Baja Rebuild Diary - March
News before I decided on a full body off pan rebuild.

Recent News About My Baja 8th March 2001
 On thursday night (8th March) I bought the following;

  • a 1700cc type 4 enigine which has been taken out to a 2000cc (been lying around a shed, probably not running, but it has oil still in it that looks ok, the air filters were still on so the carbs were clean inside)

  • a 1800cc type 4 engine (also been lying around a shed, it had already been partly disassembled, I pulled the rockers off on sunday and one of the valves just kept extending, I pulled at it and ended up pulling it out of the head, the valves head has fallen off)

  • a 1800 5 rib gearbox (it is supposed to be reconditioned and in good condition.)

  • and a 1700 3 rib gearbox (has something wrong with the shifter forks, wont shift into 1 & 2 or something).

  • all the CV's, axles, stub axles, and a starter motor.

  • I bought the lot for $450 (pretty good I thought).

Hopefully I'll be able to make one good engine gearbox combo for the baja. I plan on taking the 1800 out to a 2300. The 1800 gearing should make the baja gearing similar to a normal beetle.
The extra weight in the back should help offroad (and wheelstands perhaps).
I was thinking of going to a porsche fan shroud, depending on how expensive it ended up being. I was going to ask a friend if he could make me a carbon fibre porsche fan shroud if I gave him one to copy. Carbon fibre would look so cool.

More News About My Baja 28th March 2001
 I have continued dismantling the 1800 engine 28/3/01;
After I finally got the heads off, I found that the dropped valve had not caused much damage. The valve head seems to have fallen off, turn sideways and hit the head once, then straightened up again and got stuck in the carbon on top of the piston. It must of stayed there.
So basically the heads are OK. But I did find something weird in the head. A snapped off spark plug stuck in the spark plug hole. I've never seen that before. It was on the same cylinder as the broken valve.


kombi vs beetle heads!
The standard inlet port of the type 1 (beetle) is about 30mm diameter. The standard inlet port of the type 4 (kombi) is 35mm. It's plain to see why I want to build a big type IV engine. The standard type 4 head probably flows better than the expensive 044 heads on my 1915cc.

Kombi vs beetle gearbox
I've broken 3 type 1 gearboxes so far, so I thought I'd better go for a much stronger 1800 kombi box. The lower gearing will help off road, and give my clutch an easier life.