SXOR single seater build

[Blase]

What size motor was in this buggy before you got it? V-8 or something smaller?

Sounds like new wheels would solve all your clearance issues? Front and Rear? if so i'd just plan on doing that.

Keep the updates coming. Looks bad ass as a roller.

 

[hokie_yj]

I believe the guy I got it from was setting it up for a Supercharged 3.8. That was my original plan, but I decided I wanted a V8.

New wheels will solve the issue on the rear, on the front I'll have to cut out a small piece of tube and move it just a little. No big deal. I am gonna get new wheels, I just have to sell mine first.

Need some wheels? Lol

 

[hokie_yj]

I didn't get to update over the weekend. Saturday I got the drivetrain in what I think will be the final position and tacked in some motor mounts. I will gusset them when I'm sure that nothing needs to be moved. I still need to build the transmission mount, and the Atlas support mount. I have the design in my head, I just need to pick up the material I need to build them.





Here you can kinda see the clearance issue with where the pinion yoke will be and the oil pan. I'm gonna pull the oil pan tomorrow and put it up for sale. I'll put my truck pan back on until I can buy the pan I'm gonna run.



Today I started off with mounting the seat.





Here you can see how close it is to the transmission.



Then I mounted the Wilwood brake pedal and MCs.



My motor is DBW and the stock pedal is firewall mounted, but I had to have something floor mounted. Lokar makes a floor mountable DBW pedal, but the price on it is ridiculous. So I decided to hack up my stock pedal and make it work the way I needed it to. It's not pretty, but it will get the job done.

 

[hokie_yj]

I spent most of the day in the shop, but it doesn't feel like I got much done. I spent a lot of time just staring at it trying to figure out what's gonna go where, and how to make it fit there. Kind feel like I'm hitting a wall, but I'm not gonna give up now.

One thing I did accomplish today was finding a place for the winch and mounting it. About the only place to put it was right in front of the seat under my legs.





I made the mounts out if some 1.5" angle I had in the shop. I just had to notch it a little to clear the body of the winch. And the notched it to fit 1.5" tubing.








It's tight, but it actually fits pretty good there.








The way my knees will be bent I don't even notice it there. I can reach down under my left leg and work the clutch lever easily too. I have a narrow fairlead that I will put on the winch mount I just didn't have any socket head bolts to mount it. The rope will run right under the floor pan under my feet and through another fairlead that will mount to the tube right behind the track bar in the picture below. I think the rope will be fine running under the buggy, but if I need to I'll figure out some way to protect it.




I plan to work on it some more tomorrow. I really have no idea what I'll work on, but I'll find something I can do. This is my first time taking on a project like this, and as you can tell I don't have it very well organized. I really need to take the time to set down and make a list of things that need to be done. That way I can plan things out better and have goals to work towards.

 

[ibrokeit]

On the protect the rope idea, can you put a piece of tube from fairlead to fairlead and run the rope through it?

 

[hokie_yj]

Yeah, I've seen that done before. I may end up doing just that. It just needs to be good and smooth so it doesn't cut the rope.

 

[midwestracer2003]

no pics

 

[hokie_yj]

They're showing up fine on my end. :dunno:

 

[ibrokeit]

Pics work fine.

 

[ridered3]

Pics work fine.

Mine says bandwidth exceeded.

 

[hokie_yj]

I don't know what's up. I can still see them fine on my end. I uploaded them through the Photobucket app.

 

[ibrokeit]

They are showing bandwidth exceeded on my cell. Is your avatar hosted by photobucket? That ate up a ton of my photobucket bandwidth.

 

[hokie_yj]

It probably is. I'll see if I can't clear out some room in my photobucket.

Edit: My photobucket app says my storage is only 11% full. I don't know what the hell is wrong.

 

[hokie_yj]

I deleted a bunch of stuff where the Photobucket app was automatically backing up the pics from my phone. And I also turned the auto back-up off. Let me know if the pics show up now.

 

[ridered3]

I deleted a bunch of stuff where the Photobucket app was automatically backing up the pics from my phone. And I also turned the auto back-up off. Let me know if the pics show up now.

Good deal. Generally I've had to wait a few days when my bandwidth is exceeded.

 

[zjtrey]

buggy is looking awesome…

what seat is that?

 

[Blase]

Really liking this buggy. Any progress on sell the wheels and getting new ones?

 

[hokie_yj]

buggy is looking awesome€

what seat is that?

Thanks! It's a PRP Podium seat the front is all black cordura, and the back is vinyl. The seat cushion is removable and it's all mesh underneath so water will just drain out. It's a little big for this tiny little chassis, but it is SOOO comfortable even for a fatass like me. I've got a 42" waist and wide shoulders, but I still fit pretty good in a standard width seat. +2" would be nice, but I didn't have room.

Really liking this buggy. Any progress on sell the wheels and getting new ones?

