Goatbuilt JHF buggy build

[crazybluerider1]

Ever since the part out of my last buggy I have been collecting parts to build a replacement. A lot of the first round of parts I collected ended up in my 1980 Toyota so I had to replace many of them. Last summer I started looking for a chassis, after a few phone calls to builders and a whole bunch of looking around I discovered that all the builders I actually wanted to buy a chassis from were either way to far out for time or way out of my budget. I had looked at the IBEX chassis and I really like the weld it yourself kit but it was just not a good fit for what I wanted in a buggy size wise. Then Jesse Haines and Drew announced their corroboration. It was perfect. Anyways enough words, onto the pictures.

 

[crazybluerider1]

Power train parts consist of a late 90's 4.3l backed by a TH350 and a 4:1 dana 300.

Axles are a Chevrolet kingpin front and a 03' E350 dana 60 rear. The E-350 is a cool axle as it will accept 35 spline axles without any screwing around and has a smooth bottom along with factory disc brakes, a 8 on 6.5 bolt pattern and the correct width.

Suspension will be a set of FOX 2.0 coil-overs with reservoirs sourced from Full Stack Motorsports. Still not real sure on where I'll end up for bumps and possibly sway bar/s.

 

[crazybluerider1]

Spent some time getting the frame jig squared up tonight.

 

[joeyf]

Looking forward to the Build. Don’t do Facebook so all I see on the chassis is what gets posted on the thread over on pirate. The jig you can get for it is a great idea, it’s like legos for big kids.

 

[crash2]

whoo hooooo... Nice choice on the powertrain parts :awesomework:

 

[crazybluerider1]

Nice choice on the powertrain parts :awesomework:

Thought you might like that. :redneck:

I've been real happy with the 4.3 CPI motor and 4l60 in my toyota so figured I'd stick to what works.

 

[crash2]

If ya liked the cpi--you will love the SCPI... And that the Novak adapter?

 

[crazybluerider1]

Yeah, that is the Novak. I have the AA on the Toyota and the Novak is a lot nicer.

 

[crazybluerider1]

Got the frame table all put together. I built it 2 feet longer than they recommend so that when I'm done building the chassis I can also use it to jig up the axle locations. I also put legs on it and made them adjustable so that I can compensate for the slope of the floor.

 

[crazybluerider1]

Then I went to work on getting the frame rails jigged up and located. Then I discovered that I was missing a pair of bolts I needed to get the outer tubes jigged and tacked in so I decided to call it a night.

 

[PORTER]

Cool man, will be cool watching this come together.

 

[crazybluerider1]

This morning I finished getting the frame squared up and tacked in the outer bars.

 

[ChrisStewart]

Sweet, keep it going

 

[buc4x]

i like where this is going! good looking chassis.

 

[POR]

Did you get those atlas dimensions?

 

[crazybluerider1]

Did you get those atlas dimensions?

Yeah, Jimmy texted them to me yesterday. Thanks :awesomework:

 

[crash2]

Hell ya--get some......:awesomework:

 

[CHOP SHOP]

Looks nice! I like the jigs. Cuts down allot of time.:D

 

[crazybluerider1]

I received the rest of my jigs today, along with a bunch of link parts from ruffstuff. Back to work. :awesomework: Got the jig all assembled and started laying in some of the main cage tubing.

 

[POR]

I received the rest of my jigs today, along with a bunch of link parts from ruffstuff. Back to work. :awesomework: Got the jig all assembled and started laying in some of the main cage tubing.

Looking Good! You throw that 300 away and get an atlas yet? :D

 

[crazybluerider1]

Got a bunch more pieces tacked in after work today. Really starting to look like something. I'm planning on chopping up a spare samurai tub that I have for skins so I figured I see how the windshield off my old zuk/buggy fit. Actually lines up pretty good. I should be able to make it work for the winter trips.

 

[crazybluerider1]

Been slowly plugging along getting the rest of the front end bars in place and putting in more of the cross bracing. I received two driver side bars for one of the front shock mounts so that is on hold for the moment. Getting extra tacks put on all the joints so that I can pull the jig and finish up the door bars. Then its on to final welding. I hoping to get that done by the end of the week end.

 

[crazybluerider1]

Looking Good! You throw that 300 away and get an atlas yet? :D

Watching the Pirate classifieds like a hawk.

 

[Boonie Buster]

Good job! this thing is coming together quick, looks pretty slick with the jig kit!

 

[POR]

Watching the Pirate classifieds like a hawk.

I'll let you know if I hear of any

 

[crazybluerider1]

Got the rest of the cage structure tacked up tonight. Just have the sub frame to tackle tomorrow and then its on to final weld out. Visibility looks like it is going to be really good. Just a little lean to the passenger side and I can see the outside of the frame rail through the foot well. Should be able to see all 4 tires pretty well.

 

[crazybluerider1]

Got the subframe welded on and dropped the powertrain in tonight to make sure everything was gong to clear. It all looks good. Weld-a-thon this weekend.

 

[crazybluerider1]

Got the chassis welded out this weekend. Having a crane is great for rolling the chassis around while welding.:redneck: When I got done I dropped the powertrain back in so I could start figuring mounts out. Also threw the axles up on the table so I could get an idea of how it was all going to fit. Now the fun part begins, making it all fit.

 

[crazybluerider1]

I've been slowly working on getting the suspension where I want it an figuring out clearances and link mounts. I've set it up so that with a 20" belly on a 42 inch tire I'll have 6 inches of up travel.

I bought a ruffstuff simple truss for the rear and it was really tall, about 1.5" above the axle at the top, so I cut it down and then I cut apart one of their horizontal link mounts to drop it around 2". With the truss and link mount uncut the mount was above the top of the rear frame rails about 3" now I am 1/2" or so below the top of the rear rails.

Got the front axle up into place and it looks like I'll have room to fully triangulate the front uppers. That makes me happy since I'm keeping the lowers pretty straight for steering clearances.

There are also a couple cool pictures of an engine we pulled this week in our shop at work.

 

[crazybluerider1]

I've now reached the point where I do a bunch of work and don't have a whole lot to show for it so updates will probably slow some. Last week I started on the rear suspension. I set up the links the way Goat built wanted them first and really didn't like the length of the uppers, I also ran into some upper clearance issues with full stuff being as high as I wanted it to be. In their setup the uppers were 4 inches longer than the lowers. So I cut those brackets off the frame and moved them back so that the uppers were an inch higher in the chassis and 6 inches shorter. On paper this results in a much more neutral level of AS through travel having only 30% of change through the entire cycle.

After getting that sorted I started mounting the front links last night. I set them up essentially the same with a slight change in the uppers to start with a little extra AS to help combat brake dive.