Das Volks Vintage Volkswagen Gruppe

Glenn A wrote:Rich it's a Raja. He could probably reach in there and close the flaps on a warm day (if it has the flaps)

exactly, and if it get too hot in there while driving, simply open the window

your new house looks great!

its a 'fixer upper'

dubstar wrote:your new house looks great!

Damn... that's cold.

hey, you hang around here long enough...at least it's got great garage space!

dubstar wrote:your new house looks great!

LMAO !

Wait till Manny and his crew get done with the lawn. The place will look a thousand times better!

Do you wear a hood and burn that cross on "special occasions " ?????

Tom wrote:Do you wear a hood and burn that cross on "special occasions " ?????

only when he has relativies from out of town visiting.

Its been quite some time I have posted on this car, but all for a good reason I guess. She was my winter VW and served me flawlessly. I have taken her to work and all errands whenever I dont have the little guy with me. No issues and have done nothing but change the oil. I used to help with some landscaping this weekend so I figured I give her a bath. Considering I painted this thing in my mothers garage almost 15 years ago, and its been outside everyday since..... shes holdng up quite well. Some rust starting on the bottom of the doors from the one piece windows ( dont do it if you are on the fence) and clogged drains, but overall..... running and looking ok. I will need to do some ball joints on it soon though. And the main seal still leaks some oil too.

It's a work horse.

Glenn wrote:It's a work horse.

exactly......

The baja has been my driver for about 2 weeks now, since the wife got out of school for the summer (shes a teacher). I finally found a good used baja exhaust for use with heater boxes for it at litchfeild. Its bit quieter, but running very nice.







I just need to reinstall the rear cage and change the oil next.

Like your pick at Litchfield much better. The other one was a beast.

I like the new header mufler set up as well. can't wait to hear it in person.

Brown wrote:I like the new header mufler set up as well. can't wait to hear it in person.

Its actually more quieter than the noisey old Kadron ( i think thats what it was) that was on there. It blend in a little better at the fortune 300 company parking lot. hehe

Its been a while since this car got any attn. Poor thing! I took her to the a Dec meeting at the Brewhaus and almost died! This car was all over the road. Shes always been sloppy, and I contributed that to the non DOT spec tires up front. This time it was in full force and I thought it was the Gail Force winds, but upon further investigation at home.... she needed a tie rod end....stat! I have been milking these Ball joints too... and steering stabilizer so I moved the 63 outside... and turned to the baja.

Bought new German Ball joints


Pulls some used arms off another beam for cleaning and install of new joints. One of my existing arms had a busted stud where the shock bottom mounted so this was a win/ win.

used my new to me' ball joint too at home…. But was unsuccessful with a tiny vise and my non air tools at night. I had to get an inspection on my truck last weekend so while that was getting done at my friends shop, I helped myself to his array of tools!

Used the torch to get them hot


used the impact gun on the ‘tool’




orginal BJ's have a plastic cap on top that one can pop off and insert a zerk fitting, allowing for service to add grease to ball joint.



wasted ball joints



pressed them in with his press.


Some rust encapsulator paint


off with the old



on with the new



cleaned up the eccentric cuts with the glass bead blaster



new tie rods and good used german ends


all set with new steering stablizer too.




just needs to be aligned and buttoned up.

Raj,

That is a nice job! When I did the ball joints on my 68, what a pleasure it was to drive it!

Getting the BJ's and tie rods done on the bus. I would have invited myself along for this ride if I knew.
I can see its lots of labor and some special tools. Enjoy the results.

Looking forward to getting the bus on the road after this repair to see how she rolls for the upcoming season!

Brown wrote:Raj,

That is a nice job! When I did the ball joints on my 68, what a pleasure it was to drive it!

Im hoping for the same.... stay tuned

AoT wrote:Getting the BJ's and tie rods done on the bus. I would have invited myself along for this ride if I knew.
I can see its lots of labor and some special tools. Enjoy the results.

I know we spoke about this before and I was thinking about you when I was doing this. Orginally this was.... 'can you do these ball joints for me' turned into ' knock yourself out'. So it was kinda spur of the moment thingie. Anyway..... when the wonder is ready..... now, so are we!

Raj wrote:Its actually more quieter than the noisey old Kadron ( i think thats what it was) that was on there. It blend in a little better at the fortune 300 company parking lot. hehe

C'mon,,you're driving a Baja. You don't want to fit in. Fitting in is boring.

Should steer good now.

Raj wrote:

Brown wrote:Raj,

That is a nice job! When I did the ball joints on my 68, what a pleasure it was to drive it!

Im hoping for the same.... stay tuned

Drove her into work on Monday.... damn the steering is tight! No more driving a stick and having coffee... you need two hands to turn the wheel on this puppy.

Ken, you have the same situation? Im hoping she lightens up a bit with some miles.

Raj wrote:

Raj wrote:

Brown wrote:Raj,

That is a nice job! When I did the ball joints on my 68, what a pleasure it was to drive it!

Im hoping for the same.... stay tuned

Drove her into work on Monday.... damn the steering is tight! No more driving a stick and having coffee... you need two hands to turn the wheel on this puppy.

Ken, you have the same situation? Im hoping she lightens up a bit with some miles.

No i don't recall that being a problem. Did you get it aligned yet?