Father and Son Baja Bug- Daily Driver

[BajaRag]

Link


I put together a quick little edit of the car doing some test runs in Barstow. King Shocks was out there to give us a hand. Our buddy with the VW Thing Class 5 car was also out there, doing some testing for the upcoming race at the end of May.
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Our Build:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=545394

[1fastbigguy]

Dyno/Shock test and tune adventure!

With the McKenzie's 250 rapidly approaching Dave and I set up appointments with Outfront Motorsports to have The Thing Dyno tuned and at CBM Motorsports to have the Baja Dyno tuned. Then it would be off to Barstow for test and tune with King Shocks the next day.

First stop...

After the Thing was secured to the dyno, John made a baseline pass. The data showed the car to have 182 hp with a lean condition at the top end. After making some adjustments on the laptop a second run was made, the the hp increased slightly and the lean condition showed improvement. John continued to make adjustments over a series of runs until he was satisfied. The end result was 202hp with a better torque curve and steady fuel pressure thru the rpm range.

Stop two...

Enough said!

Stop three

After lunch we headed to CBM Motorsports. The Baja was backed into the dyno room and secured. Once she was warmed up Chris made a baseline run which showed 153hp and a very lean car. Our ECU was having some issues so Chris used his vast experience with GM Ecotec's and his laptop to rework the computer. After multiple runs and adjustments, the lean issue was cured, torque curve was improved and hp was 178.
The increase in Hp was noticeable immediately and the torque curve makes it easier to stay in the power band, I also noticed cooler engine temperature when running the car hard at high RPM. Win Win!

I will go into shock tuning in the next post...
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Cheers!

59 Ragtop
61 Ragtop Baja
69 Squareback

@Dustydrone
#Ohibaja

Our Build
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=545394

[Mid Engine Bug]

Hey Alan. I finally made it over here and found your thread. Was good to finally meet you after all of our conversations on the phone. Hope its still running great!

To anyone who has not seen his Baja in person, you need to. Pictures dont quite show how nice of a build this is.

[1fastbigguy]

[Mid Engine Bug]

Glad to hear! You know where to find me if you have any issues or questions.

[1fastbigguy]

OK.... so this might make me sound like a complete dork but I'm going to throw it out there anyway. While eating dinner at our go to eatery in Ojai (Jim and Robs fresh grill), I looked over and saw a guy with an Endless Summer t shirt and a Baja 500 hat on... Yes... it was none other than Dana Brown!!! We get a ton of celebrities up here but this is the first time in my 47 years I have ever gotten Gitty over meeting one.

Dana, if for some reason you ever come across this... Thank you for being Real!
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Cheers!

59 Ragtop
61 Ragtop Baja
69 Squareback

@Dustydrone
#Ohibaja

Our Build
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=545394

[pullstart]

It's too bad this forum doesn't have a like button sometimes...

On another note, how often are you out running the car? With the 094 trans and the water cooled engine, what gear ratios are you running and would you change anything with gearing if you had the option/chance?
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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

[1fastbigguy]

[pullstart]

Gotcha. I know right now with my 002 (I believe is stock build) I'm screaming down the road anything more than 60. Though I hardly ever hit that, I'm thinking a tire size increase will be beneficial at least once I go water cooled. Hopefully within two months... if I'm lucky!
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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

[no1clyde]

Hey Alan I ended up putting a reversed Subaru 5 speed in mine now. My car was stuck in my shop when we had a flood this winter and ended up under 39 inches of water so it got a different motor and the new transmission. I like the 5 speed and it does match the 2.2 Subaru great and no adapter. It has been back on the road for a week now LOL.

Ed

[1fastbigguy]

[1fastbigguy]

[pullstart]

[no1clyde]

Alan I have been just dealing with this flood so I am a little out of loop on some things but I think one of the guys is looking into doing one. I am just happy to have my car back right now LOL. Good to see your car still getting better

Ed

[1fastbigguy]

Good morning Samba Folks!

