- Thread starter Baloo
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so i started to play around with wheel base and seats i set the seats and the front and rear subframes on a pair of 4" rails so i could slide them about till i was happy, found a pair of plastic seats that dident have a purpose in life at that time the ideas was to have a nice flat bottom i could weld or rivit a sheet of steel/aluminum to i do like a nice flat bottom, that way it wouldn't get hung up in the shrubbery
these seats dident last they were a bit wide and i thought the grand kids might slide about in them too much , i did come by a pair of smart car seats, roadster i think , much narrower
these seats dident last they were a bit wide and i thought the grand kids might slide about in them too much , i did come by a pair of smart car seats, roadster i think , much narrower
ha ha ha get in the que lol
so where to put the exhaust , ground clearance is limited maybe 4" under the floor having a silencer under there just wouldent last it would be ripped of first trip through the rockery, could maybe go along side the sill like a seven type car would be high up away from the floor but first slide in to a tree would make it banana shaped so i decided it would have to go in the transmission tunnel not just tucked up in it a bit but right on top of the gearbox 
so once the subframes engine and seats were sat more or less where i think they looked pretty it was time to join up all the pieces, you could just use a couple of bits of box section to bolt the front subframe to the rear would be nice and easy but you would have a very high floor in the seat area. wouldent be very strong and you precarious bits would be dangling down very exposed , but above all that i had a load of 50x50x2mm box section offcuts that were all 4' long and i wanted to use those up lol
so i found a bit of ally 4mm rod and hand bent it to the shape i thought would work
i measured all the lengths and angles and chopped up all my offcuts
i just clamped one on top of the other to get the opposite side
so i was away i guess you would call those bits the chassis, i used a bit more 2" box for the front and rear keeping it as short and as close to the wheels as i could
plenty of opportunity to practice with the 9" grinder
so i found a bit of ally 4mm rod and hand bent it to the shape i thought would work
i measured all the lengths and angles and chopped up all my offcuts
i just clamped one on top of the other to get the opposite side
so i was away i guess you would call those bits the chassis, i used a bit more 2" box for the front and rear keeping it as short and as close to the wheels as i could
plenty of opportunity to practice with the 9" grinder
rcx132
Philip
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Those plastic seats are made to military spec, Jordanian military I believe. That's why they're wide. I find them perfectly comfortable and are waterproof.
Baloo did you finish your previous buggy? We spoke when I first started dreaming about buggies about 8 years ago.
Hi
ive had at least half a dozen sets of those seats in several colours except white, they come from somewhere over cambridge way might be huntindon and he did tell me they went into something military when i was collecting but hes happy to sell to anyone who gives him money lol
i cant remember which project i would have been working on 8 years ago, i have an attention span that runs out after 6 months so i tend to cycle through projects, when i get fed up or lack motivation i send one to the back of the barn and dig another one out and carry on with that one for a few months and then back on the previous one etc etc
You've missed a trick there with that tunnel - given the height of it I would be using it as a backbone - attaching the top at both ends to the bulkheads/top suspension towers. Could have got a stiffer car or same stiffness lighter?so where to put the exhaust , ground clearance is limited maybe 4" under the floor having a silencer under there just wouldent last it would be ripped of first trip through the rockery, could maybe go along side the sill like a seven type car would be high up away from the floor but first slide in to a tree would make it banana shaped so i decided it would have to go in the transmission tunnel not just tucked up in it a bit but right on top of the gearbox
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rcx132
Philip
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- London, UK
Yup they had an order from the military, which they fulfilled, and then carried on making them as they had the moulds and presumably no patent to stop them. I must have been bored as I dug deeper and found them on Jordanian border patrol buggies
i agree backbone would have been good and if i was a road car i might have gone that way but i had to keep reminding myself its for 2 ten year old kids, all they will be interested in is that moves they wont know what sort of chassis it is, and i was in a rush as i wanted my workshop back but ihave to admit i did enjoy chopping up metal and making it into something , so much so im going to biuld another one for me but with a bit more finesse oh and lots more horses lol
it was difficult knowing how much effort to put into it knowing it would never been cleaned looked after etc, i could have just made a rectangle bolted the axles on and im sure they would have been fine with that but i did put a bit of effort into making it a bit curvy
so where did i get to...........
