72BajaBen Baja Rebuild Thread

[72bajaben]

LOL...That pic is from a long time ago. The baja started right back up after that. Our butts were wet though. haha

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Buggies and Ba-jaws have limitations that the rails don't have but they can look cooler or though.

Lee

[72bajaben]

So I got a fair bit done today and it went pretty good.

I got a pedal cluster for the 2 seater cleaned up and soaking in some EvapORust


I took out the rotting door jam and hinge and replace the sheet metal all the way to the front.

Here is a before.


and the process:

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Are you going to replace just the rusted out lower part of the body or are you going to add a body lift also? A good strong body with a top does a lot of work but adding the body lift, and I don't mean the commercial ones ("C-shaped channel style of body lifts) does a lot of work also.

Lee

[72bajaben]

Lee

I added 2"x3" tube steel all the way around the bottom of the heater channels. its been welded on. TBH...I'm replacing those lower hinge areas because I cant get the old doors off. The bolts are super stuck in the hinge plates. Plus it was rotting out. I'm waiting on the Pass side to get here. I'm going to cut out that hinge also. But I'm not replacing all of the outer sheet metal on the Pass side.

-Ben

[72bajaben]

I created a 2nd thread for my new 2 Seat Buggy Build.

viewtopic.php?t=152639

[72bajaben]

Im going to try and tackle the other door pillar today. Lets see how that goes.

[72bajaben]

I think all of the body patch work is done. For now. It doesn't look great...but its a woods car so I'm not really worried about it. I just wanted to get the rot off the body. Overall it wasn't too bad to begin with. Plus th 2mm of paint on this body make the patches look worse than they are.





I also got the passenger lower door pillar cut out and a new one put in.



And "new" passenger door put on.



The door is coming back off to move the body around...so the drivers door isnt mounted.

[72bajaben]

I got the trans mounts built tonight. Lookin pretty solid. I got the trans moved back about an inch and raised about an inch. The 094 is fatter than an 091 or 002. So it had to move back to fit in there.







I also started pulling the window regulators out. They have to be replaced or rebuilt.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Have you welded the seams on the trans mount yet? Advice I was given quite a few years ago. Truss/Kaffer bars also help with the weight and potential bouncing around but so does the welding of the inside and outside seams of the mount.

Lee

[72bajaben]

Hey Lee...No I wasnt going to weld up the frame horns. But I will b hard mounting the top of the trans. I will also be using the motor mounts on the Subi motor. So I should have plenty of support.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

This is the underside of the torsion housing to the pan, and this is also lower support is at the ends of the housing. Not only the engine and trans usually hook to it but also the shock towers.

For a stock Bug this would probably be OK (and I use the word probably as probably) but I was advised to do the welding of all the spot-welded joins and I am just passing it on. My blue buggy needs to have it done but I have been lucky so far as the one bad situation that could have affected this was reduced by where I was at the time (coming down a steep dune nose first).

Lee

Addition: that hook is known to break giving almost no support to the torsion assy.

Again, for what it is worth.

Lee

[72bajaben]

I picked up another Subi motor. I got an EJ253 from a buddy who swapped it out of his Impreza. So the EJ22 is going to end up in the buggy now. Which will be a pretty good jump in HP for the 2 seater...and the Baja. It has 200k + miles on it so Im pretty sure Im going to do a full rebuild on the motor. Make it as fresh as possible.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

With all that additional weight and power, I definitely would recommend welding the seams on the trans mount. Remember that with the engine and trans assembled and mounted the mass is still going to want to move side to side and up and down even on the street and even with a good truss bar setup.

Lee

[MilesCaptured]

I k ow this thread has been quiet for some time but I am doing the same build at the moment and was wondering if you had photos of the trans completely mounted with the top bracing you were speaking of?