You're not gonna have a whole lot of dune buggy left in that dune buggy.
You're not gonna have a whole lot of dune buggy left in that dune buggy.
mndsm wrote: You're not gonna have a whole lot of dune buggy left in that dune buggy.
That's the purpose of adding lightness is it not? There will be a floor again, but hopefully something a little lighter and less tetanusy
JThw8 wrote:mndsm wrote: You're not gonna have a whole lot of dune buggy left in that dune buggy.That's the purpose of adding lightness is it not? There will be a floor again, but hopefully something a little lighter and less tetanusy
Aluminium?
Autolex wrote:JThw8 wrote:Aluminium?mndsm wrote: You're not gonna have a whole lot of dune buggy left in that dune buggy.That's the purpose of adding lightness is it not? There will be a floor again, but hopefully something a little lighter and less tetanusy
Possibly, a few years back I was restomodding a 48 chevy truck, PO had replaced the bed with aluminum diamond plate. I took it back to the stock wood, been sitting on that sheet of plate for awhile now, I have to take measurements but it should work.
I've been wanting to make my ownaluminum and balsa wood laminate floor for a wwhile now. Kinda like a c5 vette floor.
Would be perfect here.
Well...This thread doesn't help me resist the trade proposition I have at the moment.
Hmmm...
ClemSparks wrote: Well...This thread doesn't help me resist the trade proposition I have at the moment. Hmmm...
Assuming its for a sand rail or dune buggy go for it. They can be cheap and easy to work on. But they can also be giant money pits if you arent careful. The good thing is you can buy anything you need for it new. The bad thing is you can buy anything you need for it new. Good used stuff is drying up so the temptation is there to go buy new parts and move the project along. Unfortunately a lot of the new stuff on the market is junk.
Yeah...I've wanted one forever but have decided that a kit car based on an ancient donor platform is not as great as the idea was when the donor platform was younger and abundant.
I've given passing thought to development of a buggy with, say, a corolla as the donor ;)
The weekend's efforts are sadly, not very visual. There was just a bunch of grinding to do, cleaning up all the things I cut off, cleaning up old areas that were modified, chasing more screw stubs sticking out of the bars, etc. I spent about 6 hours today with the sawzall, cutoff wheel, griding wheels and flap disks. Still not done but a lot closer. I did remove a little more bracing.
Those 2 tubes making a V toward the center of the front beam had to come out. They weren't providing much in the way of bracing but more importantly I am putting adjusters in the beam so I have to cut the beam right where they attach, off with their heads!
I also pulled out the steering column and cut off the support for it. It was pretty crappy, we can do better.
Should have the first shipments of parts coming in this week which will allow further progress. Haven't had any big budget items yet, so far its been pretty reasonable.
Are you going to add any triangulating bracing back in the horizontal plane?
bgkast wrote: Are you going to add any triangulating bracing back in the horizontal plane?
Yes eventually I will be adding triangulation back in, but I have to cut apart the front beam first. Once its back together and I have the new steering system designed and mounted so I know where things fit then I can add some tubes back in where they will be useful.
Dang, that frame is really starting to clean up. Great job.
Replacement trailing arms arrived tonite. Pulled them all apart, cleaned the bearings, removed the bushings, I have new poly ones for them. Then I cut off the bump stops and shock mounts, I'll need to fabricate new shock mounts to go with the coil overs anyway. Finished off tonite by giving them a good bath. The OCD in me really wanted to paint them but there was no point until I work out the new shock mount location and weld them on.
Before
After
Just some light work tonite, I had to go through some parts and plan another order. I decided to start some of the many cleaning and painting tasks ahead. The fan shroud was on tonight's schedule it's slightly tempting to spend hours and hours and polish it since its aluminum but I'd like this thing done in time for the skid pad challenge so paint it is. I forgot a before picture of the front but it looked kinda like the back did.
A good scrubbing and de-greasing then some high temp silver, good enough.
Then the back too.
Also discovered the motor is a 78 not a 76 as originally thought. The determination was made because its a GE code hydraulic motor, found the sticker for the "dont adjust these valves" under the dirt. The hydraulic motors were 78 and 79 only and 79 had a unique exhaust making this a 78. I really like the hydraulic motors so I'm happy to discover this. I might eventually have to find something nice and streetable to put this motor in.
Nice score!
More cleaning and painting tonite. Its one of the reasons projects take me too long, I can't put stuff back together looking like crap.
Tinwork cleaned up before paint.
and after a quick coat of paint. Its still shiny because its wet but its actually Eastwood's chassis black so it will dry to a nice satin.