Thanks again! The wheels sold on eBay, a little cheaper than I hoped but oh well. Dude from CA won them. I talked to him yesterday, he's still trying to figure out shipping so he hasn't paid me yet. Hopefully he will come through. As soon as I get the money I'm going to order new wheels. Probably another set of Stazworks, I talked to TWF about theirs, but they were quite a bit higher. It's back on jack stands for now.

 

[hokie_yj]

Worked on this thing for a little while today. Got the orbital mount tacked in place where I "think" it needs to be. The column I had is too short so I had to order a longer one. I'm not a big fan of having the orbital so close to me, but there's nowhere else to put it.





After that I started tacking in the seatbelt mounts. After I took this picture I decided to weld the locknuts to the tabs to make them easier to remove. I didn't take pics of the rest of the tabs, but nobody cares anyway, that's boring.



After I finished the belt mounts I started working on the Atlas tail support.







Anybody see anything wrong with the way I mounted that? That's 1/4" plate for the base. Do you think it will be ok bridging that gap? It will obviously be welded on both ends, as well as to the tube running diagonally across the middle. I'm going to do the transmission mount tomorrow. I'm planning to do it pretty much the same way unless somebody talks me out of it.

Also I ordered my new wheels last week. Went with another set of Stazworks, 17"x9" with 3" BS. They said lead time would be at least 6 weeks, it's a long wait but I know they'll be worth it. It's a long way from that stage, but I think I've decided on colors too. I hate the design on the skins that came on this thing. I think I'll try to do plasti-dip on the skins in satin black, and then paint the chassis with Rustoleum hammered copper. I think that will look pretty decent.

 

[yankster]

Nothing wrong with that mount. It will hold up fine.

 

[SomewhiteGuy]

Nothing wrong with that mount. It will hold up fine.

x2.

 

[hokie_yj]

Thanks for the input guys.

 

[Blase]

What are you plans to fix the bar cut out below?

basic little kick out like lots of single seaters have?

 

[hokie_yj]

Yeah, if you go back and look at some of the original pics when I first picked this thing up that tube was already cut out to clear the t-case. The Atlas actually sticks out of the chassis about 1"-2". They had actually had a hoop there to protect it. I just cut the tacks and pulled it out to have room to work. You can see in this pic what I'm talking about.



I'll cut out what's left of that tube and clean it up and weld that hoop back in. It will stick out of the side of the chassis just a little bit, and I'll put a skid plate on it to protect the Atlas.

 

[Blase]

Got'cha......Loving this build! Keep dem updates coming.

 

[throttlejunkie]

Digging this thing!

 

[hokie_yj]

Thanks man!


Spent a couple hours on this thing today. I had a lot of other stuff to do around the house before I go back to work tomorrow so I didn't get a lot done. About all I accomplished was cutting the pieces for the transmission mount and getting it tacked in place. It's pretty similar to the Atlas support mount.





Unfortunately progress is probably about to grind to a halt for a couple weeks. It's shutdown time at work starting Monday, and it will be a minimum of two weeks straight of 12 hr days. Most likely longer than that. Last year I worked 31 days straight. I might be able to accomplish a few things in the evenings if I'm not dead tired, but don't expect miracles.

 

[zayne2427]

how tall are you and do you have any pics of you sitting in the buggy in your prp podium seat? curious how much head room you are bona have above the seat

 

[hokie_yj]

I'm about 5'9" or so. I don't have any pics with me in it. I could sit in the seat and take a selfie though. Lol.

The back of my head hits right in the middle of the headrest, and the top of my head is pretty well even with the top of the seat. I will probably wear a helmet pretty much all the time in this thing just because my head will be so close to the "window" opening. It will also get window nets as well.

 

[hokie_yj]

Finally got a little time in the shop after work today. I got the protection for the Atlas sticking out of the side chassis tacked in place.







I also got the battery box where I think it's going to go. I debated whether or not to make it bolt in or just weld it. Finally decided to just weld it in. It's just tacked for now in case it needs to move though.



Due to the way the motor sits in the chassis the B-pillar brace had to be cut out. I cut and notched a piece of 1.25" tube and put the brace back in the opposite direction. I'll cut out the rest of the old brace and clean it up when I tear the chassis down.



Then I made a cardboard radiator so I could find a place to fit it. On the down tubes above the engine is pretty much my only choice. It may set a little lower than where I have it in the pics, and I'll also build a removable cage around it for protection. I also ordered the radiator from PRC today. 22"x19" is the biggest I can fit. It will be dual pass with -16 inlet/outlet, a .25" NPT bung for the steam ports, and a blank shroud so I can mount a Volvo fan. I hope that's enough to keep this thing cool.





I also decided to ditch the truck intake in favor of a LS6 intake purely to gain a little room because the truck intake is so tall. I may flip it around backwards as well. I found a used LS6 intake today, it should be here next week. I still need to do a little more reading on what style fuel rail and injectors will work best.