Got a Freestyle Buggy at last!

Phaeton

Moderator
Staff member
If I remember correctly it was just a matter of taking metal off the back face until such time as the bolt head was able to lay flat, then drill out the threads, but the last time I did it was over 12 years ago, Bumble was SVA's not IVA'd so I think it was 2009.
 

250buggys

Well-known member
Chopped out and ground down the front braces today to fit the coil-overs.

Screenshot_2022-04-10-15-11-45.png

Recon I have lost sone longitudinal strength in the chass but the trade off should be worthwhile.....

The front end of the Freestyle had no real suspension travel at all so to speak. Every single pot hole would send a big shudder down your spine....

I ordered the 50 X 50mm angle and was going to weld up as per Alan's write up (thanks Alan). Had a few issues as the battery strap I made ate into this space and also as you can see I have mounted my brake tees under here for the flexi pipes so what I did was use the existing suspension mount brackets Dave welded on.

Going to be a nice adjustable festure to the buggy and looking forward to getting this dialed in soon.

Buggy is jacked up at the moment waiting on the rear hubs and Sierra calipers back from the machine shop :)

Hoping to get the buggy on the road for 1st May just in time for summer. :)
 

Danny

Administrator
Chopped out and ground down the front braces today to fit the coil-overs.

View attachment 1705

Recon I have lost sone longitudinal strength in the chass but the trade off should be worthwhile.....

The front end of the Freestyle had no real suspension travel at all so to speak. Every single pot hole would send a big shudder down your spine....

I ordered the 50 X 50mm angle and was going to weld up as per Alan's write up (thanks Alan). Had a few issues as the battery strap I made ate into this space and also as you can see I have mounted my brake tees under here for the flexi pipes so what I did was use the existing suspension mount brackets Dave welded on.

Going to be a nice adjustable festure to the buggy and looking forward to getting this dialed in soon.

Buggy is jacked up at the moment waiting on the rear hubs and Sierra calipers back from the machine shop :)

Hoping to get the buggy on the road for 1st May just in time for summer. :)

I think you may need to uprate those :D thats a lot of pressure on those welds... I welded and shaped 2 angle irons together then bolted them and even then I wondered if it was going to ok :D
 

250buggys

Well-known member
I think you may need to uprate those :D thats a lot of pressure on those welds... I welded and shaped 2 angle irons together then bolted them and even then I wondered if it was going to ok :D
Thanks Danny, I may revisit that then.
 

250buggys

Well-known member
Recon Danny was right, those welds were going to fail at some point most likely down a green lane.

So I found some channel and made a bracket.

Channel.JPG


Chopped the old brackets out.


Chop.JPG


Fitted new bracket.


Mount2.JPG



Lick of paint

Mount.JPG

Hopefully should be a bit stronger.
 

250buggys

Well-known member
Have a bit of time off work so went for a 65 mile blast in the buggy.Screenshot_20220804-194511050.jpg

A few miles away from home felt a bit of a miss and then got a bit worse.

Wasn't fuel, plenty in the tank. Checked the plugs and covered in soot, sat at a 3 way traffic signal for ages (buggy likes this as cools down, only seems to sweat in 4th when the engine is working) thought it might be the idle but spent ages tinkering with that looking at the plug colour and the Haynes plug table so knew it wasn't that.

It turned out to be the dash pot oil chamber had run dry. When I taxed the buggy beginning of July I flushed the cooling system and replaced coolant, topped up dash pot oil, service etc but I guess after 400 miles you need to do it again.

Other than that the mini engine is going well. A really great B road basher. I have taken loads of footage of all the green lanes and farmers tracks I have found and the cause way that was on top gear fairly recently is just up the road from me. Really enjoying the buggy and excellent summer we have had this year. 🙂
 

250buggys

Well-known member
I have done well over 500 miles now since I changed the rear donuts, added the adjustable dampers and did the front coilover mod. The suspension is working really nicely and is an absolute pleasure to drive. Where as before it was not, every bump in the road wanted to jar your back or break your teeth. What a difference that has made. The weather has been excellent for months on end, out in the buggy every day in shorts and t-shirt.

