Bummer with the doors mate.
Good to see your thinking with the body fit, but instead of the rear, I'd suggest you start looking at the front. The foward body mounts onto the beam is where the factory intended to make the corrections your looking for. By altering the thickness of the rubbers under the body at the front end will pull the A pillar foward or back depending on thinner or thicker rubbers.
Hope this helps.
Matt Berry Motorsports...air cooled advice, repairs and mods Ph 0408 704 662
OFF-ROAD,CIRCUIT,DRAG,STREET,ENDURANCE
matberry wrote:Bummer with the doors mate.
Good to see your thinking with the body fit, but instead of the rear, I'd suggest you start looking at the front. The foward body mounts onto the beam is where the factory intended to make the corrections your looking for. By altering the thickness of the rubbers under the body at the front end will pull the A pillar foward or back depending on thinner or thicker rubbers.
Hope this helps.
So thicker rubber will push the top back further?
Scarab wrote:keep plugging away...you are a real powerhouse mate, I dont know how you keep going at this pace.
Paul
It's called extreme lack of sleep
😂
Guess what showed up this afternoon!!
So I removed both the rear rubber mounts. It did take awhile, I loosened all of the body to pan bolts off. Then jacked the back up. And had to hit the mounts out with a long screwdrivers cause they were still pinched abit.
Bolted everything back down tight and.........the drivers door closes!! Just.
I might try packing the front up a bit too as Matt suggested and see if that helps a touch more.
The door gaps aren't exactly perfect, but are ok for now. Still abit of fiddling with the hinges to be done too.
You can also see in this picture that the bottom of the drivers door sticks out a little. Does anyone know how to fix this? I'm not sure if the doors are out of shape or if it's the body again. I'll see if I can pull it back in a little by adjusting the hinges.
So not a great deal done this afternoon. But some hurdles overcome.
Can't wait to sink my teeth into the wiring! My favourite part!
😀
Smiley
🙂If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
smileyman3000 wrote:So thicker rubber will push the top back further?
Smiley 😎
Yep, thicker bottom rubber pushes the top hinge rearward.
Matt Berry Motorsports...air cooled advice, repairs and mods Ph 0408 704 662
OFF-ROAD,CIRCUIT,DRAG,STREET,ENDURANCE
matberry wrote:smileyman3000 wrote:So thicker rubber will push the top back further?
Smiley 😎
Yep, thicker bottom rubber pushes the top hinge rearward.
Sounds like a plan!!
Smiley
😎If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Spent this evening making up the brackets to mount my front bar onto the beam.
I used some of the left over unistrut from my floorpan.
After much grinding and buffing you have this.
Basically the same as the two mounts welded to the front of the beam which hold it on. I'm going to make four, back and front ones for both sides.
I'm going to drill holes in them the same as the beam mount. The bolts with fit between them and sandwich the beam. Weld the bumper onto the front facing mount and you're all done.
Ready for drilling in the morning.
I was fortunate with the unistrut. It's just the right width to clear both the steering box and pitman arm, and the grease nipples on the beam.
Smiley 😎
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Man, u are the God of metal 🙂. (makes ya sound like a rock star lol)
Good job on the doors 👍. Out of curiousity, does one need to use a rubber body to pan seal or just sika flex with a lift kit? I'm still unsure what way I wanna go. I want to least body, but good watertight seal. I'm curious to see how my doors go after doing the a pillar panel job. If it was an issue, and i couldnt' adjust it out on the hinges as they were, i rekno i could 'shim' up the hinges, cause theres a bit of play for them to come forwards. I don't know if i would have to go to that extent. Its a neat job, well i rekon so lol, but i guess its what of those situatios, that if its a mm out, by the time the door is at the b pillar, it could have shifted a bit for sure. We'll see.
it didn't scratch the paint too bad? She'll be right.
