1969 Baja build

[Dark Earth]

Assuming you have the positive (+) side of the coil going to the ignition switch, the schematic looks right. In the future, you may want to just disconnect the negative (-) battery terminal to charge the battery instead of removing the wiring from your coil. A handy resource for your car would be the Bentley "Official Service Manual".

Here's a schematic (I think I got of TheSamba) that might help ...

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My Build: '69 Baja - Dark Earth Version

~I'm almost done. I just lack finishing up.~

[BryceSegatto]

[Brian]

Do you have a ground strap?

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Wash your hands

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

Only losers litter

[Dark Earth]

[BryceSegatto]

I made sure the condensor wire on the distributor went to the negative (-) on the coil. I will check the ground strap! I will let you guys know how it works!

[Dark Earth]

Here's some more interesting reading ...

http://www.speedyjim.net/htm/spark.htm
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My Build: '69 Baja - Dark Earth Version

~I'm almost done. I just lack finishing up.~

[BryceSegatto]

[quote="Dark Earth"]Here's some more interesting reading ...

that was a good read! I'll have to test the power on everything. Thanks for the help really clarifying for me!

Also got some BIG NEWS today. I acquired a main sponsor! "Deep Sky Production" it's a film company of a good friend. All social media is going to be changed to "deep sky racing" this week. He heard that I was racing and said he would be my main sponsor. Love the support! ALSO!!!! I've decided that I will do the 1000 this year! Since next year is the 50th anniversary everyone is thinking it will be a 2000km race. Don't want to miss 2 BAJA 1000 races in a row so I'm going to bust ass to race it this year! I'm in the middle of filming for another YouTube video, I'm patching holes in the car at the moment. I'm making the dash after I patch this hole along with painting the bug. Once I paint I will send it to get the cage installed.

Btw I'm selling almost my whole rear end. If anyone in Phoenix ways to buy it I'll make a good deal! I'll be posting it on Craigslist, offer up, ect. Once I figure out my electrical issue. I'll be posting pictures before the weekend! Thanks for the support!


Go Fund Me:
https://www.gofundme.com/s2pdgkfg
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.bjsracing.wordpress.com
YouTube: http://youtu.be/i1GR6xxhgfI

[dustymojave]

Best get your passport soon!

If the battery cranks the engine over, whether it fires and runs or not, the battery is OK. If it has enough power to crank, it has enough to run on. You didn't really need to replace the whole distributor, just the condenser, and maybe the points. Frying the condenser wire does suggest an accidental mis-connection.

That tin piece under the crank pulley will only catch debris and rub it against the pulley. I recommend you remove it. The pulley has to be removed to take the tin off.

I use Rustoleum paint and like it. There's plenty of it on my Baja. But I don't see any sense in painting the car when you have only just begun the fabrication. Primer to protect the metal and prevent corrosion is good. But you have a long way to go before the whole car, especially inside, is ready for final paint. Paint will scratch and burn and smoke and ... don't count on final paint now. Better to race it unfinished. I thin mine 1:1 with mineral spirits thinner and don't use a hardener. It takes a while to dry, but dries VERY shiny and smooth and is tough and durable once it cures.

For cage material, I recommend DOM. 4130 is much more expensive and is more inclined to break in a crash than DOM. There are good reasons why NASCAR does not allow 4130 in cages that apply even more to offroad cars. DOM is also less critical of welding than 4130.

As for removing the body from the pan, the one reason for that is to be able to weld the top sides of the upper roll cage joints. Otherwise...leave it.
_________________
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.

[BryceSegatto]

Well that cleared lots up! And I just got my passport a few months ago (the book) so I'm good. I've always had my ground passport, but I decided to get the book.

I got a brand new distributor from auto zone, but my power wire to my coil just wrapped around the coil, it was kind of ghetto rigged...maybe the bad connection did it...

I was thinking maybe I could paint the outside and hold off on the inside until the cage work is done? Any ideas on that? I think I should just wait!

I took the tin off under the pully cause it scraped on the pully and annoyed me!

Is DOM legal for Baja? I've looked at the regulations over and over I feel like I should know by now!

Do you think I should get the 30% stiffer leaf springs up front? I'm running bilistein shocks all round. Double in the back. (7100's)

Doing all the hole patching and making the dash now. Pictures to come!

[BryceSegatto]

Looked at the rules DOM is aloud. Looking at tubing now

[BryceSegatto]

okay so im not a pro on tubing. I understand a few things like chromoly, mild steel, ect. but I don't understand as much as I should. im going to post 2 picture. one of the Baja regulation for tubing the other of the universal 6 point cage for Baja bugs I want to buy. if you have followed my build you know I want to go buy this 6 point cage for $250 then have a company build off of the 6 point cage and build it to spec. (saves hundreds of $). can you tell me if this is the right tubing to use for the cage or if I will have to ask for the company to build the 6 point cage in a different material? thanks for the help.

