looking for a good off road builder

[zbug]

Hi everybody, I'm wanted to get some help and advice on who out there is building cages and and front chassis work for a C5U I have the doe and am ready to have one built. I've looked on here for a while and found Crumco, and a guy in upland Ca. I live in Nevada, so I don't want to go too far. California, Arizona, Utah. I've talk to Crumco, and he seemed a little hard to talk too, and wanted all the money up front. It seems any time I do that I get burned. The guy in upland Ca seemed to be a good guy over the phone. Do you guys know of anybody else out there that does top notch stuff? Any help or replies would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Jeff

[baja jerry]

Jamie campbell @ Raceco usa

[zbug]

How would I find him or get a hold of him? I'd like to see his work. Thanks

[bgs]

http://www.raceco-usa.com/?q=node

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Hmm, ruff.

[vwracin2win]

John at playtech did my car. awesome job and awesome prices.

http://www.playtechracing.com/index.html
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69 VW baja 1914
73 F-100 built 302

[dustymojave]

That Raceco 1600 buggy frame is interesting. But I have some issues about it's design and construction. I'll address those in a moment.

I will vouch for Crumco. they are a couple of blocks away from me and my son has worked for Rick for a about 3 years. I too have done some work for Crumco. I have NO concern about them trying to rip anyone off. And their price for a chassis with trailing arms is only a down payment to other chassis builders. Just as important is that the chassis is as good of a design and build quality as you'll get from others too. The only explanation I can give you for that fact of the difference in price vs quality is that Rick is not trying to support an expensive lifestyle for himself and his wife. If you order a frame from them, I feel you will get what you pay for. With others in the industry I feel you will NOT get what you pay for. If Rick charged what his competitors charge, he would probably get a lot more respect, but a lot fewer customers. Odd how that works.

My son driving a Crumco he helped build in the 2012 Mint 400.

In the last MORE/SNORE Chili Cookoff race a couple weeks ago, he was in the Chris Lazenby Crumco.
http://dezertwifephotography.zenfolio.com/p757247701/hdab01cd#hdab01cd

Ask Adam Spitz what he thinks of his Crumco he won the biggest Class 5 in a long time with.

http://moreracing.net/component/k2/item/264-547

Now back to that Raceco and my issues:

1. Starting at the front...The front bumper offers very little support for a skidplate and thus little protection for the beam against stuff like shown in the Crumco 5 pic above.
2. I like the general frame layout. It imitates how I re-designed the Mirage 1600 buggy frame in 1990 with high upper rails for a highly rigid frame.
3. The lower frame rail drops down behind the beam, which lowers the overall CG, but results in the frame dragging on the ground often.
4. The roll cage diagonal in the B pillar hoop stops at the shoulder bar. There is a 1" which diagonals down from the shoulder bar junction to the torsion housing about 2/3 of the way to the center. This frame would tend to rack sideways in the lower 1/2 in a flip which lands the car on the top corner of the roll cage. I have a car sitting in my back yard like that due to the same basic design flaw. SCORE rules call for that diagonal to go from top corner to bottom corner. It could be dealt with by adding another bar under the shoulder bar to the junction of the bottom of the B pillar with the torsion housing. As it sits in the photo, I would reject this car in Tech Inspection.
5. Also in a junction with the B pillar, there is a bar which comes down to a tee intersection with the B pillar 10 or 12" above the torsion housing. Tee intersections like this are a standard no-no in structural engineering, especially in an offroad race car frame. This also is a weakness in the foundation for the roll cage as the rear cage braces land right above this bar. The bar should meet the B pillar at the torsion housing.
6. The rear bumper cage extends back behind the exhaust and bends nearly 90° up to the upper part of the bumper. This results in the tail dragging often. I prefer to turn a 45° upward at the back edge of the engine case to meet at the mid bar of that bumper. This produces a bumper with lots more clearance and far less likely to drag.

I know this frame is NOT a Baja Bug frame and is used to show build quality. But that is why I note the above issues here. If this frame has these issues, it demonstrates that one could expect similar issues in a Class 5 frame.
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Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[QurtysLyn]

Crumco know their stuff.
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'72 Std Beetle - 1641 CC
BRAT Motorsports #936

[svs]

5051 and 547 are factory convertibles... Nice!

[dustymojave]

[svs]

The front clip I can see, is the rear qtr fiberglass? I see the small mount point that is indicative of a convertible and the window frame also matches the vert body..

Very nice builds...

[dustymojave]

The whole side panels are fiberglass. One piece per side, one piece is the cowl and windshield frame, then the typical 1 piece front clip. Rick Crumb has them made. Similar ones are available from Kartek.
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Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[svs]

Ok, Custom built vehicle with some VW parts that looks like a Bug..

Very nice rides... Made for performance. They matched the "Notch" in the qtr panel and window frame well.

[dustymojave]

Mr Hanneman used a real VW convertible for a master to make his molds from. The Kartek pieces are more expensive but don't capture the look near as well IMO.
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Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.