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Wed Feb 13, 2013 8:45 pm

BL3Manx - I don't understand what you mean or why you posted that? My Manx has the original Manx windscreen frame like all other Manxes.

Thu Feb 14, 2013 6:47 am

Original Manx wrote: Not in Australia. We need to have our windshields in it's own windshield frame.

Hey Todd not here at home (Western Australia for everyone else) we can have the windscreen incorporated with cage as long as the glass is approved, they didn't ask any questions at all when I took mine for inspection. Come to think of it I don't think they even checked the glass approval.

Glad to see your back on track with the build missed you in Brisbane the other week by a day.

Thu Feb 14, 2013 5:00 pm

Original Manx wrote: BL3Manx - I don't understand what you mean or why you posted that? My Manx has the original Manx windscreen frame like all other Manxes.

My point is that the original windshield frame on some Manx type fiberglass buggies was a 2" diameter steel tube.

Thu Feb 14, 2013 5:42 pm

BL3Manx wrote: Original Manx wrote: BL3Manx - I don't understand what you mean or why you posted that? My Manx has the original Manx windscreen frame like all other Manxes.

My point is that the original windshield frame on some Manx type fiberglass buggies was a 2" diameter steel tube.

Ah gotcha - thanks heaps!

Sun Feb 17, 2013 1:33 am

Well work continues on the WRManX pan. I tell ya it's nice to have someone as good as Paul at Steelart fabrications working away on getting this done while I build transmissions.

Floors now welded onto the pan - some nice stitching underneath :

Got some front beam clamps - we are going to have to build support for the front beam to be clamped to the exoskeleton at it's extremes. This will help with the power through the front wheels.

The Kafer bar type supports all join up and bolt to the tabs of the rear rollcage stays. Starting to mock it all up.

It all bolts through the body here.

Sat Feb 23, 2013 10:21 pm

So this week they bolted some pivots to the top part of the Subamount. This will allow the support rods to come down and triangulate with the frame horns.

This pic shows how the back part of the exo skeleton meets up with the support rods and bracing that also bolt to the back of the body and roll cage.

From another angle you can see the top support bar of the exo skeleton working it's way around and forward, terminating in some top mounts for the beam.

Now with the body on the pan, the upper part of the exo skeleton is nicely tucked away out of sight. Fitted the vented sidepods as well - looks sharp!

Sun Feb 24, 2013 12:40 am

Wow, the crazy engineering never ends on this thing.

Tue Feb 26, 2013 2:16 am

And so it continues....
Building the exoskeleton some more with a lower tube meeting with the upper, extending along the pan edges and forward to lower beam clamps.

Fri Mar 01, 2013 2:55 pm

"I decided that the pan isn't really good enough to take all that 4WD power so discussed the idea of getting a Manx Chassis modified for it with D.B. in the USA.

Unfortunately he is worried that I am just going to rip his design off. A real shame as I had hoped that he would be able to use the modifications/jigs to set up for his USA customers. Oh well....""

Your quoted text up there, Todd. you left out an important detail of our discussions of me building a pan for you. The D. B. you referred to is David Barrett, that's me. I did give you a price for the chassis, and that was the end of the discussion. I was not and am not interested in developing a chassis for 4 WD, I know it can be done, and the time and effort was reflected in the price I gave you. I also don't think there will be a large call for a 4WD buggy, but I could be wrong about that, back in the early 1800's I turned down the chance to build the mechanism holding a new fangled apparatus called a steam engine, to a driveshaft and a big three bladed propellor, that guy was Robert Fulton....big smiles please.
Good luck in the 4WD project
David Barrett
manxchassis.com

Fri Mar 01, 2013 3:53 pm

Hey David thanks for your good wishes.
Just to make sure the air is clear, yes David did give me a price to develop a 4wd chassis based on his design and the commercial prospects of 4wd buggies.

Ultimately, while I would have loved to have used a D.B. Chassis (the best in the business) I couldn't go forward on that commercial basis when really I just wanted to do one 4WD chassis for myself. There's always possibility of some business of 4wd Manx buggies but it's not really within my business scope.

In Order to do this one off 4wd shortened Manx pan for me I have been able to work with Steelart in Brisbane, Australia. They are using this Manx build to showcase their fabrication skills and also gauge the success and interest levels in 4wd buggies. There is now some talk of 4wd Manxters in Australia - we will see.

We've been quite lucky to have had a large take up of Subaru powered and Subarugears transmissioned buggies in Australia so there is a natural progression towards seeking out if a 4wd version can be a worthwhile improvement in performance. It will also be a challenge to see if it can be done with reasonable cost and execution.

