"K" series buggy

[Baloo]

some  time back l  decided l wanted a 2 wheel drive  buggy with a rear mounted engine ;D, l went and had a look at biddleboys and that settled it l needed to start biulding straight away, one thing l wanted to change was the A series engine to something  more modern/powerfull, l have got nothing against the A series, well apart from it being made of cast iron, in fact l have a blitz fitted with a 1380 A series and whilst it certainly delivers, it isent a pleasent expirence unless you are racing, the power dosent arrive till after 3 or 4 thousand rpm and when it does arrive its all or nothing, not the best on grass as you tend to end up  pointing where you just came from :  so l wanted a more modern power plant but not a cast iron block, well that sort of pointed me at the K series engine and besides metros are so cheap, so this is what l started with

well it was cheap enough at £90 but it was a bit of a false start really as l hadent done my home work propally at all,  the cvt gear box was great and l was really impressed with how it went round the buggy track but........

 

[Baloo]

there are better choices  ;D
        an  MGF  has so much more going for it, from 15" wheels to ready made hand brake and gearchange to things you dont think about like the wiring loom being the correct way round for a buggy unlike a metro where the instruments and engine are the same end of the vehicle
at first l thought mgf's were going to be dear but not so, this one has been round 3 times with no bids at £150

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWAX:IT

thats a bit cheap as most l have looked at have been between £300 and £400
for that price you get everything wheels tyres, radiator, pedals engine, clocks, seats etc etc,
and of course its a 1800cc engine, dont know if thats good or bad 
the only other thing you need is metal  and at a guess that would be about £300 at most, so a sensible budget would be about £800 to £900 by the time you have added a few extras like harnesses etc,
so a buggy for less than £1000  , l dont see why not



right heres the rear mgf subframe that l started with

inbiult hand brake and no need to lock the steering since it dosent anyway
to biuld the buggy l started with a bench with 2 lengths of 2 " box on the top on top of these l placed the front and rear subframe, once they were sat there l could slide them apart untill l had the wheel base l desired, once they were sitting the right distance apart all l had  to do was fill the middle bit in with box section, easy huh

 

[Baloo]

on the front subframe l dident want/need anything in front of the lower wisbone mounting so l just lopped it of with the grinder

l made the sides from 2"x1" X 16g box, the rear bulkhead was made from 2"x2"  x 14g box  and the front bulkhead was 2"x1" x12g box

hand brake and gearchange are the stock mgf items as are the pedals and steering

radiator is  standard mgf, water pipes run through the buggy rather than underneath as l want a flat bottom 

 

[Baloo]

added some 2" tube bent at 90* to stiffen up the front where l had cut the subframe off, also made a curved front bumper complete with crumple zone

dosent look to bad without the roll cage

started to make up the rear legs for the roll hoop

 

[Baloo]

gas tank next then,
looked at several options but the good old gas bottle came out on top, mainly because l had one  ;D

any questions anyone ?

 

[biddleboy]

yep your making me jellus  ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

[Baloo]

yep your making me jellus  ;D ;D ;D ;D

LOL....  thats a comment not a question 

like l said the other night you can take it away when its finished and measure it all up and post some dimensioned drawings on here, then you can have one, in fact if you could get 5 or six people to biuld one then we could have our own one make race series  ;D

 

[Mini Mad Max]

You want to put the buggy into mass-production?

 

[biddleboy]

sorry andy i was getting excited ; as for borrowing to measure ime well up for that and ime sure once ive got other peaple to look then they will do one as well any its comeing along nicely wen do you reckon you will have it running

 

[rolly512]

you seem to have way to much time on your hands. how many projects have you got?.
buggy looks grate

 

[Baloo]

you seem to have way to much time on your hands. how many projects have you got?.
buggy looks grate

is there such a thing as having too many projects then ?  ;D

thats a new one on me 

 

[Baloo]

sorry andy i was getting excited ; as for borrowing to measure ime well up for that and ime sure once ive got other peaple to look then they will do one as well any its comeing along nicely wen do you reckon you will have it running

only 2 things left to do, the front top shock mounts and the silencer, and then its strip it down and paint it, was going to do it deep blue or purple but l found the red seat harness and blue dosent go with red so l might paint it red instead, besides they do a red steering wheel on the red mgf and l might be able to swap mine for a red one  :

 

[Mini Mad Max]

You should try and IVA it Would be a great road buggy, and grasstrack, and whatever i suppose

 

[Radar]

Awsome job , you're a handy guy.Hope the rest of the build goes well for you and we see it on you tube blasting around in full motion !!

Radar

 

[Danny]

You are a legend!!

Keep us updated!

Danny

 

[Baloo]

cheers guys

                l am hopeing it will be finished before xmas and it will be on youtube l dont doubt, might need some snow tyres for it and some thermal undies though 

 

[Baloo]

l have done a little more, everything with the exception of the exhaust system is now finished, so l think l am going to strip it and paint it then reassemble it and make up the exhaust when its back together
planning ahead l think l will need some sort of body work ? even if its just at the front in an effort to stop the front wheels filling my mouth with mud
l am prepared to have a go and make a couple of fiberglass panels for the front wings/bonnet, dont think l will bother trying to close the rear in, maybe just cycle type rear mudgards
l found a couple of ideas on ebay the first was a set of quad plastics

if we discard the rear bit, and then l was thinking about cutting the front section down the middle and then glassing in a 8" wide strip to make it wide enough to cover my front wheels, might need a bit more tweaking/adjusting to get it to fit nice but once its done l could take a mould off it and make the finished bonnet ?



second idea was a dutton melos front end style

same sort of thing really cut the head light pods off and smooth over, and maybe join the bonnet to the wings so as it a one piece lift off panel that finishes at the dash boad

l quite like the look of the quad plastics but in some ways the melos style front end is easier as its the right sort of shape but better still l have a stripped melos that l could take a mould off then alter it and produce a bonnet that fits/looks right,  mind you if it looked like a melos and l have a v5 that says melos  :

 

[Baloo]

http://www.lbthosting.com/dutton/photo_ ... y_Mods.htm

 

[Phaeton]

Amazing work mate, is there anymore width in the cockpit area compared to a Freestyle?

Alan...

 

[Baloo]

Amazing work mate, is there anymore width in the cockpit area compared to a Freestyle?

Alan...

hi Alan
  yes its a bit wider than a freestyle, its 53"  wide behind seats narrowing to 35" at the front bulkhead, you could make the rear of the cockpit area a little wider if you wished but the front is limited by the wheels touching the side when on full lock
l think a freestyle is 48" wide at the  cockpit rear ?
Andy