hey guys im sure some of you have heard what im doing to my superbug but for the rest of you I AM BAJA'ING IT!!!

every has told me not to so i decided i would. haha

the positives are i have factory IRS and a 1600tp motor to haul it along, negative is i have mac strut up front....

the motor is mainly a stocker 1600 with 40idfs and baja 4-1 extractors. i reconditoned the motor myself a couple of months ago with new rings, all bearings and all seals. it is running shit at the moment because of the HUGE jets in the carbs.....

most of my time has gone into the front end and getting a normal firbeglass kit to fit... i bought the kit off ebay for nicks but had alot of work to do because of the completely different front on it.... i had to cut and split the nosecone about 6 inches and for the bonnet i had to but two slices down the sides just inside the hump and spread it to fit. i then filled everything with fibreglass and painted and fit it.. looks great now!!

im waiting on someone to put pics up for me so you should see it soon!!

cheers
Luke

here ya go...

another

another

cheers mate, gave me something to do for 10 mins! i'm bored stupid and cant work on my baja or buy parts for it as all the vw shops are closed! Looking good bud.

The photo quality is a bit average, I'll try to rectify that with the next lot of photos you send...

Looks like a good unit.
Are you going to swap the struts to bigger ones for more height?
Early Golf ones fit don't they?

Smiley

the plan for the front is to move the cup that the spring sits in further up to give an inch or two and then fit later (L bug) perches to the top.. these give another 1.5inch..... also going to so some reinforcing of pivot points and stress loaded areas to tighten and strengthen things up a bit...

for the back im just gonna fiddle with the splines a bit to send things about 3in upwards.

i have 30in A/T tires for the back but also have a brand new 31in BF Goodrich M/T sitting without a partner which i'd love to put on

also chasing either decent 14in tures for the front OR some 15in rims....

glad my pride and joy didnt get poo pooed straight away

ps. the golf struts are used to lower the front smiley (definitely NOT on the cards)

What are you planning on using for strut Inserts & Steering Damper?

was hoping to use stock parts? i know the reason for different strut insert but why different damper??

I was just thinking of bump steer, not sure if it will be such an issue with raised suspension tho? Either way, just wondering if you'd lucked upon an aftermarket alternative
I've got a 1302 that I do some rally-crossing with, I've fiddled with the ride height, flipped tie-rods, fitted a brand new std damper, you name it (just about everything short of going to R&P steering), and it still bump steers the wheels out of alignment over the occasional series of large ruts & potholes.
I've taken the std damper into a few places, the general consensus is that it's too short to simply fit up a 'off the shelf' 4x4 damper.
I've heard rumours that there is some dude in the U.S. who adapts a std damper to work on the opposite side - giving two dampers (apparently aimed at reducing the sbug shimmies but it could work for bump steer) I've just been too lazy to find out exactly who it is and follow it up any further.

oh ok didn't really think about that side of things.... what is bump steer?? i sorta know what it is but not exactly what happens to cause it and i figure the more i know the more i can fix or prevent!!

Hi

Good on you for going outside the square with a super Baja. You also need to try to keep the front springs soft to have a bit of compliance

Sorry to go of topic here but it concerns strut front ends.

Cam, are you running the flip kit with raised or lowered suspension?

The stock super steering box gets slack in it when its not in the straight ahead position, irregularities in the road surface will show this up.

If you need to fit a longer steering damper, it would be easy to fabricate a new location point for a longer damper.

My sons 1303 has had both a worn ball joint and virtually non existent steering damper bush in the idler arm, it didn't have any shimmies with either problem.

Steve

thanks for the motivation boost steve.... what do you mean by compliance??

what is this flip kit you speak of?

Hi

By compliance I meat keep the front springs soft to allow the wheels to rise over bumps.

If you lift the spring perch to much you will end up with very compressed front springs which will make them hard, you maybe better off spacing the strut tops.

I cant remember his name but another person on here was doing this to a super, I sent him some spare late model top spring seats, I'm not sure how he got on with them.

The flip kits make the tierod ends fit in upside down to help lowered cars combat bumpsteer. like these http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C12%2D6613%2D11 

Steve

steve thanks... i remember the guy. his name was marcel.. you wouldn't happen to have anymore of the same seats would you??

moving the spring perch will, by compressing the spring, extend the strut thus giving a lift will it not?? so in a sense what i am doing is moving the shock downwards whilst keeping the perch and spring in the same position...

that is quite hard to understand but i hope you understand so you can tell me if im trashing my front end. haha

keep comments rolling!!!!

Hi

I will have a look around for some spring seats, I wonder how Marcel got on.

When the strut is sitting with no load on it, that length is as long as it can go, making the spring perch higher will not actually make the strut physically longer, it will make the spring harder to compress which will make the car higher, I think keeping the springs as soft as possible will help the front end survive.

I did see a rally Superbug once that had a spacer between the strut and the stub axle.

Steve

ahhh yes that makes more sense.... this is marcels thread

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=70381&page=1 

ended up being pretty successful..... the height he got is pretty close to what i want for mine....

give us a bell if you find the perches....

cheers
Luke

got the matching rim for the back and some 15 inch rims for the front today so will post up more pics soon.

the rims for the front have a very tight offset and dont allow for much room between the spring and the tire.... im pretty sure spacers are illegal so can anyone suggest a way to get this gap biggggger, other than change offset which i might end up doing???

cheers
Luke

did some additons to the cage recently... put an extra bar which follows the existing bar but is exactly one number plate higher

also ripped the spring plates of the back and turned them down one inner spline to send it skywards and put on 4 new rims an tires. (now have 3 complete sets of rims and tires, haha) its now got 15x5 vw rims up front with 235/75 and 15x8 deeeep rims on the back with 265/70...

looks very coool. pics to come

shoot me the pics! i'll chuck them up!

perches are on!!! tool A LOT of fighting with spring compressors but i got it done....

next job - cage thew rear barwork!

ps. mick, pics have been shot

Nice work with the body kit. You may have just opened up a little market for yourself.

there ya go.

another

last one, Sorry they took so long mate been busy workin on the baja! Love the engine cage! I wanna put another bar on mine but mine is heavy enough as it is. Looks great with the big wheels on!

Quote:

Originally posted by baja burley did some additons to the cage recently... put an extra bar which follows the existing bar but is exactly one number plate higher also ripped the spring plates of the back and turned them down one inner spline to send it skywards and put on 4 new rims an tires. (now have 3 complete sets of rims and tires, haha) its now got 15x5 vw rims up front with 235/75 and 15x8 deeeep rims on the back with 265/70... looks very coool. pics to come

no worries mick, no need to apologise for a favour

cage looks even better now... i have bent up 2 vertical bars and brought them from the top bar up to meet the mount for the decklid hinges. looks the shiz


rims are standard offset and the 235's DO rub i was spewin when i put em on cos they didnt touch, didnt touch, didnt touch... then rolled it along and heard the squeak.. its only a very polite kiss though. so i will offset the rims an inch and it will be fine..

also if you have any questions about yours or my rig, bajachris, fire at will..

That's good to know thanks.

I'm planning on running 215's front/ 235's rear but, was toying with the idea of 235's all round. I can't really increase the offset without making the guards wider, they will be at the limit of tyre coverage as it is.