Dirtbox Venom mini-buggy upgrade/rebuild!

[mysteryboy28]

got out to the garage and did some cleaning and sorting. threw the new front tires on. it was like 5 dregrees out, so after a couple of hours the temp only got up to like 30 degrees with the heater running continuously. no fun.

now i'm dealing with kids with the flu. we've seen 105.2 degree fevers. yikes! that was my wife's youngest, who seems to be recovering fine. now my youngest has it (started thursday with a barky seal-like cough, followed by mild fever), she woke me up this morning with a 104 degree fever and vomiting. yay. her mom texted that she has a fever herself now, so i've got to take care of my sick little one on her time (i have my girls every weekend, and every wednesday).

meanwhile, some warmer weather these next few days, so i'll get out to the garage and get some work done!

 

[greaser]

New tires are good.

 

[greaser]

Any progress?

 

[landuse]

Any progress?

Yeah. We haven't heard much from this for a while

 

[mysteryboy28]

my oldest daughter finally felt good enough to go to school today, then of course called from school an hour before school was out to tell me she was feeling cruddy again. i told her to tough it out cuz daddy needs to get back to work! lol. so all 4 kids and my wife have goine through the flu and a stomach bug, and i've managed to avoid it with lots of hand washing and hand sanitizer. knock on wood...

big snow storm coming tonight, but i wanna work on the buggy anyway. it's not super freezing, so i think the heater should work nicely. pics later tonight hopefully!

 

[mysteryboy28]

hacked the excess off the rear axle stubs, flipped the last remaining bearing around to the inside of the trailing arm (had to grind down the edge of the square pillow block to make it fit, then re-drill a couple of holes to make it work), then opened up the garage for some welding. reinforced the motor mount frame, and seat mounting bars.

the little 50k BTU heater seems to be a little on the weak side for warming up the garage. it ran continuous for the 3 hours i was out there and barely exceeded 55 degrees. i shoulda gotten the 110k BTU when i had the chance. i just couldn't pass up getting one with a free hanging adjustable thermostat!

 

[landuse]

The heater would probably be more effective if the garage door was closed. LOL

 

[mysteryboy28]

So you're saying its a good idea to use a flux core welder for an extended period of time with no ventilation? Ok!

 

[mysteryboy28]

so when one heater isn't good enough - get 2!

picked up a 35,000 btu kerosene reddy heater today for $20, with the gamble of whether or not a "quick cleaning" would get it operational. upon inspection found that the fuel hose had split where it connected to the pump. snipped off a half inch of the end of the hose and reconnected it to the pump - and presto! we have a working $20 salamander heater.

wired up both of my heaters to a power strip for easy on/off action, and connected the power strip to the thrermostat for hands-free temperature monitoring. works like a charm, and the garage went from 20 degrees to 60 degrees in no time.

will put in some time on the buggy tonight after the kids go to bed.

 

[mysteryboy28]

radiator mounts fabbed and welded.

 

[greaser]

Nice looking good that should be perfect for air flow and keeping it from getting to muddied up. Yeah dont go getting dead from welding fumes.

 

[landuse]

So you're saying its a good idea to use a flux core welder for an extended period of time with no ventilation? Ok!

At least you won't then notice the cold.LOL

 

[mysteryboy28]

lost the stupid chuck for my drill. spent a good hour turning everything over, and shining a flashlight under anything i couldn't move. blah.

cut and ground off the handle and legs from the fuel tank (formerly an 11 gallon air tank, for those of you who jumped in late in the game), and did a bunch of reinforcement and finish welding on the motor cage, rear brake caliper mount/sprocket/rotor/bearing spool doo-dad thingy, and seat mounting bars.

dropped the motor mount into the cage, ready for 1/4" mounting holes to be drilled as soon as i pick up a new chuck (or 2) tomorrow.

it was warm enough tonight that the heaters took some nice 10-15 minute breaks in-between cycles. yay!

as the buggy currently sits there is 14 inches of ground clearance up front, and 16 inches in back. that'll obviously change once the motor and all the extras are loaded on.

 

[fowler]

Looking flash

Good to se u are nice and warm now

U wanna have 1/2 our heat
It's 38*c with high humidity

Be careful with the plastic rads
They don't like vibrations

Good idea to use an air tank as a fuel tank

Good size for long range

 

[exenos]

That 11 gallons wont last very long with a sled engine in there. I just went through 8 gallons in a hour and a half playing in the powder here.

 

[mysteryboy28]

there isn't gonna be room for a bigger tank. forget about having a rack - the tank and the radiator have decided to hog all the room. lol.

 

[exenos]

Wasn't arguing about that, just mentioning to fowler that sled engines are VERY thirsty and that 11 gallons wont go as far in this buggy as they would in a bike powered buggy.

 

[mysteryboy28]

I agree. Already mentioned to greaser that it'll be a good idea to keep a small full gas can in the buggy for those moments when you run out, which will be often. Lol.

 

[greaser]

You also have to take into account how inefficient the sleds drivetrain is compaired to what this will be but yes extra fuel will be carried. Its looking friking sick man very nice.

 

[mysteryboy28]

Harbor freight doesn't sell just a nice simple little chuck key. Was a choice between a 4-point key for $8 or a ratchet key for $5. I bought the ratchet. It looked cool, plus it had a nice long handle so I can really crank the drill bits down. Yay!