Your loom, is that a complete loom? how much did it cost ya? where did u get it from? i was thinking of making my own, but if there is a reasonable priced mob to get it from, i will save myself the effort 👍. My 40 yr old wiring is a lttle brittle, and covered in overspray from the previous yrs... Makes it alot simpler though without the efi. I'm in spagetti with the celica at the moment, adapting later model engines and different ecu's. making a whole new engine loom and body loom (tha goes throguh teh relay boxes, ecu and the rest etc / starter motor in the engine bay. Not pertty. 🙂. (the blown up daily driver needing attnetion, hoping to have a VERY long term solution for it to last another 20 yrs... Once thats over its all bug stuff then. 👍 Then a test drive up ur way. 🙂
(ô_!_/ô) (ô_!_/ô)
69' baja: kombi box, thing spindles, irs, disc front, type 3 rear drums, 2 inch lift kit, 31x10 rears. 👍
New engine in process: 94mm p&bs, 74mm C/w chomol Crank, 35.5x39 SP heads, turbo. Wierd combo, hopeful torque monsta!
bajachris88 wrote:Man, u are the God of metal 🙂. (makes ya sound like a rock star lol)
Good job on the doors 👍. Out of curiousity, does one need to use a rubber body to pan seal or just sika flex with a lift kit? I'm still unsure what way I wanna go. I want to least body, but good watertight seal. I'm curious to see how my doors go after doing the a pillar panel job. If it was an issue, and i couldnt' adjust it out on the hinges as they were, i rekno i could 'shim' up the hinges, cause theres a bit of play for them to come forwards. I don't know if i would have to go to that extent. Its a neat job, well i rekon so lol, but i guess its what of those situatios, that if its a mm out, by the time the door is at the b pillar, it could have shifted a bit for sure. We'll see.
it didn't scratch the paint too bad? She'll be right.
Your loom, is that a complete loom? how much did it cost ya? where did u get it from? i was thinking of making my own, but if there is a reasonable priced mob to get it from, i will save myself the effort 👍. My 40 yr old wiring is a lttle brittle, and covered in overspray from the previous yrs... Makes it alot simpler though without the efi. I'm in spagetti with the celica at the moment, adapting later model engines and different ecu's. making a whole new engine loom and body loom (tha goes throguh teh relay boxes, ecu and the rest etc / starter motor in the engine bay. Not pertty. 🙂. (the blown up daily driver needing attnetion, hoping to have a VERY long term solution for it to last another 20 yrs... Once thats over its all bug stuff then. 👍 Then a test drive up ur way. 🙂
With the body to pan you could just use sikaflex. I actually had some but bought a tube of black windscreen sealer instead. I put it under and on top of the seal. It just means that you'll need to body to pan seals and two tubes of windscreen sealer (I only had a tiny bit left over).
PM Baja Wes if you want. He's running a 2 inch bolt in lift with two body seals.
I think it would just take a bit of lining up.
As for the wiring. You have PM.
Smiley
😎If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
yea the wiring is alot reasonable in price than i thought! thats a complete loom? everything?
do you shrink wrap it urself? for the hrs it woul take me and the many different colours of wire i would need, i would have to be crazy to pass up the stressless opportunity at $135....
if it was a couple hundred, then it would be a different story. 👍
I spose the only issue with sikaflex is if u need to do what u had to do with jacking hte body back off and packing rubber between the pan and body... Imagine having to break the sikaflex seal all over again... bugger that! Unless i bolt the doors on before sealing... i dunno. will work it out as i go when the opportunity comes.
Valla is coming up... keen on coming?
(ô_!_/ô) (ô_!_/ô)
69' baja: kombi box, thing spindles, irs, disc front, type 3 rear drums, 2 inch lift kit, 31x10 rears. 👍
New engine in process: 94mm p&bs, 74mm C/w chomol Crank, 35.5x39 SP heads, turbo. Wierd combo, hopeful torque monsta!
bajachris88 wrote:yea the wiring is alot reasonable in price than i thought! thats a complete loom? everything?
do you shrink wrap it urself? for the hrs it woul take me and the many different colours of wire i would need, i would have to be crazy to pass up the stressless opportunity at $135....
if it was a couple hundred, then it would be a different story. 👍
I spose the only issue with sikaflex is if u need to do what u had to do with jacking hte body back off and packing rubber between the pan and body... Imagine having to break the sikaflex seal all over again... bugger that! Unless i bolt the doors on before sealing... i dunno. will work it out as i go when the opportunity comes.
Valla is coming up... keen on coming?
When is Valla again?
😂
It is the complete loom. No ends on the wires. It comes with the ends and a new fuse box. I'm going to shrink wrap it myself and solder any of the lame connectors they have used.
Ok. So I got a heap of little things done today. It all adds up.
I pulled the carby off and got the die grinder with a rotary burr and clearanced the alternator for the carby linkage. Never mind that black smear. That's just a bit of sealant. I broke through a tiny little hole into the housing.
Engine was then slotted back into the car.
Went and bought some bolts and put my front mounts on the beam ready to make the front bar for them.
I did as Matt suggested above and put some slightly thicker rubber under the front mounts. Made a little more difference. The doors are starting to get to a point where I could live with them. The passengers one fits perfectly now. And the drivers side has improved some more. Both doors still stick out at the bottom rear corner. Haven't messed with the hinges yet. I swapped the locks out of my old Baja into the handle and fitted the latches to both doors. Adjusted the striker plates and they both open and close now.
And made up and new cork gasket for the fuel tank so I could fit the sender unit with new screws.
After I fitted my wheels and tyres back onto the car the front left kept going down.
I traced the problem to air leaking around the valve stem.
So i took the wheel back to the bloke that fitted it up. He pulled the tyre back off and the stem out and it turns out the hole for the valve stem is too big!
When i took my wheels in to have them powdercoated they sandblasted them. There must have been a bit of rust scale built up around the valve stem because they've ripped this off and opened up the hole.
So I had to weld up the hole so it could be redrilled. There goes $80 worth of powdercoating down the drain
😬
You can see the metal is quite thin around the edge of the hole.
I had to grind the powdercoating off
😠
Got my trusty friend Mr Copper out.
And welded up the hole.
I ground it all back down smooth, center punched the hole and gave the bare sections a hit with some spray can grey. I'm going to have to start saving to have that wheel done again.
🙁
I dropped it into the tyre guy and told him to drill the hole to suit the valve.
While I had the welder fired up I pulled the fanhousing off and welded up the cracked out coil mount holes. I'm still undecided if I'm going to put some nuts back onto the fanhousing or mount the coil elsewhere.
Engine back in again (I swear it's been in and out that many times it's like it's having sex with the car
😂)
Car all tidied up and ready for it's trip down to the exhaust shop at 7o'clock earlier this evening.
I took it down the the exhaust shop to get a hand having the barwork made for the car. It was bloody easy with the hydraulic tube bender!
This is some of the before. Just a bunch of tube really. You can see the old bent cage which we took down to act as a little bit of a guide for ideas.
This is Gary, a wizard at work. I really can't thank Gary enough for all his help tonight making the barwork, and using his shop.
We made up all the new pieces for the rear cage and front bar. All I have to do is weld them together now!
Didn't get any after shots tonight. I will take some tomorrow.
I just about froze to death when dad towed me home in the car. No door glass, no bonnet, and nothing in the dash made for a very breezy and frigid trip home.
We also got the the end of the street where Gary's workshop is and the cops were there with a car pulled over. The Baja has no lights, no bonnet, no engine cage, no bumpers. They gave us a funny look as we drove past but didn't seemed too bothered. Must have been to preoccupied to chase us.
Until next time, thanks for reading.
Smiley
🙂
PS You might have noticed I changed my username, I like it better this way
😀If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Spoke to Smiley this afternoon , and all is going as planned ...........................i think.
He has registered it yesterday and it will be in brisvegas by tomorrow night , a champion effort in anyones language , good on ya mate , if only we all had your spirit and determination .
Andrew
Don't let body work get in the way of real suspension travel
Definitely deserves a round of applause 👍
Top job mate..
So all in all... u practically ripped this out in.. what would be be... like 4 - 5 months?
Thats a brilliant time for a resto...
