Why a rear engine buggy

InDaShop · Mar 14, 2008

BamaTJ said:
I think rear engine is not practical for lots of trail use because of the motor being right at your ears. I would think buggies are hot in the summer regardless, but I think the rear engine might really cook you. Don't know for sure though, just my thoughts.

I can't hear **** in mine over the damn electric fans front and back.

And yeah buggies get hot. Just part of the price you pay....I guess....
Sure it would be worse with a rear engine. I like thinking outside of the box. But as mentioned, I just dont see anyway around the weight transfer without running water in the fronts, and thats just hard on ****.
I think I'm good with giving up a little visability for not being so hard on components.

vanguard · Mar 14, 2008

wngrog said:
I have never heard of a reverse cut Altas.

I read it on pirate, it must be true. ;D

You could order an Atlas divorced transfer case with reverse gears for rear engine configuration to turn the diffs the correct way

vanguard · Mar 14, 2008

InDaShop said:
I can't hear **** in mine over the damn electric fans front and back. And yeah buggies get hot. Just part of the price you pay....I guess....
Sure it would be worse with a rear engine. I like thinking outside of the box. But as mentioned, I just dont see anyway around the weight transfer without running water in the fronts, and thats just hard on ****.
I think I'm good with giving up a little visability for not being so hard on components.

Man, I could have written that exact same post. When I mention online that I can't hear anything because my buggy is so loud they assume that it's obnoxious exhaust noise and that you can hear it for miles. Nope, it's just the fans 18" from my head. If you're 6' from my buggy it doesn't sound any different than most of the rigs on the trail. On the other hand, I'm kind of conditioned to the noise so I don't think a motor behind me with a radiator that's further away would be any worse.

The thing I haven't gotten past is the water. If I went with a reverse rotation honda 2.0 (maybe a B20Z ? ) would it be durable enough to handle 39" tires with water? I sort of doubt it. My current FJ80 front axle might be up for the job if it's gusseted (on my todo list) but I'm not sure about the honda drivetrain.

I'll look into the magic atlas t-case and see if it's real.

InDaShop · Mar 14, 2008

Yeah man last month I was on this ledge. Front is up on the ledge, and my rear is sitting in a mud hole, near vertical (100wb doesn't take much to be vert). I'm last up the trail so everyone who is ""spotting"" is out infront of me. So effectively I have a wall of my motor and fans between me and them. They are shouting whatever, for what they want me to do. I can't hear ****. But apparently, right as someone yelled "Ease UP", I dropped the fuggin hammer. Blew mud EVERYWHERE, collapsed a chunk of this ledge, pingponged the passenger top of the cage off a UBBER LOW leaning tree, and slam on the brakes right in front of everyone "spectating". I'm like "**** was easy" and everyone is laughing their asses of. I had to turn my **** off to hear why they were laughing. They say we said to "Ease UP", and I said, "Yeah thats what I did".

vanguard · Mar 14, 2008

FWIW, I have a call into Atlas about the magic t-case. At first he said it was no problem and that he would just change the shifters so that in 2wd high it would be rwd. Then I mentioned the diff flipping in the axle and something about having 4 reverse gears and 1 forward gear and he said he would call me back.

We'll see but I'm kind of thinking that if Atlas actually made this everybody would be talking about it.

InDaShop · Mar 14, 2008

vanguard said:
something about having 4 reverse gears and 1 forward gear and he said he would call me back.

So turn the seat around :flipoff1:

problem solved!

vanguard · Mar 14, 2008

InDaShop said:
So turn the seat around problem solved!

It's pure genius!!!

BTW, the atlas guy called back. They solve the shifter issue of having 2wd high being fwd instead of rwd but they don't help at all with the rotation. He did mention calling Currie, which was a good idea. If I wanted to run a rear engine chevy 4.3 (for example) I could probably have housings made by currie, diamond, etc. for upside down FJ 80 diffs. In the front I could have a lp 8" toy diff become a high pinion diff. In the rear I could run my current e-locked FJ80 rear in a hp orientation. I would only have to pay for the housings themselves. That's expensive but it might be worth it compared to whatever it takes to run an upside down diff normally (plus I'd have better housings).

I suspect the FJ80 ring gears would hold up at least as well as a hp ford 9" rear. After all, the ring gear is bigger. :dunno: