1969 Baja Bug - TX Build

[sailtexas186548]

New guy from Texas here! I have built and/or been involved in many motor sports but this is my first VW.

My buddy bought a Baja (heavily modified, chopped top, etc) that was a bit of a basket case and I helped him sort it out over the last couple months, wiring, steering, clutch, oil pressure issues, oil leaks, just little stuff... Well now it's my turn to buy a basket case Baja - here it is:

Chassis: 1969 Standard Baja, One piece front end (no hacked inner fenders or anything!), no rear fenders, no lights but the wiring is there, rear tube bumper, tow bar, stock interior (whats left anyways), 8 layers of paint, a couple cans of Bondo, all the windows work, windshield is cracked, fairly rust free for a '69 IMO.

Engine: Stock 1600 bottom end, 85.5mm pistons and cylinders, DP heads, single re-manufactured carb, converted to an alternator, old rusty header, has all the tins, new distributor, still running the stock fuel tank (scary), new starter, runs OK but I'll know more when I get further into it.

Transaxle: Single side cover IRS, upgraded to "bus gears and some other stuff by a shop in California" according to the PO, EMPI trigger shifter (cant get it into first but the PO did, I need to play with it some), looks like stock CVs and axles

Suspension: Rear IRS and Front Ball Joint, everything looks stock as first glance and rust free. All wheels are steel, rear 29" or 30" Super Swamper TRXUS, front is some Walmart brand AT 29" tall. It also has front disc brakes (EMPI I think, they feel nice at slow speed and unloading off the trailer, we'll see how they do on the road...)

I also got a spare, stock 1600DP engine with all the stock tins, wiring, everything, and a Dual side cover IRS transaxle with a clutch and axles in the deal.

The plan is to clean it, finish stripping the interior except the seats and dash, do basic maintenance and get the engine vitals looking good, lights, make sure the suspension is sound, put a turn down on the exhaust, get it street legal, then go from there. Gonna drive it for a while and figure out what I want to do with it

Pics:

On it's way home last night:

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it's more fun loud and dirty

[earthquake]

Are you sure about the 89mm pistons? I have never heard of them. maybe 87- 88mm's, there were some 90mm's years ago but I have not seen any in years.
Nice Baja though.

Casey
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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]

[sailtexas186548]

I'm going off what the PO said so who knows, I'll find out when the heads come off I guess

Thanks, it looks better in pics than in person
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it's more fun loud and dirty

[sailtexas186548]

Tinkered with it last night, there were only two bolts holding the engine and transmission together! Got that sorted out and messed with the wiring to get it to start.

The ignition switch is bypassed sort of - I don't have the key so it has to be turned with a screwdriver and then you have to flip an ignition power switch (toggle) that the PO installed under the dash, then hit the dangling push button start to energize the starter!

Anyways it started, real easily and idled so I took it for a spin in the parking lot. This thing is slowwwww! So I pulled the air cleaner off and the automatic choke wasn't wired up, I was driving with the choke on all the way. Tonight I'm gonna get the choke wired up and set the timing (distributor is loose and spins easily) and see how it does.

So far the clutch and transmission seems OK, shifts nice but this EMPI trigger shifter is pretty wonky - it will lock out 3/4 with the trigger pulled, but it wont lock out reverse with the trigger released. and the difference between 1st and 3rd is like .125" I have to pull the trigger to make sure I'm in first and not 3rd
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it's more fun loud and dirty

[brooksinc1976]

Good looking baja. Glad to see more VW guys down the street.

[sailtexas186548]

Thanks! Yeah I'm just down the road from you, I live in Kemah and work in La Porte

Started sorting out the wiring it's worse and worse the further I dig into it. Gonna have to re-wire the whole car which is probably for the best anyways.

Found TDC, marked the pulley, fired it up and it only runs at about 15 degrees advanced otherwise it dies (bosch 009) and sounds terrible. I though that was weird so I moved the timing light to the different plug wires and only #1 and #2 have spark. It's a distributor system so I'm guessing the plugs/wires are bad on the other side although they look new, I cant imagine the points cam is worn like that but hey who knows...

Didn't mess with the choke yet since the timing is so far out, but the choke valve just fops around so I'm guessing the bi-metal spring is shot.
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it's more fun loud and dirty

[brooksinc1976]

Smith foreign is off 225. He is semi retired and only open mon-wed but is a great local resource.

[sailtexas186548]

Awesome that's nice to have a vw place so close!

