Car based buggy

[Baloo]

Absolutely love it! Keep posting the pics!

With regards to a potential starter motor as reverse, you say it might reduce ground clearance?! I was more thinking of mounting it straight onto the rear axle or something like that where it's out of the way and can turn a gear somehow. If you'd gear it low enough it should do fine. I doubt you'll use the reverse gear for much, so short bursts (one or two buggy lengths) should be fine, especially with the engine running so it would have enough charge to operate.

Either way, I'm just loving the way you're buliding that buggy out of the car bits. Looks awesome!

hi Joker
many people use starter motor for reverse so it must work ok and as you say you only have to reverse a bit to get your self out of the bushes after you have out braked your self, l would imagine you will have to retain the same sort of gearing of the starter ie the small gear that is on the starter and the full size flywheel/starter
ring and since the flywheel needs to be mounted on the back axle then you are going to have half a flywheel hanging down below, hence my comment about loosing clearance, the flywheel will also a pretty good impression of a saw blade whizzing round as well
l found this vid on youtube near the end you can see how he has mounted the flywheel next to his drive sproket, it does hang down a bit but not a major problem,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHXQsIEvuqQ&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRUfnrWXhRw&feature=player_embedded

l did ponder mounting a starter and flywheel higher up out of the way and then using a cam belt and pullys to transmit the drive back down to the axle,
but not to sure how robust a toothed cam belt would be in that application ?

Andy

 

[oz.]

I must say, your product is looking much better than the metro...

 

[OJM]

Lucky sod! Would love to do buggy racing round a track like that as a hobby. Project looks awesome!

 

[Baloo]

I must say, your product is looking much better than the metro...

thanks oz l think so too, but if l posted this on a metro forum they would probally want to string me up so beauty must be in the eye of the beholder or sumat like that

actually there is no metro in it as l used mgf subframes front and rear and a 1800cc mgf engine, but it still has metro in its dna as an mgf sits on 2 metro subframes anyway

 

[TheJoker]

I see what you mean Andy. I didn't imagine it that way at all. One could put the starter somewhere else and using some other chain/sprocket system.

Either way, keep at it and post more pics as you go along!

 

[Baloo]

l did a bit more on the buggy on sunday, made the rear legs for the roll hoop and the brackets so as they bolt on to the subframe,
l quite like the look of it with no roll hoop at all not really an option though
l have been haveing a look at shocks, need somethinh nice and long so as l can use the rear hoop legs as a fixing piont, going to investigate astra mk 2 rear shocks as l am being told they are 600mm long when extended which would be about right

and who'ed have thought an mgf wiring loom was over 30 feet long, l hope there is some wiring guru's on here when l reach that point

 

[Baloo]

managed to get a couple of hours on it after work tonight, thought l would tackle the petrol tank next, trusty gas bottle comes in handy, what a bar steward to unscrew the valve, gave up in the end so l wedged the valve open to convince myself it was definatly empty, then using a battery drill l drilled a 10mm hole in the top near the valve, once l had done this l filled it with water through the 10mm hole, that gave me the confidence to take the 9" grinder to the valve and off with his head
once the valve had been cut flush l tacked a piece of flat strap across the centre hole to give me something in the middle so as the hole saw would have a guide, then it was a simple matter to hole saw the top of the bottle of to take the fuel pump/sender unit,
the mgf fuel pump needs a shortening a bit but thats easily done

 

[TheJoker]

Enjoying the pictures a lot. Looks like you've got an amazing workshop there!

 

[Baloo]

Enjoying the pictures a lot. Looks like you've got an amazing workshop there!

hi joker
glad you are replying as l was starting to think there was no one out there,
workshops not amazing at all just a little larger than normal, when l was buying my first house 20 years ago a garage or a space to biuld one was top of my desirable list, l found a tiny ex council end terrace with a big space next to it, took me 5 years to find enough money to biuld a garage the size l thought appropriate its about 12' wide and 38' long with an extra bit on the back end where my bench is that was supose to be a laundry room but l have managed to duck that one for the last 15 years, l am sure we have out grown the house but finding another with a simalar sized workshop that l can afford is nigh on impossible, so l guess we are stuck here then

 

[TheJoker]

hi joker
glad you are replying as l was starting to think there was no one out there,
workshops not amazing at all just a little larger than normal, when l was buying my first house 20 years ago a garage or a space to biuld one was top of my desirable list, l found a tiny ex council end terrace with a big space next to it, took me 5 years to find enough money to biuld a garage the size l thought appropriate its about 12' wide and 38' long with an extra bit on the back end where my bench is that was supose to be a laundry room but l have managed to duck that one for the last 15 years, l am sure we have out grown the house but finding another with a simalar sized workshop that l can afford is nigh on impossible, so l guess we are stuck here then

That's a nice size. Very nice. I'm on an ex council terraced house, with one normal size garage. You know the ones that you can get a small car in, but not the doors open! Luckily we've got a brick shed too to keep the rubbish in (read lawn mower and other gardening stuff). Garage is quickly filling up. No chance to build anything four wheeled in there though.

