TheSamba.com :: View topic - riNR's Mid Travel 4 Seater Woods Rail Build

Tue Oct 23, 2007 8:26 pm

looking at that makes me want to have a rail....
good work man.

Sun Mar 09, 2008 10:53 pm

i finally got my garage all insulated, etc.

Well what can I say...one step forward, one step back.

I started to tear the car down to fix some problems. I tore the front end apart to repair my bent front spindle and get parts ordered before my trip to Michigan buggy Builder's show.

I cut me rear arms apart to get rid of the 5 degrees of negative camber at ride height in my passenger side arm and will do the same to the 3 degrees on the passenger side.

Isn't it funny how you always think you'll get so much done.....AND YOU DON'T!!!!

So what's the procedure to removing the rear wheel bearings?

Sun Mar 16, 2008 6:44 pm

Cut apart the rear arms removing the end plate with bearing housing from tube arms. I place tubes inside for set up and prper camber angle, and over sleeve for the welding on top and ran plate between sleeve to gusset gap that opeing up the arms for new camber angle.

Had to mock up a way off making sure alignment stayed true and set new camber to arms:

Passenger side arm had 5-6 degrees of negative camber. This arm is done now:

Arm on the bench after finishing welding up last night.

How's the welding look? Any pointers?

Next task.....improve shock mounts....

Sun Apr 13, 2008 11:32 pm

I decided to work on the car from the front to the back now....

got the new spindle spud and welding it into a peice of 3/8" plate and then welding it onto the old dropped combo spindles:

Removed the bar between shock towers and welding in diagonal bracing to cage, and made up limit strap supports and limit straps:

Made up bump stops for arms:

Rebuilt the front beam and added zert fittings to lube up bushings, plus rebuilt the Tweed spindes with all ne bushings and install Neall disc bbrake kit:

Next up:
install new pedal set, install new cutting brake, install new race prepped 930 CVS, rear limit straps and stops, plumb brakes...........

Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:42 pm

cleaned it out with cleaner:

ran water through it while I was cutting it with the grinder...garage floor needed a good cleaning anyway....it will probably turn rust colour by morning with all the metal filings:

And ta da! got it all cut out.....thing is made out of 1/8" thick steel:

I tried the fit of the new pedals on slide mount at full extension and fits great:

And at full forward on slide mount the fill caps are accessible: ( i knew someone would ask )

This tank has the fill cap hole, the sender unit hole, the return line hole, the feed line hole, and a 3/4" drain cap hole which will all be left open with an exhaust pipe running into while I'm welding it. I can't see this tank retaining enough pressure in the event of vapour ignition with all those holes in it, plus the tank volume / internal area of steel plus the thickness of the steel itself that there is a huge risk of problem given these factors.

Sun May 11, 2008 10:06 pm

got the gas tank all modified to fit new pedal assembly and ready to be bolted back in:

Mounted the new cutting brake with line lock and all brake line plumbing done...giant pain in the rear:

Bent spindle replaced, all new brake kit installed and plumbed brake lines to front and back, steel plate for pedal assembly welded in for strong support, bump stops completed and installed ( did them twice over, total brain fart ( always cycle your suspension and make sure you put things back the way they are intended to go)), installed limit straps completed:

Next tasks:
Install pedals and test for leaks in line ( say prayer for that one)
install gas tank
alter steering column that interferes with new pedal assembly
then move onto rear:
new 930 race prepped CVs
brake job
limit and bump stop suspension
install new rad
etc.....

Mon May 12, 2008 10:14 pm

Tonight I installed the floor, pedals, hooked up all the lines, and bleed all the lines out. Back brakes still need some work to bleed but I'm pooped. Installed the gas tank.

Pedals full forward under modified tank:

Pedals full back under modified tank:

Wed May 21, 2008 9:29 pm

Finished the following lately:
finished off all the small bits of front end suspension and brakes
Reinstalled rear brakes, wheels, new bearings, seals, etc.
Installed all new race prepped 930 CV joints
fabricated bump stops for rear arms
welded in mounts for limit straps
started to reassemble rail ( back seats, etc)

Wed May 21, 2008 9:34 pm

your car looks really good

Thu May 22, 2008 4:42 pm

looking good rinr.....keep the pics coming

Thu May 22, 2008 5:28 pm

After strap and bump stops what amount does your suspension cycle? Just curious...

