Suzuki buggy build

[rcx132]

Hi everyone,

Now that my home built buggy looks like an actual buggy I thought I'd post some photos of it. If there's interest I'll also post some early photos of the build.

The motivation behind this project was to keep my brain busy and have a place to relax and tinker. I had previously modified a 4x4 for serious off road use but it didn’t work out, it was just too challenging trying to get any decent performance out of the stock suspension and to build anything around the stock bodywork.

This project started with over 12 months of research, including watching way too many US rock crawler/bouncer videos, learning suspension geometry, and doing CAD drawings.

I settled on Suzuki as the donor as it's well suited for a small buggy. Suzuki’s had a lot of 4x4s over the decades, the parts are cross compatible and there’s support for essential things like crawler gears. The cars are lightweight, and relatively strong for what they are.

The chassis and drivetrain is from a Suzuki Samurai which has a traditional layout with separate transfer box and solid axles. The engine is an early Vitara 1.6 16v injection with stock ECU. It bolts straight to the Samurai gearbox and has smooth power delivery that works well off road. This engine and drivetrain are a match made in heaven for a small 4x4.

I went for four-link long travel suspension at the rear. Three-link suspension at the front to avoid having to use hydraulic steering. Front shocks are 14" and rear are 18". I built for compliance for 4x4 trials.

It took two years of work to have something barebones testable in the field. Then another year to do things like the cabin, power steering, winches, body panels. I reckon another year to do finishing touches like the lights, diff locks and final custom axles. So five years total !!!

It's performed well so far but I'm still testing its limits and my skills. I was on some of the black trails last weekend with a much heavier, larger car. The larger car did better in deep mud, he'd sink to the bottom and find grip. Mine did much better on the uphill climbs due to less weight pulling it back down.

The next major piece of work will be custom axles. I initially fitted Jimny axles as they allow space for the panhard bar, but they're not strong. They're also a little too narrow to allow the full articulation of the suspension at the rear and fitment of bigger 31" tyres which are essential in UK mud.

Thank you to everyone’s help. I wouldn't have been able to finish the project without the advice and knowledge on this forum. I’ve also had help from my brother, buckets of tolerance from my dear wife and my young kids who'd play around the workshop instead of being properly supervised.

 

[Kayos]

An almost finished project, must be a prize in itself!

Looks great fun

 

[Blobber]

Looks like it's had a bit of use already!

 

[lincoln2013]

I would love to see some more pictures of the buggy especially build photos. I built a Blitz 4x4 buggy based on a samurai with a Vauxhall engine several years ago.

 

[rcx132]

An almost finished project, must be a prize in itself!

Ha so true. I kept a lot of things simple, you can see the square shock "hoops" etc. It's no project Binky! To be honest, the reason I didn't post earlier is that my fabrication was all fairly basic.

I would love to see some more pictures of the buggy especially build photos. I built a Blitz 4x4 buggy based on a samurai with a Vauxhall engine several years ago.

I'll post them bit by bit

 

[lincoln2013]

I can see a massive amount of work has gone in to this project. What axles would you fit now? I imagine it is hard to find suitable axles. I fitted a lock right into my rear diff which was a poor man’s diff lock at the time but it transforms the vehicle off road.

 

[Hotstuff]

I hadn’t posted as I recall you were concerned about losing continuity.

What a marvellous creation, I’d love to see more to detail its evolution.

I hope you’ll keep us posted on the custom axles.

 

[arther dailey]

Hi everyone,

Now that my home built buggy looks like an actual buggy I thought I'd post some photos of it. If there's interest I'll also post some early photos of the build.

The motivation behind this project was to keep my brain busy and have a place to relax and tinker. I had previously modified a 4x4 for serious off road use but it didn’t work out, it was just too challenging trying to get any decent performance out of the stock suspension and to build anything around the stock bodywork.

This project started with over 12 months of research, including watching way too many US rock crawler/bouncer videos, learning suspension geometry, and doing CAD drawings.

I settled on Suzuki as the donor as it's well suited for a small buggy. Suzuki’s had a lot of 4x4s over the decades, the parts are cross compatible and there’s support for essential things like crawler gears. The cars are lightweight, and relatively strong for what they are.

The chassis and drivetrain is from a Suzuki Samurai which has a traditional layout with separate transfer box and solid axles. The engine is an early Vitara 1.6 16v injection with stock ECU. It bolts straight to the Samurai gearbox and has smooth power delivery that works well off road. This engine and drivetrain are a match made in heaven for a small 4x4.

I went for four-link long travel suspension at the rear. Three-link suspension at the front to avoid having to use hydraulic steering. Front shocks are 14" and rear are 18". I built for compliance for 4x4 trials.

It took two years of work to have something barebones testable in the field. Then another year to do things like the cabin, power steering, winches, body panels. I reckon another year to do finishing touches like the lights, diff locks and final custom axles. So five years total !!!

It's performed well so far but I'm still testing its limits and my skills. I was on some of the black trails last weekend with a much heavier, larger car. The larger car did better in deep mud, he'd sink to the bottom and find grip. Mine did much better on the uphill climbs due to less weight pulling it back down.

The next major piece of work will be custom axles. I initially fitted Jimny axles as they allow space for the panhard bar, but they're not strong. They're also a little too narrow to allow the full articulation of the suspension at the rear and fitment of bigger 31" tyres which are essential in UK mud.

Thank you to everyone’s help. I wouldn't have been able to finish the project without the advice and knowledge on this forum. I’ve also had help from my brother, buckets of tolerance from my dear wife and my young kids who'd play around the workshop instead of being properly supervised.

