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Wed Aug 31, 2011 1:19 am

I hope nobody minds that i make a build thread here=)
I think this forum is awsome! its an endless source of insane amounts of tips, tricks and inspiration 8)

Also the first part of the thread might be a bit fast forwarded since i have come a fair part along the way already..

perhaps i should tell something about myself first?
My name is Alex and i live in the southernmost part of sweden in an area called Skåne in a city named Malmö.
I work as a constructionwelder, building the steelbase and parts of buildings and also most anything customers might throw in our laps :roll:

I bought my car around september 2009 and at first i was just supposed to fix the rust the electrical system put some paint on it and ride it like it was :roll:
everything got out of hand though :P

The first three pictures are at the buggy where i found it in a friends backyard

if you check closely you can see why the electricaharness needed work :P
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and this is finally at my parents home where i am about to rape, invade and occupy my fathers garage :D

Wed Aug 31, 2011 1:35 am

Im not sure if it was the same day, the day after or a coupe of days but when at home the teardown could start.

first came the chairs

then came the hood.

despite his doubts the curiosity of my father got the better of him 8)

Someone hade welded pieces of 4x4s on the bottom of the pan. My best guess is that they had aluminum flooring on the pan.

well... it all came out and when i saw what it looked like beneath? EVERYTING CAME OF :wink:
and the small devil inside emerged :twisted:

Wed Aug 31, 2011 1:41 am

Alex,

Great looking buggy. A Dalhems buggy I guess? A lot of work to do. Good luck.

Wed Aug 31, 2011 1:50 am

That's A sweet looking buggy, I like that body!
I like the exhaust on that red bug too :twisted:

Wed Aug 31, 2011 2:07 am

and the disesembly countinues
For some funny reason there where two kinds of brakedrums on the front axel.
One 5 lug and one 4 :shock:

the engine kinda fell out.

a friend of mine got inspired and built him a buggy himself. I think its a sandrail... without the rail :roll:

There was a 30x30 mm 4x4 welded beneath the edge of the pan so i cut some excess material from there welded and grinded it dowm

And i hadto replace the id plate since it wasent really registered as a buggy... the car i got the plate from was though.

There was also the problem with the brakedrums and the fact that the body rode on the uprights of the front shocktowers so i replaced the framehead(or what ever you would call it)
This way i also got the more modern front axle in place.
Cut it of

fitted the new one

and weded it in place

After the head was in place there was a little gap underneith so i borrowed some sheetmetal for the donor framehead and welded in place

Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:13 am

I also moved both gearshifter and emergencybreak further back so i wouldent have to reach to much after them while driving later.
simply cut out the part with the bracket for the lever.

and then opened the tunnel the same width furterback

tacked in the part with the bracket and a piece of sheetmetal in front.

then i did more or less the same with the gearshifter.

then i realiced that someone thought a hammer would be a nice thing to use while shortening the shaft inside the tunnel :shock:

i cut of the head of the shaft

found a nice piece of pipe at work

cut of the endpart
and welded it in the new pipe

while i was inside i thought i might aswell make a new thingy out of bronze

when the surgery was done i fitted the tunnel togeather and welded it shut

and this is how it looks after grinding
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Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:12 am

Found a couple of rails from a toyota corolla

i hadeto elongate them to make them fit to the chairs

Also had to make a thing to get the rails to line up so I would get the brackets in the right place for the seats

I made the brackets from a profile i found in the junkheap at work
drilled a hole and tacked a nut to it

finished seatbrackets

Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:27 am

i also put threaded casings in the reinforcement around the edges

drilled holes in the reinforcement

and inserted the casings

and after i grinded down the welds this is how neat it looked on the bottom of the pan

Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:43 am

but then i ended up handing the pan and all parts to a friend for sandblasting and 2 komponent basecoating anyway so i guess i dod a whole lot of cleaning and grinding on the pan to no use but i really think this was for the better.

Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:45 am

Very Nice Build so far Man, Keep up the good work!!!