oh yes deciding on how much to shorten the length by , as mush as possible was my thoughts, but as the gearbox is bolted to the diff with a power frame (ppf) you gotta shorten that too
18" turned out be to be a nice round number that would allow the frame to weld back together
18" out of the wheelbase was a little to much but as i wanted to move the engine back 9" in the front subframe it would half that
you can see where i just welded new mounts on the subframe 9" back, this was to pull the radiator back to line up with the front wheels to avoid that gastly front over hang,
oh yes deciding on how much to shorten the length by , as mush as possible was my thoughts, but as the gearbox is bolted to the diff with a power frame (ppf) you gotta shorten that too
18" turned out be to be a nice round number that would allow the frame to weld back together
18" out of the wheelbase was a little to much but as i wanted to move the engine back 9" in the front subframe it would half that
you can see where i just welded new mounts on the subframe 9" back, this was to pull the radiator back to line up with the front wheels to avoid that gastly front over hang,
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when i stripped the mx5 i undid all the wiring carefully with the intention of using the whole loom and just zip tying any un used plugs up out of the way
but there was so much unused stuff it was a bit much,
so i decided it needed to go on a diet anything that looked like it wasent needed went ,
and theres still quite a bit i can lose from this slim line version, like i still have 2 fuse boxes im thinking it will want just 2 fuses one for the ecu and one for the fuel pump
but there was so much unused stuff it was a bit much,
so i decided it needed to go on a diet anything that looked like it wasent needed went ,
and theres still quite a bit i can lose from this slim line version, like i still have 2 fuse boxes im thinking it will want just 2 fuses one for the ecu and one for the fuel pump
it was going to have headlights but as i cut all that wiring out it may or may not, maybe some kc daylighters on top of the roll hoop
starting of thinking a couple of round lights would look ok
then thought triangular ones might make it look a bit more mean
even found some old ford ka headlights that were triangular
starting of thinking a couple of round lights would look ok
then thought triangular ones might make it look a bit more mean
even found some old ford ka headlights that were triangular
when i stripped the loom i found this after market immobilizer tucked up inside the loom
all the wires were black but it was still easy to follow them back to where they cut into the loom, all it did was cut the feed to the starter and fuel pump, so that went in the bin
all the wires were black but it was still easy to follow them back to where they cut into the loom, all it did was cut the feed to the starter and fuel pump, so that went in the bin
so once the main rails were made out of 2" box i just added the floor in out of 40mm box where i thought it needed to be, no plans just go as close as possible to the gearbox and out about half way across the tyre,
some 5mm flat strap for the seats to mount on and a hoop at the front for the pedals to swing off
then i formed the transmission tunnel out of 30x15mm box which will get ally panels over it
chopped up a few old signs to make the transmission tunnel cover panels
then to make the gearchange i just welded a bit of tube on the old selector lever big enough that i could get a socket up the middle to bolt it on the gearbox , will have a small lever welded to it latter
some 5mm flat strap for the seats to mount on and a hoop at the front for the pedals to swing off
then i formed the transmission tunnel out of 30x15mm box which will get ally panels over it
chopped up a few old signs to make the transmission tunnel cover panels
then to make the gearchange i just welded a bit of tube on the old selector lever big enough that i could get a socket up the middle to bolt it on the gearbox , will have a small lever welded to it latter
and then i needed something for the top of the shocks to bolt to,
kept the remains of the body shell for a while so as i had a reference where the top mounts needed to be,
i had subframe mounting bolts for a datum so was easy to replicate the position
now i wanted the go kart to sit higher than a stock mx5 which meant moving the top mount down hill a bit and as the wheels/suspension were hanging in free air while it was on the bench i wasent really sure where that was so i decided they would be better bolted on that way i would have adjustment
fronts were pretty similar
kept the remains of the body shell for a while so as i had a reference where the top mounts needed to be,
i had subframe mounting bolts for a datum so was easy to replicate the position
now i wanted the go kart to sit higher than a stock mx5 which meant moving the top mount down hill a bit and as the wheels/suspension were hanging in free air while it was on the bench i wasent really sure where that was so i decided they would be better bolted on that way i would have adjustment
fronts were pretty similar
rcx132
Philip
- Messages
- 2,929
- Location
- London, UK
Hey Baloo. I faced the same decision. Everyone was telling me to just reuse the donor car loom but the amount of extra bloat on it and the poor fit was a bit much.
you dont realize how much wiring there is until youve got to find somewhere for it, im not sure ive done the right thing cutting out all the bloat, but there was just so much including all the wiring for the pop up headlights, i will know in the next week or so it should be running on the engine stand i just made, lets see how many headaches it gives me
obviously i dident need the engine stand just to run the mazda engine but as soon as its running i want to mount my mustang engine in it and get that running for the beach buggy
have you got you suzuki engine running on your cut down loom ?