View attachment 472307 View attachment 472308 View attachment 472309 View attachment 472310 View attachment 472311 View attachment 472312

fabulous and the smile on your sons face says it all really ,thanks for posting

 

[arther dailey]

Ha so true. I kept a lot of things simple, you can see the square shock "hoops" etc. It's no project Binky! To be honest, the reason I didn't post earlier is that my fabrication was all fairly basic.


I'll post them bit by bit

dont put yourselff down, a lot of people would love to be capable of doing what you have done , please put up full build thread .

 

[rcx132]

What axles would you fit now? I imagine it is hard to find suitable axles.

I’m focusing on keeping the weight low as this gives the buggy an advantage. So my plan is for hybrid axles, using Samurai housing and hubs with Jimny steering arms to bypass the panhard bar. The smaller Suzuki axles increase ground clearance, so a Suzuki with 31" tyres should match the ground clearance of a larger vehicle with 33"+ tyres.

To get the suspension clearance, I’ll widen the axles. I’ll need to splash out on custom, longer, and stronger shafts. I’ll also look at electric rear-wheel steering.

 

[Bullet2012]

the lads smile says its all worth it

 

[rcx132]

the smile on your sons face says it all really ,thanks for posting

He's taken a surprising liking to the project and the hobby. We couldn't do the tough tracks at Slindon 4x4 as we need helmets, and he keeps asking when we'll get them. There was also a moment when we got really stuck, I had to gas it and the tyres started filling the cabin with mud. I was worried that he'd be scared, I looked over and he was loving it.

 

[Robotstar5]

I’m focusing on keeping the weight low as this gives the buggy an advantage. So my plan is for hybrid axles, using Samurai housing and hubs with Jimny steering arms to bypass the panhard bar. The smaller Suzuki axles increase ground clearance, so a Suzuki with 31" tyres should match the ground clearance of a larger vehicle with 33"+ tyres.

To get the suspension clearance, I’ll widen the axles. I’ll need to splash out on custom, longer, and stronger shafts. I’ll also look at electric rear-wheel steering.

Did you get the idea from watching "Matts off road recovery" on Youtube?

 

[arther dailey]

He's taken a surprising liking to the project and the hobby. We couldn't do the tough tracks at Slindon 4x4 as we need helmets, and he keeps asking when we'll get them. There was also a moment when we got really stuck, I had to gas it and the tyres started filling the cabin with mud. I was worried that he'd be scared, I looked over and he was loving it.

brilliant , thats great , re axles mitsi 200 axles have diff lock , animal models 2006 onwards , might be suitable ?

 

[rcx132]

I'll start to post some of the early photos, and explain what I remember from the build. Unfortunately I didn't take as many photos as I could have.

About half of the initial work was suspension. Initial designs were done in CAD but when I started building I soon found that real world deviations took me further and further away from the CAD model. So most of the work was done using basic mock brackets, thin tubes, and tiny rod end joints just to size everything up and test the suspension cycle.

I was going for maximum travel, articulation, and good geometry. This meant:

- Anti squat and anti dive. The action of the car squatting during acceleration and diving when brakes are applied. In itself not bad things, but if set up wrong you can end up with strange results where the suspension links multiply the action or even reverse it. There was even a guy on another forum who'd got this so wrong he couldn't get his car up on the trailer as the suspension would lift as soon as his wheels hit resistance.
- Bump steer. This is where the wheels steer slightly when they hit a bump, resulting in unpredictable driving. Managed to eliminate this.
- Roll centre. The higher the more the car rolls.

All these factors played against each other and had to be rechecked with each tweak, and tested with the wheels in bump, droop, full left, right, and all combinations of these in all corners! Crazy work.

Another challenge was getting everything to work around each other during the full suspension cycle. Things kept colliding, eg links against propshaft etc.

I also wanted to keep the car body low to reduce roll over. This may seem silly on a 4x4, but with solid axle suspension, it's the axles that set the ground clearance, not the body. Achieving a low body with high suspension travel meant designing the suspension to "tuck into" the car when in full bump. This meant more potential collisions and more fine tweaking.

 

[rcx132]

Did you get the idea from watching "Matts off road recovery" on Youtube?

View attachment 472355

:-) rear wheel steer is common off road. The electric option is just a thought at the moment. The car is very front heavy so I'm loathed to fit a heavy pump to the engine for traditional hydro steer,

brilliant , thats great , re axles mitsi 200 axles have diff lock , animal models 2006 onwards , might be suitable ?

I'll add that to my list of Googling :-)

 

[lincoln2013]

:-) rear wheel steer is common off road. The electric option is just a thought at the moment. The car is very front heavy so I'm loathed to fit a heavy pump to the engine for traditional hydro steer,

I'll add that to my list of Googling :-)

I shortened the centre prop shaft between gearbox & transferbox which helps with reducing front end weight by moving the engine back.
Unfortunately the Mitsubishi l200 has independent front suspension not a live axle.

 

[rcx132]

One of the challenges at this stage of the build was to cut the shapes for suspension brackets. Some of the shapes were simple, like the one you see here. Others had compound angles and were complex. Seeing as I had a CAD model, I decided to CNC cut templates that I could then use to guide a handheld plasma cutter. Initially I used a cheap £100 CNC router, shown in photo, but I later upgraded to a much faster CO2 laser cutter shown. This roundabout cutting method (CNC plywood template then handheld plasma) gave about 1mm accuracy which was plenty for what I was doing.

The laser cutter later proved itself very useful, I used it to cut various kit boxes, the dashboard box, bus bars etc.