My Sidewinder build

[zeusrekning]

Ok Im not so looking foward to the documentation of my Sidewinder build , but it needs to be done. I am definatley no man of words , so dont expect to be on the edge of your seat reading my post, but I will try to post as many pictures as I can to make up for my lack of words. I am posting this on a few forums so if something is mentioned that does not seem to fit that may be why.The foums Ill be posting this in are:

www.madmodder.net
www.edge.au.com/forum1/index.php
www.sembra.org
www.gstwin.com/

I figured that if you have any further interest in certain parts of this buggy build you may enjoy looking into those links as much as I enjoy frequenting them.

A small bit of history on my buggy interest.
I got my first Go kart when I was around 12 years old. I fell in love instantly. It is hard to explain to someone who has never rode but the thrill of being part of the machine got me hooked. It is similar to quad in how much is doen by shifting your body wight when driving, but lower center of gravity for better control and safety. It probably needs to be stated that my first time riding a quad ended with me trying to take a 90 degree turn wound out in third gear. It was unsuccesful to say the least.
   The issue was always that go karts were ususally 5 horsepower yard karts with no suspension and small wheel. I modifed what I had to suit my riding but always wanted more. I dreamed of building a fully indepent front and  rear suspended kart since I was about 16yo. I drew and drew and learned a bit about independent rear suspensions but there seems to be no body out there with the same interest. And then in 1998 my dad bought our first PC and we got the internet. And after the first few weeks of discovering women wear alot less clothing on the internet I started doing research on buggy with suspension. I still had little luck finding what I wanted. There was a guy in the North Dakota area who had a Buggy called "The Beast" It was very nice and fit what I wanted but it still used an industrial Briggs engine. These are great for certain uses but not for a powerful buggy, the RPM is just too low IMO.
   Then one day I came across The Edge Buggies website. I have to say I was a bit upset to start with. It was another case of someone allready doing what I thought was an original idea of my own. But I read and dreamed even more seeing what these guys down under were doing. And after maturing a bit and realizing that building something someone had allready proved the concept of , I decided I had to have an Edge Piranha. It has been a few years now since my last attempt to build  a buggy, which ended b/c of finance and life getting in the way. But I decided to commit a lot of my free time and play money this year to building a sidewinder. After completing I hope to drop back and convert to the Piranha . But building the Sidewinder will give me something to ride and decide what mods will best suit my type of riding.
   With the current infux of Chineese buggies the hobby has really grown. People are begining to see the fun and safety of having a buggy over a quad. Dont worry quad guys you will still have your place. But it just gives us another option out there of toys to ride. And with the growth of popularity has also came the organization of "Mini Buggy" Clubs and the fact that Mini Buggies are being welcomed to many of the offroad parks and OHV trails across the country.
I came across the SEMBRA site a few months back and it has been a lot of encouragement to keep the build on a steady pace. These guys travel the SouthEastern US riding at different places and I'm itching to go ride.

Well I guess it turned out I had a little more to say than I thought it would, I would like to thank all those who have been a help to this point either with finding part, anwering questions, moral support or encouragement. There is still a lot more to do but I am well underway and commited now. I hope to be done by the end of the fall but really want to be done by August to catch some riding with the SEMBRA guys.

If this is posted in the wrong place or is not welcomed to the forums please move or delete.

[zeusrekning]

I did not take a pic of tacking the upper and lower frame together but it was the most straight foward part of the fabrications so far. I used a piece of thick plywood as a template. I then snapped a centerline and drew out the locations of tubes. So It was then just simply putting together the puzzle pieces.

The first few pics are of me lineing up the upper and lower frame.






I used jack stands to set the angle of the upper frame, while trying to align the center of the two frame members. You can also see in the last picture the two nose pieces tacked in. So after they were in place and two vertical pieces of tube tacked to hold the angle of the upper frame I took the buggy to my work to fully weld up the current progress.






Im a decent welder , especially with a mig but I did not like how some of the welds came out. Luckily I was able to grind down the worst of them. At work , most of our welded jobs are thick structural steel so I have gotten used to welding it I guess, This was good clean steel but slightly on the thinner side than what I am used to.

This was the first part of the project I aquired, It is a 1989 Suzuki GS500 . It is not a recommended engine to use buy Tony at "The Edge" (maker of "The SideWinder" plans). But A fellow Sidewinder builder is using this same engine and It was highly recommended by Eric (Brass_Machine @ MadModder) . And most importantly I got the bike for an unbeliveable price. After selling the handle bars, headlight and fenders, I recouped my money on the bike. I came across the GS500.com forum and Mr. Buddha there built a set of carbs for me for a very good price as well. He jetted for the aftermarket slip on exhaust that came with the bike, and the K&N filter I will be running. He also took out all the soft twenty year old  Jap bolts and replaced them with new stainless steel allen bolts.

This is the bike after some disassembly.


The Carbs.