(ô_!_/ô) (ô_!_/ô)
69' baja: kombi box, thing spindles, irs, disc front, type 3 rear drums, 2 inch lift kit, 31x10 rears. 👍
New engine in process: 94mm p&bs, 74mm C/w chomol Crank, 35.5x39 SP heads, turbo. Wierd combo, hopeful torque monsta!
i saw the car friday night, very well done, for the time frame involved, awesome job. lets hope you look after this one!
Thanks for the positive comments guys.
I wouldn't exactly call it a full resto. Just ask Steff about the quality of the prep work that we did before paint. It came up very nice but it's by no means great. There are so many things that need to finish off that I did in a hurry to have her ready for tomorrow.
I think it's fair time for an update. I've been absolutely flat out for the last week straight. It's mostly a hazey burr of no sleep, sparks and wiring.
I really can't thank the people that have helped me throughout this whole build so far. It's easily too many to name but here's a few off the top of my head.
Andrew Westwood - For steering me down the right path with the floorpan and giving me a big hand welding the new framehead on. If it weren't for him I'd still be scratching my head trying to fix the cracked one.
Andrew Rankin - Rebuilding my carby overnight for me, general help and local VW knowledge. Has been a great help.
Scott Newlands - He prepped my car up to the standard it is in a week, after work. What more can I say? The effort he put in in the impossible time frame that he had really shines in the finished product.
Steff (insert last name here, can't remember lol) - For doing an absolutely fabulous paint job. He didn't have the most perfect car to work with, but he put the hard yards in and covered up a fair few blemishes. Everytime I look at that colour it still brings a massive smile to my face.
My dad - Has put in a lot of work behind the scenes and is a constant source of motivation and inspiration.
My mum - For the use of her carport, for her help with painting the floorpan and for putting up with all of my crap lying around and the VW wrecks everywhere around the place.
And lastly, everyone on here that has been following the thread, especially Scarab (who's constant replies border on stalking 😂, but I don't mind) If it weren't for the people reading this thread and leaving positive feedback and ideas, I'd probably still be months off having the car done.
Thanks to anyone and everyone that has been involved, it's been a long road but I've finally got there.
Ok so where did we leave off?
Last post was Thursday last week!!
Last Saturday I got stuck in and got the doors assembled, handbrake refitted, fixed front wheel back on, trail fit on the rear scoop and made a start to the wiring.
Both doors were assembled with all new rubbers and seals.
The wheel that I welded up had the tyre refitted and balanced. I touched it up with paint out of a spray can and have to say it's a pretty close match.
Scoop on.
Started on the electrical. I got all the main loom sorted out. Because it didn't come with a sheath of any kind I wrapped the entire length in electrical tape to give to some protection. I also ran an additional length of 7 core trailer wire and two lengths of coax with this.
Sunday I got started on making up the rear cage for around the engine.
I picked up some neat hydraulic clamps from work for the front mounts onto the rear torsion housing. Normally these hold large hoses on Off Highway Trucks and dozers. But with a thin rubber glued to the inside they were to perfect size of the torsion tube. Plus they make removing the cage a job of extreme simplicity.
The way that the tip of the exhaust was shaped got in the way of one of the uprights. I just cut it for now. I'm almost due for a new muffler and I'm going to replace the whole exhaust from the 4-into-1 back.
I welded clamps to both of the underbars and bolted them to the torsion tube in their respective locations. Support at the back to the correct height with space-age custom bar supports. Second picture shows clearance to the muffler.
I then cut the two uprights off. I did this because I want to keep the entire cross bar as one piece to maintain it's strength. I also fishmouthed the bars where I'm going to weld. When you're welding barwork together (especially roll cages) it is very important to do this. You don't want to be filling up big gaps with weld, you'll end up with weak barwork and poor joins.
Crossbar welded in place. Ends still need to be trimmed.
Ooops! One of the bars that run around to the top mounts hits the exhaust. I had to do a little bit of 'clearancing'. I'll rectify this problem when the exhaust is redone.
Sunday continued.
