hey everybody!

i just got back from D & K this past weekend and i gotta say i had a blast watchin all the buggies! yall do some awesome stuff!

im gonna buy a woods buggy and get into climbing!

Just was wondering if some of yall could help steer me in the right direction as to what i need and dont need in a buggy. not lookin for the baddest climber out there but i want to it be capable, durable, and have a smooth ride. i wanna be able to go vertical!!! lol

what are some key aspects as far as chassis design, power-plant, gear train, etc.......that i should be looking for when buying a buggy? i dont know much about buggies but i am learning fast! lol any help is greatly appreciated! hope to see yall on the trail!

max.

What Kind of budget?
Any passanger seat or seats wanted?
Have anyone that can help you with the building or re-building and tunning?
Where do you plan to ride?

Answering a few of these will help narrowdown what you are looking for. Welcome to addiction

_________________
[url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/]

[/url]

nitro sumed it up for you.if you got deep pockets you can have what ever you want.

_________________
small minds condemn anything they fail to understand!

hey thanks for replying!

i been rock crawling for 10 almost years. built a bunch of rigs.

what would i like to have in a buggy?

-i need to have 2 seats

-i also would like enough power to climb about anything around where i will be riding: KY, TN, AL mainly. places like D&K that is aonly 1.5 hour from my house.

-i am a mechanic/fabricator with my own shop just no real experience with air cooled vw or dune buggies. i have some buds that know some about em. i feel confident i can tackle whatever comes up with a lil studyin.

-havnt considered a budget really. depends how much fun it turns out to be. lol if i get hooked it will get outa control like always. i been lookin on here and it seems like i can buy a runnin buggy for 3-5k dollars. i just want to know what to look for when considering a purchase. i am function over form type of guy so the bling isnt necessary but it is kinda cool to look good.

it has to be durable. dont wanna be breakin down everytime out.

thanks again guys!

well depending on budget i would get either a beeline cobra or maybe the predator 2 seater or maybe even one of the berrien chassis and then though on a king pin frontend with extended front trailing arms and 3x3 rear trailing arms and a built 6 rib tranny with 930 joints and axles and a 2387 or maybe even a 2500 stroker engine and coil over shocks on the rear and either the stock torsion leafs with good good shock in the front beam or maybe coil overs there also but this is just how i would build mine if i were to build a new one and had the money and if i had to cut back money wise i would start dropping the coil ove idea and then stick with the biggest engine i could afford and at least a stock 6 rib with super diff but like i said this is what i would build for myself

_________________
Just Stand On It!!!!

Chris

if it was me id try to find me a good deal on a buggy that had some good partsthat just dont look so hot buy a nockdown frame an use the parts to build some thing more you style.

_________________
small minds condemn anything they fail to understand!

if your goin with a big motor make sure its got all the good stuff in it you can bore motors out n have a big motor with some junk stuff in it a big motor dont make it all that its what its built from

_________________
Brandon

If you are going to be ridding around D&k... Go to D&K or the Buggy shop in London, ask around there. You need to look at the buggys that are in your area to see what you need. Make you a list of what you want go to Tim at the buggy shop and start talking.

thanks everybody!

and it was great to meet you Bruce! you have an awesome place there and since i live so close you will be seein me on a regular basis! lol thanks for puttin on a great event! i really enjoyed it.

hopefully i will be competeing by the time the next one rolls around!

I know I am one of the few that do this, but for the money and reliability it is hard to beat a newer Water cooled motor for cheap power in a 2 seater. But an Air Cooled motor is lighter weight. An aluminum Ecotech motor puts out good power for less then 100 extra pounds. But this is a newer concept, not nearly as many as the VW motors in the woods. But I havnt talked to one person running a Watercooled motor that would switch back. Mainly because of the money. Just something to think about. I still feel your best bet is get a $3000 or so buggy to go learn on for a season then build or modify to suit your needs next winter. Hard to know what you want till you ride for a little while.

_________________
[url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/]

[/url]

i had thought of using one of those type engines.....would one retain the VW transaxle and cv shafts etc....via an adapter plate? and would it be possible to mount the engine/trans facing either direction? (front or back) i like this idea, cheap and reliable!

Very good advice from Nitro. Get you a decent buggy and figure out what you like first before you drop maajor coin into anything.
You can still use the vw bus tranny n axles via an adapter plate with a w/c motor. You can mount a motor mid engine style, but it takes some work in the tranny, its not just a bolt-in deal. With mid engine or wc ( or both) you are getting into somewhat experimental territories, and it may take quite a bit of experimenting with suspension and/or gearing to get it to do what you saw going on on Saturday. Aircooled VW may seem more expensive when building, but there is little 'guess' work and there is a better chance you only got to buy parts once during your build (except for the shitty motor parts China has been sending us sometimes here lately ). If you go big cc a/c VW, be prepared to buy the best you can get from the get go and you will get many years reliable powerful service. If you go cheap at all anywhere in a performane a/c vw engine, you are asking for diasaster.
Not saying any one style buggy is any better than the other, it just comes down to if you wanna tinker with suspension (watercooled or midengine buggy) or the motor (aircooled buggy), and what you wanna do in it. Like Bruce said, you get a hold of Tim or any number of guys down around London, and they can steer you into a tried and true formula that works great for hillclimbing. Or go another route and you can "think out of the box" and try different things until you get it to hillclimb the way you want (maybe), but there will be fewer who can advise as to what it needs with a one-off combination.
Whichever way you go......Once bitten by the bug, you will be hooked!

what ever way you go just remember its taken most of us years to get the buggys we are riding to day it has takin lots of hard work & cash & help from friends.

_________________
small minds condemn anything they fail to understand!

It is not my place. It is Darrells.

But still come and enjoy the place.