Entries by Jim Ley

Inner arch repairs

Getting the next batch of repair panels fettled to fit the baja. Front arch inners are done. I’ll get the rear quarters fettled too before painting the insides of them all with epoxy and then welding them in. Trial fitted the front wings to check the bolt holes. Can’t wait to test fit the rest […]

Floor pan welding

Floor pan day! Storming on with the welding at the moment. Made myself some jumbo grips to help get a tight fit along the spine welds. Both floor pans are now fully welded in, I just need to finish dressing the N/S pan welds. Also got the pedal strengthener and hinge welded in. Even this […]

Heater Channels, Front Bulkhead and Rear Cross Members

A bucket load of welding completed on the bug over the weekend, and a ton of strength put back into the shell. N/S door gaps checked and heater channel welded in: Front bulkhead and rear cross members completely welded in too. I’ve a bit of weld tidy up to do around the B pillars then […]

The final piece of the furniture puzzle is complete! Cooker unit with 2 burner hob and grill. I just need to mount it to a swing out hinge and get it plumbed in.

Door cards finished

Full set of door cards for the Baja finished! (Barnaby helping out as usual). There’s something just a little bit special about this fabric. I’ll be starting to tear down the rear seat this week to make a start on reupholstering it soon.

Heater Channels Going in!

The weather over the last few weeks has finally dried out the track down to the workshop,so I got an evening in on the Baja and took the bus so I could bring the rear seat home to reupholster. I’ve done a final mockup of the lower framework now with everything pinned in place and […]

Door card preview

A little preview of the door cards for the baja. Absolutely love how this looks! Went for a bold white top stitch to compliment the colours of the fabric.

Heater Channel trial fit

Both heater channels cut out, these were completely rotten through: Heater channels, front bulkhead and rear cross members all bolted to the chassis ready for me to lower the shell back down and align it all before welding it in:

Heater Channel Prep

Back on the bug! I decided to separate the closing panels from the heater channels to get some paint in there. It’s a bit more work but worth doing I think. The joins already had some rust starting to creep in: Bare metalled and epoxied the lot: And the front bulkhead while I had the […]

Fabric arrival

The fabrics for Myrtle the Baja bug arrived this week! Excited to get the upholstery started while I’m still confined to the house. It’ll be a fair while until the baja is ready to fit these but it’ll be another item checked off the list.