The Baja Bug - First Timer's Thread

[Brian]

You know what, it's either fan or tranny. Tbh I'm gonna day that you need to run through each gear for a total of 10 minutes each before we can get it down. In the mean time, take off your fan belt and run the motor for 5 minutes exactly from a cold start. See if you still hear it.
_________________
Wash your hands

'69 Bug
'68 Baja Truck
'71 Bug
'68 Camper

Only losers litter

[MotoMike]

[EnjoyNukaCola]

The 31's came in the mail.

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"when i go to drive it i get to like 5-10 mph it is at high rpms and gets higher the faster i go when i shift up to second the rpms drop is this normal or what and this is my first vw please help"

[dustymojave]

Funny...I don't recall that big of a mail box in front of your house...


_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[EnjoyNukaCola]

Overdo update:

- Trans reverse light switch has developed a leak that requires me to pull it to fix (with this, find me one that's not 10 dollars?)
- Ordered a CNC shift coupler here on theSamba
- Swapped in a 62 Bug gas tank (no more leaks)
- Custom made door panels, frames I hand cut from 1/16" waterproof plastic

- Got an aluminum dash piece to replace the fiberglass dash
- Ordering a pair of Race Trim seats, waiting to find someone who can install the brackets like this

- Installed a fire extinguisher

- Put bed liner on the wheel wells and fenders

- Got a set of heavy duty mirror brackets
- Getting quotes on a roll cage, this is what I settled on. The goal is to put in a basic cage with plans to add in door bars, shock mounts and diagonals later on to make it race legal

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"when i go to drive it i get to like 5-10 mph it is at high rpms and gets higher the faster i go when i shift up to second the rpms drop is this normal or what and this is my first vw please help"

[no1clyde]

I am interested to hear what kind of quotes you get for this project. Let us know and also what kind of tube the quotes are for. I have no idea what something like that will cost and I am sure others will be interested too. BTW I like that cage.Thanks.

Ed

[EnjoyNukaCola]

Yeah sure. I was hoping you guys could help me plan it out before I show it to the fabricators. Size .095 or .120, DOM or 4130, etc etc.
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"when i go to drive it i get to like 5-10 mph it is at high rpms and gets higher the faster i go when i shift up to second the rpms drop is this normal or what and this is my first vw please help"

[Brian]

I'm sure Dusty has plenty of good advice on cages

Things to note though with cages, I have the empi 6 point one and you can't use the vent windows and you can't use your window cranks. Also your fire extinguisher will probably be in the way if you tie into the beam.
_________________
Wash your hands

'69 Bug
'68 Baja Truck
'71 Bug
'68 Camper

Only losers litter

[EnjoyNukaCola]

Depending on how close to the body they run the main hoop, you can still open the door roll the window down and close it with the crank clearing. The pic I posted is almost exactly like Dusty's 5-1600 cage, but I don't know what size to use or if I can leave out the door bars and diagonals until later.
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"when i go to drive it i get to like 5-10 mph it is at high rpms and gets higher the faster i go when i shift up to second the rpms drop is this normal or what and this is my first vw please help"

[Brian]

I've been a fan of this one, but depends on how far down the hole you wanna go really.

_________________
Wash your hands

'69 Bug
'68 Baja Truck
'71 Bug
'68 Camper

Only losers litter

[EnjoyNukaCola]

Not that far honestly, but I figure starting a cage will be safer than not having one at all. I like mine more than that actually because the rear cage is all triangular where the class 11 one has two spots with a 4 sided polygon. I'm going for a class 5-1600 or unlimited style cage since mine is cut up beyond the point of an 11 car.
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"when i go to drive it i get to like 5-10 mph it is at high rpms and gets higher the faster i go when i shift up to second the rpms drop is this normal or what and this is my first vw please help"

[Brian]

The price difference between a empi 6 point, a class 11 and then a 5 is pretty big. I would get your seats installed at the same time as the cage so you can tie them together.
_________________
Wash your hands

'69 Bug
'68 Baja Truck
'71 Bug
'68 Camper

Only losers litter

[no1clyde]

Here is mine, it is just a play car but I built the cage my self and I used .120 1 1/2 for the main sides and the B pillar and the front bars to the beam and the rear bars to the rear bumper and .095 1 1/2 for every thing else.

I will not race this car but I have and will drive the wheels off of it. This is it today but it is still not done.

Last fall before I painted anything I drove it 1500 miles to the North rim of the Grand Canyon with 5 other Baja Bugs and am now finishing things up.

