Slak's 69 Baja project

[slak]

My project started about a year ago when i bought a baja in very bad cond. not looked
after at all, engine rusted solid as water entered the trumpet exhausts i could not save the engine
it was too far gone but for R3000 with papers it was a bargain so i started looking
around for spares and to see what i could build with
a bit of power had to be aircooled and still sound like a baja ,so nothing is cheap on a aircooled
anymore !!!
so i took the car to our w-shop last year november our quiet time and started stripping and
cleaning taking out carpets ect.ect. as i want it to have a off road look i bought a lift kit
made by Bugoff was a bargain but a bit of a fiddle to fit a couple of other things had to
be modified to fit after the lift kit was instaled like steering rod was lengthened but the look
can't be beat i reasently fitted the rear tyres and man does it look good
i also built a single port engine new sleeves + pistons heads+new valves CT25 cam in the
meanwhile just to be able to drive it around as it would break my heart to c all the work that
went into it to just stand around
then a bargain came up an Edmund had to sell his 1600 mild street engine
for the price he had it up i didn't bother haggling and i knew he wouldn't of sold
it if he didn't need to
well i had accumulated some parts as we aircooled nuts usually do and i transformed the
mild 1600 to a little bit more on the wild side, hopefully ! here are some pics


for Vader still in the pakedging it would have gone nowhere


when i got it all unwraped


some mods done


almost final product hoping to install and run it soon
like a little boy with a new toy!!!

[buggyfan]

a baja thread without even a baja pic

Slak ,your pics are too small!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[slak]

yes i know they are too small but any bigger and i have a hell of a time loading them
don't worry the pics will come as i sort them
i know now that u should start the thred when u start the build
so nobody's perfect
every body always say i do things backward that's why i
started with the engine first

[DR WATSON]

Great stuff. I'll be following this thread with great interest

[slak]

Here is a pic of my Baja and the old tired engine


at this stage i just got the car and wanted to strip the engine to see what's
the matter with it as i took the heads off
i knew it was gonna be a while before she runs again

[Edmond]

The engine looks sexy with all the chrome and the twin dellortos on

I will be following this thread very carefully.

best of luck with your project

[slak]

Thanx Edmund hope they run just as well, can't wait to get the engine fitted
i had to get higher tappet covers for it as well, when i fitted the adjusters and
chrome moly pushrods, to get the geometry just right the adjusters hit against the
tappet covers but also just, had about 0,50 i couldn't find thicker gaskets so i got
higher alliminuim tappet covers

[slak]

So this is what i found inside the block

needless to say i was really shocked that a crank and rods can rust
together inside an engine never seen that before but stripped it down and cleaned everything
then saw that the heads are also cracked , so i got an idea from a friend why not
just build an engine just to get it running
as i wanted a stroker motor but that all came to a standstill as the place that stroked
the crank for me ,MISPLACED it while they were waiting to get it drilled
for 8 dowell flywheel bad luck if u ask me so
this is what i build next just to get going

in the meanwhile as i thought it would take ages for them to get
back to me single port heads is what i had so stuck those on
hunted down a manifold and carb as the one i had was
a piece of would be putting it mildly and she runs

[slak]

while i was busy here and there with the motor, the body had to come of
so we started

later and our right hand man in the w-shop had the body off
i left the office for an hour when i came back i found
this waiting for me

after a 2 weeks or so of refurbing the brakes all hoses steel pipes slave cylinders
master cyl as that was all rusted and unusable then on to g-box mountings shift rod
king pins and link pins on to fitting the lift kit

not an easy job at all the holes that was drilled was drilled using a pan as
template so none of the holes lined up properly but we got it sorted by redrilling all the
holes test fitting it and tack welding it in place then taking it off again and welding it
properly

lift kit in and tightened down and sprayed with stone chip
i sprayed the whole car inside too with stone chip as i want it to be a bit rough
and easy to clean

and this is the height seen from the back

Before


After

[slak]

Ok so this must be the fastest build u'v ever seen but from here on i'll
slow down as this is as far as i'v gotten for the past year
this is how she stood with no engine in and the front tyres on the rear just to push it
around the w-shop

this is what she looks like with the right tyres front and back the rear tyres are
standing nice and straight i like it like that

and now that the engine is all done just need to fit it and start with
the new carbs and get the tuning sorted


so the car is not all done yet.....
i wanted to respray it until i saw what they can do with vinyl these days
they gave me a rough quote of up to might be less than R7000 to wrap the whole car
then all the rubbers need to be replaced and the lights need sorting they are to say
the least poor on power i want to fit something nice and bright

any ideas....?

[slak]

this is a quick foto or so of how they welded the webs onto
my crank welded the journals and stroked it sorry for the quality of the photo's
a bit bad




then it got lost and i felt like

[slak]

Did the wheel alignment this w-end and now she runs in a straight line again
I'm wondering what should the Tyre pressures be
front i have 27x8.5R14 rear 265/75R15
but the shocks i fitted just doesn't feel right it feels like the don't want to
return to their position like their a bit sloppy not good for off-road at all
any body got some experience on this please help

[Wentzel]

Looking very good! Its fun to fix a beetle/baja up like that it just takes time and $$. Who did your crank? I have been thinking about changing the stroke but haven't gone that far yet. Is the crank treated afterwards?

Good luck!!

[slak]

The guys that did the crank was down the road from my shop
Crankshaft Rebuilding Centre they have since moved don't know where to
but before they left the owner came to me to apologise for losing my crank and
gave me a wbx crank 82mm stroke counter weighted ground balanced and nitrided and
said i should see if i can use that if not i must sell it to make up for the crank that was lost
after they weld the weights on and weld the journals for the extra stroke they stress relieve it
in a big oven then after it is ground and checked for balance the send it for nitriding it makes
the journals hard and less prone to wear
I'll try to find out where they went i think the reason they lost the crank was because of them
moving
but i'm sure there are other crankshaft rebuilders that can also help u out

[Wentzel]

I am just careful of who to trust with work like that but I guess any reputable shop should be ok. How does the WBX crank differ from the beetle? Does it have the 5 bolts where the flywheel attach? any other differences?

Thanks