Skip to content
Aussieveedubbers

Nicks Baja Build. - New engine!

0 likes
Share Share on Facebook Share on X Share on Reddit
Log in to reply

Anthiron The Baja Rejuvenation Begins

4,936 posts · joined Oct 2003 ·

#874888
Thanks for the tip Nils. I hadn't even thought that far ahead yet!
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

ancientbugger Custom Title Time!

1,986 posts · joined Mar 2004 ·

#879439
Hey Nick I think it's time for an update I'm getting a bit cold turkey for some piccies!😁

Smiley Veteran Volks Folk

2,125 posts · joined Oct 2008 ·

#879501
ancientbugger wrote:Hey Nick I think it's time for an update I'm getting a bit cold turkey for some piccies!😁
Seconded!!

More updates please!!!!



Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Anthiron The Baja Rejuvenation Begins

4,936 posts · joined Oct 2003 ·

#917914
Ok I have been Slack!

No excuses really. just been lazy.

Since my last update I have managed to sell my Porsche

[IMG]https://img405.imageshack.us/img405/8921/125oj.jpg[/IMG]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us and have bought a Hilux ute


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[IMG]https://img339.imageshack.us/img339/1429/113je.jpg[/IMG]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

which is far more practical although much less fun.


Also helped pay off my credit card though which was nice.

So anyway. decided to get off my lazy ass and get some work done.

Wheels came off and tyres removed
[IMG]https://img705.imageshack.us/img705/7059/202og.jpg[/IMG]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us




Then I drilled the rivets for the hubcap clips and punched them out (Wont be running hub caps)

[IMG]https://img521.imageshack.us/img521/791/211fj.jpg[/IMG]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Then off to the powder coater for a nice gloss white.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Also purchased this rear seat off Dubleg which is in much better condition than mine and will get recovered in black to match the front seats.
[IMG]https://img708.imageshack.us/img708/4310/213lg.jpg[/IMG]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Also just puchased this KM/H speedo from Samba which should be in the post shortly.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



And just because I couldnt help myself, a few Billet engine assessories and other bits and pieces from Airkewled.


Also removed the front end yesterday and gave it a good scrub ready to drop off to Pete at Custom Offroad next week to do the KP Bushes and a few other things. Then it will get a seam weld treatment and a coat of gloss black.

[IMG]https://img211.imageshack.us/img211/5654/212hh.jpg[/IMG]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
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

ancientbugger Custom Title Time!

1,986 posts · joined Mar 2004 ·

#918053
Nice to see Nicko, I'll have to pull my finger out with the buggy, now that the beetle's done.

Anthiron The Baja Rejuvenation Begins

4,936 posts · joined Oct 2003 ·

#918874
Ordered some Personalised plates, White on red "608AJA"

Booked in body to be sandblasted on tuesday. 🙂

Front end is at CVW Getting the King Pin bushes done
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

Anthiron The Baja Rejuvenation Begins

4,936 posts · joined Oct 2003 ·

#919010
New plates came today.

[IMG]https://img228.imageshack.us/img228/6873/053sb.jpg[/IMG]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Also cleaned up the Framehead and gave it some penetrol, primer and gloss black.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us
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 · joined Oct 2008 ·

#919016
Looking great man!!

You're not clearancing the framehead for the lond tie rod droop? It's a nessicary mod if you want more down travel on the front. Unless you go to rack and pinion steering 🤓


Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Anthiron The Baja Rejuvenation Begins

4,936 posts · joined Oct 2003 ·

#919033
Yes I was wondering if anyone would notice that.

I remembered to do that after I painted it........ Oh well. Not a lot of harm done. Easy to repaint.

I'll wait untill I have the front end back to get the angle right for the Long tie rod.
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 · joined Oct 2008 ·

#919070
Make sure you get some good solid welds.

When I was starting to do my buggy pan a long time ago the way I marked it out was to bolt an assembled frontend onto the floorpan.
Then set the steering on full lock one way. Mark where the long tie rod is with a paint pen/whatever you want. Then turn the steering to the other lock and mark it again. You will find the long tie rod will be forward on one and back on the other. It moves quite a bit forward/back during steering.
You can then use these marks as the limits of where you need to scollop the framehead.
Sorry I don't have any pictures, I hope the description isn't too confusing.



Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Anthiron The Baja Rejuvenation Begins

4,936 posts · joined Oct 2003 ·

#919074
Sound advice smiley. Will do.

I have a mate who's a boiler maker. Might get him to do the welding on the frame head.
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

Anthiron The Baja Rejuvenation Begins

4,936 posts · joined Oct 2003 ·

#919865
Sand blasting done! Body is naked...... Well it's in primer now.

Not too
Many surprises, a pillars which I knew abOut didn't get any worse after blasting.
Couple of spots inside passenger heater channel, passenger rear quarter has a 50c sized spot. Couple of other spots here and there but over all quite pleased.

Can I cut the heater tubes that run under the rear seat and weld up the holes? Or are these important structurally? I will
Not be running heaters and it seems silly to have extra metal for no reason.

