Our 1969 Baja "Thumper"

I'm a member of Liberty Speed Shop. We're a small restoration and customs shop in Marietta. We've done a lot of work on Camaros, Classsic Volvos, Jeeps, K-5s, Older Corvettes, and Broncos, but now we're interested in undertaking a VW project. We picked this 1969 Baja Bug up for $300 at one night at 11:00PM in the middle of nowhere about 2 miles away from the Tennessee border.

All we knew was that it had a running 1600 Dual Port and we figured that was worth the $300. When we looked at it in the middle of the night in a field, it looked pretty good. Since then, we know that a floor pan set had been riveted on top of the orignal pans and it's a little bit of a rust bucket. Still worth saving though.

We're not planning on doing an exact restoration. We want to make something that we like and fits our tastes, while at the same time getting another classic back on the road.

This is when we got it back to the shop.



Sitting in the Shop



The passenger floor pan actually collapsed while I was elimbing aorund inside the car.



Got the body removed



And ready for new pans



We have parts in the mail and I will update this as soon as I have more.

I also apologize for the quality of my phone camera. All I had on me at the time. I'll make sure to use the real camera next time.

looks like a good start- looking forward to seeing wht you do with it

We've also grown fond of the wheels on the bug, but one of them is badly bent and another is almost rusted through. We were told that they were trailer wheels, have not been able to find them for sale anywhere. Any leads would be greatly appreciated.

jfallon83 wrote:We've also grown fond of the wheels on the bug, but one of them is badly bent and another is almost rusted through. We were told that they were trailer wheels, have not been able to find them for sale anywhere. Any leads would be greatly appreciated.

They look like Jackman wheels. They aren't too hard to find; try a seach on the Samba. www.thesamba.com

Thanks for the help with the wheels. I think we're going to go with some slotted mags. We found several of the jackman wheels, but they are all wide 5's and are rather expensive anyways. Always loved the look of a slotted mag on a baja anyhow.

We should have the parts delivered for the front and rear brakes as well as the ball joints and various seals late this week. It's going to see a good bit of off-road use so we're going to convert to disc brakes up front, but just going to rebuild the rear drums. Hopefully we should have some progress to post up early next week.

We also ordered the floor pans in quarters. The front driver and rear passenger came in after just a couple of days, but when we called to find out the where the other 2 were, we discovered that they are on backorder and could take up to 30 days. This would have been nice to know when we placed the order, but that's life.

We will post some photos up when we have something to report.

that sucks about the pans being on back order after you ordered them, but it looks like you have other to dos to occupy the delay, can't wait to see thumper thumping

jfallon83 wrote:Thanks for the help with the wheels. I think we're going to go with some slotted mags. We found several of the jackman wheels, but they are all wide 5's and are rather expensive anyways. Always loved the look of a slotted mag on a baja anyhow.

We should have the parts delivered for the front and rear brakes as well as the ball joints and various seals late this week. It's going to see a good bit of off-road use so we're going to convert to disc brakes up front, but just going to rebuild the rear drums. Hopefully we should have some progress to post up early next week.

We also ordered the floor pans in quarters. The front driver and rear passenger came in after just a couple of days, but when we called to find out the where the other 2 were, we discovered that they are on backorder and could take up to 30 days. This would have been nice to know when we placed the order, but that's life.

We will post some photos up when we have something to report.

like lance said that sucks about the floors but myco in decater has complet halfs in stock for 85 or 90 dollars i cant remember

Thanks Lance, Us too. And Thanks for the heads up Doodle Bug. I wasn't aware of Myco. If I would have known about them before I ordered them, I would have gone that route. Good to know for the future, though.

15" Cammaro wheels from the 80's will give a simular look on the cheap.
Gotta have adaptors, though.
KC

Believe it or not, we thought about going that route because we have a set of those Camaro wheels and the adapters already. But we also have a set of the slot mags on that same Chevy bolt pattern that we like a little better.

One of the adapters is stuck on a VW rear drum pretty well. Been there for quite a while. I think we're gonna have to put some heat and a little blunt force to it.

