Round 2 - Starting from scratch

[Bock]

I've been bombing around in my bug for the last 2 years, putting a little over 1600 desert miles on the clock since my last thread. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
Generally I don't like doing things 2x, but getting it going previously gave me a chance to enjoy some seat time with my son which I will always be thankful for. In that time I also have been reminded of the stock VW suspensions limitations, as well as its surprising abilities! But I'm at the point where I'm ready for more, and my rear end is a bit tired of slamming the floor pan due to my awesome stock/welded back together VW suspension seat I will say though, the most impressive thing has been the BFG rear tires. They came on the car when I bought it and are at least 20 year old blem tires. They have been awesome!

At this point, the plan is link pin front end swap, IRS rear conversion to 3x3's, coil overs, roll cage (isn't this what most people say??)

Starting point for me is a full strip down and chassis separation from the body. Should be fun and make it so I can get started on suspension stuff.

Comments/Suggestions/Precautions/Safety things are welcomed so please feel free to add your .02.

[Dark Earth]

You have to go with an IRS Bus transmission to compliment the other improvements.
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My Build: '69 Baja - Dark Earth Version

~I'm almost done. I just lack finishing up.~

[Scott SD]

I second the bus trans. They are getting hard to find. Keep an eye out for a 5 or 6 rib. Great start so far. What is your plan for a cage?

[Bock]

[Bock]

Chipping away at this thing. Still working on de-gunk-a-fying the inside.

I know why they turned this car into a Baja once upon a time. Smacked the front end against something and the passenger rear corner sheet metal has some wave to it as well. No matter, the front is getting trimmed for a 1 piece front end sooner or later

My head is spinning after spending the week online window shopping for front end and rear end parts. Pacific Customs has the most informative website that I've found and offers kits for a 6" wider LP spindle to spindle as well as something similar for the rear on their 3x3 etc kits. Reviews on Samba are less than stellar re: them though. Any experience or recommendations for suspension? Kartek has a good rep of course, but not sure if their stuff is too much for a non-racing car. I also need a good jig for the IRS conv. and am trying to weed through the garbage about arms not being made correctly due to camber issues. My head hurts.

[Dark Earth]

[cbeck]

Got my beam kit from dan's performance parts. Couple of small issues, answered the phone every time, resolved quickly.
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My cut in half and rebuild thread
www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=647779

[L5wolvesf]

[Bock]

[Bock]

I separated the body from the pan today. Sold the seats over the weekend to pad the Baja fund a bit.

Here is a little bit of separation anxiety. Fits decent in the garage.

[thesatelliteguy]

I got a JD2 bender and love the thing. I find it’s pretty easy to bend even 1.5”x.120” wall tube by hand, and a lot faster then the air over hydraulic from what I’ve seen.
I also invested in the Bend Tech program and that made figuring out how to build the A pillar a lot easier. I had to build it in the program first but then it just sprite out where to put a bend and how many degrees.
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Toyotas are so bumpy it makes me sick, literally.

My build Page http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=383878

[Buggeee]

I still love the stripes on this car!
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1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[dustymojave]

[Bock]

[Bock]

I've been working on removing the tar board from the floor pan this week. I used an air hammer/chisel to lift the bulk up, and then a small flat pry bar with a mallet to get the rest and chip away all the black chunky residue. What a mess, I am glad that is over.
Next I got one of those 3" wire wheel cups to use in a 4-1/2" angle grinder and went to town on the rust that was hanging out under the tar boards. No holes, just some flaky stuff and left over pitting. I started cleaning up some of the scale with a flap disk on the grinder. Jury is still out how far I'm going to go with that.

I drilled out the seat track spot welds and they gave up the fight without very much drama. I am thinking about doing POR 15 coating when the cleanup is done, but am still looking into it.

I managed to sell the bug seats, wide eye fiberglass, and the seat tracks - putting some good guys back in the baja fund

[Bock]

After having more than my fair share of fun with the wire wheel and rust/tar board I decided to take on the next task, IRS Swap. I used the setup jigs from Pac Customs and am glad I did. I cut into the frame horns with my plasma cutter. Even taking it slow and conservative with the cuts I still have a fair amount of filler material to make up when I weld the mounts in solid. I saved all the steel that I cut out so that I can easily make pieces to fill the gaps when the time comes. Right now the brackets are tacked in place until I get further down the road and verify I'm happy with their position etc.

Before and after:

I bought some bolts at Ace and cut the hex head off to make studs to simplify the jig test fit process. Without these, the job would have taken 10x longer. The instruction pdf that Pac Customs has actually recommends this, but it's one of the details that is easy to overlook.