We took the cars down to Ventura last night for Treffen 17. Lot's of great vintage VW's and a great group people. Airheads parts and the VW's Unlimited club did an amazing job putting on this event!

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Cheers!

59 Ragtop
61 Ragtop Baja
69 Squareback

@Dustydrone
#Ohibaja

Our Build
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=545394

[dustymojave]

Damn! I KNOW I've seen those cars SOMEWHERE!
Cool
Seems like somewhere in the pits........ Wink

It was nice meeting you guys at the McKenzie's 250. Small world pitting next to each other. Just wish we all had more time to get acquainted better.

Didn't see you guys a couple weeks ago at the Sierra LED 250 though. Warren was in the AGS 5-1600 for a Class win, Rulo got 3rd in class with the 1600 that Warren has ridden in earlier this year maintaining Rulo's record of on the podium at every race so far this season.

Just ran into and had breakfast with Rick Crumb and his wife yesterday at the local burger joint. He's in the middle of a few cancer surgeries, so I didn't hurt his feelings by telling him how much nicer Dave's Thing is now or how sweet your car is after your changes. He's now finally cancer free, so that's a good thing, but he still has another surgery soon to finish fixing up the cancer damage. He's grown tired of customers who want it now and want it right but then don't pay their bills (I'm NOT saying that's you - but having spent many years as a self-unemployed fabricator, I understand that feeling of his). So he's looking for a new endeavor to pursue.
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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.

[1fastbigguy]

Good morning Dusty,

It was nice to finally meet you at the McKenzie's 250. I'm glad to hear your Son did so well at the night race. We had a clutch issue and an airflow in the motor compartment issue, both have been addressed. Dave is planning on racing the PCI 300 in September and I hope to co-dawg but my schedule is pretty slammed from now to November-ish.

That DAMN "C" word is a rough one! I have lost many family members and friends to it over the years. It is good to hear that both you and Rick have done well in your battles! Our car started out as one of Rick's "basic" chassis (It was a great price point for our limited budget.) I had to change some tubing in the mid section to accommodate the rear bench seat at added some X bracing for long-term durability. Our intent for the car was and is to be a street legal dual-sport. It is also a great prerunner for LTC Racing because the cars are so similar in the handing and power department. I'm sorry to hear Rick is no longer building cars and wish him well in his new endeavors!

Here are a couple of photos before Dave rebuild the Thing. Keep in mind when he took ownership of it, it had been raced and played with extremely hard and was in need of lots of love. Dave did an amazing job bringing this car back to life and the attention to detail is second to none!

This is a photo of the melted timing belt cover. (partly due to lack of air flow and part due to the fact that we could only use second gear so Dave pretty much held the car at 6800-7000 for six hours) This is how he fixed it and now that the clutch issue is fixed, we should be able to use all 5 gears and keep the R's down!

Hope to see you in September!
_________________
Cheers!

59 Ragtop
61 Ragtop Baja
69 Squareback

@Dustydrone
#Ohibaja

Our Build
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=545394

[1fastbigguy]

Getting ready to head out to the PCI Radios 300. Looking forward to getting some good prerun miles on the car Friday and spending Saturday in the passenger seat of the Thing! Our pits will be handling 3 Class 5U car's so the crew is going to be very busy. We have an incredible crew that does what ever it takes to get it done!

Here is a photo from our Team meeting.

_________________
Cheers!

59 Ragtop
61 Ragtop Baja
69 Squareback

@Dustydrone
#Ohibaja

Our Build
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=545394

[dustymojave]

Have fun and good luck!

The wife and I won't be there as an old friend passed away and we're attending the funeral. Our ex-Crumco fabricator son Warren who worked on both of your cars while he was there is planning to be there Saturday for the race though. I don't know what plans the AGS/ORAF/Lone Kid group has for cars racing this time.
_________________
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.

[1fastbigguy]