Tennessee Mojo - 2015 Wide Open Design build

TennesseeMojo · Mar 4, 2015

Gathering misc parts. 300m 14 bolt shafts from 40spline.com, TH350 w/K case, yokes for the atlas and axles from Northern Drivetrain, LS3 intake for the motor and Mast goodies. This will give us a clean hood otherwise we'd have to build an engine cage to protect the tall truck intake.

TennesseeMojo · Mar 4, 2015

:smoke:

Sawzall · Mar 4, 2015

I am glad to see it being finished and it will be top notch when WOD gets it built. I hope you have as much fun with it as I have had with #002!

Bumpers · Mar 5, 2015

Re:

Looks awesome thus far

ridefast · Mar 5, 2015

You bought it, took it home, put new wheels/tires on it, then took it back to have WOD continue working on it?

Regardless, looks great, really dig the look of it

redneckengineered · Mar 5, 2015

ridefast said:
You bought it, took it home, put new wheels/tires on it, then took it back to have WOD continue working on it?

Regardless, looks great, really dig the look of it

Everything you're seeing here has happened over the course of a year and she's not posting every detail so the timeline is a little out of whack. It was at Woodlee's slowly progressing for about 2 years, getting built for a friend of mine. He picked it up and took it to his home in Atlanta to finish out but he's into motorcycles and a ton of other things so like a lot of projects it just sat untouched. We all know how that goes.

We were talking one day and the topic of him selling the buggy came up. Nothing serious. A month or so went by and he called and said he was ready to let her go. We came to what I thought was a very good deal so I talked to Jessica aka TennesseeMojo aka my girlfriend and of course she was interested in buying it. The buggy is much too small for me but perfect for her or anyone up to around 6' or so. We picked it up in Atlanta and brought it to my shop where it sat and we made a few small changes (tires/wheels, engine, misc parts) while Woodlee cleared his schedule for another turnkey build. That took several months IIRC. Then back to WOD to get finished.

kmcminn · Mar 5, 2015

Awesome build. Love WOD buggies. Sat in El Diablo (gayest buggy name ever) Saturday plenty of leg room very comfortable.

TennesseeMojo · Mar 5, 2015

Budget blown...Wide Open Design custom dash. But, Andrew said that you can't have a WOD buggy without a Woodlee signature dash :dunno:

Major props to Jeremy for executing the vision.

John Galbreath Jr. · Mar 5, 2015

TennesseeMojo said:
Budget blown...Wide Open Design custom dash. But, Andrew said that you can't have a WOD buggy without a Woodlee signature dash Major props to Jeremy for executing the vision.

Yes, Solo Buggy was pretty much a budget build till it came to the dashes, told Adam to do what he does best. My only input was I wanted to to wrap to my elbows, including the door. And I wanted no gauges behind the steering wheel. The rest was up to Adam. I don't believe in restraining an artist.

TennesseeMojo · Mar 5, 2015

Placing gauges. With the cockpit of the Evolution being so tight we had to go behind the wheel but I think they ended up doing a great job

redneckengineered · Mar 5, 2015

JohnG said:
Yes, Solo Buggy was pretty much a budget build till it came to the dashes, told Adam to do what he does best. My only input was I wanted to to wrap to my elbows, including the door. And I wanted no gauges behind the steering wheel. The rest was up to Adam. I don't believe in restraining an artist.

That's pretty much exactly what I told her John, word for word. She's on a tight budget, was lucky to buy into a really well built project with a lot of parts for a great deal, but I've encouraged her to spend the extra money on things that are "worth it" or stuff she would probably regret not doing later. One was the dash, another was motor. We'll get into that later

alli85 · Mar 5, 2015

Buggy is looking awesome! Just don't get any better than WOD dash and you get Woodlee signature as a bonus! I think the dash makes a buggy and it's what you look at all day on the trail also. Looks like that motor is going to be pretty dang nasty! :driving:

TennesseeMojo · Mar 5, 2015

JohnG said:
Yes, Solo Buggy was pretty much a budget build till it came to the dashes, told Adam to do what he does best. My only input was I wanted to to wrap to my elbows, including the door. And I wanted no gauges behind the steering wheel. The rest was up to Adam. I don't believe in restraining an artist.

