling 10.25 rear. 4" lift -Daily-
1976 F250 Reg cab/LB Stock 300/NP435/NP205 -Long Term Project-
| Axitech wrote: |
| My rail is basically my "I can't take civilized life anymore this month, so I'm going camping" vehicle |
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BajaRag
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2013
Posts: 110
Location: California
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| Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 7:00 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm so thankful we finally got the fuel problem figured out. The car has so much more power now that it's getting more fuel. I'm hoping to go back up over the mountains soon to finish off the day that we started and to get some more pics of the car up here. |
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mrshocky777
Samba Member
Joined: November 23, 2007
Posts: 29
Location: Ventura,CA
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| Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 8:40 pm Post subject: |
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| We started with a 60 pound pump, then went to a 100 or 120 pound pump and regulated it down to 60. So it will always pump at 60pds. |
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1fastbigguy
Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2012
Posts: 310
Location: Ojai, CA
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| Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 8:13 am Post subject: |
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mrshocky777
PostPosted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 8:40 pm Post subject:
We started with a 60 pound pump, then went to a 100 or 120 pound pump and regulated it down to 60. So it will always pump at 60pds.
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We are running that same pump but the fuel rail on our 2.2 has a built in 60 psi regulator. The problem as it turns out (even after cleaning the tank multiple times) was a clog in the fuel line at fitting on the fuel pick up tube.
We were 10 miles up a canyon and the car just quit... It would re fire but wouldn't stay running. So we started (with almost enough tools) checking the fuel system and noticed that we couldn't get a steady stream of fuel through the intake line and the pump was turning off even though it wasn't building pressure. For the sake of getting the car back to civilization, I bypassed the fuel pump relay and wired the pump to our Whip light wire so we could get continuous power to the pump with a toggle. At this point with me keeping an eye on the back of the car, my Son turned on the switch, the pump turned on and the car started! We wasted no time getting back to the Highway but the car was still running poor and a few miles up the road (and 40 miles from home) it quit on us again! On the side of the road getting on towards evening we completely disassembled the fuel system and checked every fitting and line until we found a bunch of aluminum and plastic shavings clogging the AN fitting on the pick up side of the fuel tank... We cleared the line, put everything back together and the car fired right up!
All and all we had an adventure, worked through some issues and didn't have to call for a trailer!
_________________
Cheers!
59 Ragtop
61 Ragtop Baja
69 Squareback
@Dustydrone
#Ohibaja
Our Build
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=545394 |
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1fastbigguy
Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2012
Posts: 310
Location: Ojai, CA
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| Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2016 3:13 pm Post subject: Re: Father and Son Baja Bug- Daily Driver |
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Well I guess its been a while since we have done any updates on the car...
We have put about 5000 miles on the car (a lot of them delivering Pizza) and have most of the bugs worked out. The last "Big" issue before paint will be moving the radiator to a safer location above the motor and closer to the rear window. The first one broke after a day of running the whoops and pushing the car hard, the second one is showing damage from debris. Besides that issue the car is a dream to drive and soaks up everything we have thrown at it! The EPS has worked flawlessly on and off road and it is worth every penny.
I just ordered a set of 5 matching wheels which will allow us to rotate the tires and only need one spare. We also plan to install a com system and GPS.
More to come soon...
_________________
Cheers!
59 Ragtop
61 Ragtop Baja
69 Squareback
@Dustydrone
#Ohibaja
Our Build
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=545394 |
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