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Tue May 24, 2016 7:48 am

Yeah, I like those clamps DM. I used to be an install manager for a radio com company and we used those things like they were going out of style.

Thanks for the dim on the fuel line.

Tue Jun 27, 2017 4:38 pm

Hey all, I know I pop in and out at random times, but I work on it when I can. I have to work on it when I have time, and it's in storage...in a different city. Any idea on some headlights? I don't want some dim cheapo cans. There has to be some new school bright street legal HLs out there. Has anybody had any experience or have a suggestion on what to get?

Wed Jun 28, 2017 2:54 am

Thanks for updating this, I just read through your build and the car looks pretty cool! Good luck getting it on the road... err... dirt!

Thu Jul 06, 2017 8:20 am

Thanks pullstart. I realize my build is really tame compared to a lot of other "weekend builds", but it's a start. I think it's a project that will never be "finished". I already wish I had a one-piece front end and did my cage differently. All that will get changed in time. I don't have anywhere to work on it right now at my place, so it will have to sit for a little wwhile.

Fri Jul 07, 2017 8:45 am

Nice project build...that's the thing about building a baja, it's never ever finished until you say it is...I look forward to more updates. 8)

Mon Sep 25, 2017 10:03 am

I have an opp at get an 091 trans. Should I do it? I probably won't get around to getting in for awhile, but the time to get it is now. Also, how much should I offer? Unknown past and sitting outside for some years.

Tue Oct 03, 2017 8:30 am

Finally moving it to the same spot where all my tools are. I can't wait to get back to work. It will still be slow because it's about an hour from my house, but at least I'll be able to keep things moving forward. A family member, that likes that I store my tools in their hangar let me drop it under his wing.

Tue Oct 03, 2017 10:22 am

cool pic!

Tue Oct 03, 2017 10:53 am

Thanks pullstart. I'm definitely not as cool as the guy that owns the plane, but I'm thankful to have a place where I can work on it again. It's been sitting in a dirt floor storage and had started to get some rust.

Wed Oct 04, 2017 10:20 am

Okay, so I was always against body lifts, but I'm thinking about using one to be the base of my cage/frame. I think that it will help me keep everything lined up and take the cage connections off the body.

There are a lot of these kits out there, and It seems cost/time effective to just buy one rather than to make it myself. I plan to weld to it and would like a good quality product. What's you all's experience with these, and where would you recommend I buy one from.

Fri Oct 06, 2017 11:25 am

Also, in addition to the last post, I'd like to switch to a 1 piece front end. I'm in the PNW (Pacific Northwest). Does anybody know of a good place to get one around here?

Fri Oct 13, 2017 8:47 am

I'm looking for info about fuel systems. So far, I have a spun aluminum tank in the front with a hardline running to the rear. This goes to a stock mechanical pump and distributes to two Weber 40s. I've used this setup before, but with a stock fuel tank and vent system.

What I want to know, first off, is what to do to ensure the system is safe. Grounding, etc. Then, with this tank, how does it vent? It doesn't even look like the cap is vented. Surely it has to vent, and is there a better option for a the cap?

Fri Oct 13, 2017 10:34 pm

Spun aluminum tanks normally vent through the gas cap. There was a thread on here many moons ago about someone who flipped their buggy with an aluminum tank and it burned to the ground.

A fuel cell has a vent from the top of the tank, then racers are required to run a hose or tube up, over, across and down to prevent spillage. A fuel cell should also have a check valve in the vent line either inside the tank or just outside of it.

A similar arrangement can be done for an aluminum tank. The cap can be replaced with a non-vented cap. A bulkhead fitting can be used to put a vent tube in the top of the tank next to the filler. then use a hose up to the top of the cage on one side, across to the other, then down to the bottom of the car.

This should make for a safe aluminum gas tank.

Tue Sep 27, 2022 10:20 pm

Time to resurrect this thread almost exactly 5 years from the last post with an introduction... I'm new to these forums but my car isn't! Excited to pick up this build thread from where @corradolvr left off. I'm a fellow Seattle native and Engineer. I just happened to stumble across this build thread while I was going back and forth with him about the car, and it's super helpful to have a bit of history on the project I just picked up...

Here are some pics from its journey to my shop in the city... It was a tight fit getting it into the shop, but only had to take the wheels and fenders off the car, and the double doors of my shop. Looking forward to getting this thing back on the road!

Tue Oct 04, 2022 12:53 am

About one week in, trying to maintain some momentum and get this thing on the road as soon as possible. It's easy to get sidetracked with new projects on this thing, but I've been reminding myself to focus on the bare minimum to get it street legal and running.

