Dirtbox Venom mini-buggy upgrade/rebuild!

[mysteryboy28]

thought i'd throw the tank in for some color.

 

[greaser]

It has legs and feet. Looks good

 

[mysteryboy28]

the tank is huge too, compared to mike's tank. totally worth the extra $10! he said he's run out of gas a couple of times already. lol. i think it'd be wise to have a small 1 gallon gas can stored safely in the buggy for those moments when you're way out in the woods/trails/dunes...

 

[newrider3]

IMO with the amount of production welding you're doing, you should pick up a real MIG welder or a gas kit for yours. It just pains me to see good fabrication glued together with flux core and covered in brown crap.

 

[mysteryboy28]

i would LOVE a good mig welder, but i'm stuck with 110v out in my rented garage that's a good 50 feet from the house. plus i'm not making enough on the buggies to afford an expensive welder - yet. i seriously make like $6/hr at the moment while trying to get the business started. however, my next buggy will bump me up into the $10/hr range. woo-hoo! lol.

meanwhile, decided to modify the buggy for more leg room. it was a snug fit for me, i'm 6'2", would like tall people to be able to slide the seat back and be comfy. i don't recall how tall greaser said he was, but either way i'm making the thing nice and roomy to sit in!

my glue jobs hold together well!

 

[greaser]

I am about the same as you 6'1" or 6'2" depending on who measures me lol. I am glad it will have the extra fuel capacity because one of the reasons I decided to go buggy was so I could do longer trips. Yeah they have the flat fuel cans now a 2 gallon on is pretty easy to stash.

 

[mysteryboy28]

backrest bar and V-bars removed (and surfaces ground smooth) and replaced with recessed bars for more leg room. pretty spiffy!

 

[greaser]

Looks like that should work. Are you still using the 500?

 

[mysteryboy28]

dat's da plan Stan! de plane boss, de plane!

 

[greaser]

Good good wheelie time.

 

[mysteryboy28]

spindles came in the mail today, so it's A-arm makin' time!

 

[greaser]

Score.

 

[greaser]

Keep this mantra in mind long travel, hard use. ;-)

 

[mysteryboy28]

i'll work the best mojo i can with what i gotz. it'll be heavy duty fo sho!

 

[mysteryboy28]

A-arms almost done, just need angled bars, then cut out center of pivot tube so i can quadruple shear the A-arms. half of the A-arm mounting tabs done, 8 3/4" holes bored out. lots of fun it is to bore holes - it's boring!

cut out the center support bars in the A-arm housing - the 2 1 1/4" tubes will be replaced with 8 1 1/2" wide 3/16" strips for mounting the A-arms. i think that's a pretty durable replacement!

 

[machinist@large]

..... lots of fun it is to bore holes - it's boring!

:arf:Oh.... it get even better! And here's why; the next time you're "boring holes", ponder this question: which came first, the name, or the operation?

As a machinist, I can tell you this debate has been ongoing for avery, very long time...... ponder it at your leisure!

 

[exenos]

Holes are the worst, I will put a project on hold literally for days just to avoid drilling large holes.

 

[mysteryboy28]

it's not so bad with the big 12 amp drill press on a stand that i picked up for $40.

i use lots of oil, and go at the lowest speed the drill press will go, which is like 240 RPMs.

i had to bore out 16 3/4" holes for the front, and i did 8 holes for the back. plus i did 6 1 1/2" holes for the bearing plates. fun! blah.

 

[fowler]

ha u should see some of the drill presses they have in machine shops
im sure machinist has seen them
dirty great big gear driven ones
nothing is going to stall them out

u should cut out the bearing holes with a circle cutter on an oxy accetalene or LPG torch

u may want to get some cutting fluid
a mixture of coolant and oil (i think)
its great want a differance it makes

 

[mysteryboy28]

A-arms basically done. need to trim out the center section of the pivot tubes, and make and weld on shock mount tabs. A-arm mounts almost done, just need to double up on them for quadruple shear.