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Alyce the Baja

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Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts ยท joined Oct 2008 ยท

#864227
Well I've discovered where the leak was coming from. I thought it was coming from the oil cooler in the fanhousing. Turns out that the side covers on the gearbox are leaking from the gaskets, oil is getting onto the inner CVs and being flicked onto everything.

At this stage it looks like I might not be driving her down to Warwick. I'm not sure if I have time to pull the engine and box to fix the leaks as well as get the engine running properly.
๐Ÿ˜ฌ๐Ÿ˜ฌ๐Ÿ˜ฌ๐Ÿ˜ฌ๐Ÿ˜ฌ๐Ÿ˜ฌ


Smiley ๐Ÿ™
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Anthiron The Baja Rejuvenation Begins

4,936 posts ยท joined Oct 2003 ยท

#864235
That's not good news ๐Ÿ™
62/60 model bug eye baja bug, (Full Build in Progress)
1974 Chevrolet Luv
1970 MK2 Ford Cortina GT
1979 Yamaha RX125 Two Stroke tracker project.
2004 Harley Davidson Sportster XL Custom

bajachris88 The international telephone dialing code for Antarctica is 6

6,661 posts ยท joined Apr 2005 ยท

#864283
Still time Daniel!!

you don't even have to pull the motor or gearbox out!
I believe in you!
(รด_!_/รด) (รด_!_/รด)
69' baja: kombi box, thing spindles, irs, disc front, type 3 rear drums, 2 inch lift kit, 31x10 rears. ๐Ÿ‘
New engine in process: 94mm p&bs, 74mm C/w chomol Crank, 35.5x39 SP heads, turbo. Wierd combo, hopeful torque monsta!

matberry Moderator Go hard or go home

8,114 posts ยท joined Mar 2006 ยท

#864315
You can do it Smiley !!!!!
Matt Berry Motorsports...air cooled advice, repairs and mods Ph 0408 704 662
OFF-ROAD,CIRCUIT,DRAG,STREET,ENDURANCE

DubCrazy Custom Title Time!

1,295 posts ยท joined Jul 2003 ยท

#864335
Smiley wrote:Well I've discovered where the leak was coming from. I thought it was coming from the oil cooler in the fanhousing. Turns out that the side covers on the gearbox are leaking from the gaskets, oil is getting onto the inner CVs and being flicked onto everything.

At this stage it looks like I might not be driving her down to Warwick. I'm not sure if I have time to pull the engine and box to fix the leaks as well as get the engine running properly.
๐Ÿ˜ฌ๐Ÿ˜ฌ๐Ÿ˜ฌ๐Ÿ˜ฌ๐Ÿ˜ฌ๐Ÿ˜ฌ


Smiley ๐Ÿ™
bugger and damn it!!!

i did say it as there sorry i was right... no need to drop the engine and box to do it tho, go on you can make it!!!.

steff....
Life with out a v-dub is no life at all!!!!!

dangerous 23 Windows of Awesome

5,901 posts ยท joined Jan 2005 ยท

#865141
Nice to meet you again at Warwick dude.
Hope you guys enjoyed the week end and had a safe trip.
Now, back to work so you can race it next year!
westi wrote:That's mad Alan.

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts ยท joined Oct 2008 ยท

#865690
dangerous wrote:Nice to meet you again at Warwick dude.
Hope you guys enjoyed the week end and had a safe trip.
Now, back to work so you can race it next year!
Likewise Dave.

I think I might have a go next year, might need you to build be a stronger box if she's going to survive the weekend for the drive back home!


Smiley ๐Ÿ™‚
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts ยท joined Oct 2008 ยท

#865693
Ok. Long time no post. I sort of dropped off the radar at the end of last week cause I was flat out fixing the car to get her ready to drive down to Warwick.

Well she made it, and averaged 9.3L/100km on the way too! Which I'm reasonably happy with given she still needs a little fine tuning. It was about a 2000km round trip for us, that includes the driving around on the weekend that we did.


Here's what I did on Wedneday night/Thursday before we left.

I'd suspected that the oil cooler was the source of the leaks, So I bought a new one. Turned out to be the gearbox and the cooler was fine. So I though, what the hell, might as well throw it on. It's in better nick than the old one and half the fins aren't bent or clogged, plus it has nice sealy foam ๐Ÿ˜€





Here's the old one with the fanhousing off, oil everywhere!






Smiley ๐Ÿ™‚
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts ยท joined Oct 2008 ยท

#865694
Here's the real culprit of the oil leaks!!
Bloody gearbox!





Removed CVs and axles, circlips and flanges. You can see the new stub axle seals that I fitted, these weren't the source of the problem, it was the O-rings on the side covers.





I removed all the nuts but had an issue on the RHS because the starter was in the way. So off with the cranky kit.





The other problem I had was that the side covers wouldn't fit off the end of the studs because the frame horns were in the way. So I had to remove the bottom 2 studs on bother sides. Then the covers came out easy peasy.






Smiley ๐Ÿ™‚
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts ยท joined Oct 2008 ยท

#865695
Inside the box was quite sludgy. The side cover too. And the O-ring was old and very hard. It immediately broke into 3 pieces when I tried to remove it with a seal pick.