The torsion housing casting is a nasty piece of metal. 55 years of corrosion and a nasty finish needed to be sanded down so the torsion eliminator plate could be installed. I tried hand sanding to knock down the crud with no luck, I couldn't really get a very good measurement to see how much material had to be removed (calipers didn't reach) but I knew it wasn't a ton as you could feel the chamfer trying to settle so I got these little drum sanding discs. I thought they would fit into my air die grinder, wrong. So I put them in the cordless and had at it. They were cheap and didn't last long, but the finish was worth it. The driver side took 3 80 grit drums and the passanger side took something like 6 or 7. Crazy.. Anyway, as you can see below, the finish is nice and the fit is nice as it should be.

The spring plates had to be trimmed a tad to clear the weld. No big, just rounded the edges off a touch and looks almost like it was supposed to be that way

Here is everything bolted down. Don't mind the emt bracing the arm up, or the old rusty hardware. I'll be getting new hardware to replace it. Just using this stuff for mock up.

Stock shock towers need to be trimmed up among other things, but here's the rear end.

[Bock]

Well, this thread should probably be called something else as direction has changed again.

I no longer live in the desert, but moved to TN. Finally settling into the new house (1 year this month) and have time to start looking at the bug again.

But let me backup just bit.. so I got a new job at work that required relocation. This all happened as the pan was sitting on saw horses just like the picture in my last post. I proceeded to put the body back on and get the bug to roller status just enough to load it on a uhaul flatbed. I used a piece of black pipe from HD through the holes in the shock towers to hold the rear suspension up. Worked like a charm. I hauled the bug from Phoenix to Nashville without major incident, but we ran through a major downpour in OKC which caused my pan to flash rush. I hit it again with the wire wheel upon arrival and there really isn't any harm done. whew! It was quite the adventure though and the bug sat in the rental house garage until we moved into our new home.

Focusing back in on the car I decided to abandon the typical mid travel build in favor of a beefed up stock plan. Not being in the desert, I won't really be going fast enough to need it and I still have the parts so I can always pickup and go after "round 4" if I get the itch Honestly I've spent more time searching for parts than working on the car, but at least it's pointed in a direction. I'll use it for slow driving in the woods and maybe for scouting out hunting areas. Big change from the desert race mentality.

I found a local guy to build me a transmission (deja vu if you read my other thread) It's just a type I IRS, and I opted to have him put the lower 4.37 R&P in with welded 3rd & 4th.

I bought the sway-a-way spring plates so I could re-use my swingaxle torsion bars and caps.

I also got ahold of some centerline wheels and new tires. 31x10.5 BFG in the rear and 7.00-15 for the front. The rear rims don't leak any air, but the fronts do so i put tubes in them and mounted all the tires myself. Just need to find a place to get them balanced eventually.
I found a good deal on 3 Y742S tires as well so I have an alternate set for the front and a spare tire as well. 2 of them are barely used, and 1 is unused. I'll probably put them on for the dirt just need to figure out the rim situation. I have the old steel rims, but that would look goofy unless I get another pair of rear tires. Oh well, future problems..

I also bought some stock IRS arms from a Samba classified and picked up local. I'm still debating on boxing them in. Same with some stock IRS axles. I have CV's and drum brakes. I just need to find the time to get out there and start welding up the holes in the pan. I need to replace the fuel line and run brake lines and then paint the pan. Still deciding if I want to box in the stock arms. I want the reinforcement, but don't want to lose the stock shock mounts. Will see how it goes.

[The Phil]

I too have a 66 baja that I am going in the same direction as you.
I will be following your thread closely.
Only difference I can see right now is that I don't plan on a full cage, just a rear half. I'm too big to fit in this car with a full cage.
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"In case I don't see you, good afternoon , good evening, and goodnight."

My '66 Baja Build Page http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=456365

Free from the evils of facebook Dec 2012. No other Social Media.

[dustymojave]

If you use the plate kit to reinforce your stock arms, clearance for the shock will require a huge notch in the middle of the plate kit, which will render your arms quite weak.

There are ways to reinforce your stock arms with tubing that will allow mounting the shocks on the stock mounts, instead of the plate kits, which will not allow stock mounts for the shocks. Prowlers and Kaddie Shack were selling them once upon a time, but they were QUITE expensive. YOU could imitate them at a reasonable cost, if you or a friend can fabricate and weld.

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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.

[DesertSasquatchXploration]

The middle ground area between a stock light fun hill climbing desert cruiser with good MPG and a powerline road gas hog high speed runner, Is not a car I ever want. Your as heavy as a jeep but cant climb with 2wd and cant send it either. Its the perfect storm David Freiburger said it best with his Dodge Super Bee (Too fast for street driving and too slow for drag racing)