1971 baja bug

dustymojave · Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 12:30 am Post subject:

"Speed costs money! How fast can you afford to go?"

That is my version of an old hot rodder"s mantra. Huge amount of truth in 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.

runslikeapenguin · Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 12:54 am Post subject:

smokey the bear · Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 10:14 pm Post subject:

empi sucks ok got that. so i was thinking that if i'm going to build this baja, i want to build it right and not have to come back to redo anything. like just doing enough for suspension and haveing to come back. so than are the offroad trailing arms worth getting likehttp://www.mooreparts.com/store/product/1451/AC530012-E/ . than i have seen kits that you have the punched out steel and you weld it over the stock arms. than i have seen plates that get rid of the torrion bars, and you just put some fox or kings instead. how much travel should i have for the rear? So with the rear taken care of what do i do up there for suspension? i have the 5 peice baja kit so what kind of limits does that put on my bug? And also could i build my own taller shock towers? i'm just really wondering because i have seen such cool bugs but the shocks they use the the fox and kings are pretty spendy so what is a good site to by those at.? oh and what kind of travel should i have in the front? is it more important to have a greater amount of travel in the front or rear?

runslikeapenguin · Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 11:31 am Post subject:

preruntn · Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 9:20 am Post subject:

What about the Empi beam adjusters. Are those crap to?

Eric

corradolvr · Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 7:52 am Post subject:

Maybe we could rid the world of EMPI. I still can't say I don't have any EMPI on my car, but I sure try to keep it off there.
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http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3...highlight=

runslikeapenguin · Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 1:26 am Post subject:

dustymojave · Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 12:48 am Post subject:

dustymojave · Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 12:43 am Post subject:

With all else being stock...KYB Gas-A-Just. The white ones...NOT the GR2 silver ones.

Next step up would be Fox or King or Bilstein Class 11 shocks. I'd recommend F-O-A shocks for comparable quality at lower prices, But I don't think they have shocks yet to fit in stock locations.
_________________
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.

runslikeapenguin · Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 1:36 am Post subject:

if everything else on your car is stock, your arms arent boxed, run the white KYB's. they are a great starter shock. cheap, easy to install, decent performance and longevity. you will eventually want to change them out but by that time you will probably be ready for coil overs. Laughing

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never forget 1-31-07

smokey the bear · Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 10:47 pm Post subject:

ya the only reason do have an exo would be deep woods (like were i live) or rock crawling. with all that extra wieght you might as well have a jeep. what makes vws so aswesome in the sand and offroad is the weight. they will just float on the sand. but offcoarse everyone her knows this. So lets put this exo thing to a rest. So what do you guys thing i should do for shocks for my rule with everything else being stock for now?

allencoal1975 · Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 9:51 am Post subject:

don't take it too hard mybugsucks. I was once a member of a 4x4 club ,and I have seen a lot of exocages. not a lot on bugs ,but I have to say the few I have seen on bajas yours is at least a 8 out of 10. I don't know about running in the sand ,but it looks like it work great rock crawling.

samayne · Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 7:40 am Post subject:

i think it would be a fun project if time and resources were readily available but like said before, not practical. looks like it was pretty fun and props for doin it different.

riNR · Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 4:53 am Post subject:

holy snikes! to each his own and everyone's car has to serve them different purposes base on geography, trail type etc.
I happen to think that buggies with LS engines are ridiculous but then that is because I am referencing them on my type of trails. They're still great rails just wouldn't work here. To each his own.

mybugsucks · Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 1:59 am Post subject:

You win, RLAP.

runslikeapenguin · Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 1:09 am Post subject:

mybugsucks · Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 12:40 am Post subject:

damn, runslikepenguin, you definitely just ripped me a new one. Haha. It's all good tho. That reason is why i stopped updating my thread. Didn't feel like hearing how much of an idiot I was for building my bug like I did. I don't think I can possibly answer all your questions, but I'll give it a shot. And to set the record straight, in terms of performance, weight, safety and the like you are completely right, an internal rollcage is the way to go. There is a reason why SCORE requires an internal cage, and I am more apt to trust them than any of the random joe's who build exo's on their jeeps and toyota's. Not going to lie, the main reason for the exocage was to build something different than what i had seen before. And something that didn't look absolutely retarded like the orange exocage from earlier. For me the only benefit that the exo will provide is saving some body damage from brush, plants, trees, rocks and the like. So for the sake of the thread, if you are looking for performance, safety, reliability and the like, all traits which should be mandatory design aspects for all vehicles, don't build an exocage.

In regards to my car, the entire car is caged in. There is a lot of internal bracing as well. I chose to close off access to the front clip because there isn't anything i want to store in there, and since there is no substantial material available under it, why would I want to access it?(This is rhetorical, don't answer it. I know i could put a spare tire/gas tank/tools/electrical/etc in there. I just didn't want to.) The entire chassis is based on 4 running bars that span the entire length of the frame. Two run straight from the outer edges of the front beam along the side of the pans, and tie into the center channel/frame right next to the tranny mount. (these are the visible ones in the picture). Two more run from the top outer edges of the beam upwards to a leg hoop that spans the driver and the passenger's legs, then back to an internal cage behind the driver and passenger's heads, and back all the way to the rear shock mounts and engine bumper. The lower tubes that run along the outside of the body, are welded to the center channel at 90 degree angles in 2 places on each side, one under the drivers feet, and one under his seat. There is an internal hoop protecting the driver and passenger, tied into the running bars, center channel of the frame, and cross braced. It is the mounting point for the seatbelts. The rear cage now is detachable. I made mounts after designing the cage and assembling to make sure it would fit how I wanted it to. Now the lower bars bolt onto flanges mounted to the tranny frame horn, and the upper bars mount to the running bars. Once all the interal, cross-braced framing was done, I built up the exocage around it. And I believe most of that is explanatory. The front bumper is designed to deflect oncoming impact down below the front suspension housing. In case of endoing, hopefully the outer cage, coupled with the internal crossbraced cage will keep driver and passenger safe. Seats are mounted to center channel, outer running bars, and 90 degrees bracing from running bar to center channel.

Essentially, my car has an internal rollcage, then I built it up enough to form the foundation of my exocage. Being an engineering student, i am fully aware of the inherent design flaws of building an exocage. My design is too heavy, bulky, and completely worthless if I were desiring to race competitively. But I am not. I designed my car to be a fun project, different than all the other bajas I see at pismo, and on the modest budget I could afford. I had fun building it, and I am stoked to have a car that looks different from everyone else's.

runslikepenguin, very thorough analysis, and some of the best advice i have read in a while. Here's my old build thread, but it pretty useless because i never updated it. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=240173&highlight=

dustymojave · Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 9:48 pm Post subject:

caromin · Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 7:16 pm Post subject:

If all you care about is protecting the body that cage is ok I guess, it isn't going to protect you much. When an exoskeleton is wrapped around the squareish body of a Jeep or Landrover it doesn't take much away from the styling because it's boxy anyway.

To each his own, we're all individuals, bla bla bla... Just my opinion but the exoskeleton totally takes away from the curved lines of the VW which I think gives it it's style and...it looks like the car is in Jail.
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Chris
59Rag
86 Westy
Sandrail
Explorer rail build!

'Rollin Dirt Video!

runslikeapenguin · Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 6:56 pm Post subject:


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