[dustymojave]

The cage that Chirco offers there is the EMPI bolt-in 6-point cage.

It's a fine roll cage and I have recommended to many Baja Buggers. But to meet the SCORE rules since 2006, the cage MUST be DOM or 4130 tubing. The CREW tubing used in the EMPI cage is NOT SCORE legal.

I know some guys in Indio (near Palm Springs, CA) who offer a cage kit in DOM or 4130. It isn't cheap though. More like $1,600 and extends from beam to rear firewall.

I recommend 1.5" OD x .120" wall DOM for the 4 posts, the rear braces, the "halo" above your head, and the diagonal tube behind you. The rest can be CREW and .095 wall (such as the shoulder bar you shoulder belts fasten to, the lower rails from lower beam tube to rear torsion housing, the upper front bars from the top tube of the beam to the A-Pillars, bumpers, shock mounts, dash bar, etc.); with 1" x .065 CREW lacing (small diagonal tubing such as the 'X' over and beside your legs and above the rack & pinion).

All diagonal tubes that end at a corner should join AT the corner. If the corner is a junction of tubes, the diagonal tube should be notched into both, or all of the tubes that make up the corner. If the diagonal ends inside of a bend, it should meet in the center of that bend. It's quicker and easier to notch a tube to end next to a corner, but far stronger if it's notched to fit both tubes and meets in the corner.

'T' joints should be avoided unless they form the corner of a triangle.

The shoulder bar should be near the level of your shoulders when you are in the driver's seat.

Never compromise the roll cage in favor of clearance for installing something like the fuel cell. I have a 5-1600 Baja in my back yard, built by someone else, that the roll cage failed in a rollover due to the diagonal tube behind the driver meeting the B-pillar a foot above the floor so it would clear the fuel cell. If the fuel cell were moved a little and the diagonal bar had gone to the bottom end of the B-pillar the car would still be racing with a new body shell.

For those who are interested in buying the 6-point cage from Chirco, pay close attention to the shipping note in the ad:

[BryceSegatto]

Thanks for the clarification. I'm going to ask if chirco will build the 6 point if I supply the DOM tubing. If they won't then so be it, I'll have to get all the points done at once!

Was in the middle of cutting sheet metal for the hole in the luggage compartment and realized how impossible it is to bend 20 gauge sheet metal with out a bender...might have to go buy one at harbor freight for $40!
After I fix the holes the engines coming back out so I can remove the whole rear end!

[dustymojave]

[BryceSegatto]

When I first got the car the luggage compartment had to be completely removed because of a fire in the back. It's a big patch but something that needed to be done

[dustymojave]

Do you mean the rear package shelf above the trans?

Now I see what you mean.

The entire shelf is gone in this pic.

The 5-16 in my back yard has the shelf attached to the cross bar of the cage which is at the bottom of the firewall. The cross bar has 2 strips of thin bar stock welded to it. One bolts to the firewall, the other bolts to the shelf. The shelf could be a wrecking yard/junker piece from another Bug. Rules require that it be there. The strap is 1" x about 14ga. The bar also supports the bars down to the frame horn ends.
_________________
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.

[BryceSegatto]

[dustymojave]

I believe it needs to be the factory piece, from the flange where it meets the floor pan, up and back to the bottom of the firewall. roll cage bars, fuel lines, etc. may pass through it, but the panel needs to be there. I'll check with SCORE Tech Chief Art Savedra to be sure, and get back to you when I have an answer from him.
_________________
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.

[BryceSegatto]

I'll send you a better picture soon, just need to make sure before I weld it in!

[BryceSegatto]

Sorry I haven't posted in a while I've been busy and also I have had no money because I had to dip into my savings and spend $650 on my car, not the bug my car. I've put a new everything on that car, engine, transmission, front/rear end...I had to buy new wheel hubs and my mechanic had to instal them...sucks, but that's life! I've always kept a $500 "emergency fund" for emergencies like that, and I don't like when I don't have that cushion...

Okay back to the bug! As promised here's the huge ugly hole...also here's the steel I'm using, is this okay to weld in? If I have to I'll go to the junk yard and cut a part out of the bed of a truck or of a bug if I can find one! Let me know about the metal!

Also I'm selling my rear end! If you want to help this build move on buy my rear end! It will fund a big chunk of this project! I'm trying to get a bus trans and need some money first so I'm selling my rear end then buying the trans. http://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/cto/5483040390.html

I will be on family vacation which NEVER HAPPENS! So excited. So I will be out of town march 20th-April 2nd. Hoping to sell the rear end before I leave so I can buy parts and have them waiting for me when I get back!