I did a whole ton of stuff on Sunday, but didn't take many pictures.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...82ae66a750.jpg

I took a run over to Home Depot Racing and picked up a bulkhead fitting. I added a piece of split heater hose to bush it out and it should be good to go.

In the process of working with the battery cables, I cleaned, tightened and reassembled everything with dielectric grease before reassembly. Where before the starter sounded wheezy and anemic and sketchy. Now it cranks with authority, and really puts a good spin on the motor. I'm totally happy with this result.

Apologies for the blue tint in the above pic, I'm working outside in the driveway in the heat, so I had to get creative:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6e5ef43ad0.jpg

I got the tach mounted in the dash, and pulled out the fuel gauge so that I could grease the cable and now it works again! Yussss! I'll have to snap a pic and show you guys how it works. I also made a gauge mount plate out of a random piece of aluminum I found in the garage, but decided it sucked and abandoned it after about 2h of work. /Sigh. None of the sender wires are long enough for the rear engine so I need to figure out if I can extend them, or buy extensions.

I spent an inordinate amount of time replacing the split passenger side swing axle boot, mostly because of the clean up required. No pics because it was horribly disgusting greasy work and I didn't want to ruin my phone. That boot had clearly be split and leaking for a LONG time. To remove it I just pulled on it and it came apart in my hand. There is a surprising amount of completely useless space to work in down there, and eventually I got it done.

The transaxle was covered with what appears to be clay, except it's not clay. It's decades of dust mixed with gear oil to create a thick, muddy paste that's all over everything on the passenger side of the transaxle and the engine behind it. Grease Eater, Purple Power, Super Clean, nothing would touch it. I wanted to try oven cleaner but was informed that would be a bad idea. Thinking back to working on the Mercedes last year, I remembered how easy it was to clean that engine before I sold it and then it dawned on me! Diesel fuel! I tossed a plastic bin under the transaxle and started spraying it down with a sprayer. It definitely cut that shit, but it takes a while to work. To help break it up, I also scraped with a screwdriver. Pics tomorrow of the filth I pulled off the trans. It's groooooce.

I got tired of being jammed up under the car, so I started working on the wiring for the tail lights. Nothing actually worked the way the PO said it would, so I gutted it and I'll be starting from scratch. I need to verify the 54 year old OEM wiring and go from there. Hopefully I can get brake lights and turn signals back. Oy.

where's my ban hammer

He's probably using it to get the front end apart.

Love the project. I've been trying to talk my better half into an ACVW project for a while, but she remains smarter than me.

You're in Chico? I'm down in Richmond and have a Hobart Handler 140 collecting dust in my garage. You're welcome to borrow it indefinitely if you want. I don't have a gas bottle for it but those are relatively cheap/easy to get.

There are some questions you don't ask the wife. The welder should just appear in the garage. :P


...after a couple of fires, you'll be welding like a pro.

That paper towel you've been using to soak up the oil dripping out of the drain pan spout? It needs to go away before the welder shows up. Trust me on this. :)

--Ian

G, you have no excuses now. I assume he hasn't replied here because he is driving to Richmond.

Gordon, just wow. Carry on.

I sent you a PM before getting to the very bottom, you're welcome to use my welder as well. "Can't purchase" is a whole lot different wording than "Can't touch or use."

Actually, if you go ahead and borrow both, your duty cycle rest periods are CUT IN HALF! SO MUCH WELDING!

I'll just drive down to your place and leave a flaming bag of Volkswagen filth and diesel in your driveway. And it'll probably still be better for air quality than a TDI :love:

Astute observation actually. I've basically given up on the cool shit I was going to try to do and it's going to be wheel bearings and rear end lighting. I really hope my rims get here this week...

Dude that's awesome! I super appreciate the offer! Unfortunately right now I don't have time to do welding things. I've bypassed the stuff that needed welding with wood, or slapped shit together to make it work. Maybe in a few weeks after my Oregon trip I'll be able to revisit this offer, but right now it's just a thrash to the finish line.

20/20 hindsight being what it is, this is clearly what I should have done. Unfortunately I said "TIG welder" in the initial conversation with the better 3/4s and price estimate was $1000-$1200. I figured I could find a clapped out old Miller or Lincoln AC TIG for that kind of money. And the pricing is the only reason I mentioned it. She's fairly tolerant of my reckless spending as long as it stays below a certain threshold, and $1000-$1200 is above that threshold. I don't think she realized there is a difference between MIG & TIG, and that a smaller wire feed unit can be cheap as hell.

