Insayn's Baja Build Thread

[Bock]

Hi guys, I just got a new to me Baja with a 2276 engine. I wanted to start a build thread since this Baja has a long way to go and I'm going to be putting it together with my son. The engine is pretty tired and I'm working through the tear down right now. I'm down to the short block and have a few questions.

-What can you tell me about these Superflo heads? I know they date back to late 80's maybe early 90's. Good/Bad/Obsolete compared to todays offerings? I couldn't identify the rockers either.

- Are there any good names for engine building and machine shop in the Phoenix area? Back when I first joined Samba, I was in Orange County and had my go to locations. Now I'm starting over looking for the VW network out here.

Since I get the opportunity to rebuild the motor, I am faced with the endless list of options and want some feedback (opinions) on motor combination. If my current case checks out, I can build anything from a 1914 - 2276 or something in between. What size do you have, and what do you use it for? The stroker intrigues me, but I plan to cruise the desert out here and hit dirt frequently so I don't want an engine that needs to be torn down after 6 months. Just looking for opinions - Thanks

-Brandon

[Bashr52]

What those heads/engine are good for depends on your intended usage for that car. Those are drag parts, not really designed/meant to be daily driver/off road parts. The cooling fins/head design are not meant to be run in typical daily driver conditions. I can't tell from your pics, are those chrome tins over the cylinders?

[Bock]

They are chrome and pretty flimsy. Do these heads hold aftermarket value to the drag crowd? My goal is street/off-road.

[joemama]

Might want to ask your questions about the heads on the performance engine forum.

[dustymojave]

Yeah definitely drag racer heads.

Might be good for the Glamis scream up the face of the dune group too. Not the ticket for desert cruising.

Stock to 044 heads would be good for the desert. You don't need big ports, polishing or anything else fancy.

Adam Wick is an old OC VW drag racer. He's now married to a Vegas offroad racer woman (Becky Freeman) and has an engine building business in the Vegas area. He's involved in building engines for offroad racers as well as drag racers. He might know what to do with those Superflo heads.
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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.

[petrol punk]

[dustymojave]

Yup!

I see that I misspelled his last name in my previous post.
Oops!
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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.

[Bock]

I found a place called VW Performance here in PHX. Glad to have a dedicated VW shop to get some advice from and machine work done.

[Dürtwagen]

Damn that buggy is BUILT . Love it.
And i noticed Phoenix has a few vw shops, I have to drive 2 hours just to get to Phoenix, and there isn't anything like that out here in the verde valley. If say Phoenix is a great place to own an aircooled vw.
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1974 VW baja bug
1979 Mercedes Benz 300D

[dustymojave]

In Phoenix, VW Bugs registered for the street have to pass smog test. Those registered in Cottonwood may not.
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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.

[Dürtwagen]

cottonwood is smog exempt. , if I remember correctly, Phoenix and Tucson are the only place that do require smog. But that's just my hear-say, I could be wrong.
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1974 VW baja bug
1979 Mercedes Benz 300D

[Bock]

Does anyone have information on how difficult it will be to put a 67 body on a 70 pan? Thinking about getting one, but it seems there is one hangup with the shock mounts. Pics if you got em' - Thanks

[tobiism]

[Bock]

Yeah, the emissions testing laws here suck. Cant believe CA is doing this better than us.

[Bock]

Moving forward today. Dropped the engine off at the shop so they can inspect and evaluate the case, crank and rods. Hopefully have some news back within a week or so. The heads are for sale in the classifieds. I'm hoping they sell to help pay for the engine.

[Bock]

The Super Flo's sold in a hurry. Guy was stoked to get them. I probably let them go too cheap at $500 but it's all good. Now he can dump some money into the valves and porting etc and still feel good about having bought them down the road.

I'm going to be stalled out until I can get the word back on my engine parts. Also have title issues with this bug that I have to straighten out. Going to get that all figured out this week hopefully.

I guess this should have been called the "pre" build thread.

[tobiism]

what do you need for the title issue?
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"There has never been a genius without a hint of madness."
-Albert Einstein

[Bock]

Long story short, I need to get a bonded title. I was hoping to find a good pre 67' pan for this thing to save me the emissions headache, but since this pan is dry and only has the typical battery tray rot I decided to get it inspected and get the title.

[Bock]

Well, I'm sad to say that I am going to end this thread. The title issues went from bad to worse and I found out that there is a lien on the pan title. Not only that, but the state wasn't happy that the body vin was mia and issued a state asset sticker to the body. They told me that the state asset sticker would be the vin on the title and that the pan title would be null (once I pay for the lien which was about 2500.00 from two owners ago) Since I doubt I'll live in AZ forever and probably end up back in Texas w/in 5 years I wasn't very excited about all of this as I could just see more issues with future state inspections having a state vin etc. I've decided to cut my losses and part the bug out. The engine is still at the shop except I spent all my engine money on the next bug... Right now it's going to be a 2176 with panchito heads and dual weber 44's. I'm excited about that, and the 66' I bought will be emissions exempt. I'll probably start another thread on that car once I get into it more. Right now trying to deal with all the parts off the 67'.

Lessons learned that I hope others will pay attention to:

-Check, and double check the VIN.
-It's a good idea to make sure the body has a VIN and that it matches the pan!
-Run the VIN through the system to check for liens. The title is frozen until the lien is paid. They don't care who pays it, just that they get their money.

I've had 3 bugs prior to this one and have bought and sold plenty of cars in my 17 years of driving. Main lesson here is that people just aren't as honest as you may think they are.

-Brandon

[pullstart]

wow that's a bummer. It looked so nice! What was the lien from? The only lien I know is an outstanding loan on the vehicle... in which case would have been repo'd then sold at auction to recoup losses for a fresh start.
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4 seater Appletree buggy, road legal with 002 IRS, 3x3 Appletree kit, 6" over Dan's beam with 10" towers and Fox 2.0 shocks, '00 Subaru EJ25 with KEP stage 3 clutch and KEP adapter plate.

my build page: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=662104&start=0