Over the weekend I didn't do much actual work on the buggy, but I did collect a few more parts. Last weekend I dropped my front knuckles off with Gary at Petroworks and talked him into machining them for the high steer arms. This weekend I went back to pick them up. Now I just need to collect all the little bits and pieces to complete the steering system. After stopping at Petroworks I made my way over to the local junkyard and found an old blazer with the drivers side exhaust manifold I needed. It was a PITA to get off, but its in great shape and only cost me $22.

Since I now had all my exhaust parts I was able to finish off the exhaust today. It looks a little funky, but fits very tight to the motor and should allow me to build the fire wall out pretty far for more interior space. After welding everything up I took it all off and painted it with some high temp paint, and tomorrow I'll wrap the crossover pipe and the section under the passengers floor with header wrap to keep things cool.



Dallas

Last night I painted up the exhaust and wrapped it with heat tape to help keep the interior as cool as possible. Once that was done I got started on the floor panels.





I'm going to be using a B&M Sport Shifter for the tranny. Its pretty much the cheapest aftermarket shifter out there, and its design also makes it really easy to modify the shift patern. Stock there are 2 steps in the gate that you have to lift the shifter up to get past. I used a die grinder to take out the first step. This allows you to quickly shift from first to reverse without lifting. The only gate I left is the one for park. Being able to shift quickly is pretty important when you're climbing something steep and you start to go over backwards, now I'll be able to grab reverse and hopefully save the roll.



Dallas

Dude, you're going to finish building a whole car in less time than I was able to do my SAS! Looks great, thanks for posting pictures of all your progress.

If I'm gonna bring this thing to EJS with me I've got less than 3 weeks to make it run <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> Scary part is I still haven't ordered a locker or gears for the front axle, nor do I have the $$$ to do so. I'm really thinkin EJS is a longshot, but I'm gonna try anyways.

Dallas

I spent last night at the shop working, and today is just such a beautiful day I decided to take the afternoon off and go ride my motorcycle. Before I do that I've got a few new pics to add though. I took a trip to the local metal supplier yesterday to find material to make my t-case shifters out of, and I found just the right stuff. For the bracket that holds the shifters I got a short length of 1/2"x1.75" 6061 Aluminum, for the bottom section of the shifters I got some .75"x1" Cold rolled Steel bar, and for the actual levers I got some .50" cold rolled round bar. For the linkages I got some 1/8"x3/4" flat bar and a number of small hitch pins, bolts, etc. from Lowes.

Heres the mounting plate and shifter bottoms after cutting to length and drilling some of the pivot holes.



And heres one of the early test fittings. To build the linkages I took the 1/8"x3/4" flat bar, drilled the holes in the ends then cut slots in the center. This allowed me to slide the 2 pieces together perpendicular to each other, adjust to the correct length, then weld in place. Looks a little funky, but it works really well and it was an easy way to solve the problem of having the pivot pins perpendicular to each other.




I didn't wanna have to worry about breaking the shifter levers off when leaning on them hard, so I drilled the bases 1" deep from the top. This allows me to push the lever down into the base, and the weld will simply keep the pieces from separating, instead of taking all the load.




Heres a shot of the shifter bases and linkages after all the drilling, grinding, etc. To make the slots in the bases for the linkages I simply used a cutting wheel on a 4.5" grinder. Not exactly the most elegant way, but I dont own a mill, so it works.



Once everything was drilled I bolted it together and started figuring out handle locations. With a straight lever the reach was a little far, and I wanna be able to operate everything with shoulder harnesses on tight, so I used a torch to heat up the round bar and bent it to fit.




Here are all the pieces complete and ready for paint. For the threads I simply cut off a couple 1/2" bolts then used a 5/8" sleeve to join the shanks of the bolts to the round bar of the levers. BTW, I found out that Lowes carries steel sleeves in all the standard ID's to slide over most bolts. Makes this kinda thing super simple.



Ok paint is drying now, time to go ride <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Dallas

Can you say "Parts Amigo"?

You're a funny guy. I'm gonna feel bad enough puttin the StinkBug on stands and stealing the wheels, tires, and front axle shafts. Besides, Its got an ARB in front, which is not only not what I'll be putting in this one, but a pain to swap over. If it was a detroit I might just do what you're thinking.

Dallas

Your kung fu is strong! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

After goin for a ride I got back into the shop to get some more work done. I finished off the shifters and got em all mounted up for good.




After that I got back to work on the suspension brackets. Josh came over and started cutting the rear panhard brackets for me, while I got to welding everything in place. I'm hoping tomorrow I can finish both axle mounts and the rear frame mount.






Dallas

Wayne came back into the shop today, and brought his dog, and a meat puppet with him. Though he wasn't a lot of physical help, being that he only has one useable hand, he did help me figure a number of things out. I finally managed to get the steering box mounted, which is something I was really worried about. Its such a high stress item, and so important that I wanted to make sure it wasn't gonna fall off on the trail somewhere.







I also got the panhard mount on the front axle all mounted up. Now all the bracketry on the front end is done, and hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get the rear end finished out. My goal is to get the rear suspension totally done tomorrow, and hopefully get the front panhard done as well.




Dallas