VolkswagenSlave's baja build

[Leatherneck]

Piece of mind is a good thing. Your doing good, keep it up.

[nilza]

If you think its too loud without baffles, wait till you run it with solid mounts!

I agree with you on appletree, have delt with them on a few occations and even overseas i can't fault them.

[VolkswagenSlave]

Aww, I actually like the sounds of that were added because of the solid mount. To be honest after driving it about 40 miles today I think im okay with the noise, but I did buy some ear protection. I don't know why I didn't go with solid mounts in the beginning; It drastically changed the feel of the drive, and got rid of my excessive engine shake due to a bad mount. Im happy!

[madmitch]

Keep up the good work. Its so nice to make improvements to the original design and prove them with "testing". Have fun.

[VolkswagenSlave]

This picture comes with a story and a lesson, which I hope to never repeat in its entirety. My attempt at a story:

Last week after work I decided to take a trip around the area and see if there were any good places to take some pictures. I ended up down a trail that was unfamiliar but was unmarked and unguarded, I didn't plan for what happened. The trail was about ~150yards to the end and opened up into something that had the consistency of soup. I didn't intend to go mudding at all actually; was planning on turning around and heading back home but ended stopping in the wrong spot and couldn't go in reverse..... So I tried forward (mistake). I don't have a tremendous amount of experience off-road and It shows. After trying to free my self for the better part of a 1/2 hour I had a cylinder drop out suddenly... Key off and stranded with no one home to help out I call a wrecker service that says the have no help for me; they call someone with a F350 and he gets stuck 5 feet into the trail. Since they cant help they gave me a lift home and a continue to call for help, only to receive a call I didn't want.

"Hello, this is the Police department, do you know where your car is"
"Yes"
"Do you know how it got there"
"Yes" "Am I in trouble?"
"The property owner is wanting to file charges"

At this point I feel like there is no worse news I could get; Car stuck with dead cylinder, cant get help to remove said car, and said car is on property it shouldn't be...... Crap!!!

I had found out after I got dropped off that my keys were still in the ignition of the car and called back to see about getting them. They told me that that is up to the land owner; so im left flapping in the breeze. I decided to call a lawyer to see his opinion and he said that the officer can escort me to remove my belongings. I'm exhausted, been up for over 24 hours at this point and cant keep awake any longer. After I woke up, im right back on the phone, and find some help. Call for an escort and find no keys and my door unlocked.... Oh could it get worse! They finally give me the owners number and I decide it would be best to give him a day to calm down. The next morning I called and apologized like i have never done before, it seemed to work but there was no burden lifted. He said he didn't know where the keys were and that it would be best to let the land dry out. I agreed considering the 5" craw fish that walked past my car the previous day.

So more waiting and worrying considering the charges were criminal mischief, which is jail able over $50 worth of damage.

The day has come to get my car, and find out the damage. It is fairly dry and was possible to leave on my own power, that is after I found that my new exhaust caused my plug to burn up (doh!). Because the property was tilled for wheat he gave me a price tag of $200 which I willingly paid to get rid of the situation and not have it go on my record. Oh, and the keys... The farmers son had them.

I learned that especially in Texas, ask before you enter unknown property. I'm honestly glad I didn't get shot, jail would have been a vacation compared to that.

"Education is expensive, don't retake the course! It might not be the same lesson the next time"

[Steve Arndt]

If he has a tractor for tilling that big field, then I bet he would tow you out for about another ... 200 bucks

[TexasBaja]

You got very lucky. Texas farmers do not like people on their land even if it was by mistake. And VW's don't like mud.

How did your exhaust burn a plug? Just wondering because I have the same one.

[VolkswagenSlave]

The plug got burnt due to some slack; the same slack I had with the old headers ended up closer to the exhaust because the header runs on the top aside of the head instead of the bottom. As long as your wires are contained and safe there should be no issue.

[kyle_pc_75]

All's well that ends well. Lesson learned.

[VolkswagenSlave]

Monday, I got back from a week long trip to West Michigan; spent a lot of time in and around Silver lake dunes! While I was there I had to stop by Appletree Automotive to see what their shop looked like. I picked up a clamp on spark arrestor/ muffler and was very impressed with the customer service.



I had a blast, even though it was a rented rail.

[TimS]

You can rent a rail? That's neat. Those smiles look priceless.

[CentralWAbaja]

More dune pics!!!!

[VolkswagenSlave]

I dont have many pictures of the dunes, mostly because of being limited to 1.5 hrs of rental. There were also parts of the water area that were blocked due to the piping plover having nests on the beach. It was a great trip, and the whole week was extremly fun due to the Coast guard Fest.







One of the small shops also had something that was really cool, and once in Hot VW:



It was made by a guy while he was in jail using toilet paper and other things he could find.

[VolkswagenSlave]

Its been a while since I have been able to get on here and update anything...

I have been slowly working on a fuel injection project for the Baja, which will soon to be completed:



Also, I decided to redesign my dash. I wanted to have a little fun, and also had access to a Flow water cutter:




I have video, but decided to film it in 4k so its to big for photobucket

As of right now the dash is just tacked in, I plan to finish weld soon.

The past couple of weeks have been kind of rough due to parts begging to be replaced. My clutch blew up and my alternator stopped charging because the woodruff key disappeared. I now have a new performance clutch and a 90amp alternator so more is soon to come.

[VolkswagenSlave]

I get one foot ahead of this car and then it throws me steps behind; The 90amp alternator was defective and not charging... Now I'm stuck waiting on the mail for a new one.

Anyone use the Compu-fire Dual cool alternator before, and have issues?