ugh, not again already

[GoMopar440]

I like that double B pillar, have seen something like that in another buggy.

Probably on the Beeline Pack Rat, which has a very similar rear rack design to what his looks like now, and the Beeline Cobra that has a more standard looking diagonal rear top bar setup. Berrien also offers a double B pillar bar, but that is an added feature rather than standard like on the Pack Rat or the Cobra.

I definitely agree that it's turning out very nice so far. Even better is the fact that you are getting to fine tune the design to YOUR preferences and fitment, and not just another generic factory offering.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

The outer bars that go from the front to rear hoops are very similar to yours. Works great for getting in and out and probably good for leaning into trees.

I wondered if you were going to do a box or what in the center. That area in my blue buggy has a bar similar to the outer bars and makes a good place tor a GoPro. Also you could skin the box area and put a down light in there.

Looking good.

Lee

[Piledriver]

Is there going to be a plate over the carbs for the "pickup bed"?

Too bad a T4 with stock cooling/intake isn't in play, could have huge storage back there.

Great looking buggy!

[cbeck]

Thank's guys. I am just a shop grunt[beer run]. I owe thanks to my buddy, a mud truck guy known locally as wildfire jeff. Absolutely going to make a bed out of treadbrite. We tried 4 different outer bars before we settled on these. We kept trying double bends like the center bars, but we could not come up with anything that didn't stick out too far. I have some lexan laying around and am going to fit pieces between the top bars and try to center them on the bars to show them off. I know it is not a textbook x but is far better than what I had.
Speaking of lites, I am going to use some blue leds for a dope lite. I want to put a strip under the bed, but that may be too much look at me. Checked out another buddy's led lite bar with 5 watt cree's, couldn't see right for 20 minutes, sold.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I used the term "down light" for several reasons:

First, at my age the occasional in-ability to recall the words I want is irritating at times; the word "dome light" just wouldn't come to me until after I had hit "submit".

The second reason is that a reading/down quality light just plain come in handy at times. While I don't go out onto the dunes at night anymore as it has gotten to be a bit more than dangerous to do now days with all the SXSs and kids being allowed to drive rigs they are just to young, not strong enough or in-experienced to handle during the day much less in the dark but when I did (we used to play hide and seek at night or drive down to the ocean beach and watch the sun set): when getting into my buggy and finding that I am sitting on the harness and/or can't find the ends of the harness, looking at a map (a GPS now days kind of off-sets that) or a plethora of other reasons that suddenly come up; it is something that you or your passenger can suddenly need at times. The light here is often something that gets omitted in custom builds.

You are also right in the overly bright quality of lights now days. The under body lights et al, the last time I checked on it, are/were not legal in the state I live it (the land of perpetual fog). They are very confusing or distracting to other drivers and pedestrians for that matter plus, if not installed correctly can "blind" someone quite easily (the few ruin it for the many all too often).

[cbeck]

I started tearing the motor apart today. First thing I found was two more push rods starting to mushroom. I was getting ready to install some chromoly push rods before this happened. They should be able to be used in my new long block. The pistons look like new. No scratches in the cylinders or pistons. I have no problems with using them either after a hone and new rings.

[cbeck]

Got my motor apart, damn shame because this was the cleanest motor I've taken apart. I did find 1/2 of a rocker wave washer I didn't know I was missing. I had converted to bolt on shafts at about 500 miles. With the case split and the crank laying with dist drive, and flywheel still installed it had obout 010 to 012 endplay. the rods could wiggle the small end about 1/8" front to rear while still connected to crank.
Any who, started dialing in the rear suspension. Started with 8 1/2" travel. First problem, the flat stock used on the arms were hitting a new support bar. Trimmed a little off the flat stock and gained 3/4" up travel. Next started notching the spring plates. Took 1/8" off plates to get to the 17* I hear type 2 cv's are good for. Gained 1 1/2" droop. If I mocked this all up right, it gives me 11" travel using stock stops.

[cbeck]

Been awhile. Took my motor to my builder.Told the customer in front of me [ don,t think he was a regular] that he wasn't taking any more motors right now. Uh-oh right? Kept quite until that customer left, and then we unloaded my parts and talked some about the build. Thats why you should support your local flaps. Still told me 10 weeks, doh. Parts that have arrived- Bilstein 7100's for the rear, fuel filler kit, roll over valve,harness tabs, and a 32" 240 watt lite bar. Still to arrive- 10 gal fuel cell, box full of tabs, and the one I'm losing sleep over is the stage 1 mid travel beam kit. I have dreaded doing some of the things that need to be done,grinding and cleaning off. Got the harness tabs tacked in, and moved the p-brake lever forward because of the seats. Starting to cap the open ends of the torsion and made some templates for the lexan roof panels.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I'm pretty sure you will like the 7100 shocks. I run the older 6100 and the difference between what I had vs them was...no contest!

The top design looks very nice!

Lee

[dustymojave]

How thick are you going with the Lexan for the roof?

Back in the 70s when offroad racing rules were changed to require window nets and a roof to keep hands and arms inside in case of a rollover, I was a SCORE Tech Inspector. Some racers were very reluctant to go along with the new rules. They liked the open feeling of their cars as they had been. At 1st the material of the roof was not specified precisely. One guy with a race buggy put on a roof panel of 1/4" Lexan. I approved it. Then the SCORE Tech Chief of the time, Carl Scholl, walked past the car and questioned the roof. He would not accept it. I pointed out that in my work as a Plastics Research Lab Tech, I had learned that 1/4" thick Lexan would stop a .45 caliber bullet at point-blank range. The owner of the car pulled a hand sledge hammer out of his truck, walked over to the car and hit the roof with the hammer. The hammer bounced off leaving no visible mark. Still Carl would not accept it. He referred to it as "just cheap plastic". I never saw that racer again. Can't say I blame him.

It WILL scratch easily. But there IS plastic polish for that.

[cbeck]

I have enough left in my lifetime supply of used 1/8" to make the roof. It's just for keeping the sun off of my thinning head. I will scuff it up, then prime and spray bomb. I won a twenty dollar bet with the 1/4" lexan once. Bet a coworker that he couldn't break a piece. He laid it on a bench vice that was on one of those old school tables you found in woodshop, hit it with a ten# sledge and proceeded to knock the vice off of the table. That set up had previously survived the abuse of thousands of high school kids.

[cbeck]

Man, if it wasn't for lee this placed might be slower than woodsbuggy.com. So my beam kit showed up minus parts. Figures. Got the horns capped, some lites on, a lot of tabs tacked, ran new tubes for pbrake cables, relocated the pbrake handle, and the first roof panel in.

[cbeck]

Received my arms friday,1 3/4 x 1/2. Dan @ dans perf said his supply of chinese arms dried up and had these made for me. Does anybody recognize them? Might be a while before I can get back to it. My disc between my hips and my l1 bulged out on one side leading to bone on bone and l3/l4 is all ccockeyed trying to make up for the lower problem. Working with a quackopractor to try and resolve my problem. He has got me to the point that I can at least sit upright now.

[cbeck]

Somebody on TOS thinks these are tweeds arms, sweet. Got a few parts to install and a few to unload.

[Leatherneck]

Don't recognize the arms. He say why his source dried up? Hope your alignment problem gets better.

We need more members posting, not just on their posts. We all can make this a better forum.