My son's new 69/72 baja build- we'll bee needing help

[dustymojave]

Yes, check the steering to make sure everything is working right.

Part of the difficult to steer issue may well be that the steering rack gear ratio is designed for power steering. Power steering can be added, but it aint cheap. Electric power steering might fix the issue and would probably be less expensive than a Howe or similar hydraulic power steering setup.

The fuel pump is probably a "Facet" style. might be an imitation, but that's no big deal. The fuel pump is best being near the gas tank as the man said above, they generally prefer to push gas instead of sucking it. But if it works, don't worry too much about that. It should have a fuel pressure regulator controlling pressure to 4psi or below. Webers don't like more than that.

The way the beam is supported is really sketchy. It needs to be tied into the roll cage properly. Galvanized fence or water pipe is NOT proper, let alone the design and fabrication of the supports. The location of the steering rack is probably OK. With a fair amount of work after the beam is properly supported and you're sure that is the right rack & pinion, you might be able to get better location and angle of the rack to provide less bump steer.

Mounting the rear shocks will definitely require some fabrication.

Do you or your son know anything about welding? If yes, do you have any welding equipment? Both would be good for this project. Or friends/neighbors with such capabilities.
_________________
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.

[Mal evolent]

read these:

http://www.aircooled.net/vw-performance-engines/
http://www.aircooled.net/vw-carburetor-options-selection-101/

nothing wrong with reading everything there.
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73 Beetle Baja, Ghia front brakes, Type 3 rear brakes, 2220 ( 94 X 80 ), Weber Progressive, Bosch SVDA, '97 Mustang seats

Baja Bugs for Volkswagen Virgins: Index

[jeepsterryan]

dustymojave - Thanks for the advice. I'll check the ratio on the rack and pinion. We have access to a full fab shop. Drill presses, sheers, welders, everything, so the fence pipe will be disappearing in short order and installing the rear trailing arms should be no problem.

dustymojave - my eyes are starting to bleed from all of the reading I've been doing and various topics:) Hopefully soon I can stop reading and start doing. Thanks for the links.

[earthquake]

You also need to address the shock reservoirs, zip ties are not good for mounting them. looks like a good start though.
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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]

[jeepsterryan]

We got the bug re-wired and now have it down at out shop for a little mechanical once over. We took the front end apart and are putting it back together with everything tight. We found the spindle nuts were loose, the caliper bracket bolts were only held on by three threads on the nuts, and a myriad of other shenanigans. We're working on fixing it all now.

All of the steering components checked out as good. It was a beast to steer. Plus, as we drove it to the shop we noticed it has the kind of bump steer that makes it jump six inches to either side with any decent sized pot hole. I'm sure that both the hard steering and bump steer are due to three factors. The height of the drag links, the angle of the drag links from the box to the knuckles, and the front end alignment (mostly caster). So, we'll work and relocating the steering box and see what changes.

I'll post pictures of the wiring upgrade soon. Were pretty happy with what we did.

As we reassemble the front end, we are probably going to make some structural/mounting changes. We eventually want to move the front forward and add a 3 inch body lift, but for now we're just going to get it so that it drives. Before we do all of that, I have one quick question.

If I am in full control of the angle of the trailing arms at resting position is there an ideal position? Level, a few degrees down, etc.? I read a few postings about it, but never saw anything definite on a best practice.

[dustymojave]

[jeepsterryan]

dustymojave - There are pictures of everything toward the beginning of this thread. But, there is no doubt that the rack and pinion needs to be relocated. The information you provided will help me position the suspension correctly first. From there, I'll get measurements and us Solid Works to figure out the best mounting location for the box so that the tie rods (correction noted).

So just to make sure I understood what you told me - the position of the trailing arms at resting height is just wherever they end up after you configure the the upper and lower travel limits based on your intended driving style/preference. I.E. - there is nowhere specific that they should be, it is dependent on other factors. Is that correct?

BTW - thanks for the detailed answer. Cobbling together responses from multiple threads is super time consuming and rarely conclusive.

[dustymojave]

[jeepsterryan]

Just wanted to post a quick update. When we bought this bug, it came with a ton of really awesome upgrades, they were just poorly installed. So, we spent the last two months reworking a few things to get it ready. Last night was the maiden voyage and everything worked perfectly.

Here's what we've done so far. I'm really terrible at taking pictures of the process while we're working. It already takes long enough to get everything done without stopping to photograph (with dirty hands) every few minutes.

Rewired the entire bug and upgraded to a modern fuse block




Removed the front end, cut off all the old brackets, cleaned all the parts and reinstalled the front end with a 4.5"5 extension, 8 degrees of caster and about 1.5" of lift.











As part of the front end renovation, we reinstalled the steering box, built some heavy duty tie rods with international ends, and corrected the steering angle.





Fabricated pre-heat tubes





Installed a new 14 Gal gas tank. The 22 Gal version we had would not fit under the hood.








Re-indexed the rear torsion bars to lift the rear a bit (we have some 3x3 extended arms with coil overs, but we have some roll cage work to do before they can be installed).

Installed disc brakes front and rear with a new master cylinder.

Complete tune up - cap, wires, rotor, plugs, etc.

Adjusted the valves

Adjusted the timing

Re-jetted the Weber carb (I don't even know how the previous owner was driving the thing with the old jetting. It was so far off it would barely run).

Thanks to the many people here on TheSamba that helped answer our questions. We couldn't have gotten this far without you! Don't go anywhere though, we aren't done!

[TDCTDI]

Very nice!

You really need to address reinforcing & bracing the front end. You have added a lot of leverage on the original pan by extending the beam that far out. The pan head is known for failing on rat rods that have extended the beam forward. Playing with one off-road in this condition is going to add lots of stress that the original pan head was not designed for.
_________________
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.

[jeepsterryan]

Reinforcements for the front are in the short list. We need to make some updates to the roll cage, then we'll tie it all together.

[jeepsterryan]

First day off road was everything we could have hoped and more.

[dustymojave]

Have you reinforced that front end yet?

TDCTDI is VERY MUCH RIGHT about what he said. You're out beating that car hard. I'm sure it's lots of fun, but when it breaks the fun gets ugly real quick.

Looks like Razor Road.
_________________
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.

[dirtkeeper]

[jeepsterryan]

Has anyone seen my Baja?

[Vanapplebomb]

That’s a fantastic looking Baja man. I love it.
_________________
1800 Type 4 Berrien 295

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=487021

[dustymojave]

Effective camo scheme.
_________________
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.