Thu May 22, 2008 5:40 pm

Actually I never measured it. My set up is probably not a good example of maximum travel available with 4 X 5 arms and such. The way that I have it set up now the rears seat supports limit the range of upward swing on the arms, and they could definitely travel a lot further up before the CVs would begin to bind. On the down swing I set the limit straps so that the CVs were an inch or slightly more shy of binidng ( I rather have it that way then them ripping apart ). I would guess that in ideal set up that the 4" X 5" and CVs combined could deliver 15 - 17" of gross travel. I would gather that based on the "Dan's performance parts" buggy claims somewhere in that range.
Before I had it all limited and bump stop the car rode like a dream in the woops and I've basically just safegaurded everything now. It's been a fair bit of work but I am hoping it will add to the reliabilty of the buggy.

Sat May 31, 2008 5:28 am

Almost forgot about sharing the rear arm bottom shock mounts upgrade.
Shocks used to be sitting on a 6" bolt with no support except for the ends. Needless to say the bolt had quite a bend. I added support close to shock:
Before:

And After:

Sat May 31, 2008 5:33 am

Most recent mods / progress include:
Reinstalled seats, CPU, etc

I swear that I must be the slowest fabricator sometimes. It always seems that something will be simple and it ends up taking huge lots of time. I guess lack of know how must have lots to do with it too.

Built and installed new radiator and new fabbed box to hold rad.

Sat May 31, 2008 7:46 am

Some killer fab skills your showing.

Thu Jun 12, 2008 10:05 pm

In my quest to get this car on the road:

I recently added proper brake lights, reverse, licence plate light:

Added rear view mirror ( with little reading lights ) and handheld GPS that can also be moved to my mountain bike, windsurfer and hiking:

Painted the body panels ( flat white primer)...finally....that retro puke metallic purple with splatter paint on raised section was making me feel emasculated:

Hoping to take it in on Monday to get safety checked and sniffed to get valid road title. Keeping my fingers crossed. My kids want me to drive them to school in it, but next Friday is their last day before summer break starts.

Fri Jun 13, 2008 7:10 am

riNR,
Very nice build, you've really transformed the rail, I like the upgrades and the new color is a definate improvment (garage looks nice too), I was never much for purple. I'm going to take your advide on the MC bore sizes except I'm going to source them from the stockcar guys. As for the emergency brake, correct me if I'm wrong but I've heard that if you have two seperate braking systems, ie; dual master cylinders, that satisfies the DOT backup (emergency) brake requirment.

Fri Jun 13, 2008 7:54 am

Thanks for the compliments. To me it doesn't really look like I did all that much but most of my efforts were towards safety and improved reliablity...not much bling going on there.

I like the garage now too. I've gotten into watching/ listening to CSI while working..either that or UFC competitions, and when the TV is overrun with that reality crap there's always the radio.

I just took it out for a good rip around the neighbourhood and it rides much nicer and tighter now. Even with the large bore size on the brakes the thing still stops great. I might just have to take out to the trails tomorrow, but I'm kind of weiry of breaking something which would delay my safety check again.

I would check into the emergency brake issue locally. I think that an emergency brake should be refered to as a parking brake only. No one in their right mind would reef on that thing on the highway. The split / independant masters seem a far safer alternative to me. I'm getting it safetied by a mechanic who agrees with my views and therefore is going to turn a blind eye to that requirment. If pulled over most cops wouldn't have a clue anyway.

There's still the huge mental list of "things to do" but I would just like a break at this point. I have pretty much been obsessed with this thing. Since March I've worked on the car almost every night until midnight or later with the exception of a weeks vacation time away and maybe 4 nights max where I just couldn't get out there.

You learn a lot about yourself when you take on these types of tasks, and the alone "thinking" time is sometimes good therapy and escape from all the nonsense that life throws at us all regularly.

Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:08 am

riNR wrote: . I think that an emergency brake should be refered to as a parking brake only. No one in their right mind would reef on that thing on the highway. The split / independant masters seem a far safer alternative to me. I'm getting it safetied by a mechanic who agrees with my views and therefore is going to turn a blind eye to that requirment. If pulled over most cops wouldn't have a clue anyway.

I agree, I was going a different route with the registration, my rail is going to be titled as a 1960 something VW beetle and leave it at that. It will have a safety glass windshield, the proper lights etc... I figure if the hassle is too much, I revert to going the full route with the inspection. We don't have yearly inspections here. Most of the time playing really dumb and being polite usally will get you by unless you're acting stupid on the street or the cop just has it out for you. The other rail owners here just laughed when I mentioned going the full route and getting it inspected, they've had pretty good luck going the VW sedan title route.

Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:11 am

un-freaking-believable. Your fab skills rock. Nice garage too!