Backyard kit car ideas...

[fpv_gtho]

Ive got 6-8 weeks holidays coming up over the holidays, and i REALLY want to do something other than my usual wake up at 1pm, go to sleep at 3am routine. After thinking about it for a week or so now, something along the lines of a home made kit car, but i guess more of an ATV style thing is what i wanna make...

Right now, ive got all these different parts ive taken off this 3 wheeler i got off my grandfather. With that theres what i think's a perfectly good rear diff with sprocket, all 3 wheels and if i can make something light enough, the 105cc single piston 4 stroke engine. What im really worried about is the gearbox on the engine is goneskies and only good with top gear, so anything i make thats going to me safe enough to my satisfaction, which could mean up to 4x the weight of the original 3 wheeler, the 105cc wont be able to make it move in top gear.

I originally thought about getting some old 250cc bike and using that, but then i guess it clicked how much of a deathtrap that would be :p Now im looking at the likes of a 125cc engine or there abouts, hopefully from a dirt bike as i guess in this case, low down torque is much more desirable than top end power. But maybe that can be overcome if i come across a 2 stroke engine apart from a 4 stroke..


Either way, thats my idea so far. Ive got about 6-8 lengths of RHS at one of my friends place that are about 6 metres long each, so im not really worried about bare materials. If it all goes ahead, the steering will probably be the hardest part, but i might see if my dad's willing to hand over the steering rack he has from a Mk2 Escort :p

[Mustang]

wow tahts a great idea, i was wanting to do something like that once but as you say then i didnt have the rew materials, what i think would be best would be to get some light tubular pipe, and make almost a roll cage from it using pipe benders / welders etc...

if you could then get it light weight enough id go for the bike engine (maybee a 250/ 500 :D) then it would go like hell :)

anyways mate good luck with the idea, looking forward to seeing pics of it :)

P.s. youve got me thinking maybee next year when ive got a bit more money together, i might have another go at my design :) (all i need to do is wait for the money and the 6 weeks holidays :))

[fpv_gtho]

thanks mate, im hoping it'll be a ripper but somethings bound to go wrong :p

ive been playing around with the old 105cc engine, mainly cause i gotta get the chain out of the transmission casing cause in a couple of places the links are buggered, so its a bit of a deathtrap to try and use it for this idea. my brother wants to get it shortened rather than buy a new one, but me personally would rather spend the $100 on the new chain....

my dad's got this 600cc 4 cylinder bike engine still on a frame with the electronics, brakes etc. that was going towards a similar project (thats what the Escort steering rack was for) but i dunno if he'd let me use it, if i tell him about this idea, it might just get him inspired back into doing the ATV he first got the engine for....that was about 6-12 months ago :rolleyes:

but yeah as i said, i dont want to be building a deathtrap, but i dont want to be blown away by a pushbike :p

[Mustang]

well maybee you should get your dad involved with you :)

I take it by what you said he knows a bit about how everything works and maybee you could persuade him to cover the financial side of things ;) as long as he can have a go now and then :p

trust me with a 600 i dont think youll be blown away by a pushbike and aslong as you have a cage or something on there it wont be too dangerous either :)

[Mustang]

Home made tube bender (http://www.blindchickenracing.com/Tools/Tube%20Bender/Tubingbender.htm)

here are some ideas of what i was wanting to make mine look a bit like, maybee you could use them :)

http://www.badlandbuggy.com/gallery/g_3.jpg

http://www.badlandbuggy.com/gallery/g_32.jpg

http://www.badlandbuggy.com/gallery/g_14.jpg

[fpv_gtho]

well i guess its always worth a shot, but i dunno, i dont think it'll get it done any quicker especially considering the thing he wanted me and my brother to help him build (which is the spitting image of the 1st and 3rd pic there) has taken so long to get off the ground. my parents are divorced so i only see him once a fortnight, i guess that makes things alot different, if it was me and him working on it all the time though, for sure it'd get done faster, easier, better....

the plan so far is the first 2 weeks, i'll go work for him at his work and that'll earn me around $500 for the fiddly bits, and i guess just see how it goes...

next time i see him though, i'll ask him what hes got planned for both the engine and steering rack and run my idea past him though, he may get me some more stuff for it, he may help me with it over the holidays, me may give me the engine but then again he might just give me a few suggestions on how to do it and thats it

[charged]

Mustang top little buggy what motor is that, is it a Yamaha RZ 250 motor or something along those lines

[Mustang]

if its over the holidays is there any problem with going over more often, id be sure that ihe wouldnt object to it ? :o

Hey im even thinking that if you went down to your local garage and asked them how to do something if they werent to busy thed tell you how to do it and then it wouldnt be so much of a deathtrap :P


As you say you could get $500 to spend on the bist but f i had £500 it would be going straight to my rally car, which is why the idea gor put to one side :(