Again, thank you for the discussions we had and the good wishes David. Hopefully we can break some new ground in Australia and there might be demand for same for your business in the USA. If not, that's all good too :-)

Fri Mar 01, 2013 8:05 pm

i was wondering what size wheels and tires you plan on using on your 4X4. manx are there enough gear ratios avalable to run a small tire up fron and a larger in the rear to be able to keep the classic dune buggy look?

i know this is all street stuff but with a few mods it could elimanate the front and rear torsions

rear http://www.mendeolasuspension.com/truetrack-rear-suspension.html

front http://www.mendeolasuspension.com/s-2-front-suspension.html

Sat Mar 02, 2013 1:18 am

(a) I don't really want to eliminate front and rear torsions. I want the conversion to be as repeatable as possible if others wish to go down the same track

(b) the Mende stuff is not easily approved for road use in Australia. Not without expensive destructive testing. Authorities in Australia don't like cast parts re-welded, not withstanding these parts may be better/stronger than the original.

(c) the Mende front end does not work with 4WD. Driveshafts would have to go right through where they have located coil overs and there is no place on their hubs to run cv's and drive hubs. Also there would not be enough room for the front differential under their plates.

I'll get this one done first and see what it actually drives/handles like. Then, if worthwhile-I'm sure developments can happen from there.

Sat Mar 02, 2013 5:14 am

To answer your other question I am using 18 x 7 wheels on all 4 corners.

I guess you could use different size wheels/tyres front and back for the classic dune buggy look. You would need to have the difference in tyre circumference different by the same amount that the front to rear differential ratios are different.

With 3.9, 4.1 and 4.4 ratios available I guess it could be played with.

Sat Mar 09, 2013 3:00 pm

Exoskeleton now filled in with bars down the side.

I have changed the roll bar design though. I didn't want to have big overhead bars so we're changing it to a front and rear hoop that's tied into the exoskeleton.

Sun Mar 10, 2013 6:27 am

For those of you that have followed my entire build thread, you'll know this build led to the development of the reversed 5 speed Subaru transmission for rear engined cars.

One of our earlier testers - Blue V2's buggy - tested my original 3.9 ratio transmission before we went to the 4.1. He has now had the 4.1 LSD Subarugears trans installed for 18 months and 13,000kms. It has seen street and dune use over this time - now swapped out for a 4.4 LSD Subarugears trans. This buggy is powered by a quad cam EJ25.

I thought this would be a good opportunity to tear this transmission down in front of a video camera as a 'bare it all' exercise. Also good to see how these things hold up long term.

For those of you interested and with a spare 15 mins, the video is now on my Youtube channel for all to see.

http://youtu.be/occoSek3MlU

Luckily, all was great with the teardown. The oil was good, the insides were pristine and the ring and pinion are in super condition.

Whilst a bit of an 'advertisement', I thought it to be relevant to this thread and interesting to most readers.

Mon Aug 05, 2013 5:25 am

So now after some pan surgery, we have the front differential fitted into the head of the new pan. Ready to be welded back up.

Dummy driveline placed in the back.

Cable shift 'split case' 6 speed fitted into the tunnel. (like the 5 speed but 1 extra gear - NOT the STi 6 speed). Torsion bar is cut but the splines can be re-welded into the tubes to be used with short torsion bars. Now the work on getting this pan re-inforced in this area begins.

Wed Aug 07, 2013 1:49 am

Looking mighty fine!

This should put the horsepower down really well!

Mon Sep 09, 2013 11:03 pm

Got the rear trailing arm setup pretty much organised.
Those lovely double arms and seam welded flipped trailing arms are now powdercoated a nice satin black.

Almost have all the parts together for the back end.

One thing I am going to do though, is run Subaru WRX rear discs and calipers. Subarugears is going into production of the Subahub which is a splined hub that slides onto the stub axle in place of the VW item pictured here. This then has the WRX floating disc slide over it. The Subaru backing plate easily fits the VW trailing arm in place of the VW backing plate, with 4 holes drilled by template to locate it correctly. This way you get the standard Subaru handbrake mechanism, brake caliper, pads and discs. This also allows fitment of the vast range of 5 x 100 pcd wheels on the market out there.

Wed Oct 09, 2013 11:04 am

Any news here?

Sun Oct 13, 2013 2:06 pm

Yep some more progress on the pan.
Installing a 'bow' underneath the torsion bar to reinforce everything now that the torsion has been cut through.

From the back :

From the sides :