Well, I'm not the one that built this, but for as long as it's been sitting in my garage torn apart, I SHOULD have! I bought it 6 months ago, and I've only driven it once- home from the PO's house. Can't wait to get it back together and on the road.

It's a '59, has a 1915 with an 002 trans. 3x3s, 930 CVs, rear disc brakes. Front suspension is stock ( ), like-new 33's and 30's front and rear on "Centerline" wheels. Caged, Race ? front seats, harnesses, 10-gallon fuel tank up front, 1 piece front end. I just had the motor rebuilt- it has CB 044 heads, Engle 110 cam, and a Dellorto 40 on top. I guess that's about it- here's the pics...

Oh yeah- I waxed it after these pics- the paint looks mo' better now. I also polished the wheels up, and BAJAWARRIOR recovered those nasty front seats awhile back, so they look NEW!!!

Nice looking bug ... What is the line that is going into the exhaust (or looks like it does).

It feeds the carb that feeds the exhaust


That is a sharp looking Baja, if I could make another suggestion is put you fuel filter up by your fuel tank, you have room that way you have less connections that can fail close to your spark producing devices.

The fuel line is going in to the base of the carb- it sure does look like it's feeding the exhaust though, eh? (Actually, I was told by the PO that it's an afterburner...)

I like that car. Looks like you picked up a good project.

this is prob. my fav. baja on here
even tho i love all of them

Thanks for the props. I better get a move-on on getting it back together and on the road (and off the road!), or the VP/CFO is gonna try and make me sell it! NOOOOOOO!!!

I will give you $25 for it.

Can't wait to see it in action, is that the original color? Sample that is a insult, $25 come on, how about a $100? Have you done anymore with setting the rear torsion, or going to wait for the engine in before?

Leatherneck wrote:

Can't wait to see it in action, is that the original color? Sample that is a insult, $25 come on, how about a $100? Have you done anymore with setting the rear torsion, or going to wait for the engine in before?

At this point, I think I'm going to hang the motor, and see what that does to the axle angle. That way hopefully, I can adjust it one last time and be done (ha ha, right?). I just want to be DONE!

Good looking car, I like the way the front is cut.

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY- UPDATE- So, a buddy of mine came by today. We got lower engine mount studs lengthened sufficiently, and the motor is hanging! Also, you may recall, my axle angle was sitting at 28-29* (my CV's were of course binding), so we pulled the torsions apart and reindexed them. I came down one spline (we think) at the inboard end. I'm sitting at 19-20* axle angle now it looks like. Car sits a little lower now, but I've still got around 17" of clearance in the rear. The shocks are off, and it's strange that I can actually push down on the motor and the suspension actually gives some now- before, the preload was so high that we'd HANG on a pipe sticking out of the back of the car, and couldn't get the suspension to droop at all. If this setup seems too soft, I may have to pull it apart AGAIN and maybe go up one spline at the outboard end (springplate). Seems like that should put me somewhere higher than now, but now as high as it was. Gonna have to put one of the CVs back together- it came apart during disassembly. But, the axles are ready to go in, the rear shocks (after I repaint them), patch the floor, put in the interior, install the gauges, then hook up and fire the motor.

One step closer...

az350x wrote:

1FASTHOE wrote: tony, what size torsion bars did you install ? (mm) I stayed with the stock long torsions.

az350, your problem is not the angle but the torsion size, you will need to go up to at least a 27mm and I would say maybe 30mm the stock size is 23mm and ya have to remember it has seen alot of road time in 49years even if it is NOS it is still to small.

Sounds really cool. It's exciting when you start getting close. Hope to see some more pix soon.

So, since ol' Leather's been on my butt about my torsions, I found a set of 28mm SAW long torsions, and a pair of Fox 10" travel bypass shocks (w/reservoir). Kar-Tek's website says that model of shock is 16.1" to 26" long (full compress to full extend). My car, with a jack under the motor and jacked to an axle angle of 20*, shows about 21" from upper to lower shock mount. I've no idea how much total travel I have (002 trans, 930 CVs and 3x3 arms, if anyone knows that off the top o' their head)- do these shocks sound like they'd fit/work well for this setup?

Thanks!

Sorry, just want you to be happy with what you are spending alot of time and money on.

First lets find out how much usable wheel travel you have. Your going to hate me for this, well two ways neither easy.
Take the shock/s off and the torsion bar out of your tube, put the spring plate back in since the Baja is already on stands take the wheel off the hub, let the hub down as far as it will go (slowly) while turning the drum or rotor, when it starts to bind stop, go back up a little till it spins freely again. measure from the floor to the stub axle. Now slowly raise while turning cv's and stop when it starts to bind, back down a bit,now measure from floor to the stub axle again. what is the difference? That is your usable wheel travel. Now subtract I think 2 inches for strap stretch. Anywhere in there is what you can use for setting up your suspension.

The other way is go to your helopad, chain your baja to the pad eyes and with the torsion in but shock removed to the same, just make sure your chains are tested and you use a good, no great tie down spot on the Baja.

