Ol'fogasaurus black buggy

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Tom, that is a pretty neat deal as you can stand up and work, not sit on the stand.

Been busy with several things but I do go out and stare at the buggy then go inside and figure, the accept or decline my ideas.

I am working on the front upper cross shaft that connects the two front uprights together. It is ~(roughly/approximately) 3' long but it does sit back from the dash of the buggy body. My buggy body was built in 2 pieces: the upper body contains the fenders (wings) and the cowl while the second part is the mount that attached under it and to the pan. In most dune buggies, but not all, the hood and dash are one piece... just like my blue one is. In this case the cowl is connected to the inner flanges of the body and to the cowl which requires a radius which I have to consider.

The other day I made the tube bendable that I posted pix of so, because I need to make a bend I took the mockup piece and cut the notches with a cutoff wheel...

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... not sure just what the thickness of the cutoff-disc is but it did work but it also is about the most gap I can make because the back (un-cut) shows signs of maxing out the stretch since I can just barely feel each notch in the back of the tube. (remember, bending a tube the material on the outside of the bend stretches' while the inside of the bend compresses with each limiting the amount of bend the tube can safely have. For the mockup it is no big deal but as what I am looking at it is a big deal.

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This shows what I am playing with. The cross tube you see sitting under the bent tube is what I will be working with. Since I am going to bend the tube's ends I will have to cut the tube into two pieces then temp join them so I can slide larger dia. tubes over it that will be for the steering wheel mount and gauges mockup which I like higher than the dash hence... on the tube.

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Got some garage time so I started on the front cross-piece. I cut down a couple of Tees I had made to better fit what I was trying to do. I also moved and added some holes and nuts for the thumb screws.

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This is about where I am at now. The tube is close to level with the top of the dash but not fully clamped in place as I have to add a couple of bends to match the dash.

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This gives you an idea of where I am going with this. For the mockup the tube will be in at least two pieces. this is so I can get the angles and bends right (to more or less match the dash) as well as the length. The steering will connect to this bar and the gauges and switches also will be mounted here as they will be more in "line of sight" this way and not on the dash or in the way of my legs and footsies.

I almost forgot, the bend will also aid in getting in and out of the buggy.

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I got some garage time today but first I had to go and get another 3' of 7/8 tube then stopped to get some needed fasteners for the tube cutting jig.

I made a couple of mistakes today one of which I had talked about before but... I got in too big of a hurry and both of them bit me at the same time. When I started to make the Kerf cuts I marked the seam but instead of going to the opposite side to mark the center of the stay-a-way area for the kerfs (roughly 1/3rd of the dia.) I marked them on the seam side. The first cut and bend I made the 7 cuts that I had done before using the wider cutting wheel. It turned out that I had to add an 8th notch to get the full bend and life was good!

The other thing I did wrong was to make the same notches the same way for the other half of the front spreader but got in too big of a hurry and didn't allow the tube to cool down so it immediately failed the bend on the only notch that started to bend and that was a complete collapse and torn metal. I cut off the bad area then repeated the kerfs on the same tube but this time I drowned the tube in cold water and this time it bent OK. The seams are not always as strong as one would think so stay away from playing with them... if you can!

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This is what it looks like.

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Hey (pitching a screaming fit ) the cross bar was not is not at that much of an angle. When I saw the pix I ran out and checked it and the pass side was up a short bit but not nearly that much (maybe less than a quarter of an inch). I think it was the angle I was taking the pix at. Anyway, it is level now and I can do some more adding of stuff on it for a different fit check.

Lee

[chuckput]

At least you are able to get out into your garage, Lee. It was about 110 here today and working in the garage is not too fun (Leather knows about this, as well). If there is something I just have to get done I will venture out in the morning, but if I can avoid it I will.

I like watching you work through your different projects. I enjoy your thought processes.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

At least you are able to get out into your garage, Lee. It was about 110 here today and working in the garage is not too fun (Leather knows about this, as well). If there is something I just have to get done I will venture out in the morning, but if I can avoid it I will.

I like watching you work through your different projects. I enjoy your thought processes.

Thanks Chuck. A lot of the way I do things is based on my job before I retired (almost 20 now) and being around a lot of car people. Still around dune guys and girls so I get to pickup things from them.

We've had a lot of cooler weather along with more than a bit of rain but not to the point of flooding like in some other places in the US. We are in a hilly area and get a lot of the East Pacific weather coming down from the arctic via. both Canada and Alaska but according to the weather guessers it should get warmer soon.

Since we live in a development I usually don't go out until the late morning or afternoon then come in when what I was working on is done or where I am at an impasse. The timing is partly due to the young kids in the area as well as older people so I don't disturb them with my cutting and grinding.

