I need convincing!!

I need to be convinced to keep the baja and finish the work on it.
Everytime I do something simple the bloody thing spits the dummy and breaksdown and is off the road for 2 weeks. Usually it lasts for 3 months before a breakdown but this time only back on the road 4 weeks. Never any warning.
Have had the car for 7 months and has been off the road due to breakdowns 6 weeks so far.
Enjoy the car and finally named it on the weekend (Al) and now clutch starts slipping with no warning.
I need convincing to keep it!!😬

yeah, they will do that to ya everytime............until eventually you have been over the whole car and safe in the knowledge of having fixed it all properly as you went

what have you fixed so far?........

baghall wrote:I need to be convinced to keep the baja and finish the work on it.
Everytime I do something simple the bloody thing spits the dummy and breaksdown and is off the road for 2 weeks. Usually it lasts for 3 months before a breakdown but this time only back on the road 4 weeks. Never any warning.
Have had the car for 7 months and has been off the road due to breakdowns 6 weeks so far.
Enjoy the car and finally named it on the weekend (Al) and now clutch starts slipping with no warning.
I need convincing to keep it!!😬

You just need to remember that the car is 40 years old...
and there are no other 40 year old cars about...lol

My 68 beetle drives like it did in 1968 as I renewed everything

and a clutch can go at any time...
or a clutch cable... etc..
wheel bearings, brakes, brake hoses.. etc

unless You know that YOU have replaced it...
it can stop working...

it IS worth it in the long run...
it took Me 10 years to do My beetle... plus I wasn't driving it
only working on it.... lol

Now I know I can get into it and drive to Melbourne or where ever...
but there are a few things that haven't been replaced but I do have spares... lots of spares..

cheers

LEE


PS: many people get caught by thinking a 40 year old car will go forever... as they see them about...

Well I have new-
Starter motor
Alternator
Distributor
Coil
Cltuch cable
carpet
headlining
stereo
oil temp gauge
oil pessure gauge
tacho
aluminium checker platedash panels
aluminium checker platedash door cards
front seat belts
front seats (used)
front Park lights
reversing lights
motor (used) - Was hoping to start rebuilding original motor after it dump it's oil on the F3
also have turned up new knobs for all switches on dash and new gear stick knob from aluminium (thus the name Al.)

But lots more parts to be worked on and installed for safely and looks as well as more in the pipe line.

baghall wrote:Well I have new-

carpet
headlining
stereo
oil temp gauge
oil pessure gauge
tacho
aluminium checker platedash panels
aluminium checker platedash door cards
front seat belts
front seats (used)
front Park lights
reversing lights
motor (used) - also have turned up new knobs for all switches on dash and new gear stick knob from aluminium (thus the name Al.)
.

None of the above parts will stop your car breaking down.

My suggestion would be to fix the mechanicals FIRST then work on the cosmetic stuff. Its also worth creating your own "service book" so you know when to replace parts etc before they break.

try my trick when i drove mine every day as my first car, fix stuff untill something minor doesnt work, then dont touch it!
every time i fixed something another bit would break, so if it wasnt a major drama stopping it from stopping/going in a safe manner, i left it alone, never looked pretty but it did the job 😂

Mate, keep ploddin and replace as required.

Then... as you are doing that and bearing the brunt of annoyance, get that original engine rebuilt and a relavent transmission rebuilt with reliable quality componentry and make it reliable IE: no 35 psi twin turbo 2332cc's k? 🙂

If u start from scratch, there are no need for constant little replacements...

Then well, you gotta decide whether preventative replacement or 'replace as it breaks' is right for ya for wanting reliability. like... for eg: for how little it costs, ordering new sets of wheel bearings, bushes, shocks etc, master and slave cylinders etc. and replacing the original components on your car with new ones when they aren't faulty yet again starts that component on a 'fresh slate'. these things are cheap on ebay and in the states. the aussie dollar exchange with USA is great.

www.ebay.co.uk
&
www.ebay.com

will be ur best friends.

To simply prevent being stuck in the 'fix and replace something every fortnight' regime, i have personally decided to replace what i can that is fault prone in one go... and sure it keeps it off the road for some time, but in theory, it should be like brand new... (to the debate of purists with original german quality vs. jap/brazilian/mexican/chinese aftermarket replacements.)

Its one way to look at it, and i am not saying its right, but is a solution, if you can afford for the vehicle to be off the road. I mean, in reality there is mainly only 2 distinct options. Full rebuild (can be progressive while on the road) or fix and replace as needed.

You already spent so much cash thus far man, and the things that can go wrong are only finite.

Hang in there mate!! There are so few getting around these days it'd be great to keep another one on the road. Are you in a position to take it off the road while the major stuff is worked on? That'd be my preference, that way there is no massive rush and you can restore the mechanical side of things methodically to weed out most of the reliability gremilins - bearing in mind as some have already said - its 40+ years old.

Craig Torrens wrote:

baghall wrote:Well I have new-

carpet
headlining
stereo
oil temp gauge
oil pessure gauge
tacho
aluminium checker platedash panels
aluminium checker platedash door cards
front seat belts
front seats (used)
front Park lights
reversing lights
motor (used) - also have turned up new knobs for all switches on dash and new gear stick knob from aluminium (thus the name Al.)
.

None of the above parts will stop your car breaking down.

My suggestion would be to fix the mechanicals FIRST then work on the cosmetic stuff. Its also worth creating your own "service book" so you know when to replace parts etc before they break.

Yeah I know but they were cheap. Problem is that the mechanicals keep getting ahead of me and I get sick of repairing instead of maintenance. Also it is a daily driver so I usually need a time period when i don't need to be driving when I can wok on it but the bloody car has other ideas and at the most inconvenient times. Just gets frustrating.

Take it to Kimm at Indian Automotive and ask him to look over it. Tell him that it's a daily and you want to get on top of preventative maintainance.
I reckon it would be worth a day off work to get it sorted.

BTW I've got a 69 Baja that I'm working towards rego.

OberonViking wrote:BTW I've got a 69 Baja that I'm working towards rego.

Yeah I have read some of your posts in regard to the 69. Would love to go for a blast around Oberon when you get it finished. There are some great dirt roads out there.

I will be keeping the car purley because I find modern cars bland unless I drive them @ licence shredding speeds. With the baja you know you are driving, just venting my frustation I guess.

Am planning on preventative maintenance approach and was going to gearbox mounts in school holidays but the front mount broke on weekend and car jumps out of 4th gear under load. The guys at CBB reckon it's had a hard life.

Anyway thanks for encouragement.

baghall wrote:

OberonViking wrote:BTW I've got a 69 Baja that I'm working towards rego.

Yeah I have read some of your posts in regard to the 69. Would love to go for a blast around Oberon when you get it finished. There are some great dirt roads out there.

I will be keeping the car purley because I find modern cars bland unless I drive them @ licence shredding speeds. With the baja you know you are driving, just venting my frustation I guess.

Am planning on preventative maintenance approach and was going to gearbox mounts in school holidays but the front mount broke on weekend and car jumps out of 4th gear under load. The guys at CBB reckon it's had a hard life.

Anyway thanks for encouragement.

I imagine nearly all bajas have had a hard life.
I agree about modern cars. I drive my bay to work daily, brings a smile to my face every mile along the way. I'm hoping the Baja does the same for me.
Buy a carton of beer and organise a working bee. Three people working on it one Saturday should get a lot done.