Self built Buggy test!

[Robc]

Hi everybody!!

I have just discovered this forum and was wondering if anyone knows where I could test my buggy around the Rugby/Coventry area, I have been building it for years and it is now at a stage where I can give it a bit of a shake down test. would be good to chat to some like minded Buggy enthusiasts!

regards Rob.

 

[250buggys]

Hi Rob

Would be great to see some pics of what you have built.

We pretty much all have road legal buggies so everywhere is good to go, all taxed and insured. Unless you can find some private land with land owners permission plod will most likely take your pride and joy away and crush it so be careful where you decide to take it. They clamp down on it quite heavily due to all the quads and motocross bikes being antisocial.

Chris

 

[Phaeton]

You could try sending Andy AKA Baloo a message, I believe he has access to a field sometimes, he may be able to arrange something

 

[ChaosMS]

Hi Rob,

I asked my local college if I could use one of their spaces at the weekend for shake down trials, apart from running out of fuel on the first corner all went well on both offroad and onroad areas (as its private land even the road areas are ok!)
Look forward to seeing some pics of what youve built - totally understand the long build - my first build of my buggy was 6 years and I think the modifications to it I'm doing now have taken almost 2 years!

Rich

 

[Phaeton]

Talking of the long build Rich, as anything been heard from the lesser building Max AKA "Slacker" recently?

 

[Robc]

Hi Chris/Rich,

Thank you for your Replies! Yes this is the problem, I did take it up my road by about 10 feet but that was enough! I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing up waiting to get busted! so definately keep it legal! I don't want to lose it! I did try to upload pics but it failed, I will try again! is there pictures of your buggies? Is there a galley for members?

regards

Rob

 

[250buggys]

Here is my buggy, I think pics have to be under 1Mb unless you host externally.

viewtopic.php?f=47&t=3154

 

[ChaosMS]

Hi Rob,

I have two build threads for my buggy - the first one is for the original build from the ground up:http://www.muddybuggies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=1883

The second thread is for when i decided to swap the engine out for something with a little more poke!!: http://www.muddybuggies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=2811

 

[ChaosMS]

Talking of the long build Rich, as anything been heard from the lesser building Max AKA "Slacker" recently?

Ha ha ha - Not heard from Max in a while Alan, last I heard he was working with his brother, so no where near his buggy, I can only assume its still in the garage!

 

[Robc]

Thankyou all for the buggy pics, Chaos, your build looks awsome! can I ask, is it your design or built from a plan? the reason I ask is because it looks like it is road legal and I was wondering if it would be possible to get mine road registered, trouble is as it is my own chassis and suspension design i am not sure if it would need some kind of type approval? get the feeling there would be to many red tape hoops to jump through!

 

[ChaosMS]

Hi Rob,
Firstly Many thanks! and yes Its all my design, and it is road legal - you dont need type approval only the IVA, you will need to provide a few more photos of the build basically to describe what youve built. I did take mine through an MOT prior to taking it to the IVA test (you can get an MOT on the chassis number) but that was for my peace of mind really as I drove mine to the test and drove it back!! (awesome couple of trips) it did fail its first test but only on minor things and I knew it wouldnt pass first time by the time I got half way there, and it had turned all the exhaust sealant to ash!! (I used the silicone exhaust sealant) so it sounded like a tank and the emissions were all over the place! - I told the IVA testor (a very nice chap called Andrew) that I did not expect to pass due to the exhaust leaking - He went over the car from top to bottom and all he found was fixed in 20 mins or so with some rubber edging, the worst problem was the side repeaters were too low so had to be moved, but he told me where to put them! When I returned a couple of weeks later he took only 20 mins to check the changes and test the emissions and I got my certificate - I was VERY happy - but it was a very cold and wet drive back, it rained/ hailed and snowed on me on the way home!!

So my advice would be make sure it meets or exceeds EVERYTHING in the IVA manual - dont attempt to hide issues as they will find them, build your car to pass the test without modification, and most of all, dont piss the tester off!! - Andrew told me all sorts of horror stories of builders who should really never touch a spanner let alone build a car, who got really annoying when they were told that there car was going to fail, or worse still they would not test the car as they deemed it unfinished!! (Yes one guy with a GT40 took it for a test without paint, front windscreen, one working door, only the front brakes working, no interior and the engine had never been started - and he got really annoyed that they would not IVA it!!!!)

Rich

 

[Phaeton]

Here's the puppy you need to read, it's not as bad as it seems, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... hicles.pdf

 

[Robc]

Hi Rich.
Thank you for your response, that has really surprised me!!! and actually really got me thinking. I was beginning to think that I was the only one in the country to actually think about doing that! I had searched to see what was involved but found nothing. And even being able to drive it to an MOT center would be amazing!!! I have lots of build pics so that shouldn't be a problem! the main issue I have is braking the rear axle, I have very little room under my 10" wheels so was thinking of braking via the final drive, not sure if that would be acceptable. Are you an engineer? your buggy looks really well Designed? mine is very light weight, probably around 250kg if I added all the road legal stuff so I think it would classed as a light quadracycle, I don't know how that would effect things. And thank you Phaeton for the link! I suspect there are many answers in there! I will have a read!

Rob.

 

[Robc]

A picture of the rolling chassis, is a little more finished now!!!

 

[ChaosMS]

Hi Rob, if your vehicle weight is that low you will have to class it as a Quad! - there is a totally different set of rules for Quad and Heavy Quad (under 400KG) I would go and check the Gov website for the motorcyle version of the IVA document Alan linked to above.
Braking for a quad might be possible on the back axle under the regs but youd have to have a look at the latest version and see what the rules are.
Ive found the link to the MSVA its https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/motorcycle-single-vehicle-approval-inspection-manual

As for engineer - nope just a hobby engineer!!

Rich

 

[Robc]

Thanks again for the advice, and the link, It does confirm what I suspected, you cant brake through the transmission if it relies on a chain at any point. probably for the best! also it didn't mention anything about having to fit mudguards, It would be good to get away without them as I love the open wheeled look. The only thing that confused me was the classification for a heavy quadricycle seemed to have a power limit of 15kw? there are lots of road legal quads about with way more than that! interesting stuff though!

 

[250buggys]

I imported a Chinese buggy and it didn't need an IVA test, it came with a certificate of conformity, just had to register it and it was an easy road legal buggy with no MOT needed for 3 years. Sold it on before that as it would have needed a lot of work to get it through an MOT, no fog light or switch etc for starters. A lot has changed since 2009 though, probably for the best as there are a lot of poorly constructed kit cars on the road, most of them come up one ebay every year!