As it arrived.........





Trial fit of rear guards..........





got the motor and box out, trimmed off the apron (have left it 3 or so inches longer than it needs to be for fine tuning)



With the help of a DUB front gearbox mount I got the CB box in........





chop chop...


12mm of rotation........


oh shit, what have I done.........


On the ground, with 175/65 14s........


Haven't got the rear off the stands yet.........






Future plans are a bug eye Baja kit for the front, some custom 15x6 and 15x8in rims and some 29x7.5 and 31x10.5 (or 33x10.5) Simex's.

What?? Cutting up a 58?? - LOVE IT DUDE

I really wanted to cut up an oval, but this fell in my lap

Don't worry...I'm pretty sure my oval will score a split window - along with plenty of cutting...

Look forward to your progress dude.

DUDE

Hope you're keeping those Rossi's on there, they're the hotness!

Na the Rossi's have long sinced moved on

Here's some Family Baja history...........

Here's a pic of my Dad's first Baja, built in 1976.......





My first registered car at age 15.........




After I hit a tree, we built this out of it.........




Then after an incident involving speed, wildlife, and a concrete wall.....




Another that Dad built when I was a kid.........




And finally Dad's current Baja........

With reduction box rear end, you'll need a big tyre up front to get the height if you're going for a 33 inch on the rear....

I honestly don't think i'll get 33's to clear the torsion bars, we'll see.

If you use short swinger torsion bars then the 33's will clear, but the body will need some beating. My 31's just clear my long IRS torsion bars, but before the body lift kit they rubbed on the body just above the torsion bars (when the suspension was compressed over bumps).

Those Simex's will cost more than the Baja

i had the same problem with the rubbing with 31's... fixed it by changing the offset of the rim doesn't rub no more

I've got a few different size tyres here to try out, before I bite the bullet and buy the new ones. Simex's weren't too bad at $1210 a set.

Just save yourself the future greif and cut the body in the area above the torsion tube and in front of the rear tyre , once seen you will understand how to cut the radioused wedge of inner guard out then just gently beat it foward and reweld

I'm not stressed about the body as it's getting a lift kit, Only worried because I'm running squareback torsion bars. But I think I might get away with it because of the reduction boxes.

Finally got the Baja rolling, so pushed it outta the shed to clean up.......

Look forward to seeing end result. I bought my Baja already done as I didn't want the hassle NSW RTA can cause, but am already regretting it due to some of the rubbish work done that needs fixing.

Well unfortunately my '58 has gone into storage for a while, as I just don't have the room to work on it at the moment

On a side note I've bought my Dad's Baja to tide me over till mine will be finished.

Here she is, parked next to my other bug, now I have the best of both worlds ; )

Well I sold the '58 and have since put the CB box into the yellow baja........

Before.....


After........

Took it for a 100km test drive this morning after installing the CB gearbox, new brakes etc, I'm Very very happy



And a bit of a comparison with my other bug........

Looks beastly!!

Nice work man!



Smiley

So last August while attempting a fairly difficult climb the rear end of the baja let go in a big way..........

Passenger side......... :shock:







and drivers side...........





I almost shit my pants when it let go.

I cracked the shits with it and didn't touch it again until the christmas break. Got her all finished in time for new years, used squareback torsion bars and springplates this time and got rid of the air shocks, it was great to be out on the road again

I liked the rims on my other bug soooo much I decided to do em for the Baja too

holy crap, cant believe you did that to the spring plates!

I can...... when Rick ran country buggy reduction boxes in his manx with 33's he did exactly the same thing.... to fix the problem, he laminated two sets of springplates together to make a thicker springplate. Later he converted to IRS and Kombi box.