Project Myrtle: Jim’s Baja Bug Build

Good skills as always James

Stirlingmoz

 

The work looks very nice

 

Sometimes things don’t quite go to plan.

After epoxy priming the chassis last Friday I was planning to seam seal the whole chassis the next day, only to find the paint was covered in wrinkles and was still wet in places. Thinking that perhaps the cold weather might’ve affected it I left it to harden for a week.
When I went down Friday the paint was still wet so I knew something had gone horribly wrong. I double checked the data sheets and discovered that my paint supplier had sent me the wrong hardener! My chassis was coated in a useless mess.

Cue 2 days of stripping the gloop off with a wire wheel and repriming it with some of the old epoxy primer I had left over from the van.
I’ll now erase this whole fiasco from my memory.

 

Finished up the passenger seat back yesterday and did a trial fit. Love how these have come out. A lot more complex than any of the other seats I’ve done so far but well worth it!

 

What a nightmare with the pan these things are sent to test us I’m sure.
The seats looking great though

 

I did just stare at it for about 10 minutes in complete hatred. Pulled myself out of it and just cracked on.
Apparently I'm not allowed to keep the seat in the living room as my old man seat.

 

A good start to the New Year on the Baja. Seam sealed and Raptor coated the underside, framehead and framehorns. Colour coded in Savannah Biege, or as Max always calls it “Bundy Biege”

 

Quality work. They definitely look the part. Where did you source your material?


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Got the rest of the baja chassis painted over the weekend.
I can now start cleaning up and bolting bits back on to build up a rolling chassis.

 

Thanks mate, should look lovely in the bug.

The vinyl is from Upholstery Fabrics UK: https://www.upholstery-fabricsuk.co...iti/cristina-marrone-infiniti-inf-1849-camel/
The fabric is from Norfolk Textiles: https://norfolktextiles.co.uk/clarke--clarke-tahoma-in-earth-88853-p.asp


A word of warning, the fabric is eye wateringly expensive! I'd already decided I had to have the fabric in the interior, then I looked at the price!

 

Cheers - it definitely looks the part. Looking forward to seeing that interior in the final bug.


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Few bits left to sort on the Baja suspension before I can shot blast and paint it all.

Fully welded on my brackets for the front tube bumper and added a strengthening plate to the base of the shock tower.


A stock beetle beam doesn’t have a lower bump stop so I’ve added a hook and rod to hopefully save my shocks from any heavy off road use.

 

To be fair upholstery material is expensive, mine plaid on the rear seats was £75pm

 

Carried on with sorting through the Baja’s suspension components over the weekend. Knocked the old bearings out of the trailing arms and started shot blasting a few bits ready for paint.

I need to weld on some new bump stop mounts but overall they’re in good condition considering they had an ants nest living in them when we pulled them out of NOSVW’s dub graveyard!

 

Running gear and a few chassis bolt on panels for the baja all painted on a gloriously warm day. It’s starting to feel like spring!

Should be able to start chassis reassembly next week now.

 

Looking good Jim!

 

Made a good start on the chassis rebuild over the weekend. Fuel line and gear shift rod installed. Rear brakes rebuilt and new bearings pressed in. Loosely fitted most of the rear suspension components.

 

Got the Baja’s arse back down on some wheels and started to build up the front beam over the weekend.
Reckon I'll treat it to some new brake drums as the old ones have some chunks missing from the edge and I can't honestly be arsed to clean up and paint the old ones.

 

Front beam mostly built up today and fitted my 2.5” lift spindles from NB Restorations. Superb build quality and attention to detail on the spindles (2nd pic shows the bug at stock height for comparison).



Painted up a nice new set of brake drums and the old tie rods. Hoping to finish up the last little bits on the chassis next week and then move onto starting to prep the body for paint (few odd welding jobs left too).

 

You got drums on the front ?