Dirtbox Venom Texas build!

[mysteryboy28]

Starting a new thread for my latest customer, Billy (smack911) from Texas.

This will be a black and yellow buggy, with an Arctic Cat Cougar 550cc 80hp 2-stroke liquid-cooled motor, with electric start, reverse, swingarm rear suspension, digital speedo/tachometer, 12+ inches of ground clearance, front mud/spash guards, a quick-release steering wheel, and a custom driver's side "door" latch.

The overall design will be very similar to previous Venoms, with focus on an improved rear rack/tank area.

 

[smack911]

Gotta admit I don't know anything about Arctic Cat 2 strokes. The last 2 strokes I had was a 1981 yamaha YZ 125 (first year of radiator) and a KTM 250. I grew up in way west texas pecos river area it was desert and we had miles of dunes real dunes at the time no laws safety flags or rules. The Sheriffs department and land owners closed all that fun about 6 years ago. They got tired of using resources on people who drank too much and decided to see how far they could fly that new quad racer or LS1 dune buggy. But for us that started riding a Z 50 at five on those dunes it was sacred ground. "Mysteryboy 28" is going to do a buggy build for me, he's got his work cut out cuz I have been a gear head all my life and have rode and driven everything from racing carts to tractors, plus fabricated pipelines across the permian basin. My hats off to the guy really.

 

[landuse]

I am sure this build will be just as good as the other ones!!

 

[mysteryboy28]

The snowmobile has been delivered! She's a beaut too. Fired right up, reverse works great. Battery seems good too.

Picked up some steel, already have: rack n pinion, spindles and front brake calipers, rear shocks, couple of new brake hoses, 4-point harnesses, and some odds n ends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du8eGI7TQTE&feature=youtu.be

 

[landuse]

What are you going to be doing with the rest of the snowmobile?

 

[mysteryboy28]

I'm going to try to salvage as much of the sled as I can, maybe recover a little bit of my investment.

A new thing I will be implimenting in my buggy builds is "rake". rake is the act of tilting your front end up a few degrees, specifically the a-arms, so that when you hit bumps rather than the arms and shocks being pushed straight up, they will travel more at a slight angle towards the rear of the buggy. this will absorb the shock in a more natural way, and the caster will help to keep the wheels naturally pointed forward for better high-speed stability. smaller tires require more rake than larger tires, as larger tires can roll over bumps better.

by adding rake, you automatically get caster. however you can still have different amounts of rake vs caster depending on how you design the a-arms and mounts. i will be shooting for around 10 degrees of rake and caster.

 

[greaser]

looks like a good solid sled to start with.

 

[mysteryboy28]

worked on getting the garage under control today. went out and picked up a nice lil rolling tool cart for $20 (the red one in the pics). hit harbor freight and bought a paint sprayer and a nice lil digital angle guage.

ordered the radiator (for honda civic 93-97, new) and 12 inch fan, and the digital speedometer/tachometer Trail Tech Vapor Stealth).

 

[landuse]

worked on getting the garage under control today. went out and picked up a nice lil rolling tool cart for $20 (the red one in the pics). hit harbor freight and bought a paint sprayer and a nice lil digital angle guage.

ordered the radiator (for honda civic 93-97, new) and 12 inch fan, and the digital speedometer/tachometer TrailTech Vapor Stealth).

Have you got a large lawn to cut? I see you have a lawn tractor

 

[machinist@large]

Have you got a large lawn to cut? I see you have a lawn tractor

Nah, he just has toolman syndrome (Arh!!Arh!!Arh!!Arh!!)

 

[landuse]

Nah, he just has toolman syndrome (Arh!!Arh!!Arh!!Arh!!)

That is sort of what I was getting at. LOL I would also have one if I could get one. Even if I had a postage stamp lawn

 

[mysteryboy28]

Have you got a large lawn to cut? I see you have a lawn tractor

i mow my mom's lawn next door too. both lawns take me about an hour and a half total with the tractor. much much much better than using a push mower!

 

[mysteryboy28]

some progress! building a single seater at the same time for my landlord, so i'm trying to make equal progress for a little bit till i have enough done to make him feel like i'm actually building it. lol.

i'm thinking the main hoop might be a little tall. i wanted more leg and head room than previous buggies, but not crazy vaulted high-rise cathedral ceilings. lol.

i'm sleeving all my butt-welds, as you can see. i think i'm getting a little butt-weld happy, as it's allowing me to cut and add length. and also if a piece that has bends on both sides is slightly warped (uneven), i can cut in the middle, rest it on the floor, and weld 'er back together.

i had some new sand for packing the tubes that needed to be sifted through to get all the rocks and big chunks out. luckily i have kids, and found their sandbox dirt sifter/strainer. it worked marvelous. lol.

 

[greaser]

And it begins.

 

[n1kogr]

awesome! i chuckled at the sand box sifter haha

 

[smack911]

i probably would had used a kitty krunchy sifter....I don't have kids and thats the only sand box I know of around here///// I'm joking guys... Going to have my cousin send me pics of my hometown playpen....You folks are going to love the Desert dunes if you want to google them just go to kermit texas 79745 go hwy 118 to County road 874 East and go about 8 to 10 miles out the sand dunes go from Hwy 302 all the way into NM. These are not ward county or Monahans state park dunes.Old maps from the 1800's called them the watering holes. You can dig at the bottom of a deep dune and soon mud then water will fill the hole. I suppose the sand has filtered water for years and somewhere down there is a pool of it.

 

[mysteryboy28]

hey billy, no need to put a reason for editing your comment (it just shows us you're a bad typer. lol). i edit mine all the time! heck, just today i edited a post from back in september.

kitty krunchy sifter. lol.

 

[smack911]

yeah I type like a bent pecker wood!

(it just shows us you're a bad typer. lol). Thanks for pointing it out to EVERYONE! Lol....I did not know the silly thing would give the reason for editing ...... stupid sticking keys.....

 

[mysteryboy28]

couple pics for ya.

what you see so far has been done with 1 1/4" heavy guage tubing (1/8" wall) for the main frame support. i will be using medium and light guage tubing for most of the rest of the job.

i'm going to start a thread for the single-seater buggy, as it won't see much more progress till i get smack911's buggy done.

 

[machinist@large]

(it just shows us you're a bad typer. lol). Thanks for pointing it out to EVERYONE! Lol....I did not know the silly thing would give the reason for editing ...... stupid sticking keys.....

Don't worry; we won't bother you more than a year or so about it!!!