Here is a video of the bike running.


I made a mistake and hooked the fuel line to the overflow tube on the carbs. The bike ran with a little tinkering , but once I hooked the fuel line to the correct inlet on the carbs it fired perfectly.
I have to say I was so pleased with the sound of the bike. I was a bit worried of having a buggy that looked mean but sounded like a pissed bumble bee.


Now it is onto the rollbars.I did not take any pictures of bending the bars. I had a a local shop quote bending them for me but he wanted $350. Yeah right. So I decided to bend them myself.
Any of you who have messed with bending tube know it can be difficult not to have kinks in the bend. So what I did was weld a piece of tube to the welding table at work that was the same diameter as was needed to get the right inside bend radius I needed. The mandrel tube was just slightly longer than the diameter of the roll bar tube. I then welded a plate on tupe of the tube to keep the roll bar tube from kinking out. It took a bit of reheating and rebending because of an error I should have caught but other than that the roll bars came out ok. The fixture worked great but I had to reheat and rebend some so I got so kinking. Ill get over it.








Today I cut and welded the bonnet bars into place. They came out well. They look to be symetrical which is the most important part. Not quiet as much progress as Iwould have liked to make today but I got lazy.




On the todo list now is,
Receive parts from waterjet guy and weld into place
   parts include suspension mounts, misc mounts, and pedal boxes
Order steel and plastic for suspension arms, bushings, and axle.
Fabricate suspension arms. Machine axle.
Order shocks and other misc parts from The Edge.

[Brass_Machine]

1st. Welcome back Tim! We have missed you.

I am assuming you have written this out and it is the same post in all the forums? Cause you know it is very welcome here!

BTW...  That frame looks fantastic!!!! Awesome fabrication skills!


Keep it coming. You better finish soon, my pal in NC was just up and has invited me, the missus and the little guy down for a visit... I want to see this in person... running!

Eric

[sbwhart]

Good Job Tim

 


Nice buy with the engine 

Stew

[zeusrekning]

1st. Welcome back Tim! We have missed you.

I am assuming you have written this out and it is the same post in all the forums? Cause you know it is very welcome here!

BTW...  That frame looks fantastic!!!! Awesome fabrication skills!


Keep it coming. You better finish soon, my pal in NC was just up and has invited me, the missus and the little guy down for a visit... I want to see this in person... running!

Eric

Thanks Eric, Yes my time has been stretched neat to the max lately, Nothing big , just small responsibilities always poping up. If you come down to the Carolinas you had better swing by finished or not, Im sure between Steve and I we will find something for you to druel over for a bit. Just give me a heads up if possible, cause I never know what weekend I have free. Id hate to miss your trip cause Im sleeping in a field somewhere with scouts. LOL

Tim
 

[CrewCab]

Well .................. for a man of few words that's one pretty impressive write up Tim ............... 

Thanks for taking the time to share it with us, impressive looking build so far, looking forward to more 

CC

[Bernd]

Well .................. for a man of few words that's one pretty impressive write up Tim ............... 

CC

Perhaps so, but just think 1 picture = 1000 words. He posted 20 pictures. That would have been 20,000 words. You'd still be reading this thread. 

Nice write up Tim. Can't wait to see the finished product racing around on the track or were ever. 

Bernd

[zeusrekning]

Thanks guys, Ill definatley keep you posted. This will be a long term project that will never be completely finished.

[seanol]

zeusrekning
Where are you located? I am in Las Vegas and can bend 1", 1.25" and 1.75" tubing if you need help.

Let me know,
Sean

[zeusrekning]

Thanks Sean, If any more tubing needs bent I will prob just invest in a bender. What would you recommend if I had to buy a low budget bender?

[cedge]

Tim...
OUTSTANDING!!!  Guys, I've seen this project up close and personal. Tim puts out some excellent work between all the distractions he has to deal with. Glad to see him finally taking a bit of his time to have some fun. I'm gonna be keeping a close eye on this project. Tim, stock up on iced tea... I'll be dropping in on ya.

Steve

[seanol]

zeusrekning
I went with a JD2 and converted it to vertical bending and air over hydraulic. You can also get plans on the web to build one using Pro Tools dies. Try http://www.offroadfabnet.com/index.php as they are pretty active for that.

Good luck and nice start,
Sean

[zeusrekning]

Ok guys , I finally made some more progress on the buggy

Ive been working on the suspension components for the last couple free weekends.
I made a fixture ,per the Sidewinder plans, to help build the front arms and make them symettrical.
The front arms were a pain for me to make because it was alot of grinding to fit check then grind again.

The rear swing-arm intimidated me but it was actually easier in my opinion, mostly because all the angled cuts were well drawn out in the plans.

The biggest challenge was coping (fish mouthing) the rear brace to match the axle tube. I wasnt feeling up to cutting the angles to match and grinding to fit so I rigged the part up onto my drill press.


