Here's a picture of what was left of the hole in my fan. I got this all sorted out yesterday morning. I fitted another fan and hub. Cause it was also quite flogged down.
I also got stuck in this arvo and fitted the flexible rubber guard flares to cover my new wheels.
As you can see the tyres are a little proud of the guards.
Put the flaring on and it is just covered enough 🙂 Should keep Mr Plod off my back.
I personally hate these rubber flares on cars. I think they look horrible and half done. This is just a temporary measure until I sort out some wider guards for the front to cover everything.
Thanks for reading.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Here is a quick picture of the rack.
And the steering arm with ball joint on the end is below it.
As you can see it's a very nice compact unit.
I've measured the steering lock to lock and it's 4 full turns. This is compared to 2.6 for a standard Beetle steering box.
Bear in mind that this might change when it's fitted to the car. It depends whether the Beetle steering throw will use all of this travel or not to got from lock to lock. We measured the number of turns in a friends Mk I Golf and it was about 3.5 turns of the steering wheel from lock to lock.
I'll have to get stuck in as I wouldn't mind having it fitted for Valla.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
What a read! Great work Smiley. I've wanted a baja since, well, a long time. I'm out at Gracemere and hope to bump into you out at Yeppoon one day for a good yak. We were supposed to go to 5 Rocks last Sunday but the weather was too good, so we took the boat out. I'll keep my eyes peeled.
Neil
71 super in progress.
njg02 wrote:What a read! Great work Smiley. I've wanted a baja since, well, a long time. I'm out at Gracemere and hope to bump into you out at Yeppoon one day for a good yak. We were supposed to go to 5 Rocks last Sunday but the weather was too good, so we took the boat out. I'll keep my eyes peeled.
Neil
Hey mate. Thanks for the kind words.
I drive me Baja daily and I work in Rocky. I'm actually surprised you haven't seen me. Good to here that there are more local people interested in VWs, especially offroad ones!!
I'll PM you my number and you can drop me a text or whatever next time you're down the beach and we can catch up.
Smiley
🙂If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Did a little messing around this arvo.
Drill this deeper and tap it out.
Then you can fit these.
Which holds this on.
More soon...
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
This afternoon I decided to have a go at race prepping my CVs before I do my rear suspension upgrades.
Here is the CV new out of the box. It was very tight to move and stiff.
The inner star, cage and balls slid out sideways as one piece. This was the first indication that they needed attention. At this point all the balls should have fallen out and rolled under something to get lost, but they were all jambed in the windows on the cage.
They should not be this tight!
I started with the inner stars first. Lightly clamp them in a vice so you can polish the grooves where the balls run. You can see that the grooves are quite dull, and on some of them you can even see the manufacturers machining marks. You want to get rid of all of this and polish them to a nice finish while removing as little material as possible. You want the balls to slide nicely in the grooves, not slop around. If you remove too much material you can also remove the heat treatment on the metal and this can cause premature failure of the CVs.
Next on the list is the outer housing. The process is the same, tidy them up without going overboard. Also remove any sharp edges and burrs.
Lastly you want to sort out the cages. This is the area on mine that needed the most work. The balls were very tight in the windows and took a fair effort to push through. What you need to do is polish the edges of the windows down until the ball will drop through without catching. You want to do this along the length of the window because the ball slides back and forward in here depending on you CV angle. Do all the windows.
Then run your buff around the edges of the window and remove any sharp edges. The cage is the part of the CV assembly that is most prone to cracking and/or breaking. By removing any sharp edges you reduce the number of surface defect, which reduces the chances of having stress risers. Stress risers lead to cracks and breakages.
I found that the inner star and outer housing were easiest to do clamped in the vice. And the cages were easiest held in one hand, which allows easy movement to buff all the edges.
I only got to CVs completed this afternoon, so will have to do the others soon. I'm hoping to have the back end up for the trip down to Valla, but that depends if my stub axles show up or not.
I'm going to take more pictures as I go and will run through CV assembly and timing CVs on the axle. If it's any good I might write it into a tech article.
Thanks for reading.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Hey Smiley, just curious what you were using for buffing the cvs?
