The Road to Mexican 1000- Building a Manxter DualSports

[Brad]

With all that in mind and after talking with Bruce the decision was made that the Baja Edition really needed to have a custom chassis, so custom chassis it will have. This will allow me to get the geometry I want and run the 2.5's etc without having to cut the body.

[Brad]

So now I had some clear direction I figured I should start off with some of the parts I will need and I wasn't going to get far without some rear pivot Box's. Now I could by some but where is the fun in that, besides I didn't want folded ones I wanted filled in ones and I wanted to retain the factory Pivot Bolts.

Factory Box's are on 15 degrees so with that in mind I set to making some.



From BendTech to the ArcLight CNC it was good having the right tool for the job.



Cut quality is good right off the bed, as I will be tig welding them anyway and being they are hot rolled I need to clean them up before welding anyway. I have been running the same tip for over 20 sheets so it is almost time for an upgrade. No bad though using the default ToolSet and Setting Arclight Provides out of the box. With all the different material thickness I am using at the moment I would be screwed if I was still trying to dial it in.

Anyway before I get to carried away I need to do a test fit. Box is drawn at 15 degrees and folded to match.



Hmm now I have a pivot box how am I gunna set it, the jigs I have seen all use the cast endcaps and rear forks for alignment.

[Brad]

As luck would have it I had a Type 1 IRS rear end around so I sat it on the bench and mounted a set of rear arms to it. With the arms mounted I could clock them on the bench and lock them in.





Two bolts should be enough to hold them.



I then shimmed it onto the bench and welded the mounts out. I needed to keep the arms free so they could be removed. My plan is then that I can simply bolt the arms back down without the torsion housing, mount the pivots to them and then insert the new tube.

[Brad]

So with that sorted I needed to get the pivot box's made. As I intended to box them out onto the rear tube I wouldn't be able to get to a nut as such so a boss was needed. As I was still using stock VW rear pivots the factory pivot bolt would be retained so 14 x 1.5 was the thread of choice.

Funnily enough I didn't have one of those on the shelf but I do have a lathe and bar stock so no major issue



Fast forward and we have a set of pivot box's





Now for those of you with eagle eyes you will notice an issue with my tig welding..



I am way to slow and my heat soak is to large. While not an issue on Mild and DOM etc on 4130 it is gunna kick my ass. Knowing your limitations is a very important thing and in my case I haven't had enough torch time over recent months to confidently weld the 4130 Chrome Molley that the Rear Tube would be ( 2" x 0.120")

[Brad]

So I set it all up in the jig and measured it several times to make sure it was all where I wanted







Once I was happy with it all I rang up my resident Guru Tig Welder to come make my crap look cool and Tig the box's to the 4130. As I said back in the start I am not in this on my own and am very lucky to have great guys on call should I get stuck. Although not technically stuck I am always happy to get someone in who has the skills I can only dream of to make sure the important bits stay in place.

I will let you guys guess who it is

[Brad]

Needless to say the result was up to spec and if you have a look at the heat zone you will see a better show of size.





SWEET ... buggy time ...

[jsturtlebuggy]

Glad to see you finally decided it was a good idea. Greg has a tube chassis, Mark has a tube chassis, I have a tube chassis, we all have tube chassis under our Dual Sports.
I am still using the stock tunnel and torsion housing, though I have modified the spring plate area to use the Max Caps for more suspension travel. I can now get a little more down travel with what I have now and will get even more when switching to a Micro Stub setup. Cannot get more up travel with the 33in tires as they are already rubbing body when it hits upper stops.
If you want a better shock try Kings'. Yes I use Fox now, but I consider them the EMPI Chinese version of King shocks. Will work but not the best.
If you set on using Fox shock, get a hold of Bill Varnes, he knows more about using and setting them up on a buggy then anyone else.