Pics soon. Gotta race to work. Posting this on my iPhone.
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 · joined Oct 2008 ·

#919876
Anthiron wrote:Can I cut the heater tubes that run under the rear seat and weld up the holes? Or are these important structurally? I will
Not be running heaters and it seems silly to have extra metal for no reason.
I did when I was building Alyce. Gives you more room under the back seat too.


Smiley 🙂
If you said I was a Volkswagen man, you'd be right.

Anthiron The Baja Rejuvenation Begins

4,936 posts · joined Oct 2003 ·

#920212
Because everyone loves pictures.



[IMG]https://img228.imageshack.us/img228/848/037pa.th.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]https://img843.imageshack.us/img843/5230/041ag.th.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]https://img31.imageshack.us/img31/4240/058bg.th.jpg[/IMG]

As you can see. My new Nutsert toolkit arrived too.

nicko
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

Anthiron The Baja Rejuvenation Begins

4,936 posts · joined Oct 2003 ·

#923956
Wheels finally back from the powder coater after having to get him to re-coat 2 wheels.

nice and shiny and tyres back on.

[IMG]https://imageshack.us/a/img818/6898/057bd.jpg[/IMG]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
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

Anthiron The Baja Rejuvenation Begins

4,936 posts · joined Oct 2003 ·

#927275
Picked up my front end yesterday from Pete. Everything is nice and tight, ready to go. Custom long tie rod ready to go on and top shock mounts drilled for bolts.

Also picked up my barwork Hoops (One for the front bar, one for the roof rack and one for the rear bar), and my new mirrors 🙂

[IMG]https://imageshack.us/a/img31/8328/141dp.th.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]https://imageshack.us/a/img843/3052/142gv.th.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]https://imageshack.us/a/img94/5884/143qg.th.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]https://imageshack.us/a/img19/4217/145oi.th.jpg[/IMG]
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

baghall Ben Hal Outlaw Bushranger

1,021 posts · joined Jan 2010 ·

#927390
Keep it coming! I like to hear all the advice and see pictures as well.
68 Baja - It's a growing pain!
58 Baja ute - and the pain spreads!
85 T3 Kombi - still growing
89 T3 Kombi - parts car

Anthiron The Baja Rejuvenation Begins

4,936 posts · joined Oct 2003 ·

#947588
Work has been slow on this of late.

Did a big Garage clean out and now I have a much better area to get some things done!

Put the front end back on last week and started cleaning up the brake backing plates and the drums (The only origional parts going back on) new shoes, Cylinders, springs etc all arrived.

I have an inner bearing race stuck on the drivers side sprindle which I have managed to get some movement out of but have yet to get it off the spindle. Gave it a good soak in WD40 and repeatedly heated and cooled with a torch.
Once this is off and I have the backing plates painted I will reassemble the brakes and get the wheels back on so I can measure the area to be scalloped out of the frame head to clean the long tie rod. Then the whole assembly comes off again to cut and weld the frame head.

Also sanded, primed and painted the seat rails.

Back at work for another fortnight now so I will keep at it next R+R.
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

ancientbugger Custom Title Time!

1,986 posts · joined Mar 2004 ·

#947659
Good to see you haven't given up on it Nick👍

Doug Sweetman Nil Bastardo Carborundum

2,128 posts · joined Sep 2002 ·

#947676
Great read, makes me miss my baja

Anthiron The Baja Rejuvenation Begins

4,936 posts · joined Oct 2003 ·

#948869
Just won a km/h speedo on eBay that will
Actually fit in my car. (Last one I bought was for an L bug 🙁)

Also ordered front lower qtr replacement panels, some other pieces of tinware I needed, stainless fender mounting hardware, and my rear bar is coming in pieces from Chirco.

Home from work on Wednesday. Should be able to get a couple of full days work on the Baja in.
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

Anthiron The Baja Rejuvenation Begins

4,936 posts · joined Oct 2003 ·

#949200
Got home from work yesterday.

Today after some precision angle grinding I managed to dislodge the offending bearing race that was stuck on the drivers side spindle.



Painted the backing plates and fitted them to the front end.

Took the tie rod ends off the old tie rod and fitted them to the new unit.
See the difference in size and strength in the photo below. The new rod is much beefier.



Picked up a supercheap auto engine stand and fitted the engine to it so I can clean it up and refit the ancillaries.



[IMG]https://img708.imageshack.us/img708/9631/384n.jpg[/IMG]

Fitted my seats to the rails and installed them on the pan.



Somewhere amongst this I managed to tweak my back pretty bad so I am kicking back with some Codeine now.

Was hoping to get some work done on the body on Saturday but my repair panels havent arrived yet. 🙁
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

Anthiron The Baja Rejuvenation Begins

4,936 posts · joined Oct 2003 ·

#949509
After some advice from Matt Berry I got the new bearing races into the Nicely painted drums and used some emery paper to lightly reduce the diameter of the front spindle inner section to accept the inner front bearing nicely.

