Buggy Rebuild

The buggy is hitting the gym and getting a makeover starting this weekend. More before pictures to come but for now this will have to do.

As it sits its got a mostly stock 5.0 running on propane, NP435, NP205, 38.5" SX, Dana 44 welded 5.13 with chromoly and Super joints, Radius arm front, 8.8 Detroit and 5.13, Leaf rear, Air shocks, Custom square drive shafts. 110" WB 83" W (i think) 3300LBS (best guess)





#1 Motor is getting a couple go faster parts (cam and heads)
#2 New dash and gauges
#3 Everything is getting new paint
#4 Wiring (clean already) is getting cleaned up more
#5 New tranny shifter
#6 Twin Sticks
#7 Small comforts personal to me

This will take a while as well. I am hoping to have it done by the start of March or so. I will update as much as i can.

I have the buggy all apart. Now i need to clean everything up.

motor is on the stand and waiting on parts (H/C/I) (i need to flip the mount plate over so i can mount to the top holes and the bottom. It was late when i mounted the motor)

Exhaust will need to be cut to remove. Over time it has rusted itself on there rather well.

TC will be coming out tonight. Its getting all new gaskets and seals as well as a twing stick.

The interior of the buggy has been primed.



This weekend was great weather but i went ahead and hung up some plastic so i can get the temp up high enough to paint even if the temp drops again.



Buggy still needs to be fully cleaned and degreased but its getting there.


The twin stick kit came in. The shift rail has been modified to work. Waiting on paint for the TC now.

What twin stick setup is that?

And how much extra HP guesstimated from the engine mods?

BTW, needs to be moved over to tech forum

JB Customs and i hope with the cam and heads i will be around 250-275rwhp. I run propane as well. The buggy did great with the motor before the head gasket went out so the extra HP will be even better.

The GT40P heads are off getting the bowls blended, valves redone, 3 angle valve job, exhaust ports cleaned up, and springs set up. I will have about 300$ total in the heads once all said and done. The chassis is getting prepped for paint today. The motor is on the stand and ready to be stripped down. The new cam, lifters, push rod checker, ARP head bolts and intake bolts, heat primer and paint are all in. Still need mls gaskets, timing kit, new plug wires, plug wire heat shocks, push rods, gaskets, and new mufflers.

The tranny is ready for primer. The TC needs to come apart and prepped still.

Gonna be a nice weekend here i hope to get paint on everything but the chassis. I only have primer for it right now.

more pictures once they upload

Move to tech.

I finally got the chassis all cleaned and prepped for paint. The primer is going on great. Man it was a pain getting that thing cleaned up for paint. I am just using spray paint. I will take my time and make it look as good as i can. I want it to be easy to touch up, and cheap. I was going to have the chassis coated but decided to do a H/C/I on the motor instead.


The motor has been stripped down and is waiting to be cleaned up. Lifters are in oil. The cam is sitting and waiting. Heads are ready. Still need timing chain and gears. Still need to order gaskets.


Heads cleaned up and ready to be installed. Some light bowl blend, valve job, new springs, just the basics. Pushrod length needs to be checks and ordered.



Slow but steady progress.

I have finally gotten the motor apart. It doesnt look to bad. I started to clean it up a bit and it looks like it will come clean. The garage is now a mess front to back. Gonna have to take a day to clean it up and get it ready again. The garage has heat but the temp is still just to low to really get anything done.

I now have most of the buggy in primmer. I started on the color as the primmer finally felt ready. Painting in the cold/low heat is really sucking. I tested a bit of the paint on the bottom and it seems to be holding rather well.
Once again this is just rattle can pait so its not great but for a rattle can job im liking it.

Chevy orange on a ford motor!

Thanks to Mineral Spirits the motor came clean with very little effort. I now have 2 gallons of the stuff as it makes cleaning stuff so easy.


after the 1st full layer of paint


Once painted i realized that i painted the divorced TC adapter mounting surface. No worries thanks to the mineral spirits. Got that surface all cleaned up in no time.

The chevy orange does not match the chassis but it does make the motor stick out. I like it.


Later this week i get to tackle this


E303 DOT to DOT


All new bolts give it a bit of a face lift as well

Looks good. Keep the pics and tech coming.

No project is ever complete without running into problems. I could not figure out what the water pump was. I knew it was a standard rotation pump but i didnt know they had several different pumps for the 5.0. The crown vic gasket set ended up being it.


Waiting on the clutch alignment tool. Notice the grom in the background? Such a fun little bike


Reweb on the belts


It was a beautiful day so i wheeled the buggy out to check out the paint in the sun.

You can tell in person that its just spray paint. You can see the shiny and flat spots. Im ok with it as it is just gonna get scratched and dirty as much as possible anyway. Plus the spray paint gives me an easy way to do touch up work. Sure powder coat would have been way better but this was meant to be a cheapish build.




I will have the motor back in the buggy and running this weekend. I hope to have most of it back together in the next week or so. Maybe get the air shocks refilled and installed by next weekend and take it for a small test run.

looks good!!

In the hopes of having the buggy running this weekend i picked up a few more new parts. New plugs and new 90* wires. I also got a set of new brake pads for the 8.8. Man this is going to be one busy weekend.

I bought the same paint booth! ;D Where are you from? Haspin area?

sadly knox county! I go to redbird often. I plan to hit haspin this summer to check it tout tho.