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Thread: Buggy Build

  1. #1
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    Buggy Build

    In another thread (Race course electronic speed traps) I asked if anyone knew of any electronic speed traps in Thailand. This came about from a challenge that was laid down at the beginning of the year.

    I was sitting around with some acquaintances having a beer (or six) and the discussion somehow got onto the fabrication of vehicles. One of the group mentioned that it would be difficult to build a vehicle from scratch that could go over 100 mph. I was a bit taken aback by this statement and I told them that to build a vehicle that could go over 200 mph would be a bit of a challenge but to go over 100 wasn’t a big deal. As the night got on and more liquid modesty was consumed I somehow made the mistake of saying that I bet you I could easily build a vehicle that could go over 100 mph.

    I didn’t think much of it until three days later when I got a call from one of the group saying they would like to meetup and clarify the terms of our bet. Turns out that there had been a discussion amongst themselves that I could just buy an old go kart and slap a big engine on it, which they felt wasn’t in the spirit of the agreement. So we had another meetup and the following guidelines were drawn up:
    • Most of the car including the frame has to be built by me in Thailand (can have assistance to help)
    • Must have four wheels
    • The driven axle must have a differential
    • Must have independent brakes to all four wheels, as in each wheel must have its own braking mechanism, the braking system can be run off one master cylinder
    • All four wheels must have suspension (not necessarily independent)
    • Front or rear drive is acceptable
    • Front or rear engine is acceptable
    • Any engine size is acceptable but must be internal combustion running either petrol or diesel purchased from a local fuel station
    • All functions must be operated from the driver’s seat
    • Must move in forward and reverse under its own power
    • I have one year from the agreement to complete the challenge (29 January 2017)
    • At this time there are no rules or guidelines from any international racing body being used but the vehicle may have to pass a safety inspection from anyone of their choosing
    • Speed must be measured using a ‘speed trap’ consisting of electronic timing lights placed at the start and finish of the course. Where possible, the record speed will be taken as the average of the fastest consecutive runs in opposite directions, and the runs must take place within an hour of each other.
    I am still negotiating the last requirement. I found that it is cut and pasted from another website and I am having some difficulty trying to figure out how to do this in Thailand. I am trying to get them to accept a GPS driven instrument that show the highest speed reached. They are not accepting this as the old farts think that I can save the highest speed recorded from another vehicle and show them a deceiving result.

    One further verbal requirements was that they wanted a way to check that I was building the buggy in Thailand and it was being built by me. Hence this thread, they can look at it at any time to see the (irregular) updates. You can see from my signup date and my post count that I am not big on posting on internet forums and I am also not sure that TeakDoor is the correct forum for this but I figure there are a few people here that may be interested also.

    I still feel that this is a fairly easy challenge, it just comes down to what do I want to build and how much am I willing to spend. I considered a few options but finally settled on an off road buggy frame that I will power with a Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle engine. The frame plans were downloaded from an Australian website, materials have been ordered and the engine is sitting in the workshop. I still need a few more parts but I am ready to get started on the frame now.

    There are a few other details that I have left out but I’ll get to them as the build progresses.

    So here we go.
    Last edited by Barty; 26-05-2016 at 02:16 PM.

  2. #2
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    Day one. (Monday 23rd of May 2016)

    Bit of a slow start. Had to clean up the shop and get it ready for the build. I have one other person helping with this part of the build as the frame rails are long and one person cannot hold onto everything and measure, cut weld etc.

    We started by moving the fabrication table from the wall into a free area of the shop. We then levelled the table so that it was level in all directions and accurately marked out a centreline down the table. The centreline will be our reference for the most of the frame build.




    We managed to get the base frame built by the end of the first day. Pretty happy with the result

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    Day two.





    Got the main roll bar and cross bracing done together with the hip bars and hip bar support. We were pretty pleased with the day’s work until we noticed that the hip bar nose was off-centre. Bugger! Don’t know how we missed this, we were doing the measure three times cut once theory but still screwed it up. We called it a day and told ourselves we would fix the next day.

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    Day three.

    Re-measured everything and confirmed that the hip bar wasn’t on centre. Luckily everything is only tack welded and it isn’t a bit deal to grind off and start again.



