In this section I decided to write about the follow-up of my own Baja Project.
The story of my baja bug started when I bought it.It already had some good features on it like a tilt frount end, a Bosch alternator, blue coil and 009 distributor. When I got it I started to work on the inside first. The first thing I did here was pull out the back seat and make a nice area for cargo. Then I replaced the old seats with Beard Super Seats and filler 4pt. harnesses. Since the car is for off-road and not for show I put in aluminum door panels. Then I got new black sun visors. For added safty I put in window nets and a battery disconnect switch.
For the rest of the car I put on a Tri Mill exhaust for more power and a nice sound. For better night visability I put on 2 165w KC day lighters and H4 halogen driving lights. The only suspension work I did so fas was putting on some coil-overs. As for the body work goes the car turned out to be perfectly straight. All I needed here were racing rear fenders and some sprint bars to finish off the trim. Also I just put on crome tail lights to replace the old fender style ones.
-10/24/00
At a recent party I jumped my car and got about 5' in the air. The only problem was that I got a large oil leak. I had to take my car into the shop because of my lack of free time. I had new back brakes put on, new tranny, and a new clutch, which apparently fried due to the way I have been driving it. We were not sure if the tranny was cracked. All we knew was that it was leaking tranny oil and it was either the seals or a crack in the tranny. I brought my car in three other times to change the boots, which is where the mechanics first thought the oil was coming from. For a little bit more $$$ that a seal job I decided on getting a new tranny to be completely sure the problem was fixed.
6/24/00
-Put 30" tires on the front. They rubbed on the headlights, the headlight mounts and the wheel wells. I had to move the headlights up and reduce the size from 7" so I bought 100w KC lights (6"). In doing this I had to cut the hole for the headlights bigger in my front end which turned out looking real good. After doing this the tires still rub on the wheel well but it won't hurt the tires like scraping on the mount so I am satisfied for now.
-The times right to paint my car. I picked out a bright red that turned out looking great. Even after painting it in my driveway it turned out looking better than those $500 same day paint jobs. After about a month I will wet sand it to give it the glossy look and get rid of what little orange peal and runs there are.
-After painting a car bright red tinted windows are almost mandatory along with centerline rims. Well I just have enough money for tint so the centerlines will have to wait, but the tint made the car even better.
-In conclusion to all this you can put a quality paint job on your car from in your own garage. The key is in the prep work. Sanding and good masking are the high lights here!