I ended up putting the bearing races in the freezer over night and used a torch to lightly heat the drum. A few careful taps with hammer and punch and they seated nicely.

Just need to find some keyed thrust washers (Mine are awol) so I can grease everything up and do a final instalation.

Spindles sanded



Races fitted to drums



dry fit of everything together









Brakes assembled on backing plates

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

Doug Sweetman Nil Bastardo Carborundum

2,128 posts · joined Sep 2002 ·

#949557
Don't it feel good putting stuff together with new pieces ? Looking good .

Anthiron The Baja Rejuvenation Begins

4,936 posts · joined Oct 2003 ·

#950400
Doug Sweetman wrote:Don't it feel good putting stuff together with new pieces ? Looking good .
Definately exactly what I was thinking while I was assembling the brakes.

I am stuck out in North West QLD "working" untill the 18th and have been thinking over a couple of things.

My main aim is to get the car solid and back together with everything clean/painted and working perfectly.

Secondry aim is to future proof the car for upgrades I may want to add once it is back together down the track.
These things would be

1. IRS Kombi box conversion with type 2 CV's
2. Lifted Combi spindles, longer front trailing arms, International tie rod ends (or an entire front beam swap retaining stock length but possibly longer shock towers).
3. 4 wheel wide 5 disc brakes
4. Bigger engine (bigger type 1 engine. No Subie engine in my VW please)


People are probobly going to say that I should just do this now while the car is apart but in all honesty I really just want to get it back together and stop spending money on it at the moment. I already have a nicely rebuild swinger box that keeps things simple and cheap, I don't have a major issue with drum brakes like some people do and I don't mind the additional maintence. Installing a new beam or spindles and brakes is easy to do later with the body on. This way it doesn't become a never ending project.

As far as Kombi gearbox conversion goes I will have the 3" lift so there will already be more room under there to do the work with the body on but I don't really know what is involved that is different to converting to type 1 IRS.


Should I be welding in mounts now while I can access the pan and horns easily? Or is it just as easy to do with the body on if I have the big Body lift?

Also should I get the pivot boxes welded in now even though I will stick with Swinger for a while? Or will these interfere with the Swinger setup?

My rear barwork pieces have arrived at home in knockdown form and Stainless fender mounting hardware should be waiting as well. Hopefully my front wheelwell repair panels will arrive from George too.

Aim for my next R+R is:

- cut out the section I marked on the framehead that needs clearancing and weld in a new section.
- Get the thrust washers and grease caps off a spare beam at my old mans and finish off the front brake and wheel bearing assembly
- If the repair panels arrive, get the A pillar and wheel wheel rust repairs done.
- Put on the guards, bonnet etc and cut the body for the nose cone and rear section.



Nicko
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

nils Fahrvergnugen

971 posts · joined Jan 2008 ·

#950423
welding in the IRS pivot boxes at this point is not a bad idea, would make it a lot easier

Nothing wrong with having a simple baja nick, My favourite baja on Stockton at the moment is still a swing axle and only sports a 1500 single port
Quit calling rust patina

Bone Officially Full-On Dubber

299 posts · joined Aug 2009 ·

#950581
If there's one thing to do while body is off, it's IRS pivot boxes ! Have done a three sets with body on and its a PITA. You WONT regret it !!

Anthiron The Baja Rejuvenation Begins

4,936 posts · joined Oct 2003 ·

#950585
Whats that Shane? You want to do a 4th set? :P
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

Bone Officially Full-On Dubber

299 posts · joined Aug 2009 ·

#950599
Nick if you can chase up the pivot boxes we may be able to sort something out.

Anthiron The Baja Rejuvenation Begins

4,936 posts · joined Oct 2003 ·

#950966
I have some on order........ 🙂

Seriously though. I would be happy to pay you for your time with beer, cash, parts etc.

Also looks like I will be purchasing Nils' 1835cc engine for this thing which comes with a 3 rib kombi box I will put aside for IRS conversion.

Ordered a few things to get the engine ready for my car. (The gold case isnt going to match my car so I will strip it to a long block and paint the case Hi Temp Black.)

Alternator style fuel pump, rod and flange
German engine gasket set.
and a 3'1/8 vdo Tacho
Stainless tinware hardware kit

I was tossing up running a Monster tacho but I couldnt think of anywhere to mount it was was going to either obscure my vision or get in the way of Cd player or the passengers legs where it wil get kicked as people enter the car etc so I went with an in dash Tach. I will be running an in dash shift light also which will use an RPM activated switch to trigger.

RPM activated switch, programmable from 2000rpm - 9000rpm and can be set to switch off as the designated RPM or switch on. Pretty cool.



My dash layout.



I Think this keeps it pretty simple and functional with minor cutting of the stock metal. The Fascia to mount the guages will be Alloy Check plate. I will also be welding in a platform to support the cd player so it doesnt move around too much offroad like my last one did. Horn and Indicators will be under the dash on the RHS like they were on my old body.

Also George from Classic Vee Dub rang and has posted my repair panels 🙂
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