68 Baja - It's a growing pain!
58 Baja ute - and the pain spreads!
85 T3 Kombi - still growing
89 T3 Kombi - parts car
Dremel with 1/2 sanding drum i'm going to guess😁
Quit calling rust patina
Makes sense nils Just diddent think of that. Feeling rather stupid now!
68 Baja - It's a growing pain!
58 Baja ute - and the pain spreads!
85 T3 Kombi - still growing
89 T3 Kombi - parts car
baghall wrote:Hey Smiley, just curious what you were using for buffing the cvs?
Hey Baghall. I've just been using some flapper wheels for a die grinder. The CVs have a 19mm ball diameter so I've had to use ones that were quite worn down. Fortunately I had some left overs from when I ported my manifolds that were small enough to use.
As Nils suggested you can also use something like this, which would be great for any ball size in the different CVs because it comes with different diameter sanding drums.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Go-Kart-Racing-Cylinder-Head-Block-PORTING-KIT-Modified-Briggs-Clone-Animal-/261035757099?pt=Race_Car_Parts&hash=item3cc6f18e2b
I got one axle painted this arvo and blasted, drilled and tapped the other one. It'll be getting paint tomorrow.
Smiley
🙂If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Mmmmm.... ......5 SEEDS
Quit calling rust patina
Might have had a slight problem with my long tierod this afternoon.
Bent my long tierod on a step in a rut out the back of my house this afternoon. Because I was so close I limped her home the 500m or so. It was an interesting little drive with her trying to drive off both sides of the track at once 🤪
So I did what any respectable offroader should and rebuilt it stronger!
I pulled the tie rod out and bent it straight.
Now you remember when you bought your first Baja 4 years ago and the first afternoon that you got it home you immediately removed the front swaybar? Well it has another use! I managed to dig one out of my spares.
Measure the length of your tie rod then subtract both the lengths of the threaded ends of you tie rods. Take off another 10mm or so to give yourself a little extra room and then cut a piece of swaybar out for this length. It's a nice fit inside the hollow tierod and helps give it a little more strength. Mine slid most of the way in and only needed a tiny tap with a pin punch to get it all the way past the threads so I could refit the tie rod end.
Should tide me over until I get my steering rack setup properly.
Fitted it all back to the car and she's just like a new one again!
Thanks for looking!
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
👍 i did that to my buggy years ago on straddie. We used a big tent peg! 😂
HOLY CRAP! What a bent tie rod lol. you going to mount it on a trophy plaque? lol.
Always good to see a baja well used 😀 Top stuff Daniel 👍
(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:HOLY CRAP! What a bent tie rod lol. you going to mount it on a trophy plaque? lol.
Always good to see a baja well used 😀 Top stuff Daniel 👍
It's back on the car! Didn't you read the writing in between all the pictures?
😂😂
Smiley
🙂If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Ha HA, It starts with the tie rods. No turning back now, things only start getting biger and badder from here
Quit calling rust patina
nils wrote:Ha HA, It starts with the tie rods. No turning back now, things only start getting biger and badder from here
Well I do have that rack and pinion sitting here.....
Smiley
🙂If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Well after I bent my long tie rod on Friday it seems I hadn't managed to give the car enough punishment. So I managed to break the internals of my steering box on the same track Saturday morning!!
Limped her home again and set about the nessicary repairs.
I managed to find a very good condition steering box off a balljoint car I had at home. Scrounged a pitman arm off another mid 60s linkpin Baja and we were in business.
I pulled the lid off the box for a quick inspection, and to wipe the old grease out and give it a repack.
I decided while I had the cover off to tap the holes out so that I could plug them properly. I've never been a fan of the little push in plastic plugs.
Cut down some bolts to suit.
And all fitted back in the car.
I have to say that the steering is now fantastic. I knew that the old steering box was getting a little worn and I couldn't adjust the play out of it, but the difference is night and day! No play whatsoever, nice and smooth and a lot easier to turn. Going to be a great drive down to Valla!!!
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
On Sunday morning I went a long to the local 4WD Clubs monthly meet. The club is called CQ Offroad, but then they told me that I couldn't become a member because I didn't own a 4WD. Fortunately they let me tag along for the day, though I was a little disappointed in their bad attitude towards non-4WD offroad vehicles.