You want or at least I want my shocks to be larger then my travel, I would rather not use some of it then overextend it. Hope this helps. Your going to love it when you are done.

Anybody have any corrections or add ons?

Just the same of the same......
12.75 to 14" claimed from all I have found looking at the sites I know of.

A way I figure is to pull torsion bars, put the car back together, get the wheels off the ground, spin the tire if the cv binds lift a tire with a jack until the cv's don't bind as you spin the tire. Thats the bottom..measure the distance from the ground to the tire there, also put the angle finder on it, make note of your axle angles.
If it doesn't bind you maybe on the stock stops. if you want more down travel trim the stops, but only lower till it binds
Keep raising and spinning the tire till the cv bind again, thats the top of the travel..put the angle finder on it, make note of your axle angles.
.measure the distance from the ground to the tire there. do the math and that is your travel.

930's non race preped is a max angle of 25 degrees...

Looks like I'm buying that set of 28mm SAW long torsions yo.

Just don't tell my wife.

did you get that thing runnin ?

1FASTHOE wrote:

did you get that thing runnin ?

Of course NOT! Keep changin' my mind about things. Now I'm pulling the shroud back off to remove the stock oil cooler and install an adapter for my external one. Daryll clued me in that the way I was planning on plumbing the external filter AND external cooler wasn't an optimum setup, so now I gots some changin' to do.

I think I gotta pull the motor again to get the shroud off- hopefully get that going later today after some honey-do's get done. If things go well, I'm hoping to fire it late today...

Oh- and my 28mm SAW torsions should be here tomorrow, so those will go in this week and I can start getting the rear suspension dialed in/axle angles set. Maybe THEN it will move under it's own power for once!

Well, did some more work on the motor and suspension today (see "I'm sooooo bummed" in Suspension forum for suspension details). I did get my stock oil cooler pulled, adapter installed, and pro-comp cooler installed today. Carb/intake is on. Next step is to static time it and install plug wires. Torsions should be here tomorrow, so I'll probably be working on the suspension again tomorrow. I powdercoated part of my dash tonight, cut a hole for my Hobbs meter, so I can keep working on the gauges now. I'll post some pics of that when it gets closer. I do have some dash trimming to do before the dash pieces go back in. I used black wrinkle powdercoat to try and match the two-hole right side panel piece I bought for my oil temp and pressure gauges- not a perfect match, but at a glance it'll be hard to tell.

"I used black wrinkle powdercoat to try and match the two-hole right side panel piece I bought for my oil temp and pressure gauges- not a perfect match, but at a glance it'll be hard to tell."

Spray both sides with the same stuff.

I bought a new 2-hole right side piece yesterday at (cough) Karl's (it's black wrinkle finish). The left side pieces they had had THREE more gauge holes in them, and i only need the two holes. So, I reused my left side piece that only had butchered switch holes in it- it was bare aluminum. Soo, I coated it black wrinkle to match the right side one I bought. Pics to come...

My torsions came today. Tonight I got the dash cut for the gauges and got wire run to the motor for them. About ready to start putting the interior back in now. In the next couple of evenings, my buddy and I will get the new torsions in and set up and hopefully get the axles in. Then, it's just a few finishing touches on the motor and it should be ready to fire off! Might need to do a little more powdercoating first- wanna do the valve covers after I install those breather fittings in them...

WHERE'S THE STINKIN PICS ??????

Alright, alright! Don't get hostile Rob!

Here's tonight's update. 28mm SAW torsions are in. Axles are in. Now it's finish up wiring and plumbing, install exhaust and oil filter, fill with oil, finish hooking up gauges (wires are run, just need to put blade connectors on and connect), charge/install battery, verify timing, and crank 'er up.

Here's some pics...



This one's the gauges- Autometer Phantom oil press and temp


Here's my hour meter and the left side panel that I powdercoated with wrinkle finish black to match the other piece (store bought)

Sure is pretty.

thank you, was that so hard ?

Getting ever closer tonight! Exhaust is on, basically everything is hooked up except the distributor wires (where do they go? coil?) and the remote oil filter (just picked up an HP1 filter tonight). Tomorrow, I think the battery goes in and we attempt to start it! Oh yeah- gotta get some fresh premium for it too. I HATE how discolored the exhaust pipes are- it was puking oil from the bad cylinder before the teardown. Is there any way to clean them up some?

Here's a pic with exhaust on:

RE-POST from the other thread:

IT LIVES!!!! Well, we primed the oil system with the plugs out per the instructions, then fired it up. Ran it at about 2,000 rpm for about 20 minutes. Something's a little off, as it doesnt' run real smooth, but I didn't drive it enough before to know if there were any real carb issues or not.

A couple minor issues to address before i drive it around the hood:

1- one pushrod tube is leaking pretty bad
2- the fittings on my pro-comp oil cooler seep just a tiny bit
3- check timing

Pressure was good, oil temp came up to 120 or so after a bit. Only smoked once or twice for a few seconds. Does a little popping/backfiring. Can't complain though- started easy enough once I got the fuel pump lines hooked up properly!