I have now hit the break even point where I have spent more time in the drivers seat than the time I spent building it.

The 4 pot calipers I put on the front came with a set of green stuff pads, it says these are suited to lighter cars and kit cars but I am not so sure, the front end is so light I don't think the pads get any temperature in at all. You just learn to read the road a bit better rather than rely on your brakes to get you out of trouble.
 

Danny

Administrator
I have done well over 500 miles now since I changed the rear donuts, added the adjustable dampers and did the front coilover mod. The suspension is working really nicely and is an absolute pleasure to drive. Where as before it was not, every bump in the road wanted to jar your back or break your teeth. What a difference that has made. The weather has been excellent for months on end, out in the buggy every day in shorts and t-shirt.

I have now hit the break even point where I have spent more time in the drivers seat than the time I spent building it.

The 4 pot calipers I put on the front came with a set of green stuff pads, it says these are suited to lighter cars and kit cars but I am not so sure, the front end is so light I don't think the pads get any temperature in at all. You just learn to read the road a bit better rather than rely on your brakes to get you out of trouble.
front coliovers was the best mod for me oh and the 1800
 

250buggys

Well-known member
Took the buggy to work today.

Screenshot_20220815-212235376.jpg

Got in from work and after tea did an oil change.

Screenshot_20220815-212052288.jpg

By the time I had finished cleaning up and putting tools away it was 19:45. Put £20 of super unleaded in and went for a 25 mile blast.

Screenshot_20220815-212326664.jpg

Watched the sun go down, epic sunset considering it has been pretty grey today.

Good to get some night miles in, first time I have driven the buggy in the dark. Well impressed with the LED lights, they are super bright.🙂 Looks like summer is almost done. I have definitely made the most of it this year.
 

ChaosMS

Active member
Looking great Chris, I bet it got some double takes in the work car park!! - your defo making the most of that buggy - sunset looks awesome!
 

250buggys

Well-known member
Got another 50 miles in this evening 🙂

The speedo started playing up recently, when pulling away it would stay on zero and looked like the pick up wasn't seeing the sensor on every revolution. I gave them both a clean.

I soon realised that this was only happening when I had a passenger in the car and the sensor and pick up are mounted on the near side. When there was a passenger in the seat it would compress the suspension and move the pick up away from the sensor. I moved the magnet a couple of mm closer to the sensor and turned out to be an easy fix 🙂
 

ChaosMS

Active member
Hey Chris, quick question for you - on your headlights are you using the halo rings as sidelights for the front? im wiring mine up at the moment and that would seem to be the only option as I dont have a seperate side light in the unit - does yours?
 

250buggys

Well-known member
Hi Rich yes halos as side lights, they look awesome. Take a couple of seconds to get up to full brightness.

There should be another wire for the indicator circuit. When the indicator is on or hazard the white halo goes off and there is an orange halo that flashes I need to break the wiring open for this but on my to do list 🙂
 

ChaosMS

Active member
Hi Chris, Yeah I have wired up the orange halo to replace the indicators at the front (as to be fair the old indicators were a bit rubbish anyway) - it was just the side light scenario - Ill finish up the new lighting loom as planned then, I have the headlights / sidelights / fog light all working from a VW rotary switch and vw column controls now so much better than the way I had it before, only issue was the fact I had to build a new lighting loom!!
 

250buggys

Well-known member
I have seen some recent 7 builds that have managed to pass the IVA test without side repeators. I dont think the buggy would have got away with this. He made a good point of checking and was pretty thorough.

Good you have managed to ditch your indicators, saves some weight and complexity by using the orange halos, looks good too. With the Freestyle the indicators are moulded into the cycle wing.
 
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