Found this gem just now:

So it's getting torn down to the long block at least, I'm ready to pull the heads but I'm gonna do a compression check first

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it's more fun loud and dirty

[sailtexas186548]

Compression test showed 110psi on #1, #2, and #4, while #3 was at 30 psi. Took the drivers side head off and found a piston that's way to small for the cylinder lol. Yes that's the piston ring at the top of the picture... Needless to say I will be pulling this engine down to the short block at a minimum

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it's more fun loud and dirty

[sailtexas186548]

pulled the jugs and found out they are worn badly, the #3 is 1.5mm oversized... so in the trash the jugs and pistons went:

Stock rods and crank as far as I can tell:

The rods seems to rock a lot on the crank by eye, I will get an indicator on them soon:

[IMG]http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj178/sailtexas186548/th_IMG_12151_zpsorbh93zf.mp4[/IMG]

how it sits now, going to continue tearing it down and will likely split the case:

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it's more fun loud and dirty

[twowheeletex]

they always looks good when you go pick em up. then you get them home and really look at them and wonder wtf the po was thinking. good to see one coming back to life. good work and good luck.
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My Build Thread:

http://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=146218

[sailtexas186548]

thanks!

yea these things seems to end up hacked since they are "easy and cheap" - hopefully i do it right

measure the rod end play (wobble) which should be 0.030" or less based on 0.003" rod bearing clearance. I'm at 0.055 - 0.059" so I'd say that a bit excessive (2x!)

the rod to crank axial clearances are around 0.012-0.013" which is good to see something decently in spec.

the wrist pin bushings are 0.8675 - 0.8685" so those are worn out too although they would be OK for a little while.

anyways it is clear the engine needs a refresh, so its out and will be apart tonight. brought it to work to get the gland nut off, didn't have a big enough impact socket or flywheel tool at home

the clutch seems like its in good shape with plenty of material left, gonna clean it up and use it but put in a new pilot and throughout bearing.

also got the heads torn down, going to clean them up and see if i need new guides, then lap in some new valves and reassemble.

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it's more fun loud and dirty

[sailtexas186548]

got the first engine torn down and cleaned up... there isn't a single usable part except the push rods! heads are cracked, valve guides worn out, valves mismatched, cylinders work out, rod bushings worn out, crank needs to be ground, case is STD bore but hammered out needs line boring, cam gears are missing teeth, lifters worn, cam drive gear is trashed - it is a sad situation!

here is the case ready for the machine shop:

so now I'm tearing the other engine down. It's a dirty mess but it seems 100% stock with about 1,000,000 miles on it haha. the heads on it are cracked too :/ but everything else seems to be in ok shape

I'm hoping this case will provide me:
a usable case that doesn't need too much machine work, a usable crank, and a usable cam gear.

I want to build two identical engines so I have a spare. They wont be super high end but I'm not going to treat them nice so no reason to spend more at least this round of builds.

1600cc, 85.5mm AA p/c's, stock crank, stock dual port heads (which ones?, gonna have to buy new no matter what), W100 or W110 cam, refurbished stock rods, bearings/gaskets/fasteners, all under a single pict-34 carb
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it's more fun loud and dirty

[warwgn]

Hope that one bears good fruit for you.

[sailtexas186548]

Well this engine is a little better, but not much! Needs a line bore (center main only), old style dish cam so the cam gear is worthless even though it's in good shape, crank needs to be ground, and the rod bushings are worn. The crank gears and distrusted drive gears are useable and the case is in good shape so a positive

With so much damage and no useable heads it's hard to justify building two engines, I'm gonna have to price it out and make a decision
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it's more fun loud and dirty

[sailtexas186548]

Ordered all my engine parts today, going to build a 1600 with a set of mofoco 040 heads and a w100 cam, stock rods and crank, pict 34 carb

While I'm waiting on engine parts I'm going to tackle the rest of the bug. Going to fix the leaky transmission, adjust the shifter, check the brakes out, and strip it down some more and rewire it
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it's more fun loud and dirty

[philthy]

Judging by the love it was given, I'd do some brake work too. Safety always first!
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74 Baja 1600 Dual ICT

[sailtexas186548]

Yes that's high on my priority list! It has disc brakes on the front and the felt way better than my buddies all stock '73 bug brakes but they may be held together with bubble gum and duct tape lol

I intend to weld a cage in and put 6 point belts in also, but first I need to get it on the road!
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it's more fun loud and dirty

[sailtexas186548]

Tore all the non OG wiring out, pulled the fuel tank, all the interior except the door panels and dash pad is out, popped the 3 rear windows and windshield out, pulled the carpet and insulation/damping material it was a stinky mess.

The pan had the typical rust, one hole that I'll patch up. The passenger heater channel has some rust too but it's not worth fixing for now. I'm going to clean it up the best I can, use some rust converter like osphos, and paint the whole thing inside and out. The only area of rust that concerns me is this area:

The brakes actually seem like they are in good working order. Does anyone recognize this front brake kit? The spindle has the caliper bracket cast into it it's not an adapter bracket

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it's more fun loud and dirty

[mrbajadude]

Most likely Karmann Ghia disc.
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Panic, Chaos and Disorder, My work here is done!