'73 Turbobaja Build

[560]

Snap on swivel head ratchet must be superior quality over German steel....... Cost about the same as the car did new........
Looking good, keep up the great work like I know you will.

Mike

[Baja please]

First i would like to say amazing work on the baja. Then i have a question. I would like to put a water cooled engine in my baja and would live to mount the radiator in a similar manner to your inter cooler. But i am not sure how much a roof rack would affect airflow. Could i get some of the groups insight.

[CentralWAbaja]

First i would like to say amazing work on the baja. Then i have a question. I would like to put a water cooled engine in my baja and would live to mount the radiator in a similar manner to your inter cooler. But i am not sure how much a roof rack would affect airflow. Could i get some of the groups insight.

Welcome to STF "Baja please"
You should take a few and start a new thread and introduce yourself and show us your baja. This is a great group of guys that are always willing to help you spend your money We like pics too so let see some of your ride.

[Baja please]

Im sorry if that was a "hijack" and unfortunately the baja is still theoretical

[JUSSUMGUY]

I was looking forward to pics!

[turbobaja]

Welcome to the show Bp. I'd put a set of fans on whatever radiator you plan on using, no matter where you plan on mounting it. It's more about where will it be protected and not a danger to folks onboard vs. ideal air flow in these compact vehicles. That being said, w/out a roof rack my coolers actually do get decent flow back in the spoiler...I'm scared to put a roof rack on it because I don't run any fans to help if I loose flow .

I was looking forward to pics!

Got it together barely in time for some cruising and a couple local shows last weekend. The plumbing was a bit challenging with the cramped space. Put the 2psi residual valves right at the masters, along with the stock brake switches in each ckt. Decided to tie the front brakes to the steering rack/rods and see how it works, so far so good . Re-plumbed the cutting brake and managed to bleed the whole system quicker than I could have ever hoped with a combo of pressure/vacuum. With a firm pedal for the first time since I can remember, I tossed the fuel tank back in and got it back on the road for a test drive just after dark Friday evening, about 9pm. First stop, TONS of pulsation...I made a few more stops, hammered the brakes pretty well a couple times, found the rears were locking up with the same rhythm as the pulsation I could feel in the pedal. Awesome. I twisted the balance rod a couple turns towards the front master, now front brakes pulsate and the steering wheel is jerking around like crazy. Even better. I backed off a turn on the balance bar, so the violent pulsation was about even front/rear. Perfect. Tired, beat and warn after 6 months of brake HELL, I called it a day...delirious and in denial that my awesome, beautiful, expensive brakes could possibly have the exact same problem I just dealt for over 5 months. It did stop quicker than ever before, if I push hard on the pedal...that's better, right??? Maybe everybody has brakes that pulsate and I'm just some unrealistic A-hole that wants a smooth braking experience for his hard earned $$$$$$ Not much sleep that night...

UP early Saturday, determined to roll my junk to 2 local shows (100+ miles), complete with wife, dog and packed trailer in tow. I gave the rear brakes a quick once-over, re-torqued the axle nuts and tried to determine if it was hub or rotor runout that was causing the issue. Some bearing movement in the new rear bearings...not much I can do about that with the stock bearing design. Still, the amount of pedal and steering brake feedback felt like thickness variation rather than just lateral runout. The biggest problem with these fixed, multiple piston calipers is they can't follow a rotor with lateral runout very well, where a "floating" caliper can deal with it much better. Regardless, there was a problem, with at least 3, probably all 4 rotors/hubs. But, I wasn't going to let it "stop" me . We hit both shows and had a great time (when I wasn't belly aching to folks about my brakes ) and I did my best to down-shift and not use them until absolutely necessary. The pulsation was absolutely ridiculous, inducing a violent hopping and jerking at slower speeds. Rough day behind the wheel...

Sunday was a haze of boating and cleaning stuff. All I could think about was my brakes, still.

