Low Budget rear engine, 37"s

[RustyC]

I figured I'd throw up a build thread for the little buggy I'm building for me and my two boys.
GM 4.3
Th350 with a 700r4/NP208 short adapter
Flipped Dana 300
Axles are flipped OEM Ford 9" truck housings, 35 spline spools f/r.
Front gets 99-04 Superduty Dana 50 c's knuckles.
Rear is a 9' Gm 14 bolt hybrid. 9" center section with 14 bolt tubes,spindles,hubs.
4 linked front and rear 1 1/4" lower and 7/8" upper heims.
14" Fox coilovers.

This is my first time building a chassis and the learning curve is steep.
Built in the small half of my basement garage.

 

[RustyC]

 

[RustyC]

 

[RustyC]

 

[RustyC]

 

[RustyC]

2 speed Volvo fan Summit shroud.

 

[RustyC]

 

[RustyC]

Hardest part so far is trying to fit me at 6' and a 12 year old too. So the seats are fixed and the throttle and hydroboost setup is on an adjustable mount.

 

[RustyC]

I want to give a big Thank You to Patooyee for the Excel cylinder scale spreadsheet and for the overall tech input over the years.
It weights in about 2600 lbs here, without driveshafts or a winch. Weight looks to be balanced pretty good for a rear engine buggy.

 

[RustyC]

Tear it apart and paint.

 

[RustyC]

Good help!

 

[RustyC]

Little bit of budget tech here. I needed or think I need a sway bar. So off to the junk yards.
I found that the front torsion bars on the 90's 2wd Nissan trucks are keyed the same on both ends and about the right diameter. So I bought one torsion bar and two end keys.
I fabbed up some arms to bolt onto the keys and a couple links to connect to the chassis. Seems to work as planned.

 

[RustyC]

Axles shafts...for the front I used the long side shaft from the SD Dana 50 and another off ebay. The SD shafts do not neck down after the splines they acutally be bigger so the is enough material to turn down, cut and respline to 35 spline. Hudlow Axle in Chattanooga did both shafts for $150
Stubs and lockouts are OEM 30 spline. I have a set of 35 spline drive flanges to go in when I upgrade to 35 spline stubs and bore the unit bearings.

The rear used an OEM 35 spline Dana 70 on the long side. The short side is custom. The budget is really tight here so. I cut the flange off another OEM 35 spline Dana 70 shaft. I had the flange machine to slide onto the shaft.
Both were preheated, splined into the 3rd member and the flange bolted to the hub and welded.
It may last under the power of the V6 we will see

 

[RustyC]

I was lucky and ended up being able to use one piece driveshafts front and rear. Wrapped the headers, three side and down on all the vents on the fluids. To help prevent fires.

 

[RustyC]

Well it is back together. Seems to be peppy and should be fun for the boys to learn to drive as they get a little bigger.

 

[RustyC]

Shakedown run did not end well. The little buggy did great, felt balanced overall pretty good. Steering through the tight woods is way easier that my Jeep on 42's.
Decided to hit a few hills. Layed down a full throttle assault and the Irocs were not helping at all. The last hill and too many RPMs was too much for the #1 rod bearing to handle= knocking engine. Not complaining as it was a cheap used engine.
Current plan is to rebuild the bottom end, replace the TBI head with Vortec versions + cam and intake. New chip burned and try again.
I have a theory on the failure. The engine is rear sump in it's original application. In the buggy the sump is now in the front of the chassis due to the engine being in the rear.
Uphill, extended high RPMs=oil pump pickup on longer submerged.
Rebuild plan also include building front sump oil pan and pickup.

 

[Ethann]

Cool build, I like it.

Sort out those few teething issues and it'll be a top little bug!

 

[SomewhiteGuy]

Nice little build, buggy has clean lines.

 

[Neal3000]

Very cool, you've got some nice skills!

 

[payne97]

Cool & clean buggy can't wait 2 do 1 for my kids
Keep us updated on it