This build started out as a budget build but has continued to grow and grow. Funny how that happens. I pretty much did the same thing. I know Woodlee and his guys do awesome work, so I thought a nicer dash would be money well spent. I could tell he kind of had an idea of what he wanted to do, so I told him to run with it. I trusted his style and kind of wanted to see what he would come up with. I also asked that the gauges not be behind the steering wheel, but there just wasn't any other place for them in such a small area. He did try for me, but sometimes you have to improvise. I really like what he came up with. :dblthumb:

Buford85 said:
Buggy is looking awesome! Just don't get any better than WOD dash and you get Woodlee signature as a bonus! I think the dash makes a buggy and it's what you look at all day on the trail also. Looks like that motor is going to be pretty dang nasty!

Two expensive areas but totally worth it in my book. I'll try to get more engine pics up soon. We have finally settled on engine number 3, I believe, upgrading a little each time. The engine has 18 total miles on it. So clean. I can't wait to hear it fire up for the first time. :driving:

TheViking · Mar 5, 2015

Re:

Nice!

J.A.B · Mar 5, 2015

What's the total height with the red's

Nice build :dblthumb:

BUG-E J · Mar 5, 2015

redneckengineered said:
Everything you're seeing here has happened over the course of a year and she's not posting every detail so the timeline is a little out of whack. It was at Woodlee's slowly progressing for about 2 years, getting built for a friend of mine. He picked it up and took it to his home in Atlanta to finish out but he's into motorcycles and a ton of other things so like a lot of projects it just sat untouched. We all know how that goes.

We were talking one day and the topic of him selling the buggy came up. Nothing serious. A month or so went by and he called and said he was ready to let her go. We came to what I thought was a very good deal so I talked to Jessica aka TennesseeMojo aka my girlfriend and of course she was interested in buying it. The buggy is much too small for me but perfect for her or anyone up to around 6' or so. We picked it up in Atlanta and brought it to my shop where it sat and we made a few small changes (tires/wheels, engine, misc parts) while Woodlee cleared his schedule for another turnkey build. That took several months IIRC. Then back to WOD to get finished.

That wouldn't happen to be Shane from Atlanta Gate Company would it?

Beerj · Mar 5, 2015

Hard to teel from those pics but are the rear axles 40 spline on both ends or just at the flange. Either way, lookin good.

TennesseeMojo · Mar 6, 2015

J.A.B said:
What's the total height with the red's

Nice build

Good question. It's pretty low, but I haven't measured it exactly yet. It was even lower, but we raised it an 1" to help with breakover angle and big ledges.

BUG-E J said:
That wouldn't happen to be Shane from Atlanta Gate Company would it?

Yep, that's the guy. We met him at the Wide Open Design open house a while back, I think before he even got started with this build. Do you know him?

Beerj said:
Hard to teel from those pics but are the rear axles 40 spline on both ends or just at the flange. Either way, lookin good.

They're the stock replacement shafts so they are 40 spline at the hub and 30 at the carrier. Thanks!

TennesseeMojo · Mar 6, 2015

Couple extra dash pics

TennesseeMojo · Mar 6, 2015

Motor build!
We've gone through three motors on this project, upgrading each time. The buggy came with a really nice LQ4 with ported/polished heads, aftermarket oil pan, upgraded cam, and harness already cut down by Jim's Performance. I was told I would have around 490 hp. That would have been good and all, but something about 500 just has a nice ring to it. I asked if we could somehow get a nice, round 500 hp.

Andrew is all about the Gen IV LS stuff and said he would keep an eye out for a good deal since we had some time on our hands. He found an immaculate 2009 30k mile LY6 for a good deal so we picked that up for engine #2. The plan was to do the 510hp Mast Motorsports kit and call it a day. I would get my 500 hp. Not as much as Andrew's buggy, but I could live with it.

Well, next thing you know, I get a call from Andrew at work one day. He tells me he has a surprise and that I should come by the shop to check it out. No telling what it could be - I have learned not to even try to guess. I see another engine on a pallet in the shop. Engines everywhere by this point. I figured this was another one for resale or one of his buddies or something. He tells me he got a smoking deal on a 2013 L94 (new model L92) with 18 miles from an Escalade that was wrecked on the dealer lot. Obviously, I wanted it. More money, yes, but more woopow. Who can say no to that? For the price I couldn't pass up a 6.2L aluminum block and higher compression, so I took it. Engine number three. ;D

Andrew was able to save me a little money when he found a brand new, still in the box Mast Motorsports kit on craigslist. Along with that we ordered a DOD delete kit from Texas Speed, ARP head bolts, etc. Once all the goodies came in, my dad joined us at the shop to help with the engine work.