68 baja build

[bikesndbugs]

yeah the frame head itself is stock but i have upper and lower tubes from the beam to the cage. not worried about the front end at all. the front end of it is pretty good right now ride good soaks everything up. only thing is steering. the rear on the other hand is too soft

[bikesndbugs]

Trans strap is now correctly Installed can hear alot more tranny noise now but can also clutch drop first and it goes.

Did some mathematical figuring last night and my car is geared to do about 130.
That's way to much and don t really wanna pay for a built tranny with a lower 4th and most of those I see are too low so I'm lewaning towards a 4.86 ring and pinion putting hd irs side plates on my car because it's an 8 bolt swing axle. And running the same trans I've always had.
This seems to be the best bang for my buck at the moment with the 4.86 my top of 3rd would be 75 or 80 and I'm ok with at as my 3 off-road gears and 4th as a highway only overdrive.

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[bajaherbie]

Bus box will solve your gearing issues

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[BAJA-IT]

so what im thinking is one or 2 inch longer arms some mid level cvs like type 4s or buses.
i know you can get around 10 out of bug cvs so type 4 or bus should do a bit more.

I get 12" of travel with 2" longer arms and Type-4 CVs, 002 bus trans.

[dustymojave]

Trans strap is now correctly Installed can hear alot more tranny noise now but can also clutch drop first and it goes.

Good on the trans strap. You SHOULD hear the gearbox. It's a Baja, not a Rolls Royce.

How about the bell housing end of the gear box? Is it strapped? And is it on an all steel mount?

Did some mathematical figuring last night and my car is geared to do about 130.

And if you believe that...I have some really cool river front property here near El Mirage Dry Lake.......It'll take somewhere around 450hp to get a Bug to that speed. And my '65 Baja Bug would lift the front tires off the pavement at 85. So what differential ratio do you have? The stock '68 swingaxle came with 4.12 R&P.

[bikesndbugs]

anybody know the gear stack for a bus box and that requires more fab.
baja-it how do you like the plus 2 arms vs lets say plus 1?

i know my car wont do over 90 downhill ive tried. thats my i find my ratios useless. yes its stock 4.12 ring and pinion.

the bell housing isnt strapped thats up next on my list.

my thought was to add irs side plates and a 4.86 ring and pinion to my current tranny maybe a supperdiff.

[BAJA-IT]

baja-it how do you like the plus 2 arms vs lets say plus 1?

The plus 2 arms seam to be working good. I like they way the tires fit with in the fenders ,and with the 2" body lift I still have the fenders mounted in the stock location and don't get any rubbing with the 33" tires on the back. If I haven't mentioned it I have converted it to coil-over the in rear, '68 002 stock bus box with a 10* urethane trans mount kit that keep the shift shaft in the stock bug location.

You can check out my build thread, not sure if the pix are still there though. http://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic ... 8&t=125519

[bikesndbugs]

baja-it how do you like the plus 2 arms vs lets say plus 1?

The plus 2 arms seam to be working good. I like they way the tires fit with in the fenders ,and with the 2" body lift I still have the fenders mounted in the stock location and don't get any rubbing with the 33" tires on the back. If I haven't mentioned it I have converted it to coil-over the in rear, '68 002 stock bus box with a 10* urethane trans mount kit that keep the shift shaft in the stock bug location.

You can check out my build thread, not sure if the pix are still there though. http://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic ... 8&t=125519

I've looked through it before always liked your paint job and the car as a whole. My plan is to also go coilover so I'll probobly end up doing a similar rear suspension. Bus box is undecided so far that depends on money.
These may or not be in your thread and I'll look through later but what springs are you running?

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[Ol'fogasaurus]

11-21-06 005 rear tunnel copy.jpg

These are some old photos of an 091 conversion into a bug pan (my blue buggy). As I remember the nose cone raises up something like 3' because of the bus trans itself; the nose cone now comes into the passenger compartment above the rear crosspiece.

Dune Buggy rebuild 10-1-06 018 copy.jpg

I was building the 3" body lift at the time. I am showing this as it might give you some idea of the height change is.

Dune Buggy rebuild 10-1-06 016 copy.jpg

A little bit more information.

Dune Buggy rebuild 10-25-06 003 copy.jpg

The completed conversion.

Black buggy build 007 (2).jpg

This is an old picture showing what you might have to do to the rear firewall when the nose of the trans now enters the body.

Dune Buggy rebuild (1) copy.jpg

This is what I did mounting the shifter. I don't recommend the dropped arm on the trans being used when trying to keep the shift rod in the tunnel; too much monkey motion of the shift rod resulting in the bushing wearing fast and slow shifting. The use of the 10° trans mount might be better.

Lee

[bikesndbugs]

I'm aware of that nosecone height thing I've need 3 inch couplers for that. Or the 10 degree mount puts it back in the tunnel. And there's the option of notching the frame horns. Not sure which way I'd go or 3 or 5 rib 091s are way overpriced so that's out of the question.

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[Ol'fogasaurus]

The other thing is gearing. It is kind of off for what I want/need so, for the black buggy, I converted the stock trans to different drive flanges so the bus, or the 924 or 944 CVs could be used. Pretty simple and I did document it on the black buggy build.

[BAJA-IT]

what springs are you running?

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I think they are 300 over 400, but I will have to check.

[bikesndbugs]

The car has been posted on various classifieds sites. I'm asking 4k for just the car and 5k with an extra motor and trailer.
I think that's pretty reasonable I see cars with alot less done for about the same. Of course they don t look as ugly as mine.

Wanting a street car like a miata or mr2.

Throw some money at the truck and build something new. My fab skills have greatly increased since I built the car and id rather have a buggy or I'm tossing around something out of the ordinary.
I'm really big on lightweight.
And buggies get expensive with transmissions.
I've got 2 ideas
1. Mid engine irs a arm buggy with a subaru motor and trans with the rear driveline removed. Similar to subarugears but mid engine so it's cheaper.

2. Second option is a truggy but a small one. Junkyard parts are super cheap for this stuff and then it doesn't have.a transaxles.
Would either be solid axle or maybe an irs sports car diff with a longtravel 5 link or maybe a trailing arm style rear.

Both of these are an attempt at keeping handling size and ability of a fast buggy without the outreagous price of transaxles.

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[Piledriver]

A bus automatic has been the way around that for 40 years.

With the right parts it will take a blown v8.

..although a ranger/s10 or b2000 based truggy-lite sounds neat.
for extra style points make an awd miata-based buggy

[dustymojave]

How about a 4WD Subie buggy. Front engine like a truggy. Suspension like a buggy. Or maybe a VW Syncro AWD Bus drive system with a rear engine. You build a custom frame using your new knowledge of fabricating.