Jps1145's Little Baja - Build Thread

[jps1145]

Well, I pulled her out of the trailer and parked her in the garage. I guess it is time to get after it...

[dustymojave]

I believe I'm seeing that the outer end of the torsion housing was not tied to the roll cage structure. I hope that whatever replaces that fatigued old housing will be connected to the outer end of the front beam and to the roll cage above it.

There's a guy here in SoCal who ran a similar built Baja Bug in Sportsman class at the MORE races here. His suffered similar troubles though not as severe as yours, until he eventually had a new chassis built by Steve Griffith, the same guy who built SteveOwe's Baja. I can't recall Steve's real last name, he went by SteveOwe on Desert Rides forums and on here during the build. He raced it in the same Texas races as you race yours. Sometimes said "TOKKI POKKI" on the sides.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I was told years by a VW trained mechanic years ago to tie the torsion tube to the pan in at least two places per side besides the stock ties. You want your rear torsion tube to be part of the cage so it can work with the cage spreading loads.

The center of the torsion tube is tied to the tunnel and the ends of the torsion tube each have the little hooks that are tacked to the rear cross piece; not enough for more than stock sedan usage. With my 3" body lift I am going to tie the torsion tube to the body lift which also has bolts in all 4 body mount holes. The connectors from the torsion tube to the rear cross-piece will have tabs welded on the body lift and the torsion tube then bolted together in double shear. My cage connects to the torsion tube... indirectly.

Lee

[jps1145]

Thanks for the feedback. The outer ends of the housing were indeed tied to the cage, but that connection broke as well.
I'm very familiar with both Guys named Steve. Tyo is the one here in Texas that had one of Griffith's chassis. It was bad ass and was sold to another racer here in Texas and has a Ford H2O motor in it.
Griffith has/had his car for sale recently in the classifieds on RDC. Very tempting.
The plan is to get access to everything over the next few weeks and try to patch it back up and add some additional structure, including connecting it all the way to the front beam. I'm also considering springing for a whole new chassis. There's a guy building a new design that looks awesome out west, Jake's Fabworks I think.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I should have said two "additional" places.

You must be really pounding on it which should translate into having a good time at your toys expense. I don't remember if this is a "class racing" toy or just "a have fun toy" but if it is a "have fun toy' then maybe it is time to ditch the tired metal and go "tubular". :^)

[jps1145]

I should have said two "additional" places.

You must be really pounding on it which should translate into having a good time at your toys expense. I don't remember if this is a "class racing" toy or just "a have fun toy" but if it is a "have fun toy' then maybe it is time to ditch the tired metal and go "tubular". :^)

Nope, we're racin'! They group all air-cooled cars together in one class. 9's, 1600's, 1200's, 5-1600, and 5U's. anything with an aircooled motor runs with us. We had 9 total this last race, the largest class here in TX!
And, i'M HAVING A BLAST!. I don't mind too much beating up my car, I enjoy working on it. I just hope it will stay together at least long enough to finish all laps and all miles. I wouldn't care if it fell apart as it crossed the finish line. Actually, I'd rather it stayed together long enough to get it on the trailer, then back into my garage after the race... moving a broken car sucks.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

"... I wouldn't care if it fell apart as it crossed the finish line..."

"Dramatic": ... you've been watching too many Disney movies son!

From what I think I saw in the pictures you have a lot of tired metal to replace and some beefing up to do. I do kind of envy you doing what you do for fun but we all can't be so lucky.

Lee

[bajaherbie]

I have ridden with John in a couple of races, he only has one speed, WFO!

[jps1145]

I have ridden with John in a couple of races, he only has one speed, WFO!

I've actually tried to slow down a little to try to save parts. See how that's working out for me?

Here's a few more of the damaged parts I pulled out last night. I can fix it!

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Wow! That looks like you have a lot of work ahead of you. Did you take measurements; other wise you could alter the wheel base or raise the suspension .

Lee

[dustymojave]

So you DID have ONE tube going to the torsion. Perhaps lack of penetration at the weld and in the weld where the center adjuster is installed as well?

And we should be seeing 2 tubes sticking out of that hole.

[jps1145]

So you DID have ONE tube going to the torsion. Perhaps lack of penetration at the weld and in the weld where the center adjuster is installed as well?

And we should be seeing 2 tubes sticking out of that hole.

The tube you see is the stock torsion housing.
Surprisingly, it did not break at the adjuster. I thought for sure it did. It broke just inside the frame horn. I'm sure my poor welding skills have something to do with it. it is also tied in at the stock shock mount, but it is kinda hard to see, but you can see in the top photo where the tube comes down and where it bolts to the stock shock mount.

I didn't use the king kong adjuster when I put it in. it is just butt welded unit like this, only the Sway-A-Way version:
http://www.pacificcustoms.com/mm5/merch ... ange_high=

After I get it all apart to really inspect it, I may sleve the tube on the inside to reinforce.

[CentralWAbaja]

Assuming parts are swapped out and back racing? You racing this weekend?