DUNE BUGGY

[Baloo]

ok ive answered my own question, good old Wikipedia, the petrol V8 in a disco 3 was a ford derived 4.4 lt engine, i dont have one of them so i cant use one so the only question that remains is will a disco 3 transferbox bolt up to a p38 gearbox

 

[Dozzer]

No
the p38 transfer boxes were just a later version of the lt230, but borgwarner the D3 is a ZF and has horrible clutches and all sorts of angry pixies in it.
The output on the D3/RRS are on the L/H side, on all the earlier LR stuff the transfer case output is on the R/H
Oh and in the p38 the box was only rated to 360nm of torque but BMW put it behind the M57 with 380mn!!
The 8 speed in the D4 very strong unit will take well past 550nm

 

[Shox Dr]

No
the p38 transfer boxes were just a later version of the lt230, but borgwarner the D3 is a ZF and has horrible clutches and all sorts of angry pixies in it.
The output on the D3/RRS are on the L/H side, on all the earlier LR stuff the transfer case output is on the R/H
Oh and in the p38 the box was only rated to 360nm of torque but BMW put it behind the M57 with 380mn!!
The 8 speed in the D4 very strong unit will take well past 550nm

ISTR the Borgwarner were duplex chain drive

 

[Dozzer]

ISTR the Borgwarner were duplex chain drive

Yep but they had similar footprint to LT230 as they couldn't fit anything else in, just had stupid viscous coupling, but better than D3 clutches

 

[Baloo]

No
the p38 transfer boxes were just a later version of the lt230, but borgwarner the D3 is a ZF and has horrible clutches and all sorts of angry pixies in it.
The output on the D3/RRS are on the L/H side, on all the earlier LR stuff the transfer case output is on the R/H
Oh and in the p38 the box was only rated to 360nm of torque but BMW put it behind the M57 with 380mn!!
The 8 speed in the D4 very strong unit will take well past 550nm

not sure i understood all that but im more than happy to accept NO as the answer, 2wd it will be then

 

[Dozzer]

not sure i understood all that but im more than happy to accept NO as the answer, 2wd it will be then

Sorry, my other half drags me away from people when i start talking about engines & gearboxes,
She says she can see their eyes glazing over after 5 mins

 

[Wildefalcon]

I'd try stick with the 4x4. Lots of very clever anti "stuck" traction aids in the disco ECUs.

 

[Bullet2012]

Lots of very clever get you"stuck" traction aids in the disco

ftfy

 

[Dozzer]

I'd try stick with the 4x4. Lots of very clever anti "stuck" traction aids in the disco ECUs.

and a bloody stupid angle sensor on the steering wheel, that if its more that 5deg out tries to apply the traction control on, half way round a roundabout!!
Not and experience i want to repeat in a hurry.

 

[Baloo]

well not much to report really, ive spent my time building a wildlife feeder instead of working on the buggy, oh and 2 weeks in spain soaking up the sun, rained every day since ive been back, good job theres a roof on my workshop then i guess



but back to the interesting stuff, the buggy, ive cut another 4" out of the chassis to make the body sit with the wheels in the right place. ive cut out any floor i dident agree with , i can change the gap between the arches and tyres from zero to 7" with the air suspension, next thing to do is remake the floor but to do that i need a bulkhead position to get a bulkhead position i need and engine and box in situ, now the jag engine is still in the jag and it will be a slow process removing that a bit at a time so l think im just going to pop a rover V8 in there for now so i can fabricate the bulkhead im guessing the jag V8 wont be that different to a rover size wise , i can err on the plus side and leave a little extra room, using a rover engine means i can move it about under its own steam later down the line whilst im still stripping the jag

 

[sako243]

the p38 transfer boxes were just a later version of the lt230,

P38 boxes are nothing like the LT230. They're chain driven and output the drive on the opposite side. If I remember correctly they're a borg warner design.

 

[Hotstuff]

Hi @Baloo
I was just wondering how you are and if you’ve made any progress with your projects?

 

[Baloo]

Hi @Baloo
I was just wondering how you are and if you’ve made any progress with your projects?

Hi

well the short answer is no not much progress was made, my workshop was out on a farm in the middle of nowhere and the lowlife came and broke in they stole my Rtech welder and plasma cutter and all my dewalt battery tools grinders etc but they also took my mojo and i lost interest in going to the workshop and the buggy ground to a halt, however that eventually past and ive just about finished my 24ft x24ft garage on the side of my house, so the buggy will be coming home soon so i can finish it off, so im all good again thank you

 

[Hotstuff]

That’s terrible news but glad to hear that you’re making plans for future projects.

Good luck and do keep us posted.

 

[Baloo]

That’s terrible news but glad to hear that you’re making plans for future projects.

