New Beetle Baja Build

[psychohawk]

Hey all ... yep, 2WD, yep, unibody, yep, a girls car and yep, pigs can fly and nope, can't polish a turd ... etc, etc, etc ... now that's out of the way, on with the show!!

Background:
Having owned many trucks and many off road capable vehicles over the years, I decided I wanted something different ... my new "truck" had to get 25 - 30 MPG, be small, manual transmission and I also had to be able to lift it for a little extra ground clearance. 4 wheel drive and 37" mud tires weren't on the list because frankly, when I had them, they were used very little.

I do a camping trip a couple times a year that requires two hours (each direction) of easy dirt road, I surf, which requires occasional dirt road and I wanted a little durability for LA's pot holes. I also wanted something a little different without being quirky and most importantly, my budget was $4k for the initial vehicle purchase.

I explored Subaru, Mazda, Ford, Mini ... lots of small cars, read numerous posts on this forum and others, and finally settled on a "New" Beetle. They're 10+ years old now, have really come down in price (can be found all over for $3-5k) and have a good support structure, i.e., repairs, aftermarket and knowledge base. Yeah, I get crap for it all the time but that's okay, the little car has really grown on me the last few months.

The Car:
It's a 1999, 5 speed with the 1.8 Turbo ... I purchased it for $3800 cash with 100k miles; silver exterior, black leather interior.

The Plan:
~ roof rack (need to carry surfboard!)
~ rear seat delete
~ front / rear nerf bars
~ trailer hitch
~ lift kit
~ skid plates

Tonight I won't attach pictures because, well, you can drive 5 minutes any direction and see one ... they all look the same.

Oh, I should add, I don't have crazy illusions of off-roading this thing ... just simple fire roads and commute duty.

The next day or two I'll post pics of the roof rack and how it's coming.

Carl

[Patman]

Too Cool!

I'm a huge new beetle fan, ever since the wife traded my 99 k3500 crew shorty dually for an 04 Aquirius blue full load turbo 'vert. Absolutely great car. Hated to see it go.

The Dune concept was one of my favorites and I gave a lot of thought to building one, when it was just the two of us. A little cramped with kids.

Will you eventually convert it to 4motion, or just keep it fwd?

[Diesel YJ]

Sounds like a good idea to me and you have definitely though out what you wanted in a vehicle and what you can do with each so its a solid decision. Cant wait to see the build and pics along the way. I was wondering it the new ones would ever see the love the old ones received as for being modified and built but they were not designed the same and not as simple as their older brothers. good luck with the build.

[psychohawk]

I was wondering it the new ones would ever see the love the old ones received

I keep hoping so!!

[psychohawk]

Beginning with the roof rack and after much research, I was all set to custom build a roof rack to accommodate my needs; which are as follows:

~ carry surfboard
~ possibly carry *light* camping gear if short on "trunk space"
~ two Hella 500
~ one small water tank, pressurized, about 1 - 1.5 gallon or so

Quite a bit to get up there, huh?

Everything probably looks pretty straight forward to everyone except the water tank? Well, I wanna fresh rinse after getting out of the surf ... and I'm tired of lugging around water jugs. My intention is to keep it fairly small due to the weight and in a perfect world, I'll pressurize it with a small air compressor.

After "rough idea'ing" the rack and consistent with ExPo standards, I quickly found myself staring at PVC at the local hardware store. . No! No! No! Actually, I was planning to build my own (from metal, thank you) but got lucky and found a stock VW rack on CL for $40 ... figuring I can't buy the metal that cheap, it's a good start and good base. And heck, if I ruin it I'm out $40.

So here's two pics of my $3800 1999 Turbo Beetle with $40 roof rack.

Carl

[psychohawk]

Will you eventually convert it to 4motion, or just keep it fwd?

Nah, just 2WD ... I learned a long time ago that 4WD just gets you into trouble ... that extra little security that sits on your shoulder saying, "yeah, you can do this, just put it in 4L" ... then you get stuck ... whereas limits are understood in 2WD and honestly, most places can be traveled to just fine in 2WD.

It would be nice but honestly, outside the scope of this project ... I am however considering a LSD ... that's a bit down the road though.

Carl

[psychohawk]

I should add, window tint isn't as dark as it looks ... sun was setting and I had a windshield cover on.

[Patman]

I would keep the water tank off the rack, that way it keeps weight down low, even though its only 1.5 gal. If pressurized, it could go anywhere. Like in the hollow of the spare tire. Probably fit a couple of gallons in a custom tank.

[kweetech]

here's some inspiration for you..
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifie...php?id=1141485

[psychohawk]

here's some inspiration for you..
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifie...php?id=1141485

Inspired, yeah, saw it before but buyer beware ... quoted from owner on newbeetle.org back in January,

"Just crashed the Baja Beetle when I skided on a patch of ice and than hit a concrete retaining wall head first. It still drives but the frame is bent/everthing in the front is pulled to the left a few inches." and, "Just had the frame strightened at the body shop next door you can't even tell that it was bent. now I just to get the a bumper cover and hood hinges/latch and both head lamps/buckets."

Maybe that's why he wants to sell?

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