Dirt cheap build from a newbie

Sneaks · Post by **Sneaks** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 7:25 am

I'll be home, off right to do errands and then working on the yard the rest of the day. It will still be ugly, but at least it will be an organized ugly.

Nice dog, from that pic he looks like a shepard mix? The body says shepard but the face at that angle looks a little pit

Sneaks · Post by **Sneaks** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 12:04 pm

No fusername this weekend, he's come up ill so he wisely decided to stay home and rest instead. The plus side to this is if he waits until after Saturday morning, my Rally Beetle will be here and he can be the first to scope it out.

Didn't do much this weekend but got a tiny bit done, which is more than I planned. Cleaned up my treebars and painted them black, also painted the beam and framehead silver like the original. No pics right now, might add some later.

CopperBaja · Post by **CopperBaja** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 9:36 am

That "honey-do" list never ends...just have to shrug it off, choke it down, and work on the baja.

Sneaks · Post by **Sneaks** » Wed May 06, 2009 5:05 pm

It stopped raining so I cleaned out all the stuff I was storing in it and mocked up the back seat. I like it. The price was right...free. My neighbor didn't want the middle seat out of their Grand Caravan so I took it, unbolted the lower frame and put it in place. The bolt holes line up nicely for some brackets I'll fabricate.

CopperBaja · Post by **CopperBaja** » Sun May 10, 2009 12:30 pm

Everything fits with fabricated brackets.

Sneaks · Post by **Sneaks** » Sun May 10, 2009 2:21 pm

What is that motto over at Volksrods...cut...weld...drive? Yeh, that works.

Didn't get anything done today cuz it is Mother's day and I spent it with the wife. Last night Fusername and Namelesswonder came up for a quick visit and parts swap. Got a basic wiring harness so I can start rewiring this thing. Not sure what goes where yet but I'll spend some time this week sorting it out. They are good people and a pleasure to visit with. Fuser did a nice job with his roo bar on the front of his Westy. He's pretty tall, I'm pretty not so it was interesting him and I lifting a super front end half up on the roof. Namelesswonder is cute with her pink hair, both are really good kids. Felt bad cuz it was pouring out from a sudden thunderstorm and we got soaked, but my big dog had a rough day* and I didn't want anyone to get nipped so we stayed outside. We made tentative plans to get together later in the season, hopefully to do some woods running!

*he's not vicious but came to us pretty abused and neglected, he suffers from separation anxiety at times and yesterday was one of those times. My wife went out to talk to a worker hired by the neighbors and the guy got too close for Trapper's liking and he wasn't happy.

****UPDATE****

Heh, this car is on page 511+512 in TOS's 'Abortions' thread. WOOOT!

fusername · Post by **fusername** » Sun May 10, 2009 8:46 pm

well you almost got to go offroading with us later that nite. upon pulling off the highway to top off the fuel tank, and by top off I mean add something other than fumes, I just may have gotten my bay stuck in the mud. We got out eventually, but with my poor car's exhaust leaks sucking down all my power, I could hardly spin my tires in the mud. 45 HP aint enough to pull two tons up and out of a muddy ditch, FYI. Darn near called you for a tow.
insult to injury was running out of gas again as we approached the tolls, cause I had used up soo much getting unstuck. woops.

Anyways, just as I promised I forgot to give you something. I still have the diagram that goes to that harness in my car. its available online as well, just explains the color codes ,which is handy.

Sneaks · Post by **Sneaks** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:31 am

fusername wrote:well you almost got to go offroading with us later that nite. upon pulling off the highway to top off the fuel tank, and by top off I mean add something other than fumes, I just may have gotten my bay stuck in the mud. We got out eventually, but with my poor car's exhaust leaks sucking down all my power, I could hardly spin my tires in the mud. 45 HP aint enough to pull two tons up and out of a muddy ditch, FYI.

Where the hell did you get gas? I know NH is a bit rural but we do have paved gas stations!!!
You need to get new exhaust, it's not loud but you need all the HP you can get.

Darn near called you for a tow.

Funny you say that, I stayed up late just in case you needed something. I almost called to check on the 3 of you but didn't want to sound like a parent:)

insult to injury was running out of gas again as we approached the tolls, cause I had used up soo much getting unstuck. woops.

That's ok, you had those two burly women with you it push.

HAHAHAHAHA.

<ducks> Namelesswonder is so going to smack me.

Anyways, just as I promised I forgot to give you something. I still have the diagram that goes to that harness in my car. its available online as well, just explains the color codes ,which is handy.

Hey, we got the harness out and the suspension pieces in, not bad considering the weather and lack of light. Shoot me the link to the docs or just the website and I'll hunt it down.

Tonight I start fabricating the bulkhead to block off the front.

namelesswonder · Post by **namelesswonder** » Mon May 11, 2009 5:36 am

Man I had an awesome response written up and hit some key combination that shut Firefox (it wasn't Alt+F4, so I have no idea...my right pinky did something).

Anywho, no smacking, I reserve that right for fusername. I have pictures of some of the mud tracks we created/were stuck in, but can't find my camera cord right now. Our little off-roading adventure will get its own thread when I find it.

And we went really far on...27? 111? Something like that, looking for gas. Finally found it. Didn't realize quite how far it was until we headed back to 95.

fusername · Post by **fusername** » Mon May 11, 2009 9:29 am

Sneaks wrote:You need to get new exhaust, it's not loud but you need all the HP you can get.

defffinatly right. its 112 for a new muffler, I figure I can just weld some sheet metal over the holes and call it good. hard part will be where the end pulled out of the seam, but oh well

insult to injury was running out of gas again as we approached the tolls, cause I had used up soo much getting unstuck. woops.
That's ok, you had those two burly women with you it push.

HAHAHAHAHA.

<ducks> Namelesswonder is so going to smack me.

hey at least for you ducking gets you out of the way. at my height it just puts me at an easier whacking altitude

Sneaks · Post by **Sneaks** » Mon May 11, 2009 9:43 am

Heh, that's right, she's taller than me:)

Plus, I figure the hair (mine that is) gives me a little cushion to soften the blow...

Sneaks · Post by **Sneaks** » Mon May 11, 2009 5:31 pm

I did a little work tonight. Didn't work on the bulkhead like originally planned but did get some front seats. I need to figure out mounts for them. They are out of a Chrysler Sebring and are just the seats, no mounts or sliders. I do not have my OEM mounts other than the basic rails on the pan. I'm not really worried about adjusting them since I'll be the only one driving it. Do you think something out of small (5/8 or so) tubing like a Super has or should I do something out of angle or box steel? This isn't going to be pounded on over fast trails or stuff, mostly street and woods use.

Sneaks · Post by **Sneaks** » Fri May 15, 2009 5:25 pm

Driver's seat in! Made some mounts from a mix of Pontiac Sunfire sliders and 2" box steel. The height is just right so I can see over the dash without a stack of phone books:) Surprisingly, there is still leg room for the back seat people as well...as long as their legs aren't too long. Will post pics once I have the passenger side done, hopefully this weekend.

fusername · Post by **fusername** » Sat May 16, 2009 6:38 am

yeah well your opinion of 'too long' may be questionable. I think the biggest cocern with custom mounts isn't the mount giving out, but where it is welded to the pan getting fatigued.

now if you'll excuse me, I need to go weld the remains of NLWs floor pan to my muffler, just becasue that is the caliber of repairs I like to apply

namelesswonder · Post by **namelesswonder** » Sat May 16, 2009 8:01 am

^You have that? I thought I threw it out months ago!