The meet was at Seeonee Park, the local scout park. A location that I actually know quite well.
Here are a few shots of me driving through some wombats holes. Lifting the front wheels one after the other!! Very fun!!
And a few more driving in and out of the 'Snake Pit'
I had a good morning but had to leave early to attend a birthday lunch. Might go out with them again some time.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
I also fitted my second blue plate this evening.
She now has two plates with 4 codes 😀
Time to start working on some more.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Guess what showed up today!!??
My Thing Stubs axles from America.
Unfortunately not soon enough to have them in before Valla, but I know what I'll be doing next weekend!
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Well I've gotten the stub axles prepped, painted and ready to go into the car. I figured it would be a good chance to throw a new set of wheel bearings and seals in the back because they haven't even been looked at in 12 months now. I'm going to be picking up a set tomorrow after work.
I took the car up the top this arvo and flexed her out one last time to take a few measurements before I rip into the rear suspension. I'd like to try and get it all done this week so I can try her out next weekend.
Here's a few pictures.
More very soon.
Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
How about finishing that big thing behind the car first ya wally , as it wil be summer soon which means plenty of rain in your neibourhood , wjich will make for some pretty uncomfortable working conditons without a roof and walls
Don't let body work get in the way of real suspension travel
Been awhile since i checked in on your thread. Nice work collecting blue plates!,will be like trading cards eventually. With reguards to your steering box. A great way to make it last longer is to face the pitman arm and bottom of the box and add a big washer/shim between the 2, it takes the impact load off the aluminium top and worm & roller. Think it may be in the hibbard book?
Quit calling rust patina
OZ Towdster wrote:How about finishing that big thing behind the car first ya wally , as it wil be summer soon which means plenty of rain in your neibourhood , wjich will make for some pretty uncomfortable working conditons without a roof and walls
How did I know you would post something about the shed!!
I know I need to get stuck into it. When are you coming up to help? I haven't seen any progress on the bus or Towdster in 6 months so you should have plenty of free time.
nils wrote:Been awhile since i checked in on your thread. Nice work collecting blue plates!,will be like trading cards eventually. With reguards to your steering box. A great way to make it last longer is to face the pitman arm and bottom of the box and add a big washer/shim between the 2, it takes the impact load off the aluminium top and worm & roller. Think it may be in the hibbard book?
Yeah. I have also read of that somewhere. I think I'm just going to focus on getting the rack in ASAP. That way I can work on some down travel on the front too.
Smiley
🙂If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
Smiley wrote:OZ Towdster wrote:How about finishing that big thing behind the car first ya wally , as it wil be summer soon which means plenty of rain in your neibourhood , wjich will make for some pretty uncomfortable working conditons without a roof and walls
How did I know you would post something about the shed!!
I know I need to get stuck into it. When are you coming up to help? I haven't seen any progress on the bus or Towdster in 6 months so you should have plenty of free time.
Smiley
🙂
touché
😂fractal geometry; the inner most limits of mind altering abuse
Fantasy
http://seventhchronicle.com
Z = Z2 + C1/r = 1/0 = infinity
Barrels
www.barrelman.com.au
VW Workshop - aircooledgarage.com.au
allcooled.com.au
Hey you organise a weekend and i'll come up , and as for my cars not making much progress , it's a case of me being to nice i think and helping everyone but myself
Don't let body work get in the way of real suspension travel
OZ Towdster wrote:Hey you organise a weekend and i'll come up , and as for my cars not making much progress , it's a case of me being to nice i think and helping everyone but myself
This weekend or the weekend after?
I know somewhere you can stay really cheap!
Smiley
🙂If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
it would want to be cheap it doesnt have a roof on it yet! or is that the deal, fit the roof and you stay dry?? hehee
steff.......
Life with out a v-dub is no life at all!!!!!
DubCrazy wrote:it would want to be cheap it doesnt have a roof on it yet! or is that the deal, fit the roof and you stay dry?? hehee
steff.......
You should be coming up to help too!!
Smiley
🙂If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.