Congrats...

Lookn' Good !!!!!

how many gallon tank do you have in your bug

danjones333 wrote:

how many gallon tank do you have in your bug

I think it's a 10-gallon.

you get your problems worked out yet ?

1FASTHOE wrote:

you get your problems worked out yet ?

Heck no! Wife's been keepin' me way too busy with honey-do crap. Plus, my folks have been here for a week, Logan's birthday, father-in-law visiting from Canada, blah blah blah. No time at all to fool much with it. I've been able to sneak about 10 minutes here and there, but that's it. Oh yeah- then there's the whole backyard renovation I did over the last three weeks or so. YUCK!

Mount shocks (have some bushing/bolt size issues to figure out)
Install seats
Service trans
Adjust clutch

That's about it as far as I can tell. Just need TIME!

Well, I got the shocks on, seats in, and ended up putting a few miles on the thing this evening! Figured out my clutch/trans problem is apparently shifter linkage or something. The first drive, I couldn't get second without grinding. That sorta worried me about the trans. Well, I drove it a little more and figured out the technique required to get second, and now it goes fine. Downshifting to second from third still seems to be impossible though. I think the grinding was it looking for reverse instead of second, so now, I just sorta keep my shift throw toward the middle of the car and not pull back/toward my leg, and it works fine. I would like to figure out how to get that issue resolved though...

Tomorrow, I think I'll drain and refill the trans. I bought a bolt and some nuts today to make a trans plug tool. I'd like to drive it some more tomorrow.

kool
kool
that would freak me out down shifting, and it grinding yiks

Great news.

Oddly, my car is damn near impossible to find reverse in. I have to really work at it, and it usually takes 3-4 attempts.

Jeff

I'm sure bummin' about not being able to downshift from 3rd to 2nd. Gonna have to figure that one out!

yeah
i would just shift from 1st to 2nnd to 3rd then to 4th but then wen taking a turn or something us 3rd then when at a stop go from 3rd to 1st

Well, just drove it about 10 miles round trip to my buddy's house. Got the shiftin' thing figured out! I can now find second without grinding or anything when upshifting OR downshifting.

Oil pressure is still all over the place, but while driving at around 2,000 rpm, it's stable at about 35 or so.

thats good.

I tried to get the drain plug out of the trans last night, but it wouldn't budge. Need to take another shot at that today. BUT, first I gotta go put an airplane back together so my wife can get flying again with her students and get off me back!

BAJA'd to work today- first time!


Hopefully I make it home...

Congratulations, good to hear it is out of the garage on it's own power suppling you with some smiles

az350x wrote:

BAJA'd to work today- first time! Hopefully I make it home...

Well-just had my first "adventure" with it. Took my buddy for his first ride around in it (he helped me with my rear torsion indexing on multiple occasions). We're driving down a street in my neighborhood, having just adjusted the ignition timing (runs much better!), and I say "wow- it sure is running better!". LITERALLY, within 3 seconds, we run out of gas and coast to a stop. I just had to laugh! Fortunately, we weren't on a busy street or anything!

I'm sure loving driving this thing! I can't WAIT to get my front suspension all set up! Although, I'm about to start wearing ear plugs or my Bose aviation headset- it's LOUD inside!

kool kool post pics

Excellent! It is a great feeling, getting on the road.

Don't you have a Supertrap on there?

ditch68 wrote:

Excellent! It is a great feeling, getting on the road. Don't you have a Supertrap on there?

I think it's a clone, but yes. I might have to start experimenting some with the discs. It's a little too quiet right now.

Y'know- oddly I've never noticed the straight-cut timing gear "whine" everyone was talking about. I was sorta looking forward to it too!

Just pulled all the discs and the end cap off. NOW it sounds like a baja, dangit! Running pretty rich right now. Time to do some reading in the Dellorto book and see if I can figure out how to get the carb dialed in a little bit. I sure HATE trying to figure stuff out from books!

Well, getting closer to starting the next major phase (hopefully FINAL phase for awhile!) of my baja- replacing the 3x3s and rear disc brakes with some different ones, and installing my Warrior beam, Tweed arms and front disc brakes. Took the "new" arms to the powdercoater today. Hopefully, I'll get my arms and tierods and a few other doodads ordered in the next couple weeks. For those who didn't see it in another thread, I'll post a couple pics here. I picked up a used SACO/Wilwood 4-wheel disc brake setup last weekend here locally. Should make my car STOP like crazy when installed!

Chenowth chromoly 3x3 arms


SACO billet hubs and brake rotors


Wilwood calipers


These things are BEEFY!

Sweet. That's all high end stuff.

Jeff

UPDATE- arms should be done this week at powdercoater's. Also, I ordered what should be the rest of my front end components today from Chirco. Hopefully, the suspension/brake morph should begin in a week or so...