Well I just got home from a 13 hour day of fabbing on the buggy and I'm beat. Spent the first few hours centering up the front axle, then repositioning the motor/trans/t-case to get the correct alignment. Then I stated assembling the subframe and crossmembers. The front crossmember here (on the right) was just tacked in to get everything positioned right.





After the rear one was welded in place I broke the tack welds, and lined the subframe up with the drivetrain.





Once everything was aligned I was able to bend this front crossmember to wrap around the front of the tranny pan.





Now that the subframe was in place I was able to connect the lower links to both axles which starts to give an idea of the dimensions of the new buggy. The target wheelbase is 103" BTW.





Now the real building can begin. The first tubes I built are the front frame rails. The drivers side is a simple straight tube, but the passenger one is bent slightly inward to provide space for the upper suspension link to compress. If you're wondering why the bumper is so far forward, its because I'm planning on making this rig legal for the W.E.Rock Limited class. One of the rules is that the front bumper must extend to the front edge of the tires or farther. Because the engine is so far back it leaves me a ton of space for the radiator, fan, winch, etc.



I probably wont get a lot done for the next couple days, as I've got another buggy in the shop thats gettin a new cage and customers take priority. I'm pretty happy with what I got done today though. I didn't expect to get nearly this much done in one day.

Dallas