Good luck and do keep us posted.

hi all
not much to report really, well there is a bit the disco chassis has been striped bare and is waiting to go down to the shot blasters and i think ive made a decision on which engine to used in it, originally i bought an S type R supercharged jag with a bit of body damage that ran perfectly well and that engine/box was going into the beach buggy but the more i dug into the wiring on the jag the more i scared myself that it was to much for me to cope with, i have a few options with engines ive bought over the years and managed to squirrel away in the barn
options are many and varied
1........ rover 4.6 thats still sat in a P38 it runs great and has the advantage i could keep the transfer box on it and have the beach buggy 4wd since the disco 3 has the front diff on the same side
2.... 350 small block chevy that was in a winibego that came my way on the plus side its done 27,000 miles and been run on gas from the factory so it like new inside, but all sbc's arnt born equal when i run the numbers it comes back as 150bhp and all torque to drag a 5 ton camper around its also auto which i like but will need lots of new parts to get it to 250 bhp
3........ lexus 3uz no downsides except maybe its a bit complicated to wire up but 330 bhp from the factory might make up for that

4..... small block ford 302 V8 i bought a ford Granada that had been fitted with a rebuilt mustang engine, it was quite lively and had been spun resulting in rear end damage it was destined for my cobra but its been sat in the barn for 15 years and i think this is what im going to use in the beach buggy only about 3 wires and it will be happy only down side i can see is that is got a 5 speed tremec gearbox on the back and i would prefer auto but will have to live with that after all its just a toy not a daily driver

so i think the mustang engine is going into the buggy
the other thing that has slowed me down is that i was asked to biuld a go kart for the grand kids to use in the garden, was supossed to be for christmas but i dont think i will quite make it ho hum, i mean its to wet and will chew the lawn up wont it

this is what popped into my head when i was asked to make one

well that sort of thing a few tubes a lawnmower engine some balloon type tyres and off they go , jobs a good un, then i got to thinking about the augments over whos go it was so i decided a 2 seater might fit the bill better
and then the lack of reverse and lack of roll cage started to occupy my tiny brain.................

so l made the decision to base it on a car drive train so it would have 4 or 5 forward gears and a reverse even a handbrake etc etc
so this came along a mazda mx5 na,
na' and nb's seem to have a reputation for being reliable not so sure about the nc as its ford based but any way it was auto so even easier for the kids to drive

was to far gone rust wise for me to be motivated to weld it up

 

[Baloo]

so the mx5 was driven into the old barn lifted up on the forklift and introduced to the rattle gun and poof just like that the body was gone

 

[Baloo]

so off with the powerframe that connects the gearbox to the diff to make the bits smaller and easier to handle
strange how car manufactures use different types/grades of steel on their cars this body shell was so rotted out it was like a lace curtain and yet the subframes which must be the same age which is 35 years are like new, i was expecting a battle with all the suspension bolts, i mean 35 years stuck up inside a tube they are bound to be rusted in , nope not a bit of it every bolt just undid like it was put in yesterday and slid out by hand i call that a win, onto the back of my trusty tranny for a quick wash and then home to my garage

 

[Baloo]

so it duly went home to my newly built garage so i could tinker away at my leisure
now there are no plans or predetermined sizes im just going with the flow

once it was on the bench i could try and see how much i could try and shorten it by

i sort of went along with the smaller is better idea and that was from a selfish point of view really as when its finished i dont want it taking up real estate in my garage when its not in use if i made it smaller enough i could make the end of the garden shed swing open and it could live in there this was a mistake and would come back to bite me later it would have been better to just lengthen the shed by a couple of feet but hey ho

there were many decisions to be made here like how short can i go ? the gearbox is bolted to the diff so the there is no differential movement between them so a 2" long probshaft wouldent care and how wide should i make the body work or indeed do i need body work if its only going to pirouette around the daffodils , maybe side panels might be of use when its embedded in the rose garden

how far should the seats be apart nice and tight together ? but that leaves the tyres sticking out a long way looks nice but makes it easy for them to hook a tree and rip the back wheels off

and how about the fuel tank i dont need the original mx5 tank if its only going round the back garden no sense in dragging 10 gallons around

so maybe some thing small made from a gas bottle or fire extinguisher

 

[Baloo]

tyres were a problem too i have some banded steels that are 12" wide and that was the look i was going for carlos fandanglas, but alas i couldent find any tyres that were 295 wide in a 13" diameter , i tried suzuki wheels on the back which was the look i wanted but couldent find a cheap way of adapting from the 4x100 stud paten to 5x139

i like the look but couldent find tyres to fit
these are 12" but dont clear the brakes

in this picture the wheelbase is around 72" but i later pulled it out to 80"

i had by this time settled on those wheels as i had them, will have to spray them silver and see if i can squeeze 255x45x17 on the back so as the trye wall sticks out to try and protect the rims a bit i cant image 2 ten year olds are going to be that good at negotiating the trees




i guess we all have a different idea of what looks good and what dosent but in my eye i dont like any bodywork in front of the front wheels or behind the back wheels, probably stem from offroading

anyway this is an example of what i dident want, imagine that on speed humps let along my vegetable patch, im sure its fine on flat smooth road, but i dont have any in my back garden

 

[Baloo]

so i wanted to use these wheels

but couldent find any tyres, no problem in 12" or 14" dia but not 13" which the wheels are

i woud have happily used these Suzuki wheels but couldent find a cheap way of adapting the stud patten

so i ended up with these not what i want but i had them, will be ok in silver i guess