But it doesn't matter. Because now I need to take a class or something. If a welder appears in my garage before requirements are met there will be hell to pay. Again, hill not worth dying on.

Paper towel! Pssht! That's a hotel washcloth. Nothing but the best for my baby!

Lol. I don't even have time to do that right now.

Hahahaha! Very much appreciate the offer, you guys are awesome :) I made due, just gotta move forward now.

You don't need a welder for those old vee dubs, they're held together with spit and bailing wire.
But when you get here for carb jetting, I will pour a few beers down you and we can do wire feed welding 101 anyway.

Perhaps I should explain my time crunch

Right now the wife and I are working 4x10 summer schedule, that's M-Th 7:00am-5:30pm. I get up at 5:30am to try to get my morning shit together and get to work, and I get home at like 6:00pm because traffic in this town has been fucking retarded since the fire. If there are any errands I have to do after work, it's a solid hour of time. So maybe I get home at 7:00. Wind down and bed time is 9:00-9:30 or we're zombies for the next day. So on a good day I get maybe 3h to do shit after work. Add chores, dinner, or other household tasks and basically my evenings are fucked.

Plus the weather has been murder.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c997e59a44.png

Its been like this for the better part of a couple weeks now. I'm working outdoors with no shade on a concrete driveway that just sucks up heat and reflects it back at you. Peak heat of the day is 5:30-6:00pm here so I get home just in time to really cook myself. Lying on the ground is like being on a frying pan. So any work done on the car means 1/2h getting cleaned up so I can go eat dinner or whatever. I've lost 10lbs in the last 2-3 weeks from missed meals and probably systemic dehydration, lol. I'm a fatass anyway so dropping some pounds is not a bad thing, but this wasn't exactly what I had in mind for weight loss. It's also costing me almost $400/mo to keep the house at 80°F which isn't exactly comfortable.

All in all I'm starting to regret taking this job and moving here, because it's going to be like this through August.

This Friday (which I have off due to summer schedule) I'm helping the in-laws move into their new place, and then Friday/Saturday night we're off to Reno (where it's ironically 10-12° cooler on average) for anniversary so weekend is completely blown. I'm supposed to towbar the Baja up to Oregon on the 19th for some off-road stupidity with friends and I'm really wondering if I can make that deadline.

/rant

Damn, I really went overboard with the plywood and wood screws then! :laugh:

I've pretty much cut all my drinking due to working in the heat. I can't get enough water in me to fight the heat, let alone compensate for alcohol.

I'm kinda hoping right now that the main jets are close enough, and I can manipulate that a bit with the mixture screws. I'll probably do a post here soon with my understanding of carburator theory so that everyone can laugh and point :p

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...7afd5a8cf6.jpg

IT'S ALL SO SIMPLE, HOW COULD THIS POSSIBLY BE SO DIFFICULT?! :vash:

Looks like a Hyper re-route

It's the ENTIRE wiring diagram for this car, you'll notice it even includes the plugwires. :eek4:

The turn signal arm on the column feels physically broken, and there is a 3 position "turn" switch on the dash that the PO added, but it does nothing. I also couldn't find a flasher relay anywhere behind the dash.

The headlight switch turns on the headlights and the backlight for the speedometer, but that's it. The low oil pressure and alternator lights work, so that's good, and the horn is wired to a giant button on the dash.

Literally nothing else works, other than the ignition. /sigh I've got my work cut out for me.

time for custom megasquirt harness :likecat:

Unsure which MS has enough I/O to cover turn signals, running lights, brake lights, license plate illumination...

That wiring diagram looks a lot like a honda vacuum routing layout.

When I hear baja bug, I think jumps.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b10ed9e421.jpg

Well you have carbs, so just use the fuel injector outputs.

I've clearly let this thread go too long without updates, but needless to say we did make it to the Lemons Rally. Scoring is done on Instagram so you can follow along with us @clase.baja if you care to witness the stupidity. We're also using #charrotheburro as our mascot.

We made it to Monterey for the start, through the SF Bay Area to Reno for the first day, hit a bunch of passes (8,000ft elevation change with a carburator is ... special) and to Fresno last night. Today, back to the coast to land in San Luis Obispo. :D

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...98f6b3100f.jpg