I took a piece out of the middle of the bar because I wanted to put some box in here in case i want to add a spare wheel holder later down the track.
I must have forgotten to take anymore pictures for a while because now we skip to the finished product!
Both top mounts in place. The two rear uprights and you can see the box in the middle.
I'm thinking of possibly adding more bars here later on to help strengthen things up.
Perfect size between the bars for a plate.
Clearance to the exhaust. It's tight but a good fit all round. Now that I've actually driven the car a bit the cage does rattle up against the bend of the exhaust where I hammered it in. It's just too close. When I make the new exhaust all these problems will be addressed.
And off the car.
Monday.
Got it first thing and made the front bar up. It's a nice fit. Still needs some tabs for spotlights, extra cross bar to protect the nosecone and more strenthening gussets underneath.
While all this was going on I was tackling bits and pieces of the wiring and dash install inbetween.
Speedo and dashplate fitted. The plate is just a temporary one for now, I think I can do far better down the track.
Wednesday. I took the day off work and did 16 hours straight on my car. 8:30 in the morning till 12:30 that night.
Pulled the engine and welded up a crack in the exhaust that presented itself.
Fitted all the seatbelts and the rear seat backrest.
While I was doing all this dad painted the front and rear barwork with some chassis black.
I got the rear tail lights fitted, wired and working. I also wired the headlights, parkers and rear blinkers.
Made up mounts on the rear cage for the number plate lights and the plate.
Interior trims fitted. The back ones are out of my old Baja, and the doors trims were taken from dad's Baja. Will be getting updated when I get round to it.
Thursday. Roadworthy day. It was booked in for 3 o'clock.
Thursday was spent hecticly wiring the last things on the car. Trimming the ends off the rear barwork. Fitting bonnet, made the cage cover, fitted front blinkers, fitted front bonnet latches, fitted wipers. Basically all the little things that eat the day very rapidly.
Front blinkers. These are LED motorcycle blinkers. I made up some tabs on my front bar for them. They will more than likely get moved around down the track.
The cage cover. I made this in 20 minutes out of some flat bar, tec screws and ricer mesh. Finished it up and 2:51 pm. Put in on the car and promptly left for work. I left the car in dad's capable hands for roadworthy as I had to work at 3:30.
I rang dad later at smoko to receive some great news! The car had passed, and was ready for rego Friday morning.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
See what I mean about a hectic week, seems I missed Tuesday in there somewhere 😂
I'm sure some of it happened on Tuesday.
Smiley 😎
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
These pictures are from Friday morning. Just before I drove it down to the DOT for registration.
We had a light shower early that morning so I was looking reasonably clean and glisteny once the sun started coming out.
I'll give you all the details of the epic battle I had today to find why it was running like a bucket of piss another time. That will be accompanied by the tale of the cracked brake drum.
Not sure if I'll have internet for the next few weeks or so.
Anywho. I'm off to bed. I have a big drive down to Brisbane tomorrow for TAFE in the car.
Wish me luck, I'm sure I won't run into many dramas. I'm basically taking enough tools and parts to build an entire other car with me.
Thanks for reading.
Smiley 😎
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
WOW! u were busy Daniel. Luv the barwork too.
Talk about busting it out. its nice to see a tidy baja. The rwc guy didn't have issues about no mud flaps? Looks so much better tah way though.
(ô_!_/ô) (ô_!_/ô)
69' baja: kombi box, thing spindles, irs, disc front, type 3 rear drums, 2 inch lift kit, 31x10 rears. 👍
New engine in process: 94mm p&bs, 74mm C/w chomol Crank, 35.5x39 SP heads, turbo. Wierd combo, hopeful torque monsta!
bajachris88 wrote:WOW! u were busy Daniel. Luv the barwork too.
Talk about busting it out. its nice to see a tidy baja. The rwc guy didn't have issues about no mud flaps? Looks so much better tah way though.
They didn't have any issues.
I thought you only needed full width bumpers?
My dad's Baja didn't even have those!!
Maybe they're a little lax in little Yeppoon.
