Twowheeletex Baja Build 2.0

[twowheeletex]

It looks fine to me Twowheeltex. Its a Baja Bug. They are meant to be hacked.

Hacked, ouch, harsh choice of words.

[madmitch]

It looks fine to me Twowheeltex. Its a Baja Bug. They are meant to be hacked.

Hacked, ouch, harsh choice of words.

Sorry. No offense meant. I mean sometimes you got to hack away to get to where you are going with a modification. Starting with a stock bug you hack the front and rear aprons. More improvements = more hacking away at the body. Buggy guys don't get it.

[twowheeletex]

I agree completely. I might have taken offense if I knew what I was doing. I don't but hopefully it doesn't show too much.

[twowheeletex]

I don't really see many instructions on fabrication techniques so here is another one I picked up and use for cutting patch panels and brackets. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir for the most part. maybe i'll help someone or maybe one of you pro's has some tips or pointers they can share.

take your carefully cut out and measured piece of cardboard or construction paper (when I go to COSTCO I grab the pallet slip sheets and they never say anything about it) an lay it out on your material. a light mist of whatever spray paint you have laying around will leave a crisp outline on your material. you can also use a pen, marker or blood (drying times may vary).

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Then cut it out with the grinder if you, like me, are not fancy enough to own a plasma or torch. the trick to the curves it a bunch of shallow passes. on a side note amazon has a 50 pack of grinding wheels for 40 bucks.

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then place it in position. mark all the areas where it doesn't fit, trim/bend those areas, wash rinse repeat until you get desired fitment. usually takes me several tries.

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then tack weld in to place with a hammer and lots of cussing to aide in getting the patch piece to conform to any curves. beer breaks help take the anger down if things aren't going as planned.

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[twowheeletex]

got some time in the garage. here's more pictures.

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[Leatherneck]

Nice job, you hack very well.

[twowheeletex]

Thank you leather. That is a big compliment coming from you. Like I've said before I spent years on this forum and have looked up to a lot of you guys and your awesome builds. Honestly the builds on this forum and others have given me the ideas that I'm trying to make a reality in my bug. so thanks for the compliment and I thank all of you who have posted up your own builds for me and everyone else to learn from. and now, More Hack.

finished fabbing up the Halo.

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the light bar might have to go up a little higher. I'll be able to tell better when I get the seats in.

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had to start using the pieces from the old roll cage.

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[no1clyde]

It is looking great for sure, keep up the nice work. It is all the awesome builds of the members of this forum that has inspired me to build my car in the direction that it is going so I too thank you and all the guys for posting their builds. I have a roof rack in mind too as a part of my car later, as normal for me I will see what it is when I am done with it.

Ed

[twowheeletex]

Out of tubing tubing mig gas. looks like I'm sidelined until I can get out of work early one day this week to go pick up some of each. maybe I'll try to get the engine fired in the mean time.

It is looking great for sure, keep up the nice work. It is all the awesome builds of the members of this forum that has inspired me to build my car in the direction that it is going so I too thank you and all the guys for posting their builds. I have a roof rack in mind too as a part of my car later, as normal for me I will see what it is when I am done with it.

Ed

Ed I really like your build. In a collision with a Mack truck and your bug I think your bug might fair better because it's built like a brick s&*t house. I am really impressed with how you fabbed up most things from scratch, especially the rear arms. I might have to take a page out of your book on that one.

On that note, can you guys that have built your own arms post up how you did it. your jigs, chalk drawings on the concrete or other clever and innovative processes I might be able to utilize to hack together my own arms. I have used search and have looked at a lot of stuff on the subject on this forum. I'm just saying if you have a link or a pic you want to throw in it would be helpful for reference later.

[no1clyde]

Than you Tex. I used Devastator's arm build for my insight on building the rear arms and then on around page 6 of my build Dusty and CWB added good info that has helped me get them to where I feel they will work. I like to build things and I am cheap too so I build things. The interesting part will be trying to make my car work the way I want it to when I get driving and tuning it.

On arm building the 2 things I fine most important is to make the width fit your axles and the camber to be where you want it to be in its arc and at ride height. On camber I used 1" tubing with bushings to fit the bearing to help me see that I had 0* camber at what I think my ride height will be, that said if I built them again I would have given it a little more positive camber at droop but I think I am fine the way they are.

Keep up the good work and one of these days we will have to get together for a ride.

Ed

[twowheeletex]

Than you Tex. I used Devastator's arm build for my insight on building the rear arms and then on around page 6 of my build Dusty and CWB added good info that has helped me get them to where I feel they will work. I like to build things and I am cheap too so I build things. The interesting part will be trying to make my car work the way I want it to when I get driving and tuning it.

On arm building the 2 things I fine most important is to make the width fit your axles and the camber to be where you want it to be in its arc and at ride height. On camber I used 1" tubing with bushings to fit the bearing to help me see that I had 0* camber at what I think my ride height will be, that said if I built them again I would have given it a little more positive camber at droop but I think I am fine the way they are.

Keep up the good work and one of these days we will have to get together for a ride.

Ed

definitely, you're just up the road from me.

[TimS]

I'm getting attached to this roof rack/roll cage idea. I'm excited to see how it turns out and what the "engineers" on here have to say about it. I imagine it will be quite a bit stronger than a lot of the recreational cages including mine.

[twowheeletex]

I'm getting attached to this roof rack/roll cage idea. I'm excited to see how it turns out and what the "engineers" on here have to say about it. I imagine it will be quite a bit stronger than a lot of the recreational cages including mine.

To be completely honest I've been waiting for the engineers to start tearing it to shreds from the beginning. I'm thinking a lot rides on how I decide to brace the inside. the inside cross bracing is one thing I've been reluctant to start because I'm not sure exactly how I want to do it. I remember seeing someone who put a couple aircraft pins in theirs and that seemed pretty clever. I'm hoping that one of the "engineers" chimes in before everything gets final welded in. Tonight I'll be welding down everything I've done so far because I'm out of tube and what's there needs to be 100% welded before I can start installing the chassis tie ins on the heater channels.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I am sure the "engineers" are going to wait until it is too late so they can watch you with you colon all puckered and trying to walk around with you butt cheeks pinched together.

Personally, I guess I wasn't paying that much attention assuming you had already located the supports before you cut and did the outside part. My sincere apologies sir.

[twowheeletex]

I am sure the "engineers" are going to wait until it is too late so they can watch you with you colon all puckered and trying to walk around with you butt cheeks pinched together.

Personally, I guess I wasn't paying that much attention assuming you had already located the supports before you cut and did the outside part. My sincere apologies sir.

My response wasn't directed at anyone in particular Ol'fogasaurus. I merely meant anyone who fit's that stigma. You are experienced enough to play the part as I've seen you chime in on other builds with good insight, but I meant no disrespect to anyone. However, since you took the bait first it looks like you are on the hook for this one. I don't quite get what you mean by "located the supports. . ." maybe you can break it down for me barney style. If you mean the a, b, c pillars, the tubes you see protruding through the roof are solid runs all the way down teeing in to the bar that runs from beam to torsion housing. If you meant something else let me know.

The more and more I look at the bottom rung of the light bar the more I wish I hadn't welded it all up yet. It needs some re engineering.

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As is customary here are some welds from tonight in picture format.

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