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I went out after dinner and put the thumb screws in the joining tube for the front lower cross-piece. Time consuming and boring as the tube wants to fight you all the way.

I also got inside of the buggy and sat down for a while. I think I am going to have to raise the top of the cage up an inch or two higher. Some of the problem getting in, but not everything, are the running boards. Even if I add supports for them (and I will have to do that for sure) having to stretch over the sides with one foot on the ground the drawing the other one in is complicated by the running boards... a long reach for us old and stiff guys.

Got to shorten the two rear cross-pieces an inch or so but I knew that a long time ago.

Looked at the steering somewhat and I think it is going to need two universals (three requires a support for the middle one). Once that is figured out then there is the fuel tank location and whether to cut the inner fender panels to install it or not and just how much if I do.

Next then there are the side bars and their connections to the front beam, the floors and the truss bars.

Not giving up but getting tired of it all again.

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Nice day out but too warm and muggy to help with my wife's gardening so I pushed the buggy outside and took some pix to see where the cage, seats and their relationship to me was. I took a bunch of photos with the buggy empty of me and the wife almost duplicated what I took but with me in it.

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This is about the worst part, the spread and bend over to get into the buggy. The cage is ~48" high (and that is on a step in the pan) in the rear and ~42" tall in front. Especially right now with so many thumb screws holding things together you can't grab on to the cage to ease yourself in.

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Side view.

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3/4 front

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Rear view. I have my hat sitting up so it would be close to the 4" height that the underside of the cage tube should be at.

Anyway, this is where I am at as of today.

Lee

[ninelives17]

Looking good! You need white wall tires on that thing!

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Looking good! You need white wall tires on that thing!

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I don't think they make white wall sand tires but the idea would sure look cool.

I went out and did some measuring and adjusting after I got the buggy back in the garage (it is heavy and awkward to push by ones self especially since the body is not bolted to the body lift and pan). The alignment was off some but not as bad as the one pix showed.

The next things after doing some cutting of tubes, is the steering assy and the back of the buggy. the fuel tank is off by about and inch and a half and about an inch high which means either the body needs some trimming or the location of the tank needs to be moved back. I have to pull the engine before I can do much more than that. By pulling both the engine and the trans I can get inside the rear to see just where the bottom part of the body goes as well as the inner fender liners. Right now I think the tank needs to be slid back s short distance but not 100% sure about that either.

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Boy, am I embarrassed. It is a good thing I did not grab a saw and start modifying the access to the fuel tank opening in the body.

Last night, after dark I was out in the garage trying to get one of my flash lights working. I was sitting in one of the chairs I have out there (one has to do) and got looking in the dark area where the fuel tank was when I stuck my hand in on the mount and felt something...

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When I had put the body on the pan I also added the 4 spacers I made to lift the body up enough to slide the fuel tank and mockup mounts for it and... I had clamped them in place so the tank wouldn't fall and get damaged. I remember removing one of them but must have forgot the other one as that is what I felt.

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When I had tried to slide the tank forward it didn't move and I thought it was the inner fender wells on the body (there is a taper there) that was stopping the movement.

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Sliding the tank forward about an inch and a half I get this but the tank is hitting the body so it will come back about a half inch or so. I can live with that.

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This shows the gap between the tank and the inner fender walls. Probably less than half an inch but it is usable I think. I need to drop the mount down about an inch so the front end attaches to the truss spreader bar rather than sitting on top of it.

Lee

[Dougstr]

That is definately an interesting looking buggy! I like the look better with you sitting it!

[Ol'fogasaurus]

That is definately an interesting looking buggy! I like the look better with you sitting it!

Thanks! Yes it is very different which is one of the reasons (but not the only one) why it is taking so long.

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It took me three iterations on my blue buggy to get to this. This is the one you might have seen in the early 90s.

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If you saw me on the dune in the 90's this...

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... or the buggy with a top, would have been what you saw.

Lee

[Dougstr]

I don't remember it. You would think I would, there have never been many Manx's out there. You were probably in the Saunders Lake area most of the time I would guess. I would go through there a lot on my way to Spinreel and then back to Boxcar. I didn't loiter much though as there was usually more activity on either end. I think that has changed now with Riley Campground in the mix. That blue buggy is very nice!

Have a great day.

Doug

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Yes, we're usually more in the Saunder's lake area. The first pix of the buggy was at the bottom of Saunder's lake dune. It used to be something like 110' but it has been worn down a lot now days.

Lee

[Tom in PA]

Wow, glad you didn't start hacking the body up! As a bonus, now that part of the project is one step closer to done.