Baja Kits/Mods

Hi all, I am trying to decide whether I should baja my 69 beetle, I bought It with the intention of doing it after I saw an awesome airbagged beetle for sale.
I am in SA and am a little unsure of the regulations and laws of building a baja in terms of covering the engine, bar work, lift and sourcing a baja kit.

I have seen kits on ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Vw-bettle-fibreglass-baja-kit-off-road-/130435154805?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e5e8a8375#ht_1342wt_996)

But i am unsure of the quality of these kits.
I know they need to be strong with a wide outer lip to bolt on to the car for strength

I have read Baja bugs and buggies by Jeff Hibbard cover to cover but I am still unsure of where to start to keep it legal on the streets of SA.

What I plan on doing is nothing to outrageous, just a baja kit, comfortable interior (2 seater possibly) rebuilt engine and a mild lift with some nice tyres and sunraysias (already bought)

Has anyone done a conversion in SA and are there any warnings/tips/ideas that you can pass on so I can get cracking!

Cheers In advance for any help
AJ

Good luck with it. No idea on the rules in SA, but try the manxclub forum and the Dunebuggy & Baja Forum.
Both are Australian Forums

www.manxclub.org
http://dunebuggyandbajaadventures.freeforums.org

Hi give me a PM if you want but i hd mine reg in sa driving all over the place with o probs. I had a rear bar that looked neat and stopped any of the engine passing that, but i idnt run a fan belt cover or cage over the motor. Also had it reg as a beetle without even the slighest bit of trouble.

G'day AJ! Am I right in thinking that you bought your sunraysia wheels off me? Good to hear that they may be going onto a proper baja to really make the most of them!

You should have no legal issues with building a baja out of a '69 beetle. Fibreglass fenders and other bolt-on panels are perfectly fine as long as they have no sharp projections sticking out of them to impale pedestrians. The National Code of Practice for Light Vehicle Modifications says that all fibreglass panels should be a minimum of 3.5mm thick, but I doubt that anyone would test you on this unless your panels were flopping around all over the place. Fibreglass fenders, bonnets and so forth are all legal without a certificate.

The only issues which you would have are the legality of moving lights and/or changing them for different ones, plus the actual cutting of the body in structural areas and hence protecting people from the spinning parts of the engine. If you change any of the lights, make sure that your new ones are ADR approved and clearly visible from the front/rear and side of the vehicle. There are special regulations for the range of angles which lights need to be visible, but as long as you use some common sense there's nothing much to worry about.

If you cut the rear of the body then a good cage which covers the generator belt/pulley and the hot exhaust would be a good idea. If you cut the front or rear of the body for the kit, then I suppose it should technically probably have an engineering certificate, as these are structural (ish) panels. I would personally just build it properly and in a safe fashion, then not worry about telling the rego authorities. If you really want to do it properly then any engineer should easily give you a certificate for a normal baja kit, as they're at least as strong as the original body, and the sections of the body in front of the beam and behind the rear suspension mounts don't really do very much structurally.

Here's some light reading for you to give you a general idea: http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/vehicle_regulation/bulletin/vsb_ncop.aspx

Most of what you want will be in the sections of Body and Suspension.

You got it right, that was me! I've been pretty lazy on working on the bug recently, plus its been too damn cold to work in the shed, even with the heater!
Cheers for the advice and help, it seems as though I shouldn't have too much trouble as long as I use my brain and a little common sense. Like I said it wont be anything too outrageous so I hope to not get into too much strife with those cheeky fellers in the blue outfits.
Once i get the body work sorted I hope to get some pics up and start a thread, just need some free time to get up home where it lives and get stuck into it!!
Cheers
Aj

HI AJ i am form vic and built my baja i took it to the RTA to get it on the road it passed with flying colors its regestard as a bug i do have some bar work around the motor and i put a fanbelt cover over the pullys i live about 50 kl from yarram and i may go over to have a look at the baja kit let me know if you want me to check the kit out for you
thanks GAV

Cheers again for all the help guys! Gav, don't stress too much about going to have a look, I have to put the project on hold for a while, my daily commodore has decided to pack it in so will be throwing funds at that for a while, bit of a let down. I wouldn't mind if it was a vw that I was fixing. Bit of a bugger really.
Aj