73 Budget Class 11 Bug

[nmalozzi]

Hey everyone, new here. New to VWs, but always admired them from afar.

Long story short:
I want to build my 73 Bug into a Class 11 on a budget. I have NO intentions of doing serious off roading, and plan to keep all 4wheels on the ground (read no jumps, haha). It's mostly an exercise in aesthetics, and seeing how far I can take it with limited funds.

I'm still learning my way around a VW, but I'm reasonably handy and eager to learn. So I'm looking for guidance on what to prioritize when it comes to getting this thing lifted on a budget.

Short story long:
Hi, I'm Nick Malozzi. I've spent the last 5-6yrs tinkering with BMW Airheads. I loved my time on 2wheels, but the wife and I had our first kiddo 6months ago. I decided it was time to hang up my helmet in order to make sure I'm around to see my kid grow. I spent a good chunk of my childhood going to car shows in my Grandfather's '55 BelAir, and want to share that experience with my son. I've always loved seeing Bugs and other Aircooled VWs at those shows. So I decided I needed to sell the Airhead an old VW. My wife's eyes lit up when I told her I was interested in Bugs. So the choice was easy.

A few months back, I scored a great deal (I think) on a green 73 Standard Bug. The PO claimed that the motor is from a 71 with only 5k mi since a rebuild and it has Dual Kadrons. Apparently, about 5yrs ago the left carb developed a vacuum leak, and he stopped driving it in order to fix it... but just never got around to it. He got tired of looking at it and listed it for $2k. SO I jumped on it.

I'm working through getting the motor running right. I've rebuilt the carbs, replaced all the fuel lines, new distributor, new plugs/wires, changed oil, new battery, and I'm sure other stuff I'm forgetting. At any rate, I'm close to having it drivable.

My original plan was predicable, drop spindles, roof rack, cal look, blah blah blah. Then I took the fam to VWs on The Green this weekend and my wife saw a Class 11. She lit up again, and kept scoffing at the lowered cars. By the end of the day I was in agreement. We aren't low car people. Prior to that I had no idea what a Class 11 even was. After some Googling I was hooked. I've never been a huge Baja fan... but these Class 11s friggin cool! I love the utilitarian look, and it just fits our CO lifestyle a lot better than a lowered car.

I've been lurking here since I bought the car, but now that my plan has solidified (and is a little less common) it felt like time to sign up and get some advice.

I think I know some of the basics on how to get the basic look going, but I want to open this up to the brain trust in order to more properly formulate a plan. What's everyone's advice/thoughts?

What do you get in return for your time? Well, I'll post back here with my progress, and with lots of photos. I'm a long time Forum addict. I've been VERY active on ADVRider (still am) with my Airhead adventures. I like to give back by sharing my story. I'm not just gonna take your advice and drop off. If anything you may get sick of me.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!!!

(attached are the contractually obligated car photos)

PS: I've read enough threads here already to know what's coming. So let me nip this id the bud now. I'm committed to modifying this car. Sorry, it's happening. A 73 isn't some rare bird, the motor is already not original/non-numbers matching, and honestly it looks A LOT better in photos than it actually is. SO this IMO is a great candidate.

As I found it:

Trailered home:

Quick Wash:

Wyatt's first time in the Bug:

I'm a sticker addict:

Putting on some new/safe rubber:

Moved to a new house, Wyatt's stoked the Bug came too:

_________________
Nick Malozzi

[Brian]

Neato, good luck with the build. Any question you have, it's been answered here on the Samba. Aircooled VW motors are an interesting bread, the Type 1 motor you have will be very forgiving even if something is seriously wrong.
_________________
Wash your hands

'69 Bug
'68 Baja Truck
'71 Bug
'68 Camper

Only losers litter

[dustymojave]

Hi Nick and Wyatt and Mom.

Just to ease your conflicts with purists. A stockish Class 11 look Bug can generally be restored to stock fairly easily.

Check with user Brian. He has a very nice dual purpose pseudo Class 11 that he bought from another member AZ_BUG. It has an EMPI bolt-in roll cage with minor modifications. (Roll cages are a good thing for passenger protection on the street even more importantly than for offroad use.) It has some minor suspension modifications that give it the look, and also give it improved offroad performance and usefulness.

Here's the thread about the car's development through 2 owners.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=290228

Here is one of the most recent pictures of 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.

[dustymojave]

PS: My next door neighbors have a son named Wyatt. We've known them since before Wyatt was born. He's in the US Army now.
_________________
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.

[nmalozzi]

[Brian]

Roof top tents are nice and all, but not with too many people. Also it's a pain to get on and off. And if you want to be 'spirited' with your off road driving, you just have to remember that you're top heavy.