I called CNC and spoke to a very nice (elderly?) gentleman who I'd spoken to the previous week about my front rotor/caliper alignment being a little too close for comfort w/out shims (as shipped). I ended up shimming all 4 rotors before they fit "right". The rears came with (2) optional shims and the front didn't use any, until now. Of course I measure every shim and made sure I wasn't pushing things out of alignment more than .001-.002" and torqued the fasteners evenly. Every time these brakes were mocked up on the car, the rotors showed lateral runout with intermittent pad/rotor contact during rotation. Even before I started shimming things for better alignment. After I explained my current situation with heavy pedal and steering wheel pulsation, I asked "what do you folks do in a situation like this, how do you deal with it?" He said he's never seen a pulsation problem with the 11" x .300" rotors. He's seen it on their .200" rotors thought... Ok, "what can we do about it?" I asked. He suggested I measure, roughly, where the high spots is, and shim the opposite side of the rotor up a little to match. I asked if they sell shims for this purpose? He said, No. I said, "So you're solution to this problem is to have me completely R&R all 4 hubs/rotors MULTIPLE times and shim them within a few thousandths of an inch, unevenly, to make up for hub/rotor unevenness???, and I have to find/buy these shims or make them, you say???" He quickly agreed that was a ridiculous solution.... Then he suggested that I use a Crescent wrench to BEND the rotor straight, carefully of course. I had to laugh. I felt completely helpless, like I'm F'ing screwed, again, and about to loose who knows how many more months waiting for round 3 brake upgrade to take place. He suggested that I send just the rotors and hubs, with shims installed, back to him so he can have a look at them. BUT, if he doesn't find any problems, then it's on ME he says! I said, "please, explain to me how either on of my front spindles could cause my front brakes to pulsate?? They are a fixed item, they don't spin and could NOT induce a lateral runout in the rotor surface, RIGHT?" He quickly agreed... I also told him (briefly) about my recent experience with Tatum Motorsports' rear brake kit, and how I've already replaced my bearings and spacers and accurately torqued the axle nuts. I told him how it took ME buying a pair of new rear rotors out of pocket to fix the problem with Tatum's product. And the new rotors fixed the pulsation PERFECTLY. This is not my first rodeo, and it's beginning to sound like a repeat of my last ride if I'm not careful. I've had pretty bad luck with shipping my new brakes back to the mfg and getting anything worth using back. What am I supposed to expect when they already suggest that I shim to compensate for a machining problem, or BEND the damn thing to straighten it out. Not to mention, he warned me it's going to be weeks before he can look at them due to prior commitments. That blows the remainder of our "show season" for me, and any chance of a single camping trip this summer I had. NOT acceptable...

So I decided to fix them myself rather than continue to wait for some company to care about my junk as much as I do. Luckily, I have an ON-Car lathe at work and after modifying one of the adapters to fit the 205mm pattern, I cut all 4 of those B!tches right where they live. Didn't measure before or after, don't want to know, don't care. I cut off just enough to clean up the runout and true things up ~perfectly Stops smooth as butter now I can hardly believe it, my left leg was shaking after the drive home from work today. My stomach has been in knots for months over these brakes...finally, a little reward for my work.

Shimming the front rotors out.



Fronts installed.



Rears installed.



Master installed and plumbed.







Re-plumbed steering brake and pedal cluster installed.





What it took to make them safe and functional to drive on

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Whew! Made me tired and frustrated just reading it much less having to live it. Its all looking clean and neat with all the good shiny stuff to impess judges and spectators alike.

Drive and enjoy it for a while before going on to some other upgrade.

Lee

[JUSSUMGUY]

Great work! It is amazing how much this stuff costs and to still end up with things like warped rotors. You have a lot more patience than I do.
First time I have seen an on car brake lathe.......
I like the way you plumbed the front brakes to the tie rods. I need to redo mine after the GCA

[turbobaja]

Whew! Made me tired and frustrated just reading it much less having to live it.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell. And Honestly, looking back, I should have kept the disc setup I already put so much work into and gone to a 20.6mm master from my stock 19mm drum/drum master.

Oh well, try not to look backwards more than I have to. The new setup has it's benefits, but I sure could have done w/out that whole experience. Life has it's challenges, at least I didn't quit.

[CentralWAbaja]

Atta boy Karl!

[Steve Arndt]

Our shop has a pro cut on car automatic brake lathe and man does it work wonders. Every car that gets brake work gets a cut even on new rotors on late model cars. BMW, Tesla, Benz, Porsche, actually endorse the pro cut machine.

I'm glad you got it licked.

[smiley]

Hey Karl. How is the bug going, brakes still all sweet?


Smiley

[turbobaja]

Hey Karl. How is the bug going, brakes still all sweet?


Smiley

So far so good. I've had to make a few "emergency" stops and they stop better and better the harder I push them. Still no unwanted noise or pulsation either. The mechanical parking brakes were hanging up and getting hot. I adjusted my linkage so the return springs actually push the actuator levers back, rather than just releaving the cable tension when the park handle drops. All good now, other than the limited grip these simple little park calipers can provide...

Overall I didn't do nearly enough driving, camping or offroading by a long shot this year.

Short list of future plans include different, more supportive and adjustable seats. Remove engine and trans. Re-gear first and 2nd so I might be able to actually enjoy some offroading, and can start on a hill with a trailer safely. While engine is out probably run through it and change to an FK7 cam this time, possible bump to 2180TW...

[Steve Arndt]

Do your mini parking brake calipers hold it on a hill?

[turbobaja]

Do your mini parking brake calipers hold it on a hill?

Not really. Especially cold. Gonna have to redesign them slightly, maybe make my own brake pads for them...what they come with are more like a black stone of some kind, harder than it needs to be to grip with the crude wedge design of pushing on the pads.