RyanB's Buggy

[bajaherbie]

i would go with Terminix or Orkin for the termite treatment. make sure you get the free yearly inspection with your contract.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Ryan, don't forget; you are not only going to have fore and aft flexing of the pan to worry about but racking/twisting also. The two cross-pieces are not going to have as much potential compression loading like the side rails will but they are going to help support the ends of the side rails hence the pan during racking/twisting of the pan on the roads and entrances/compressions when going up and down the hills at an off perpendicular angle.

The cage is going to help stiffen and support the pan but unless it is tied in to the front beam and to the rear those areas are exposed to damage as they are not supported. I still have to finish supporting the front of my buggy which is why the pictures with the upper and lower supports and the lines to tie them together.

Herbie, he is also going to need some dry white (or red) wine to help with DRY rot when out driving around (don’t drink and drive guys).

Lee

[bajaherbie]

i was just kidding...

[Ol'fogasaurus]

About the whine ... so was I.

[RyanB]

When I am done, there will be no wood exposed...

This is also just a test fit. Though, what I see so far I like. It will allow me allot of leeway to repair the 'bottom' of the body.

Lee, you are always so very forthcoming with advise and support. Your one of the lifebloods of this forum IMHO. Thanks for the idea on the plywood. I like that idea and will give it a shot this weekend.

I am thinking my 33" Super Swampers now look too small though... haha.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

That was a nice thing to say , I'm embarrassed!

Glue and when you screw the plywood pieces together, for additional support don't forget to screw them together from both sides so that the screws work against each other.

Lee

[RyanB]

So, no pictures to really bust out from the past weekend. I didnt get to do any fiberglassing. With how cold it was I had to put a ton of wood into my stove to get it warm enough just to be out there. Too many draft locations in the place right now to keep the heat in well. Sorta have to wait for a day when it is around 40 out and the stove can get it to around 65-70 in there to glass. As it was with it being in the high 20's it maybe got to around 50 in the garage. Anyhow, nobody but me cares about the heat in my garage... lol

So, one of the things I decided to do was go back to a single carb. I am hoping to do more mudding and dirt stuff and having the sides wide open to get crap flung on the carbs and the filters did not sound like a great idea. So, I found my last "big" carb. Weber center mount. I think it's a 44 IDF. I rebuilt it with some kits I had left over from my old Dellorto's. And then promptly ran into another body fit problem. There is barely enough room under the rear cowl area to even fit the motor strangely enough. Well, the center carb sticks out enough that I cannot put an air cleaner on it. Gonna have to cut this area out in the center more than it is. Just no other way I can see around this. It isn't that big of a problem. I'll take some pics of it before I do it. This is also after the 3 1/2 lift the wood is giving it as well...

The other thing I worked on was the rear brakes. I did get the drivers side completed and an old wheel/tire put on. So it's almost a roller. I still need to finish up the passenger side. It looks like whoever got the transmission out of the bus it came from just used a torch. They went right through the spring plates. They also torched off the e-brake cables. Thankfully on the drivers side they didnt get near the backing plate. Not so lucky on the passenger side. Basically welded the cable shielding to the hold it goes through into the brake drum area. I suppose I am just going to have to drill this out. I tried knocking it out with a punch but it isn't budging.

I may not put in a turning brake to begin with on this. Money is already an issue so to save some cash here and there I'll probably put off some things until after the initial build. Still working on getting the wheels, that's going slowly. Need to work out what I am going to due about the fuel tank. I had one and then apparently something fell on it and crushed one side. I may try to pull it out some. Still working on issues with the front end hardware that bolts in the middle for suspension.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Ryan, I never checked with OR, but it WA (at least in my experience) they are not well thought of. I was on the way back from OR and at a rest stop when a (then smiling) WSP officer asked if he could look at my buggy on the trailer. He got up on it and immediately his smile turned upside down and he pointed at the turning brake handles and said: “I better not see that on the road”. My buggy had license plates on it at the time. OSPs or Sheriffs have never looked at it other than for the decibel levels.

Lee

[RyanB]

Hmm. I didn't know it would be a problem. I could make the handle removable. Thanks for the heads up Lee! But, wont be an issue to start with. I'll worry about it when I am ready to put one in.

[GDRBORETIRED]

I'd want to see the law where it says steering brakes are not legal. Either that or the officer didn't know what he was seeing. I have spent over 35 years in buggys and Bajas, been stopped and have yet to be told I couldn't have them. Possibly something new?

[Ol'fogasaurus]

GDRBO no, it is not new I had my little discussion with him around '93 or '94. As I told you back on BT years ago, I know of at least one person, for sure, who was killed while using them trying to out run the cops. He was rat racing and the cops saw him and started chasing him; he hooked a seam in the concrete roadway while trying to make a late 90° turn with the turning brake on full and flipped his glass buggy. All it had for protection was a "show bar". The guy who built the car for the kid was devastated! I don't know if they are illegal to have on the street in OR which is why I asked but I understand they are here… assuming you get someone who knows about it.