    This time we rechecked the centreline and levels before we welded the hip bar supports back into place.



    We managed to get the hip bar in the correct location completed the front roll bars and the tail frame
    Last edited by Barty; 26-05-2016 at 07:12 PM.

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    Good job, Barty...What do you get if you win the bet?...

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    Welcome Barty
    Good luck with the buggy, it not to hard to build buggy to reach speeds 160 kilometres per hour.

    I would have gone for a front wheel drive 3.8 litre Buick engine & stick the engine & gear box in the back, of course you have to fix the back wheels so they don't pivot.

  7. #7
    Excommunicated baldrick's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BaitongBoy
    What do you get if you win the bet?...
    a home built buggy that goes 160 kph+

    interesting thread - this sounds like somthing our member fondles would be involved in

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    Day four.



    Chassis rear down tubes, rear uprights, harness bar and shock uprights tacked into place. Starting to look like a buggy. We knocked off a bit early today to go and look at rims and tyres. Have a few other things to do over the next few days so it will be next Monday before we get back into it.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by BaitongBoy View Post
    Good job, Barty...What do you get if you win the bet?...
    Let’s just say that this is a friendly agreement between gentlemen.

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    ^ You're getting bummed then ?

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    I reckon this would win.


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    Quote Originally Posted by Ratchaburi View Post
    Welcome Barty
    Good luck with the buggy, it not to hard to build buggy to reach speeds 160 kilometres per hour.

    I would have gone for a front wheel drive 3.8 litre Buick engine & stick the engine & gear box in the back, of course you have to fix the back wheels so they don't pivot.
    I agree that hitting the 100 mph in a buggy should be fairly easy. My issue is meeting the speed trap requirement. This is actually proving to be a bit of a headache, but I am sure I can figure it out and I may end up using the speed trap requirement to my advantage.

    I have seen a few builds using engines similar to the 3.8 Buick but I decided against it for a few reasons. Firstly, they are not common in Thailand, they are heavy and in my opinion they are not particularly good engines. With the Hayabusa I get a six speed sequential gearbox, light weight and the ability to fairly easily tune from 200 to 300 horsepower.

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    Go Team Batty!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Barty View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Ratchaburi View Post
    Welcome Barty
    Good luck with the buggy, it not to hard to build buggy to reach speeds 160 kilometres per hour.

    I would have gone for a front wheel drive 3.8 litre Buick engine & stick the engine & gear box in the back, of course you have to fix the back wheels so they don't pivot.
    I agree that hitting the 100 mph in a buggy should be fairly easy. My issue is meeting the speed trap requirement. This is actually proving to be a bit of a headache, but I am sure I can figure it out and I may end up using the speed trap requirement to my advantage.

    I have seen a few builds using engines similar to the 3.8 Buick but I decided against it for a few reasons. Firstly, they are not common in Thailand, they are heavy and in my opinion they are not particularly good engines. With the Hayabusa I get a six speed sequential gearbox, light weight and the ability to fairly easily tune from 200 to 300 horsepower.
    25 years ago we were out on the salt lake in Australia trying to set a land speed record & we used the door beems when a person walk in the door they break the beem & the chime sounds
    They are able to put them 20 metres apart & still get a reading.
    We had 1 at the start of 1 kilometre 1 at the mile as our speed was around 800kilometres per hour.
    You would only need to set them 100 metres apart this system was aproved by CAMS

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    Thailand Expat Fondles's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by baldrick View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by BaitongBoy
    What do you get if you win the bet?...
    a home built buggy that goes 160 kph+

    interesting thread - this sounds like somthing our member fondles would be involved in

    This the sorta shit I love but the way I'd do it may not be within Berty's budget.

    I could prolly sort the timing/speed test issue but would need to know distance.... is it 100mph in 100m or 1000m ?

    The Meth One's Fuck The Best !!


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    I think there's plenty of lightweight engines you could fit more cheaply than the 'busa. - e.g. WRX, or any of the Japanese inline turbo fours.....
    Looks like a lot of fun!!!