Smiley
😎If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
well done dude, fantastic to see her driving again. U've taken her a long way!
i see that the light surrounds mite just have been forgotten when part were brought down for painting, lol wehn u come down this way to play we'll whip them off and sort that hey.
As regards to your mudflaps u need them. the law in Qld states there should be coverage from mudflaps or bumper bar to the center of the wheel or lower. Dont panic to much as mine never had them untill mainroads was following me and pulled me for an inspection, the reasont ehy pulled me was the mubflaps. There was no fine just a fix in 14 days notice which i did and not a problem. Now bear in mind my car had at least 3 roadworthys like that and had been driven for years with out them. I had dealings with main roads and the police before this time and had no issues with it at all. My last Baja didnt have them either and once again two roadworthys and a few years of use before i sold her with no issues.
Enjoy her mate, we'll catch up soon..
steff..............
Life with out a v-dub is no life at all!!!!!
just incase u had all forgotten this is how it looked when i sold it ,by the time the tornado rebuilder dan got her is was sort of half rubbed back and looking very very sorry for its self.
steff,,,,,,,
Life with out a v-dub is no life at all!!!!!
Thanks for the info Steff.
And the picture. I was going to put some before and after pictures up. But that probably won't happen until I get back. I just ran out of time.
I drove the car down to Brisbane on Sunday. I have to say aside from being a little thirsty it had absolutely no problems whatsoever.
Didn't use any oil at all.
The first tank of fuel I put through it was premium, I got 10.8L/100km. I ran a tankload of BP ultimate through it and things improved a little. I did a little hunting one afternoon this week and found the autochoke was only opening around 95%. I rectified this and hopefully economy will improve a little. I think the idle and mixture screws still need a little tweaking.
The car is going on it's first offroad run to Mt Mee on Sunday with the Manx club. I will definately be getting pictures.
Thanks to everyone for their positive comments.
I will continue to post updates as I finished things off and make improvements and changes.
Smiley 😎
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
well done mate.....CONGRATULATIONS!! 👍👍👍
Good to see all your hard work rewarded with a rego sticker!! 😁
Looking forward to your off road pics too
Paul
YAY! awesome stuff mate!
Tried to give ya a call yesterday. Glad to hear the drive went well. how olds the motor?
(ô_!_/ô) (ô_!_/ô)
69' baja: kombi box, thing spindles, irs, disc front, type 3 rear drums, 2 inch lift kit, 31x10 rears. 👍
New engine in process: 94mm p&bs, 74mm C/w chomol Crank, 35.5x39 SP heads, turbo. Wierd combo, hopeful torque monsta!
Good to see it finished. Look forward to Sunday and getting it all Muddy...... 😂
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
nice work, that's awesome.
11CAB wrote:Good to see it finished. Look forward to Sunday and getting it all Muddy...... 😂
Me too.
It should be good fun.
Smiley
😎If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
We've got a new meeting tomorrow at 9am.... check out the thread on the manxclub
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
Hey Smiley, great to meet you today and checkout your Baja. You didnt quite keep up with my little green manx, but still did pretty good to get up all the steep hills unaided with the engine flooding.
Hope you enjoyed getting it muddy...... 😂
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
Hi Smiley, great to meet you and see your car in person. We didn't really get a chance to talk since I was busy taking care of my 13 month old most of the time 🙂
It was a good turn-out on Sunday, so you would have seen lots of cars to get inspiration from. There are a lot of nice baja's and buggies in the club these days. From stockish buggies like Jacko's yellow manx, to extremely modified buggies like Dyno's maroon beast, and very modified Baja's like my own.
Here's some pics of Smiley's car for people that don't trawl the manxclub forums.
Some slight on track modifications
Wes -
www.offroadvw.net - 200HP Quad Cam V6 in a VW Baja - with climate control...
🙂
www.taylorcycles.com.au - My DH MTB racing brothers shop.
Great photos Wes. I reckon the only thing better than reading Smiley's great build is seeing the photos of him enjoying it. Thanks.
From your ole' mate Jeff
Good to see Smiley isnt afraid to use it....... 😂
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
