Eventually I'm going to do a complete rebuild and upgrade on my baja and I was thinking of is it better to keep the floorpan i've got with linkpin front end and swing axle rear and put in IRS rear or should I get a later pan and put the earlier body on? Or would it just be better to get a later bug and use that and if so what year? And would I get any benifits of IRS rear other that better ride and stability?
Get a 68-70 beetle and Baja that.....raise up your current baja so you can get around a little easier while you build a new one.......that way you still get to go offroad while you build the new car and when it is finished sell your current car as a complete car........:thumb
65 Meyers Manx
68 Country Buggy (KO 367)
68 Country Buggy (KO 669)
68 Country Buggy (KO 789)
68 Country Buggy (KO 815)
68 Baja Bug
76 Baja Kombi Twincab
Craig Torrens6 times Australian, 7 times State Hillclimb Class Champion
I just put irs in my 70 ball joint pan for my baja in progress. I would hunt around for a ball joint pan as they are meant to be better for offroad use apparently.
Graham
yeah I think we might do what 11cab says but we might not sell my current one when we're finished we might keep it as a bushbasher/spareparts/future project probably last one cause Dad want's a baja.
76 is a good year as it is ball joint IRS, however pre 72 (I think that is cut off) will have less ADR compliance related problems when you try to mod stuff.
So I agree with the others, 68-70 is a good era for a Baja. My Baja is a 68.
yeah, 76' has emmisions ADR's, that's why my race car is no longer registered. They wanted the single carb back on, charcoal canisters, air filter with the breathers and all the other pipes hanging off etc etc.
Want a technical overload-
I recommend Jeff Hibbards "Baja Bugs and Buggies - Who to prepare VW-based cars for off-road fun and racing."
I have read this book three times and coincidently have just bought my own copy for Christmas and reading it again. It was only Friday I was reading recommended years by suspensions, engine / transaxle transplants. Although technical it's fairly easy to follow. The choices are the hard bit - Dollars V Reliability & Performance.
It is an excellent resource from mild to wild with not only his opinions but many other alternative set ups other drivers use and don't use. It is a little dated with the revised edition coming out in 1983 but since the best Bajas are pre-MacStrut the age dosen't matter.
Just remember Jeff's book was written for teh USA market so some dated info may vary some what. The info itself is spot on but Aussie Mobel Bugs had a few variations compared to the US ones.
I have a 70 pan with a K+L head welded on to it about 40mm forward than the standard posi. This just brings the wheels forward so when i put longer arms on it, the wheels wont sit so far back. When or if you put bigger diameter tyres on, you dont have clearance issues.
K+L front will give more lift and is stronger than a bj front.
You can fit a later body to an early pan.
I think the earlier body looks tougher.
Ok I may sound like an idiot but i'm completely confused.
So a 68-70 bug will have a ball joint front end but swingaxle rear and so a conversion has to be done? or am I wrong? why can't I just get a 71 or 72 bug with IRS and use that? Is it because of the strut suspension in the front? Why can't this be used offroad? We had strut suspension in our jacked up subaru station wagon and it was fine (yes i went offroad regulary and went places most 4X4's couldn't go and took a lot of punishment without any probs-until I hit a van head on but i won't go into that...) If a IRS conversion has to be done on a 68-70 bug is it hard/complicated? What is involved? that's all for the moment thanks.😀
ever thing points to irs rear & k&l pin front being the best setup. so, get an old superbug complete. use it for its 1600 & trans, irs and better pan than the old <67 one you're going to get for its k&l front & head.
oh yea, cut your rusty heater channels off complete & make rreplacement rails out of rectangular section of chosen height for chosen bodylift.
K&L is not stronger than Ball joint when they are both stock. K&L can be beefed up a lot more but will cost heaps. Ball joint requires less maintenance and is cheaper to recondition. Plus ball joint has factory disc brakes.
Yeah I've seen Brad's ad but I don't need RWC and rego as it would be being fully rebuilt whie my current bug is being used as daily driver and it's a bit too much even though it's perfect. How hard is it to convert to IRS? What's involved? I've found how to's around the net but they don't explain very well.
the hardest part of correctly aligning the pivot boxes. If you get it wrong then you will have terrible rear wheel alignment and camber forever.
So you either need to be confident enough to make your own jig, or borrow a jig from someone who has one.
I personally found it easier to drop the floorpan to custom offroad and let them do it.
welding a ball joint frame head onto the front of a later strut vehicle will be easier. But then you have the problem of having a late chassis number and ADR related issues.
Hey Boozer, how old are ya again?? 18? I did the IRS conversion last year (18). I bought my baja with BJ front and swing rear. I thought it was fiarly easy really. Just a pain int he ass as far as time goes etc. I did a full rebuild with a lift kit etc etc. so I had the pan fully stripped. Then all it was was: $100 for 2 IRS pivot boxes, $0 for scrap metal I welded up to make the jig, not sure but ~$100 to get the holes plasma cut in the horns adn the boxes welded in. Actually maybe 100-200 for that. Things seem to be OK. Everything went back together in line etc.
One problem I had though was the CVs at the gearbox rubbed on the horns as they turned. All I did was space the gbox mount/cradle up with a few washers . Perhaps I should have heated and bashed a depression in the horns in the right spot but it doesn't matter anyway now.
So, a few hundred bucks and a fair bit of time. My total rebuild was meant to take 20 days but it ended up taking about a month and a half-2 months. Not much really. Still going and still being improved.
Hope that helps. Any q's I will answer if desired.
Oh yeh, we already had an old super to pinch the IRS trailing arms and transaxle off etc. Just couldn't be bothered cutting out the pivots. We got them off a Vw place that just cut them themselves. I would do the same again.
I got heavy duty pivot boxes welded in, and pivot bolt locks fitted for a little under $300, but that was a few years ago now (maybe 5 or 6?).
Yes you have to cut the horns to fit the pivot boxes in. You also should heat up and bash the frame horns to clear the CV's. This will likely break the spot welds, then you have to seam weld the horns (which you should do anyway).
All works excellent. Great on gravel roads and sharp corners.
I didn't realise about bashing the horns so I had already welded them. The washers work fine though, it was only a matter of 5-10mm. I didn't have to take it out or anything to do it either. When I put the kombi box in soon(hopefully) I will do a bit of heating and bashing just to be sure. I thought I was stuffed t hough when they started rubbing. The thing was that I got a fair bit of other stuff done at the enginerers(Non-vw related) so I didn't know the labour cost for the fitting. I would have got heavy duty boxes but they were out of my budget at the time. Maybe I would lash out and go the whole hog if I did it again?? I am happy.