Did the rest of it too but it would be more pictures that look just like this.
The transaxle was, to put it mildly, disgusting. I scraped and scrubbed and made it semi clean. Not going for show quality stuff, must keep reminding myself.
Slapped a coat of silver paint on it. When it dries I'll grind the ribs like I did on the transaxle in the wartburg. Purely a cosmetic thing but hey I like things to look nice.
On one hand the ribs are probably good for transaxle housing strength, on the other hand they're extra weight...
I really like where this is going. I say you should get the 10" wide front rims for a massive square tire setup, you need all the grip you can get for this. And don't go to the challenge without wings, even if you have to fab them up. I think Kevlarcorolla fabbed wings for his single-seater AutoX BEC and they look and work well.
Edit: Maybe one big roof-mounted wing sort of like a sprint car, simple and works well. You could have asymmetrical vertical sides like a sprint car too, that you can switch for different directions. Also if there was a starter on that transaxle, you could remove it before the event and push-start to lose weight.
Edit2: Just checked the event rules, runs in both directions will be done back-to-back so all aero and suspension will have to be set up for unbiased cornering...so forget the switchable wing idea:
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/we-challenge-you/95972/page4/
GameboyRMH wrote: On one hand the ribs are probably good for transaxle housing strength, on the other hand they're extra weight... I really like where this is going. I say you should get the 10" wide front rims for a massive square tire setup, you need all the grip you can get for this. And don't go to the challenge without wings, even if you have to fab them up. I think Kevlarcorolla fabbed wings for his single-seater AutoX BEC and they look and work well. Edit: Maybe one big roof-mounted wing sort of like a sprint car, simple and works well. You could have asymmetrical vertical sides like a sprint car too, that you can switch for different directions. Also if there was a starter on that transaxle, you could remove it before the event and push-start to lose weight.
Oh when I say grind the ribs I dont mean to remove them, they are definitely there for strength I meant purely for cosmetic reasons like this one I did for the Wartburg
Definitely looking to go big on the wheels, its all going to come down to budget and time before the event. Same goes for wings, I just need to see what I can do with the time and money alotted. AngryCorvair and I have been discussing a really interesting idea offline that I just might try out as well.
I'll keep the starter, not quite that worried about the weight. I've taken quite a bit off this thing already. I probably won't run an alternator though, I'll just have a big deep cycle battery and one for a backup. I ran my Solo Vee on battery only and at one event with 2 co drivers it made over 30 runs in a day without tapping the battery out so it should be ok.
if he's doing a skid pad challenge the weight up high like a sprint car to me is the wrong way to go... He's made the car as light as possible so any wing will move the COG much higher than it would on a much heavier car...
IMHO
May be a silly idea, but since you have everything apart and appear to be in a hacking mood, would it be worth thinking about shortening the wheel-base (moving the front axle line back) in order to improve weight distribution?
JThw8 wrote: More cleaning and painting tonite. Its one of the reasons projects take me too long, I can't put stuff back together looking like crap.
You and my ex- would get along wonderfully.
Mad_Ratel wrote: if he's doing a skid pad challenge the weight up high like a sprint car to me is the wrong way to go... He's made the car as light as possible so any wing will move the COG much higher than it would on a much heavier car... IMHO
Good point...I wouldn't rule out a sprint car type wing because it could still make sense depending on how much downforce you want and what the rules are on wing protrusion...but considering CoG, an FSAE-style setup would be better if you can get enough downforce that way.
Ian F wrote: May be a silly idea, but since you have everything apart and appear to be in a hacking mood, would it be worth thinking about shortening the wheel-base (moving the front axle line back) in order to improve weight distribution?JThw8 wrote: More cleaning and painting tonite. Its one of the reasons projects take me too long, I can't put stuff back together looking like crap.You and my ex- would get along wonderfully.
The weight is all rear biased, Im not sure moving the front axle back helps anything. I have toyed with the idea of making it mid engine to move the weight around but the goal was to keep this project simple and cheap and that option is neither (although not as expensive or complex as it may seem). I really need to get more weight up front right now, I'll be moving as many things up there as I can.
With that in mind if I did mount a large wing I'd probably mount it in front of the driver rather than up top but that is purely theoretical at the moment.
In reply to JThw8:
True... thinking about it more, moving the front axle back would probably make the rear bias even worse... nevermind. 
You keep mentioning wings- why not suction? Used leafblowers are cheap...
The undertray/skirt design could be configured to make it an effective 50/50 under vacuum.
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