Looking at an old class 1/2-1600

[winddude]

I'm looking at purchasing what I believe an older class 1/2-1600. I'm up in Canada so they're nor very common.

What are the things to watch out for?

It's a single seater. Engine has been swapped to a 1.6l jetta motor. Has king pin front end, reservoir shocks. Sounds like the rear end has reduction boxes. But the guy believes it ran and raced in california and Baja.

I don't plan on running score or norra races with it, (although that till is on the bucket list) I believe the class 1/2 now needs a chromoly chassis and it's quite a competitive class.

However, I believe I can run it on my local short track course to get into off-road racing.

What should I watch out for, or look for on the chassis? Are the gear reduction boxes fine, I thought they were more suited to more slow paced stuff?

[dustymojave]

Bus reduction swingaxle was sued for offroad racing 40 years ago. Search Johnny Johnson No-Hop as that is a kit developed by a Baja champion racer which adds a radius rod pivoting below the torsion housing and connected to the bottom of the reduction box to eliminate the rear "hop" common to bus reduction setups.

This indicates the frame is quite old. I was a Tech Inspector and buggy racer well before the advent of 1-2 1600 class. I don't remember any cars racing the class with bus reduction.
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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.