Ed

[EnjoyNukaCola]

Dang that's nice, how many feet of each tube did you need minus the diagonal and shock mounts? I like the door bar, I wonder if it's race legal. One of the big rules is that the rear main hoop supports have to be a minimum of 30 degrees from vertical.
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"when i go to drive it i get to like 5-10 mph it is at high rpms and gets higher the faster i go when i shift up to second the rpms drop is this normal or what and this is my first vw please help"

[no1clyde]

I think my car is very close to being legal and I am within the 30* on the B pillars but don't know if the door bars are legal. This is my car and I wanted to be able to get in and out without the door bars being to big of pain.

I did another cage 3 weeks ago for a friend and it was the side bars,the very low beam to torsion bars, the front bars, the rear bars, the B pillars, 2 roof bars and 2 dash bars and we used 4 20 foot sticks of .095 1 1/2 to do it. I think it will take 4 more sticks to finish the cage and bumpers.

On my cage I have 3 20 foot sticks of .120 1 1/2 and I think 4 more sticks of .095 1 1/2 for the rest including my running boards and bumpers.

Ed

[EnjoyNukaCola]

Cool thanks. Mine is going to be street driven for 2-3 more years hence no diagonals or huge door bars but I've always wanted to have it caged for safety, strong bumpers and seat mounts with full harnesses.
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"when i go to drive it i get to like 5-10 mph it is at high rpms and gets higher the faster i go when i shift up to second the rpms drop is this normal or what and this is my first vw please help"

[dirtkeeper]

[dustymojave]

I like this cage

It looks VERY much like one I designed on the BugSelecta the same way which I've shared on this and other forums.

I would extend the door bars to the A pillars as shown in my design and Dennis Sletten's Class 11 cage design that Brian shared. Your design creates a dead-end tube in the
middle of the door opening.

One thing I want you to get in writing when you get the quote...That the fabricator will guarantee to weld ALL the joints ALL the WAY AROUND. It will most likely require lifting the body shell at least partly from the pan to do it. But a weld that doesn't go all around the joint is like a place where you took a Sawzall to the finished cage. As a fabricator, I know it can be a PITA. As a Tech Inspector, it has been the Number 1 cause for me to reject race cars at Tech.

I agree that 4-sided shapes in a cage are not real good. But in some places you can't get around it and still have a functional car. In the case of Dennis' design, I believe those bars in the rear area were located to meet rear shock rules.

The footbox side diagonals in your design will encounter trouble at the dash. Mine will clear all.

The front upper bars from the beam clamps in my design do not angle to the top of the bulkhead because mine is a below-the-dash design. So for tie rod clearance, mine has a bend between the beam and the bulkhead. Yours may be an over-the-dash, where a straight tube from the top beam tube can work.

Note that my front bumper goes straight forward from the lower beam tube a little ways before it turns up. This allows the skidplate to sit flat against the bumper tubes and still clear the bottom beam tube with one bend in the plate.

At the rear bumper, mine goes straight back to the back edge of the engine case, then bends 45° to provide best possible rear clearance.

My A-Pillars are like Chenowth Class 11 cage uprights, with a mild bend inward at the top to meet the roof halo.

The B-pillars meet the roof halo from underneath with a separate roof cross bar. It's easier to build and at least as strong as using a 1-piece hoop. Make the bends to angle down to the rear part of the halo, then for easier fabrication, cut them off at least 3 inches away from the end of the bend. Sleeve with rosette welds. Gusset the undersides.
_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[EnjoyNukaCola]

Having a hell of a time even finding a place to do cage work.

Anywho, got the CNC'd coupler installed (no pics sorry) and there's zero movement in the linkage, it's pretty nice. But the trans still makes clunking sounds when I dry shift. When I removed the old coupler I stuck a vice grip on the input shaft and could easily get it into 2nd gear, but I couldn't get it into other gears... strange. I want to try another shifter, like a Scat drag fast, before taking it out. When I pull the trans again I am thinking of switching the 4th gear stock .82 to an aftermarket Weddle .77 so I can have best of both worlds, granny 1st gear and freeway flyer 4th.

Here are the mirrors installed. I got two Hella 700FF lights to mount on the brackets. No HID/ LED bars, nothing fancy the kit was only 60 bucks.

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"when i go to drive it i get to like 5-10 mph it is at high rpms and gets higher the faster i go when i shift up to second the rpms drop is this normal or what and this is my first vw please help"

[Brian]

Looking sweet.

Yea when I had my trans rebuilt it sounded nothing like a stock transmission. Going into gear just sounded like something was clunking and scraping. Probably because the gears are brand new and not beat to shit. Careful on the low range 4th, you might never get a chance to use it.
_________________
Wash your hands

'69 Bug
'68 Baja Truck
'71 Bug
'68 Camper

Only losers litter