Dropped the motor off at a local VW specialty shop to give it a good once-over and get it up and running while I focus on other things.

Back at the shop, there hasn't been a ton of visual progress, but I've been methodically going through the car, scrubbing the interior and treating any spots of rust I find with converter, primer and a fresh coat of bedliner.

While I was at the shop (shout out Franklin's VW Werks!), they were kind enough to give me an old gas tank that I cut the top off of and filled the hole where the tank was in this one before the previous owner replaced it with a spun aluminum tank.

Since the odometer was obviously wrong and the car came with a zero mile motor, I took this opportunity to rebuild the speedo and set it back to 000000.0 (well almost, but it'll roll over before I get out of the parking lot...)

Also ordered a bunch of LED tail lights in different sizes and colors, and started mocking up brackets where things are going to go on the rear bumper

No interesting pictures, but I went through and checked the brakes, tightened the steering linkage and rebuilt the parking brake handle which had gone over center.

I've got a pretty clear list of what I need to do to get this thing on the road, next big one is figuring out tire size. The previous owner mentioned to me that the tires were probably 10 years old when he got them, which means they're over 20 years old now and definitely time to replace.

Any suggestions for sizing on these? I like the looks of what it's got, but curious if anyone out there has better guidance. Rears are 30x9.5R15, fronts are 21575R15.

He also mentioned lowering the rear a spline notch or two. I've found plenty of info out there on how to do this, but any guidance on how to decide which setting I should use?

Tue Oct 04, 2022 10:08 pm

Looking at previous pics of the car, I'd say two notches.
That is rotating the torsion bar inner splines clockwise and the spring plate outer splines counter clockwise....two notches.
Just my opinion... idk how much lowering you have in mind.

Those tire sizes should be fine, some what common... you may already know but 235/75r15 is similar in size to the 30x9.50r15 rears but the 235 usually has more options available in brands and tread.

The second reply in this thread has a chart showing how many splines equals how many inches etc.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=709310

Fri Oct 07, 2022 12:37 am

71StandardReduction wrote: Looking at previous pics of the car, I'd say two notches.
That is rotating the torsion bar inner splines clockwise and the spring plate outer splines counter clockwise....two notches.
Just my opinion... idk how much lowering you have in mind.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=709310

Thanks for the tip! I've done enough digging to generally understand the 'how' of changing rear height, but not 'why'. Is the goal to prevent the suspension arms from bottoming out on the frame when they go full droop? I see some folks notch their spring plates...

Fortunately the K02s come in both of those sizes and are easy to get at my local Discount Tire, so I think I'm going to go with those unless anyone has other great tire selections - I'm hoping to daily this in the city but also use it to get to local trailheads on the weekends, and hopefully some ski trips this winter if I feel like I can trust it in the snow, hence the K02s, which seem to be good all around and have decent snow performance (I have K02s on my Tacoma...)

In other news, I've been killing time waiting for the motor to get tuned, so installed some gas struts today:

Best $50 I've spent on this thing yet. I'm sure glad the hood is fiberglass, because I've already dropped it on my head 3 times....

Fri Oct 07, 2022 7:13 am

Looking good, man! Reindexing the torsion bars just gives it a lift and notching just allows further turning down of the spring plates for additional height. There's that tradeoff of raising the cg too. I was wanting to add a body lift to integrate the cage, so I opted to stay away from notching. I think there's other more reversible ways to add height.

Mon Oct 10, 2022 11:51 pm

Spent the weekend putting the interior back together - after giving the interior a good scrub and touching up any spots missing bedliner, the seats and belts are back in, and started bringing the electrical system back to life. Most things other than the starter and washer motor only draw a few watts, so I can keep the current limit low to prevent damage to anything in case I short something.

I used a benchtop power supply so I can easily watch for shorts to ground, and monitor current draw as I check out the various switches and lights.

Got the motor back today after having it checked out and run for the first time in maybe 10 years as best I can tell from looking back on this thread. Only took an hour or so to get it in by myself, the only really tricky part was getting it down from the bed of my truck to floor height.

Unfortunately, the quiet-pack muffler I picked up interferes with the roll cage, so looks like it's back to the straight pipe for now.

Got the new K02s put on today, so looking like I could probably get this thing back on the road this weekend. Just debating how much more work want to do before rolling it out of my shop, since it's a bit of a process to get it in and out of the building...

Tue Oct 11, 2022 9:34 am

Looking good dude