Just saw this on craigslist
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/sat/pts/2662434039.html

Attorney Isaiah Loophole wrote:Just saw this on craigslist
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/sat/pts/2662434039.html

Way to go, Bryce!!

^^damn, good eye, maybe what he needs^^

Awesome find! Thanks for lookin out!
I emailed him and found out he only has 1 of the wheels like we need. The fronts are mismatched, and we need 2. Trying to decide if we want to get just the one (if he'll even sell us just 1) and wait to find a 2nd or just go with the slot mags that we really like and are already free. Any opinions?

We're a little frustrated right now... We ordered everything we needed for the whole front end, tube seals, ball joints, a front dic conversion kit, and tie rod ends, as well as the floor pans on October 2nd. It is now the 25th and we have recieved the ball joints, and half of the floor pans. After calling them, I found out that they may be on backorder? and it could take up to 30 more days to get here. Not very happy with MoFoCo.com or JCwhitney right now.

We were hoping to have the entire front end reassembled by this time, but that's just another lesson learned: whenever possible, buy locally. We're new to the VW scene and didn't know of the local places then, but we do now for the future. We do have the new ball joints in though. I'm planning on posting photos when we have it all back together.

ha- yea two companies to avoid- If you want timely delivery use a local vendor or try these places- always timely delivery

wolfsburgwest.com

bughaus.com

wagenwerks


I would call and cancel the order and source the parts locally
Myco should have most of what you need

http://mycoimportedparts.com/
465 N. Clarendon Ave.
Scottdale, Ga 30079


also
http://www.bakerimports.com/ 3 atl area locations

Clyde also stocks the parts you ordered and his prices are good.

http://forum.georgiadubs.com/t2933-clyde-in-da-house

Thanks I really appreciate ya'lls help. I'm going to give them to the end of this week, because I'm going to be out of town anyhow. But if there is no new news by then, the order is going to be cancelled. Lesson learned though, won't do that again.

id still call them - especially JC Whitney- they will keep stuff on backorder forever

Well, called JC Whitney again and this time they claim it could be more than 30 days. In fact, they don't even have a date on file as to when they may get new floor pans. Since I've already spent the money on 2 out of the 4 quarter pans, I would really like to get 2 more quarter pans so my money dosen't go to waste.

Unfortunately, all the places I have called, including the ones listed earlier in this thread, only sell full half pans. I found a place called California Pacific J-Bugs. They seem to have what I need and they claim to have them in stock. Has anyone ever dealt with them or know of their reputation? I would appreciate the help. I am really trying to get it back together as soon as possible.

I have ordered tons of stuff from Jbugs. GENERALLY, they are pretty good, but sometimes they will drop the ball. For common stuff like what you are needing, I wouldnt hesitate to use them, as long as they say its in stock. I had problems on a special order item.

Only thing I ever ordered from J-bugs was a set of seatbelts. No problems at all with that order.

Ok, so it has been a while, but we have made a little bit of progress. We had to cancel the order from JC Whitney for obvious reasons; will never use them again if I can avoid it.

As for MoFoCo, I called them several times, but eventually got the whole story. They had everything for the kit except for the mounting brackets and their provider was telling them that they were on the way. As it turns out, their manufacturer was just stalling and had no intent of shipping it until they had enough orders to make it worth while to make more, which who knows how long that would have taken.

One of their guys called me back and filled me in on the situation. He said they had taken their mesurements to a local machine shop and was having the brackets made for me and then they took off the shipping cost. It may have taken them a little over a month to get the parts to me, but I can respect that kind of customer service.

Ordered new pans, pressed in the new ball joints, and have half of the front brakes installed. Now, I seem to have ran into a little problem. I have the front passenger all put together and the spindle is very hard to turn. I do not have tie rods hooked to it, but to turn the spindle I need both hands and all my weight behind it, or a breaker bar. Any idea why it may be so tight? Could I have the camber adjuster so far off that it would cause it to do this?

Any help would be apreciated.

i mike the ball joint an the hole you press them in to a usely have to clerance the ball joint so it want be to tight