But yea, AZ_BUG did a great job on the car. I've been slowly removing some of the weakest link aftermarket stuff and replacing them with as many VW parts as I can.
_________________
Wash your hands

'69 Bug
'68 Baja Truck
'71 Bug
'68 Camper

Only losers litter

[TDCTDI]

Absolutely do it! As said above, a class 11 generally doesn't ruin the car & that new little addition to the family will certainly whittle the fun budget down to nothing. Build it cheap & enjoy it for what it is.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[nmalozzi]

[TDCTDI]

If you want down & dirty, cheap lift kit, remove the front beam, do a cut & turn on the top tube & re-index the rear torsion bars & get some bigger tires. That would be more than enough for a bit of field fun & it could be done for less than say, $50 (taking the beam to a local welder to weld the top tube back after you cut it), maybe 5-10 hours of your time & whatever your choice of tires costs.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[nmalozzi]

[TDCTDI]

To raise the front end, you can cut out the center securing point of the spring pack in the top tube of the beam & install an adjuster like this so you can adjust the final ride height...

Or, you can cut on either side of that securing point, rotate it upwards (I believe common consensus is that 1/4"-3/8" is the best) & weld it back together.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[Brian]

You got some readin' to do

Start here for the front beam: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=491123
Take it off, buy adjusters and weld. Sounds simple right?

Sometime in your reading you're going to ask "hmm should I use Thing spindles instead of aftermarket lift spindles?" the answer is yes.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=478403

Here is info on transmissions:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=492880
Basically 215/75-15s are the way to go with stock gearing and a slightly larger than stock engine. BFGs are great, but General AT2s are cheaper and just as good.

Type 3 rear brakes on a bug
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4051524
Big brakes, make stop good.
_________________
Wash your hands

'69 Bug
'68 Baja Truck
'71 Bug
'68 Camper

Only losers litter

[TDCTDI]

My 1970 class 11-ish inspired Karmann Ghia build. Thing spindles, adjuster in top tube, reinforced shock towers, hook & rod kit, swaybar reinforced tierods, Ghia front disc, TypeIII rear drum brakes, Porsche 944 rear axles & stubs, General Grabber 205/75/15, Bilstein shocks.

_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[dustymojave]

Don't forget 4.5 x 15 Marathon wheels. And patina!

I like your Ghia. It's the vintage I prefer of Ghias. The medium size tail lights and IRS. Too bad it's ball joint. But I know how to fix that.
_________________
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.

[paranoid56]

it should be fun
building a 73 to race class 11 myself.

[earthquake]

If you do a "Cut & Turn" on the front beam don't do more then 5/16" or it will ride rough, you will need stops on the front trailing arms and any more then 5/16" and you will always be on the stops.
I did not use a top stop on the front of my car and have never noticed it bottoming out, if I was going to build a new front beam I would go with limit straps.
I also re-indexed my rear spring plates by covering 1/2 of the bottom rear hole of the spring plate retainer, it does clunk a bit but the stinger is loud enough I don't hear it.

Some of the mods I did to my beam...

Gusset on steering arm
lower stop only, [don't do like I did with the plate inside the beam, it gets in the way of a VW tow bar]
welded seam on shock tower, [good tip on welding seam is to take a torch and burn all the crud out all the way around, I fused it together with a TIG torch after]
gusset on shock tower [mine are made from 1" x 3" rectangle tube]
It also has castle nuts on the ball joints and drilled for cotter pins now

Not visible mods
cut stock sway bar and slid into tie rods to reinforce them
washer trick on steering arm
welded steering box clamp to beam to prevent box from rotating
I cleaned all the old lube out of steering box and filled with red grease, [I put zerks in the box to fill it, just make sure to break a bolt loose on the cover or it will spew!]
I used a urethane steering coupler but replaced it after it cracked [don't use]

don't be afraid to ask questions

Casey
_________________
74 CLASS 11 LOOK-A-LIKE
69 DUNE BUGGY
79 INTERNATIONAL SCOUT II
05 SCION XB SERIES RELEASE 2[#437]
95 Chevy C3500 dually
98 Ford E150
Link to Kelly J. Nolte 3/20/53 - 11/6/08
https://time-zonelabs.blogspot.com/p/about-kelly.html
DEATH TO CHINGERS!
[From a military recruitment poster in the novel "The Stainless Steel Rat" By Harry Harrison]

[nmalozzi]

Nice! So much awesome info here. I definitely have bunch of reading to do. Let me try to process all of this and then attempt to formulate a plan. Feel free to keep burying me with info in the mean time, haha!

THANKS!!!
_________________
Nick Malozzi

[mr_bill]

some pics-o-my car....any questions, feel free to ask...have pics of most stuff done
_________________
see ya' on the trail........

"Mr Bill"
Dos Perros Motorsports
Orange, CA
1972 Class 11x/Stock Bug
'60's era "vintage" Tunnell-Buggy

"...no one here....get's out ALIVE...."

Motor = electric
Engine = internal combustion

www.facebook.com/groups/DosPerrosMotorsports
www.alrchapter132.org
www.DAV.org

[jgarcia86]

Any updates?
Love the project.

[petrol punk]