70 street baja project

don't_bug_me · Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2013 2:20 pm Post subject: 70 street baja project

Well, I picked up 2 beetles over the past 2 weeks, and time to start my project thread, I picked up a 69 and a 70 base beetle, both have been previously started as baja projects. The one in this thread will be the 70. I plan on keeping this one and making it a street toy that looks like it could meander off road slightly. As seen in a couple of other help topics, the rear brakes were the first to be tackled, frozen and haven't been serviced in eons, it boiled down to a set of torches to loosen the rear nuts, as I don't yet have a torqe tool...( hey Santa....) After finnaly getting the drums off, I ordered all new shoes, hardware, wheel cylinders and seals. Plan on saving the adjusters Pray

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

pretty straight forward, like any other brake drum job, needed a little heat from a hand held torch to release the adjusters, everything got copius amounts of anti seize and new grease.

one thing to note if you haven't done these before, the adjuster is tapered and the narrow end goes towards the center, this allows the shoes position properly

rinse and repeat

drums were in exceptional condition, just needing a light sanding, bearings repacked and new seals, after final adjustment of shoes to drums, finished off with my 5 lug Chevy adapters.

Dinner time, rears tomorrow.

don't_bug_me · Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 5:08 pm Post subject:

Replaced the rear brakes today, finally will have a working e-brake Dancing

All adapters and wheels on, will probbaly have to remove the wheels in the future for other work that needs to be done, but I couldn't resist, 215/65/15 fronts, 275/60/15 on the rear, has a nice stance now.

Tomorrow, I start on some floor patching.

don't_bug_me · Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 4:05 pm Post subject:

Sorry, no pics today, can't figure out where my %%!# camera went...removed all the fenders today, they need sanded and painted in a bad way, but thats for later, just took them off as every time I looked at them, I got annoyed... Rolling Eyes

Started my hillbilly floor repair, I call it hillbilly because I'm not replacing the pans, not in the budget for this buggy, but I happen to have a lot of heavy gauge stainless steel laying around, so, the floor will be rust proof and strong. I have about 3/4 of the driver side repaired, should have most of the sheet metal work done tomorrow, see if I can get some pics. More tomorrow.

don't_bug_me · Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 2:26 pm Post subject:

Only did a little more sheet metal work on the drivers side, was such a nice day, decided to ride on the bike, so much rain this year, gotta take every opportunity.

dirtkeeper · Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 3:23 pm Post subject:

Looking sweet. It looks like your dash has been modified too?

don't_bug_me · Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 5:50 pm Post subject:

Yeah, the dash has, I'll take some more pics of that as well as I go, I'm adding some aluminum diamond plate to the dash as well as making door panels from the stuff too.
Thanks

don't_bug_me · Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 1:57 pm Post subject:

Finished the floors today, so now they have all stainless shetmetal, caulked/sealed everything , added a foam underlayment for cushion and a water barrier should any find its way in. Gotta figre how I'm mounting the seats yet.

poor quality pic, sorry

with the fenders off waiting to get sanded and painted, looks kinda cool, ratrod-ish

don't_bug_me · Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 5:27 pm Post subject:

Haven't got much done lately, did replace the brake line from front to rear, what a pain in the rear hooking up the back connection, not a lot of finger room. Bench bleed the master tomorrow and mount and hook up all the lines. Bleed out the system, and hopefully I'll be finished with the brakes for awhile.

don't_bug_me · Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2013 4:29 pm Post subject:

Got some more work done, installed new rear shocks, mocked up my cage, tack welded the mounting kit, removed it again, finished up the weld, cleaned and painted with the truck bed liner, the chrome was too far gone, and I don't mind a little chrome, but not a big fan of a lot of it, needs too much care in cleaning for my taste.

don't_bug_me · Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2013 4:33 pm Post subject:

A couple questions for anyone watching this thread, there was a smaller aluminum pulley on the crank when I got it, what is the advantage of this if any, I thought it would take more revolutions to do the same job for the alternator and fan, wrong thinking??

Also, this empi breather thingie ma bob was also mounted, but only hooked up the the oil filler tube, where do the other two ports go?

BUGGUTZ · Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2013 6:25 pm Post subject:

My opinion on the pulley is that it doesnt generate enough rpm to run the gen and fan at a sufficient rate. I have that same exact pulleyon my 2180 but it has no gen or fan.
Looks like you have a great car to start with, seems to have decent parts. Is that a Zenith carb I see?

ZARJDR · Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2013 9:07 pm Post subject:

The underdrive pulley is a race thing, not good for a daily driver, and really not good for an off road car, insufficient fan speed/cooling. the other two
ports on the breather are for the valve covers, you can drill the valve
covers and buy aftermarket bungs for them. I run a set on my sandrail,
they can and do reduce crankcase pressure. My Baja I just run a breather
at the oil fill neck.
_________________
2006 RAM 1500 HEMI 4X4 92 LT250
06 Raptor DP1776 Sandrail
02 HONDA 400EX
03 YAMAHA WR450F 74 BAJA

don't_bug_me · Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2013 1:54 am Post subject:

Going back to the oem pulley then for sure, so my thinking wasn't wonky Laughing

and I may drill the covers as well.

Yes, that's a Zenith carb, a fairy decent sized 2 barrel by the looks of it, are they decent?

BUGGUTZ · Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2013 12:34 pm Post subject:

Ive never run a Zenith personally. I hear they are rugged and dependable not to mention easy to tweek. I had been thinking of getting one for my baja but keep sending the funds in other directions.

Art.b · Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2013 2:07 pm Post subject:

Looks like its coming along. Looks good!

don't_bug_me · Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2013 2:27 pm Post subject:

Thanks, it seemed like the guy who started this project had no problem sending money on some decent parts, not sure why he didn't continue with it, bought it through a buddy and I guess he didn't have money issues, maybe just too many projects. I've got a garage full of parts that came with it, some new and aftermarket stuff and a lot of oem stuff that was taken off.

Just bought some front shocks today, no sense in only paying attention to the rear, will post some more pics toorrow, didn't get anything done today.

don't_bug_me · Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 12:42 pm Post subject:

Soo much rain the past 2 days, all I got done was change the crank pulley back to the original. Funny thing about that, don't know why I thought I'd just pull the pulley off after taking off the bolt.. Rolling Eyes

Anyhow, I managed to use a steering wheel puller, by running 2 bolts from the backside of the pulley up through the puller, and the puller center bolt fit nicely inside the center bolt hole, a little turn of the nut and pop, easy out.

don't_bug_me · Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 3:02 pm Post subject:

Finished painting the cage, the other day, cleaned up the exhaust, remounted the carb properly, was only held on with 2 irregular size bolts and had a cardboard cereal box gasket, I recut a proper new one from gasket material, installed new front shocks. Starting to look a little better, will start working on the fenders, hood, side bars, rear rain cowl, and rear louvres over the next few days.

utahclaimjumper · Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 4:34 am Post subject:

If you are going to use it for street and light off-road, you might be happier by removing the front "sway bar", it allows for more of an 'independent" feature, my 72 handles better this way.>>>Dan

don't_bug_me · Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 6:12 am Post subject:


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