Funnily in Brum, at my mother-in-law, there's a proper two car garage with a workbench along one side with potential up at the loft too. It's mainly used for storing junk, my chicadee's first motorbike and father-in-law's project kit-car that he's building. Wish I had that garage!!!

Anyway, keep the pics coming!

 

[Endacy]

Just thought i'd say i'm also following this build, you seem to be building it an an amazing rate! I'm trying to fix a few land rover bits and it just takes forever for me! Keep up the good work and keep taking pictures.

 

[Baloo]

hi Joker and Endacy
bear in mind that l started 2 if not 3 weeks before my first post on here so its not that fast really and besides l chose to use subframes so as to make it a quick biuld as l wont have work out any suspension gerometry, and l dident want to be making any suspension componets etc on this one, so all l have really done is join 2 subframes together with a bit of box section not even any doors or windscreen or heater etc to slow me down so its a pretty easy job as projects go,
its starting to look like a caterham or westfield to me now which isent what l was aiming at, l had in my head an idea that was more like the one below
which is a buggy my pal is biulding based on a toyota MR2, but its too late now to change direction

 

[TheJoker]

Baloo, I know what you mean, but I think it's quite clever to choose a car with two subframes and weld them together. Very time saving. I'd love to build something like the one above based on an MR2.

I'd love to get it registered too... LOL!

 

[bill_gj]

That old gas bottle seems like a good idea for a fuel tank - how are you going to seal the sender flange off? Does the MGF have a plastic tank with a big plastic nut clamping the flange down?

 

[Sam]

Nice build starting to take a nice shape when I first started reading this thought it was a box cart but moving on nicely and quickly, like the look of the MR2 as well that would make a great crosser.

 

[Baloo]

That old gas bottle seems like a good idea for a fuel tank - how are you going to seal the sender flange off? Does the MGF have a plastic tank with a big plastic nut clamping the flange down?

hi Bill
yes you are spot on the mgf tank is plastic and has a large male thread on the top and a platic ring screws down on to this pinching the pump/sender unit,
plan A was to have a couple of steel rings laser cut and weld one on the tank and bolt the other down on to it pinching the pump unit, but we are now on to plan B a mate of a mate is going to make a steel copy of the threaded top section of the mgf tank which l will weld onto my tank and then use the orginal plastic ring to screw the pump down, well thats todays plan tommorrows might be different

 

[offroad 68]

Baloo (a good friend of mine) has told me about this site so I thought I would come and have a look, I see Sam, Hambone is on here too, How are you!

Baloos latest (of many) project has been built in no time and is looking very good, look forward to seeing it in action.

The mr2 based buggy that baloo posted the picture of is a project of mine, looks good from the side (with baloos help) but needs work around the front suspension area because it does not look good from the front.
Lee.

 

[Baloo]

Nice build starting to take a nice shape when I first started reading this thought it was a box cart but moving on nicely and quickly, like the look of the MR2 as well that would make a great crosser.

Hi sam
remember me we spoke on the phone 18 months or so ago, l bumped into you over on minibuggy, so did Lee the owner of the MR2 buggy above and the 800cc pilot



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqYIU2BzTgY&feature=channel_page

you are right about it looking like a soap box l considered scrapping it at one point and starting again, but have ressisted that by telling my self its not an offroad buggy l am biulding but a grass gokart that will do 100mph
most of the stuff l have biult has been in round tube like the one below



having a play with box section is a bit of a change,

anyway l expect Lee will join and be along soon to tell you about his twin engined buggy, two 140bhp engines in a 750kg buggy


edit : l see he's already joined then

 

[Luke]

Rover V8 and Zf autobox? Looks like a LR axle in primer in the background too.

 

[Baloo]

Rover V8 and Zf autobox? Looks like a LR axle in primer in the background too.

yup 3.9 and auto box in rear wheel drive only form