It worked well once I got everything aligned and postioned as needed. The hole saw was not to happy to say the least but we came through it.

Using an annular cutter for the pivot tube hole.


Here are some pics of the nearly finished pieces. Still need some berrys knocked off and cleaned up.






Heres the link to my photobucket, There are alot of redundant pics but some that arent.

http://s261.photobucket.com/albums/ii41/zeusrekning/Sidewinder/?start=0


So as I sit, the frame and suspension is "basically" complete.I am waitng to get my parts from the water jet guy, I have places my order from "The Edge"
I would guess mounting the motor and making the tank are the next big hurdles.

P.S.
I just have to throw these in.These are a couple pics of my old kart.

 

[sbwhart]

Well done Tim you've made some real great progress fantastic bit of fabrication.

Thanks for showing

Stew

[zeusrekning]

!!!UPDATE TIME!!!

Well I got my stuff from The Edge this week.
Im still waiting on all the parts from my waterjet guy, looks like it may
be a couple of weeks on that.

So I knocked out the front spindles. I used preheat treated 4140,
It comes in around 30 rockwell. It is not too hard but stiffened up a bit.
And machines very well, IMO better that annealed.

Here are some pics of the turning, I didnt take any pics of coping the end
to fit the spindle tube but it was straight foward. I just made a 5deg angled cut with an endmill.







Today I went and picked up some aluminum for the gas tank.
Then I decided to work on a tank lid. I really wanted to use the
cap off the GS500 tank. It is a cool flush mount cap.So I had to make a recessed
piece to weld to the tank top, so that I could use the flush mount cap.

Heres a pic of the tank. I had no intention of using it originally
so sitting out side it got mud and paint on it.


Under the cap.


First thing I did was make the center plug out of some stainless steel.
This is where the locking section goes.







Next was making the recessed piece that would weld to the tank.

Sawing took almost 45min with my dull blade.


Chucked it up, faced and turned back as much as I could.
Then flipped it and faced to length and turned back the other half.
During the last facing operation I used the turning tool to scribe a center line for locating.


Then, I bored the center section, to the correct depth for the cap.


One thing I noticed , was that the center of the filler tube (SS piece)
Needed to be off center of the recess in the alum. On the GS tank I measued the offset at 3/16".
This has to do with the way the cap hinges and for the locking mechanisim to clear.



I mounted the 4 jaw chuck and got my part mounted so it was offcenter .188".





I then pressed my SS piece in, I wanted to keep my orientation in the 4 jaw chuck so I could bore the
SS piece so I used the tailstock as to help persuade the two to mate.




Well I just realized I didnt take a pic of the finished part. LOL
After that last pic I bored the SS to diameter, then put a 60degree taper like is on the
original. Then polished it us.

Here is a pic with the cap mounted.

[sbwhart]

Good job Tim     

Real nice bit of machining 

Stew

[Stilldrillin]

Crackin` project. Crackin`filler cap job! 

Well done Tim..... 

David D

[zeusrekning]

I havent put together a build update but got alot of progress done this long weekend. So lets call these "teaser shots".

Now keep in mind, I never welded alum till last week. I wanted to weld the tank myself so I started practicing then.


Waterjet parts


Pedal


Pedal Boxes


And the buggy as she sits


I just realized the tank pic above was just tacked so here ya go

Ok , Mabey It is one of the better welds on the whole tank. But who would post the worst one.

[Stilldrillin]

I`ve never been a welder, Tim........ 

But your work looks good to me! 

David D

[zeusrekning]

Ok guys, here are fresh pics.

[Bernd]

Tim,

Nice job welding there.

I see there is no differential. Hows that work for going around corners?

Bernd

[bogstandard]

I was going to ask the same question as Bernd, but he beat me to it.

That is a wonderful bit of kit you are making there Tim.

If I was a few years younger, I think I would be making one alongside it.

Very nicely done.


Bogs

[sbwhart]

Thanks great progress Tim  interested to see how the drive chain and differential is going to be set up.

Stew

[cedge]

Tim
Are both rear wheels driving or is it set up like smaller carts, with one wheel running free? If it's powering both rear wheels, that sucker is going to push badly into the corners. Some damned large oaks grow in the area where you intend to play...(grin)

I'll be dropping in tomorrow to give it the hairy eyeball...

Steve

[zeusrekning]

There is no differential in the rear. Trying to achieve maximum traction first steering second. I still have no idea how this thing will handle but, in my old cart more steering was done by brake and throttle manipulation that with the front wheels. Thats was the part I enjoyed so much. I could go into a turn at WOT and turn , tap breaks, and hit the gas again while throwing my weight and it could spin around. Ive gotten quite a bit heavier since then but this buggy is much heavier than my last kart.
Steve give me a call. Take note what time this post was made , lol. I have been up since 7AM on a Friday    Goal today is to get throttle and clutch cables, brake line, and some exhaust tube.