[Brad]

If you want a better shock try Kings'. Yes I use Fox now, but I consider them the EMPI Chinese version of King shocks. Will work but not the best.
If you set on using Fox shock, get a hold of Bill Varnes, he knows more about using and setting them up on a buggy then anyone else.

Thanks for the feedback, I would hardly consider Fox to be a Chinese version of a King, having pulled both brands apart Fox have come a long way, if you want to hang a Chinese tag on a shock then have a look at FOA, now they are some CRAP shocks.

Having been to the Fox Factory and seen their R&D department as well as their product range I would use Fox over King any day of the week.

Anyway each to their own, shocks are like Ford and Chevy people seem to pick their side and stick to it. I have nothing against King I just prefer Fox, heck I have King Coils to put on them till we finish testing.

Shocks are being setup by DownSouth Motorsports (http://downsouthmotorsports.com/) who have done a very good job previously and I would happily recommend them to anyone who is after shocks or shock support. We will be out in the desert testing on around the 20th and have arrange for onsite testing and revalveing. I also have Paul coming out from Australia to help set up the suspension and valve the base line shocks.

When do you think you will have your DualSport back togeather ? Would be cool to go out for a spin with you again when you have finished your cleanup, are you going Microstubs as part of it ?

Anyway better get some sleep have to get up soon and drive up the way to pick up the Fortin 2.0 Rack so I can build the front beam assembly and give the 4" over rams something to hang on.

[Brad]

Now I had a rear torsion sorted I needed to get something for it to hang off. In this case the perimeter will be 2" RHS with a 0.120 wall. I am using RHS as opposed to tube due to the amount of stuff that needs to bolt to it from the roll cage to the body, to the seat mounts etc.

I used the spare Manxter Body I had to get it best fit and then made it square.



I then added some tubes in the center which I drilled through and then welded out. I added fischer plates at the area where the front beam will attach to help out with any stress.











Once I had that square and sorted I was able to fit the rear end. I need to get that square before I address the front as the front needs to be square to the rear beam not necessarily the body.



Now I have it square I can play around with the front beam.

[jsturtlebuggy]

Brad,
My Dual Sport will not be back together for awhile. It takes me more time to do projects now then it use to. It will be at Big Bear.
Micro Stubs are not in the budget now. I am installing JaMar rear disc brakes with Chromoly hubs and 4 piston calipers. It was a deal I could not pass up. Just taking time to modify trailing arms for them to fit.

[Brad]

Brad,
My Dual Sport will not be back together for awhile. It takes me more time to do projects now then it use to. It will be at Big Bear.
Micro Stubs are not in the budget now. I am installing JaMar rear disc brakes with Chromoly hubs and 4 piston calipers. It was a deal I could not pass up. Just taking time to modify trailing arms for them to fit.

Cool it will be good to see her after the refresh at Big Bear. With some luck the Baja Edition will also be at Big Bear, I figure sooner or later I need to have a running Buggy for a club event

[Brad]

So I had a visit today from a big white truck which was carrying some much needed supplies with the new change in direction.



I must say the quality of the tube I got from Competitive Metals was much better than the last load I got from another supplier.

Looks like a big weekend



I also got to go visit Kar-Tek and stand in ore of all the cool stuff they have. They relieved me of some funds and I walked out with a Fortin 2.0 Power Steering Rack and sweet pump.





While in their I had a good chat to Dave and we decided to try a 1300 PSI pump and 220 valve, I might end up at 250 though to get the feel I want being a DualSport Buggy.

With that all in hand I guess it is time to get back to work and then back onto the Buggy.

[Brad]

Tube is in, time to go go go

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLp7RNvW8e4[/youtube]

[vincent9993]

What's going on Brad? No update today? Where's our build porn?

[Brad]

What's going on Brad? No update today? Where's our build porn?

The night is still young Vincent .. finished up at 0430 this morning after a 15 hrs Tig Session .. few more hours and the chassis will be done ... unless of course I change my mind, with over 26 days to go anything is possible ...