    [edit] Actually, and thinking a little more, 100mph should be easily achieved with almost any recent fwd engine. There's no limit on the run up distance to the speed trap right? Just don't make the buggy an aerodynamic speedbrake and it should be fine.!!
    Last edited by bobfish; 26-05-2016 at 09:13 PM.

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    Thailand Expat Fondles's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ratchaburi View Post
    25 years ago we were out on the salt lake in Australia trying to set a land speed record & we used the door beems when a person walk in the door they break the beem & the chime sounds
    They are able to put them 20 metres apart & still get a reading.
    We had 1 at the start of 1 kilometre 1 at the mile as our speed was around 800kilometres per hour.
    You would only need to set them 100 metres apart this system was aproved by CAMS
    25 years ago you did 800km/h on Lake Eyre.

    Thats an impressive feat and would have a been world record at the time. any details of the car ?

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    You would think that Barty would need 2 kilometre run up then timed over 100 m then 2 kilometre run down turn around & back throught the timing traps.
    Thats the easy part.
    Its not a drag race.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Fondles View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Ratchaburi View Post
    25 years ago we were out on the salt lake in Australia trying to set a land speed record & we used the door beems when a person walk in the door they break the beem & the chime sounds
    They are able to put them 20 metres apart & still get a reading.
    We had 1 at the start of 1 kilometre 1 at the mile as our speed was around 800kilometres per hour.
    You would only need to set them 100 metres apart this system was aproved by CAMS
    25 years ago you did 800km/h on Lake Eyre.

    Thats an impressive feat and would have a been world record at the time. any details of the car ?
    Fondles what is the Australian land speed record & Im not the driver but 1 of many who helped to builder the car that hold the Australian record 803 kilometres per hour & it a long way from the world record.

  21. #21
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    A great challenge, Barty. Good luck with it and thanks for posting it up here.

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    Surely a motorbike engine is the easiest and lightest?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ratchaburi View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Fondles View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Ratchaburi View Post
    25 years ago we were out on the salt lake in Australia trying to set a land speed record & we used the door beems when a person walk in the door they break the beem & the chime sounds
    They are able to put them 20 metres apart & still get a reading.
    We had 1 at the start of 1 kilometre 1 at the mile as our speed was around 800kilometres per hour.
    You would only need to set them 100 metres apart this system was aproved by CAMS
    25 years ago you did 800km/h on Lake Eyre.

    Thats an impressive feat and would have a been world record at the time. any details of the car ?
    Fondles what is the Australian land speed record & Im not the driver but 1 of many who helped to builder the car that hold the Australian record 803 kilometres per hour & it a long way from the world record.

    honestly don't know but 500mph in 1991 was an impressive speed.

    a quick google suggest's Alwin Teague took the land speed record in 1991 in a streamliner @ 425mph.

    If you guys did 500mph maybe ya shoulda backed it up and took the record and be recorded in history... instead of being a nobody.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Fondles View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Ratchaburi View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Fondles View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Ratchaburi View Post
    25 years ago we were out on the salt lake in Australia trying to set a land speed record & we used the door beems when a person walk in the door they break the beem & the chime sounds
    They are able to put them 20 metres apart & still get a reading.
    We had 1 at the start of 1 kilometre 1 at the mile as our speed was around 800kilometres per hour.
    You would only need to set them 100 metres apart this system was aproved by CAMS
    25 years ago you did 800km/h on Lake Eyre.

    Thats an impressive feat and would have a been world record at the time. any details of the car ?
    Fondles what is the Australian land speed record & Im not the driver but 1 of many who helped to builder the car that hold the Australian record 803 kilometres per hour & it a long way from the world record.

    honestly don't know but 500mph in 1991 was an impressive speed.

    a quick google suggest's Alwin Teague took the land speed record in 1991 in a streamliner @ 425mph.

    If you guys did 500mph maybe ya shoulda backed it up and took the record and be recorded in history... instead of being a nobody.
    Fondles who holds the the Australian record you done know then your not the guru that you make out to be

  25. #25
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    Sorry Fondles its only 22 years ago in March 1994 speed 802.6 kmh if Im right
    Last edited by Ratchaburi; 26-05-2016 at 10:39 PM.

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