I cleaned the sludge off the side covers while I had them out. But I'm not sure about the inside of the box. Is this because it's been sitting for a while? Is there some sort of cleaner I can add to the oil then do a change?





New O-rings fitted with a smear of rubber grease.





For those that want to see a VW diff ๐Ÿ‘






Smiley ๐Ÿ™‚
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts ยท joined Oct 2008 ยท

#865699
All back together. Other side is the same but no starter in the way.





Then I did a valve set. Because the engine has chromoly pushrods the valve clearance is set at 0-0.001"






Smiley ๐Ÿ™‚
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts ยท joined Oct 2008 ยท

#865701
Then I had to sort out my fuel pressure.

I bought an adjustable fuel pressure regulator from Mick Motors. Couple of fittings and she was ready to fit up.





And it when from this..





...to this.





I also fitted a gauge to double check that the regulator was accurate. I'm happy to report that it is. The pump was putting out around 4psi, way too much for Kadrons. So it's now regulated back to 1.5psi ๐Ÿ‘





Final setup looks good. The regulator helps hold the lines in place where it is mounted. Much neater than the cable tie I had on previously!






Smiley ๐Ÿ™‚
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts ยท joined Oct 2008 ยท

#865705
So she made it down to Warwick. No issues at all. Aside from the massive play in the steering ๐Ÿคช

Pulls like a freight train on the highway, it's so good to actually have enough power to overtake people when you need to. Just about all hills were taken in top gear no worries.

A little loud but no worse than the old engine. Might have to finish my sounds deadening and maybe add some carpets ๐Ÿ˜‚





And here she is trying her best to win something in the show and shine, hahahahahahaha, that's laughable!!!






Smiley ๐Ÿ™‚
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts ยท joined Oct 2008 ยท

#865708
While we were down for Warwick dad and I stayed with my grandma. She lives in Killarney, the next town over, about 20 minutes drive.
Sunday afternoon once we headed back after racing finished I decided to hit up a little track the 11cab showed my last year.
Pretty mild track, a few steep bits and a few rocky bits. I ran into a mud hole near the top and decided to turn around and come back. I was by myself and she really has no clearance under the front at the moment. And I didn't want to rip the track up any more than it was.

Here's a few pictures. Great views from up the top.









Smiley ๐Ÿ™‚
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts ยท joined Oct 2008 ยท

#865709
Since changing the car to IRS I haven't had a chance to really cycle the suspension and see how it goes. So when I got near the bottom of the track I found a mound and flexed her out. I'm glad to report that the travel is good and she hits the stops on both directions ๐Ÿ˜€












Smiley ๐Ÿ™‚
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts ยท joined Oct 2008 ยท

#865714
Ok. Back to work!!

After we got back from Warwick dad and I noticed that both the front tyres have worn on the inside edge.








The front end has been needing attention for some time now. The King and Link pins at all worn and she has some play in the steering box. Clearly given the wear the camber is way out and the castor is no good either. So I decided to get some bits together and get it sorted out before Fraser next week.

Last time I order bits from the states a few months ago I also ordered new king pin and link pin kits. So I have all the parts ready to rebuild the spindles. Rather than take the car off the road for a few days I opted to find a nice pair from the parts collection i have here at home and rebuild them ready to swap on.

Today at work I pressed the old king pins out and completely disassembled the stub axles. The carrier and stub axle were both then sandblasted. I also went around to my local VW guy and he was kind enough to let me use his reamer for the king pin bushes.
I tapped the new ones in, cut and filed the slots into the upper bushes. then run the reamer through so now they're a perfect fit on the kind pin.

They need another tidy up and a wash then I'll paint them and reassemble with the new bits.











I'm also hoping to knock up another beam with adjusters in it over the weekend. Help get the front up out of the weeds. If all goes to plan I'll be able to swap the beam and and put the new carriers and stubs on too. I've also purchased new tie rod ends and am going to adjust the play out of the steering box.

More soon ๐Ÿ˜€



Smiley ๐Ÿ™‚
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

ryana89 Officially Full-On Dubber

315 posts ยท joined Sep 2009 ยท

#865792
Geez, you keep up the work on this thing, always love having a read of this thread.

In regard to the sludgy gearbox, (you may have heard of this method before).

We once had a Suby with a 'dirty/hard to use' box, so we drained the oil, replaced it with kerosine and went for a VERY short drive around the block, cycling through all the gear's once or twice.

Replaced the oil and never had trouble from it again.
๐Ÿ™‚
2.0slow 92 MK2

Made in Germany, Assembled in Africa, 'Migrated' to Australia

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts ยท joined Oct 2008 ยท

#865806
Kero you say?

Some might just go missing from work next week ๐Ÿฅท



Smiley ๐Ÿ™‚
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Anthiron The Baja Rejuvenation Begins

4,936 posts ยท joined Oct 2003 ยท

#865830
I have also done the Kero thing. I didnt take it for a drive though just let it soak over night. Then put some cheap thin oil in and take it for a quick spin then drain again and refill with Nulon additive and 90 weight trans fluid.
62/60 model bug eye baja bug, (Full Build in Progress)
1974 Chevrolet Luv
1970 MK2 Ford Cortina GT
1979 Yamaha RX125 Two Stroke tracker project.
2004 Harley Davidson Sportster XL Custom

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts ยท joined Oct 2008 ยท

#866361
Over the weekend the spindles and carriers were primed then painted to match the rest of the car.









Smiley ๐Ÿ™‚
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts ยท joined Oct 2008 ยท

#866362
Spindles were then assembled With the new king pins, link pin bushes and thrust washers.








I made up a new pair of tie rods to swap onto the car.





And got started on cleaning up this heap to repair back to it's former glory.





More soon.



Smiley ๐Ÿ™‚
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts ยท joined Oct 2008 ยท

#869450
Well it's been a few weeks without update. Thought I'd post up what's been going on.

I got stuck into fixing up that beam so that car was ready for Fraser.

This was the car's ride height with a stock beam fitted.












Smiley ๐Ÿ™‚
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts ยท joined Oct 2008 ยท

#869452
And this is the car after the beam with adjusters was refitted.











I have to say that the new front end is fantastic. New link pins, king pins, tie rods, front tyres and an adjusted steering box. Took the car down for a laser 4 wheel alignment. Camber, castor and toe are set perfectly on all 4 corners.
The car drives like a brand new vehicle. Handles beautifully at any speeds on and off the road. Doesn't wobble or jitter or wander. And is very responsive. Has completely transformed the driving experience of the car. I'm stoked ๐Ÿ˜€

As far as the adjusters go. I only had them screwed up a little to begin with. But once the suspension settled a little and after she was fulled loaded for Fraser the front end dropped back down again. She was looking low for the first few days of Fraser until I dug the allen keys out and screwed the adjusters up as high as they go ๐Ÿค˜

Ride height and comfort was very good for the rest of the week at Fraser. The only issue I've found is now I've got the car back home and unloaded everything the front end is sitting on the stops. So I have no more suspension droop. I'm not super happy with this. Though I have got my spares and tools back into the front since I've cleaned the car out from Fraser. So I think it'll come down off the stops with this gear back in it and my ass sitting in the drivers seat.
I'm looking into fixing this anyway as I've dug out the set of Country Buggy spindles I bought a while back and am going to look at rebuilding them and putting them on the front.


Smiley ๐Ÿ™‚
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts ยท joined Oct 2008 ยท

#869457
At some stage on Fraser (I have no idea when!)I managed to rip the cracked nosecone open. The piece is no doubt in the sand dunes somewhere.

Another thing for my old buggy Steff to repaint for me once it's repaired ๐Ÿ˜€









Smiley ๐Ÿ™‚
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts ยท joined Oct 2008 ยท

#869459
When I had the car lifted up with the wheels off cleaning everything, I noticed a dint in both rear shock towers. Turns out the upper front spring plate bolt has been running into the tower under compression. So I got some dome headed allen bolts and put them on. The low flat head on the clears the towers fine.















Smiley ๐Ÿ™‚
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts ยท joined Oct 2008 ยท

#869462
On Fraser my engine cage mesh started to rattle off. So I used some handy cables ties to hold things back together. Just as I was about to cut the tails off, Dyno said, "Leave them man, it's looks cool"
So I did, and we have the first Baja with a magpie proof engine!!!





Then, my first week back at work, I come out after work one day and find this.








One of the guys at work decided that I hadn't done a good enough job of it so he did the rest of the car for me, front bumper, door handle, aerial. I had the cut the ones off the wiper arms cause I thought they might be a bit of a vision safety issue. I was quite impressed that he managed to colour match them and everything. ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚

I didn't really appreciate him touching my car, but it was all in good fun. I might grease his exhaust in a few months once he's forgotten about it ๐Ÿฅท



Smiley ๐Ÿ™‚
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

beetleboyjeff Custom Title Time!

1,790 posts ยท joined Feb 2009 ยท

#869543
Trying to take off the beetle in the movie 'The Cars That Ate Paris'. It had big spikes all over it.

Google the movie - it is an Australian movie made ages ago - 50s or 60s I think. Not a marvelous movie, but the beetle looked cool. :-)
From your ole' mate Jeff

Bizarre Moderator The artist formerly known as blue74l

12,789 posts ยท joined Aug 2002 ยท

#869547
^^^^ was thinking the same thing

One of Australias all time weirdo movies ๐Ÿ˜€
Futue te ipsum!!!

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts ยท joined Oct 2008 ยท

#869587
Just looked that up!!

hahahahahah, that car has a lot of pointy spikes all over it!!!


I think I'm going to trim all mine off anyway. I can hear them buzzing in the wind on the highway.


Smiley ๐Ÿ™‚
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

11CAB If ya got it....Baja it

4,674 posts ยท joined Aug 2002 ยท

#869617
You need to cut off the standard front bump stops to get more height in the front. Have a look at the modified bump stops Dave runs on his Baja. I cut the stops off on my Manx
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