wheezy_e

I worked on "rice dessert" all weekend, mostly getting a decent oil cooler installed, removing the door innards, some welding, finding the wires that worked stuff and getting them temporarily re-hooked up. Previous owner did all the wiring with wire nuts, speaker wire, and duct tape. I had enough time this afternoon to take it for a spin down by the dry lake & see how things are. I'm seriously impressed with the suspension & so was my cousin which means a bit more. I'm fairly new to off roading, but he's a seasoned vet. It's nothing like any of the cars he's had, but it's pretty well set-up for a baja bug. IRS rear (as opposed to the earlier swing axle which is also IRS, but not called "IRS" by volks folks) and link pin front beam as opposed to the later ball joint beam which doesn't take as much abuse off road) No cars were made with both so you either start with an early and adapt to IRS or start with a late and adapt to link pin, front beam is probably cheaper and easier to switch than the trans set up but either would require work and time. Nice to have it done already. Both my front and rear have longer (& wider) than stock arms which adds travel as well as nice fox shocks and other details. FYI: 68's are the only year to have the less desirable set up on both ends.



Here in the second video Roman is driving & I'm holding the camera. He broke his back 5 years ago in a desert car & it's tough for me to judge how fast is ok for him & how much is bad for the back, so I let him drive & I held the camera. It's hard to hold the camera steady, the car isn't bouncing around half as much as my arm is. Next time out I'll fashion some sort of mount for it. would be nice if you could see the surface of the road, it's not nearly as flat as it appears due to the low definition of the video transfer to youtube. When we were putting the car back up on the trailer Roman suggested I feel the shocks. Holy shit those things get hot.




after watching the second one I'm glad the front tire didn't send up a rock to take care of my camera and/or hand. I'll have to remember to keep my head and arms inside the mixer at all times or I'll wind up like Bill Jr.

Rice dessert still needs totally re-wired, a bit more welding (especially to tie the horns that the trans & motor hang from to the rest of the cage), and some other minor stuff, but all in all it's very solid and should be tons of fun both in the dunes and out here in the rocks. Also the quick ratio rack and pinion is scary. At the least it needs a steering damper, better would be to throw this R&P on el burrito and give rice dessert a slower ratio. It already has a big steering wheel, so maybe one from a school bus for now?