[Mustang]

Mustang top little buggy what motor is that, is it a Yamaha RZ 250 motor or something along those lines


i dont know i just had a quick search in google for those pics to show FPV a rough idea of some designes that i concidered :)

[fpv_gtho]

he'd probably love it if i went over there more, but i dont know if that would save or waste time. lately he's been doing alot around like concreting and other odd jobs he can find so i dont know if he could put aside the time on the weekends, but maybe one thing i should see if he'll let me build it at his workshop :p i'd have cranes, mig welders, grinders, plasma cutters, tig welders, arc welders, proper benders with the 3 wheel type of things.....heaps of these different machines that'd get the thing built...i guess its really either gunna take shape or fall to pieces when i talk to him about it :p

[Mustang]

dayam if he has all that stuff then you should get the thing buildt very well :) but that all depends on if he will let you use it :o

im sure that if you think about how it all goes togeher before you start it will be ok

[fpv_gtho]

yeah thats the idea, just know what im doing before i do it :p

the only problem will be like i'll be getting in the way of the work hes gotta get done, and if any of the inspectors walk in and see me welding, even playin around with one of the overhead cranes, my dads in the shit so its a bit of a gamble. either way, he lets me drive the forklift around there and i havent got a permit for that, but hes been talking about getting both me and my brother to like do all the small courses for the different machines in the workshop and like the dogmans certificate and forklift permit soon, so maybe, just maybe he'll let me do it.

even still, my dads got 2 sets of like 50 page plans for ATV style things made by this mob outside of Perth over here, so i can always flick through them and get inspiration.....one of them even came with CAD 3D drawings for some views

[my porsche]

do something like the last pic on mustangs pics, that is one bitchin' buggy dude!!! now i wanna build one!!

[werty]

My friend and i built a custom minibike. The frame was givin to us and its just like the one in dumb and dumber, seriously looks just like it.

So we put on a 5 hp lawnmower engine, and i took off the stock exhuast and made a custom straight pipe for it. I swear its louder than any harley davidson on the road :eek: :cool:

Then we got the bright idea to mix lighter fluid witht the gas, which we jokingly called our "nitrous kit". And too my surprise it went alot faster. We clocked it at a track at about 40 mph. But then it died.

So last weekend my friend bought a new 6 hp briggs and straton engine, i made a new custom exhuast. This new motor has higher compression and torque, so it redlines higher, and the acceleration is scary.

We estimate maybe 45-50mph. It soo fun to ride, and yet scary at the same time. I'll get some pics of it sometime this weekend and post them later.

[fpv_gtho]

im kinda hoping for higher than 40mph to be honest, my brothers got one of the mini bikes with the 49cc engines and thats about what that does down my street

[GTR Dreamer]

that second pic is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cool it has totaly inspired me!!!
one problem.............money oh and make that 2........machinary and materials...oh mybe 3.....skills! :D:D:D:D:D:D

[fpv_gtho]

the thing is though, if you dont want or cant put suspension on, its going to get pretty rough if you dont have some pretty big tyres on that you can simply change the air pressure in them to suit different conditions.

[Matra et Alpine]

Ron Champion - the man behind the LOCOST Lotus-7 copy ( build a car for 250 quid ) - has produced an off-road buggy.

Not seen any plans for it, but if he follows his original beliefs then you'll be able to build it with the simplest of welding skill for VERY little outlay.

I'll ask at kit car club if anyone's tried it.

[Mustang]

why not just buy a cheap car from the scrapyard and use that to race around in like i did, alot more fun and a hell of alot cheaper

its better buying a car for £50 then doing a few hundred miles in it then the engine blowing up rather than spending $1000 on something that will just do the same thing

[fpv_gtho]

both are tempting....

i dunno, i guess i like the idea of "building" something with my bare hands then going out and thrashing it, rather than thrash it and either sent it back to the scrapheap or try and rebuild it..

[BjD]

both are tempting....

i dunno, i guess i like the idea of "building" something with my bare hands then going out and thrashing it, rather than thrash it and either sent it back to the scrapheap or try and rebuild it..

Yeh, half the fun is building it :)
Ive always fancied doing something like this too, like taking a Mini/Metro front subframe and engine and stick it at the back. Seen a few kit cars built like that, gives you suspension and engine mounts, and something strong to weld the frame to :) Even the 850 would be fun given the overall weight :D

[werty]

i say build a minbike like my friend and i did, well, we built the engine up anyways.

Last night we rode it with some flashlights munted on the front of the gas tank. I haven't had much time to ride it, seeing as we finished building it friday night. so last night was my first full ride you could say.

The accelaration was insane. I did a good 50 ft long wheelie on accident right when i started it up and drove away, it was soo cool. Today im gonna practice the wheelie, maybe send in a small vid if i get good enough :D