Chris' car (aka, "project on back burner, building Ark")

[Chris V]

Finished gusseting the rack today (came in right around 67lbs), and played around with some plexi - thinking of making a guard:

[turbobaja]

Nice! I see you're making the most of your time off work . I think I've got twice the weight of your rack in sound deadening material alone...

[Chris V]

Thanks, this was my big 'ME' project, I've been wanting to wrap it up for sometime... The pup is finally getting used to solitary confinement too I try to chill with him every morning for a bit, and then get my ass in gear...also been working on remodeling the basement for Mom - where we would hear his cries echoing through the vents - pretty decent set of lungs for 3lbs, lol.

Wow, that's quite a bit of deadening...but considering you give everything 10/10 ths I'm not surprised.

[Chris V]

So, what to do when it gets cold & nasty...sit next to my heater in front of the TV w/puppy and dis-assemble CPU fans. I purchased three used fans for like $7.50 inc. shipping only to find out each fan is two fans! They're fairly strong, certainly enough to irritate the dog and less surprisingly the girl


Hopfully I'll have windshield defogging and maybe even rear-window too by next weekend!

[motorbreath53]

Baja looks AWESOME... as does your street car... and DAMNIT the garage is a cool one...

[Chris V]

Thanks bro...I have to admit the way all the three are coming along - I never thought I'd actually get this far. Most of my friends and family have given me a hardtime for spreading myself too thin, but I too like my many 'works in progress' - I'll finish something, someday - when I feel like it

This morning I get to install some lights in my best-buddy's new home in what will be his baby's room by summer-time Then kick the Baja out of the garage and do a brake job on his wife's Subaru.

Your ol' Baja is an absolute favorite, and the newest buggy project is taking great shape!

[motorbreath53]

A favorite ...aw shucks.


...don't tell any of the a-holes around here... but i'm pretty ashamed for not finishing it.. AGAIN....

I need to hurry up and get my wife though school so I can knock her up... sooner i have a son, the sooner I have a reason to build another baja bug

[Chris V]

I was even trying to add the dimple die design element to the roofrack - buy my fab skills aren't so solid yet. I'm workin' on it though, picked-up some 3/4" & 1" dies and have been meaing to grab some 14/16ga sheetmetal. Those recent fuel-cell straps on the buggy look bitchen

My buddy gets either a 4x4 crew cab diesel or an EcoBoost F-150 crew for his first father's day He also gets to keep his KTM 250 XCF...He apparently married the right woman

[Ol'fogasaurus]

The main problem with the dimple die use is that is allows the water to excape from the pool after a hard days riding.

[Chris V]

My last trip to Portland in my Baja was during one of the worst rainstorms I've ever been caught in...by the time I got down there with my 'ventilated' heater channels (car came from Italy & Connecticut) I had several gallons inside with me. I used a punch to knock a couple holes in the back of the pan-halves and left it parked on a slope.

It's that one event that really proved to me I was wasting my time with the current body

[Volksmeister]

Hey Chris, are those 12V fans?

[Marc]

Yes. Nearly all computer fans are 12VDC, and they come in a range of sizes. Most have plain "sleeve" bearings (bushings, actually) ...there do exist higher-quality ones made for hi-endurance service in servers, but they cost many times as much. Since for our purposes (defroster fan, etc.) where it's not the end of the world should one die, IMO it's not worth the expense of the high-end type, your garden-variety cheap fan will probably work just fine for a long long time. Bushing-type fans tend to wear faster if they're positioned with the axis horizontal, so you're better off mounting them with the shaft up-and-down if practical.
Do install some sort of fine screen on the inlet side to stop garbage from getting sucked in; even if the fan blades aren't damaged, anything adhering to them will throw off the balance and the bushing will die prematurely.

[Volksmeister]

Roger that. Thanks Marc. Sounds like a viable option to increase air flow.

- Levi

[Chris V]

The ones I picked-up are ball-bearing server fans:

I robbed a couple pieces off an old FM transmitter for an Ipod to make it simple to use in the Baja (wound-up with just enough room to pull-out the headlight switch, which has a buzzer if it's left on by accident):

[TimS]

Does that work? Looks like your just blowing cabin air onto the windshield. If that works, I'm all over it. I have trouble with fogging, too.