I am not sure how street driven drift cars get by with it other than it might be that it hasn’t gotten to be a problem again like it was back in the ‘40s and 50’s. Rat racing is something like drifting but not in an enclosed area nor could the guys afford to cook off the tires like they do now. They didn’t have the power then either. For what its worth they talk about them on the street here” http://www.4wheeloffroad.com/techarticl ... ng_brakes/

The same with Necker’s Knobs (KK - a poor man’s power steering knob that clamps onto the steering wheel); some cars (like my '42 MB jeep) were built with them on the steering wheel and some were in the steering wheel as part of the radial but were flush fit and had a cross handle to hold but all they did was give someone a false security. From what I remember, they were made illegal back in the late '40s of early 50's but you can still buy them as I have seen them for sale recently (I think they are part of the nostalgia bit and may be used on a resto if they came with them). I remember getting gas with my father and seeing a card full of the KKs but the next time in they were gone as the owner said they were now illegal to have. I stand slightly corrected: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brodie_knob.

There were a lot of guy trying to out run the cops with them also plus a lot of broken wrists, fore arms and pulled muscles when you hit something; both hands on the steering wheel and all that, not your arm around the girl and your other hand on the KK..

There are a lot of illegal things that you can still buy, just don’t get caught with them.

Lee

[RyanB]

Had a fun Weekend. Went out to the Volksters Dubs and Doughnuts on Saturday. Promptly froze my ass off since I didn't wear a thick jacket. Went back home and finished up the passenger side rear brakes. Wheels back on and she is a roller! Woo, glad to hit that milestone. It's not on Jackstands anymore!

I got a turning brake to mock up and see where I can position things. I have a good idea what I want to do. I'll take pics of it when it is done.

Worked on turning up the motor. I had a SVDA dizzy laying around with a pertronix installed. I pulled it from my buggy as it would cut out past around 3k. I am thinking it may be due to the coil I was using back then. I put that into the buggy, Adjusted the valves, played with the carb a bit and she is running pretty well now. A little surprised in fact. It does seem to load up a bit at idle (black clouds when I blip the throttle) so I'll need to get different jets most likely. But for now I am very happy with how well it seemed to run. I hadn't had it running in 3 years I think.

I also tracked down those pesky bolts to go into the beam. Someone welded in "new" Adjustable torsion. Now, I've never done anything with a beam. Ball joint ot Link pin besides remove it and re-install to a frame head. So, I know little about them. However I had this nagging feeling something just wasn't right when I got this car. My suspicions were found to be true however. It appears they welded in the new adjusters UPSIDE DOWN... When I free'd the crappy spring/shocks the torsion stack inside of the beam promptly swiveled and forced the bolts downwards. See below picture I took previously. THe small block that the bolt goes through would have to have the adjuster nut and it's seat be BELOW it. Not ABOVE it. Am I wrong here? I don't see how. Again, I am no expert on beams. Also, the bottom adjusters location makes it damn near impossible to adjust it due to being so close to the framehead. In the end, it probably doesn't matter much as I have a different beam lined up and I'll either use this one for a later Sand Rail or sell it off (for damn near free because of the issue)... haha.

[BAJA-IT]

you are right, those adjusters where welded in up side down.
I guess you could cut them out, turn them over, and weld them back in.

[RyanB]

Well, I had a fairly productive weekend. I didnt get as far as I would have liked. However progress is progress. I spent hours on the wheels alone. I picked up a set of wheels earlier in the week. See pic below. They took alot of elbow grease to clean up. Man I was tired. One of the front wheels sadly is bent. The tire guy put a ton of counterbalance weight on it. I wont know how badly it performs until I have the car on the road. Also picked up the front beam and installed it. Noticed that it doesnt have a steering dampner mount. Debating if I need to install one or not. Now that the wheels are on the car, I can make sure everything is clear and begin the process of glassing the body into the wood. In the 1st pic below you can see what I did with the turning brakes in an attempt to get everything into the small amount fo space and not lose my e-brake handle. I think it worked out well so far. The brake system is bled and all is working!

[Ol'fogasaurus]

[quote="RyanB"]Well, I had a fairly productive weekend. I didn’t get as far as I would have liked. However progress is progress. . In the 1st pic below you can see what I did with the turning brakes in an attempt to get everything into the small amount fo space and not lose my e-brake handle. I think it worked out well so far. The brake system is bled and all is working!





The handles forward like that seems to be a really good idea as long as there is no flex in the rods. The idea of custom making a handle is something I have also though about; I placed the whole turning brake unit forward which eliminates a functional e-brake. Kudos on that out-of-the-box thinking.

Is the body slid forward on the second picture? The end of the floor/seating area does not line up with the wood spacer and the same with the corner up front.

I would use some corner brackets to hold the wood together instead of nails or screws with the screws being a better idea. You could make a corner bracket for the bend up forward that could help strengthen up that joint. You need to accommodate some racking of the pan so think about it some.

For the arc at the rear you could kerf the wood if you were concerned about looks or even build a glue jig then with many layers of sheet clamp up the glued up stack to make the curve.

You sure have come a long way Ryan. Just some ideas that might help.

Lee