Wed Aug 31, 2011 5:02 am

The pan is painted

and the gearbox is overhauled with different gearings on third and fourth gear + a superdiff and a harder Side Plate

opened up for a 200 mm flywheel

and the essembly started with all its problems and changes over time.

fresh bearings and a yellow coating

i painted the brakecylinder with wheelpaint because it was raw metal and i dont really need my parts to rust just for the fun of it.

and the same paint on the breakcylinders

Wed Aug 31, 2011 5:11 am

thanks for the compliments guys.. feels really nice to know folks appreciate the work one puts down into something..
ye the body was a dalhems body wich they in turn buy from denmark..

i never liked it because of the molded windscreen and the fat sideskirts..
i actually traded it for another body with a friend of mine..

both because the body was too long for my plate and his body rode on the rear shocktowers

and after a while and some changings and fixings amongs those i hadto put a external pipe for the throttlewire because the internal one was korked up with something...

well i got the whole pan togeather and the chassis on wheeles and brought i to a friend for help with building tha cage

Wed Aug 31, 2011 5:39 am

the cage in a very early stage hehe. just the main arch in place

then i kinda forgot to take any pictures more or less since i was occupied with working :P
the joints turned out pretty nicely though.

and in my oppinion the cage turned out pretty awsome too

then i brought the car home again.. back to the occupied garage
I boroghed a small tig-machine from work and welded the two beams only connecting to the plastic body.

pretty decent if i may say så.
then i removed the body

and i remounted the cage so it would not warp too much when beeing welded.

i turned the whole car over on the side to be able to welt all the way around the pipes without laying upsidedown myself (resulting in way better seams)

i milled and something else with a rotating mashine to make theese brackets for the cage to connect with the rear shocktowers

just an overview from the rear

and this is more or less where im at today..
at the moment im working on the fuel system and updates wont be so fast now since all good projekts take alot of time... (and moneys) parts are soo much more expensive here in sweden..
Sometimes i order stuff from the states and even though i pay around 11 skr per dollar it still becomes cheaper than buying here at home.
hope u like and enjoy my buildthread and pardon my english.. sometimes my brain just does not find the words :roll: and at other times it thinks something means something else... you get it? :?

Wed Aug 31, 2011 6:00 am

Isn't it funny how a tuneup turns into an overhaul for about 99% of us? :shock:

You are doing a hellova job man, keep the progress pics comin'. gonna have a sweet ride when you get finished. Congrats on the find, looks like your taking alot of pride in your build, good to see. =D>

Wed Aug 31, 2011 6:20 am

chmielex,
Really impressive!!! Seems like you know your stuff.
One quick question. What size / type of tubes did you use for the roll cage?

Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:20 am

:D yupp haha. seems like there isnt reaally a small tuneupjobb... thats just in out imagination :P
and I already understand that ill NEVER get the money back so i might aswell go all out with it 8)
and again i must say how good it feels when ppl say nice things about the car and the work i put into it... makes me wanna spend the night in the garage

i used for the main arch 50x3 mm tubing and the front and really the rest of the cage 45x2,5 mm tubing..
and i used a type of hiquallety tubing without welds... precision tubing
i think the tubing is approved by some kinda dragracing rulebook or something (they were kinda expensive) :roll:

i have no idea whats that in inch though :oops:

Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:30 am

Welcome Alex!
You are doing a great job on your buggy. :D
I think you are finding that welding is a good skill to have when working on a Buggy.
I look forward to the rest of your build. 8)

Wed Aug 31, 2011 8:01 am

New body looks sweet! Much better bro. Hope my build can look half as nice , well done man. Keep pluggin away! :2gunfire:

Wed Aug 31, 2011 8:09 am

Very nice work.

--louis

Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:40 am

I am sure I am not alone in thinking the new body looks better. I think it is great that your skills are so easily applied to pleasure. Accountants would have to learn all new skills that take a long time to master. That TIG work on the cage is very pretty! Nice work. Congrats. ..and your English is impressive also.

Jim