Dave's la(te)st buggy build...

New Year, and some changes have occured!

I've sold both the Jimnys and retired from greenlaning for a bit... I do hope to return in a milder more relaxed manner when this buggy project is finished though, and if my health and eyesight hold out! :blink:

Having sold 'S200KYS' the big blue Jimny, I had the registration on retention, when someone (who will become apparent) PM'd me and asked if I wanted to sell it! So when a deal was struck, and before I spent the proceeds n something mundane, like bills!, I thought I'd re-invst it in...



A bit more meaningful for the buggy... being as it's based on an X-reg donor Jimny, and loosely inspired by the Ford EX concept car, and ir's an, errrr... '8GGY' - about as close as I could get on a registration plate!

Back to it soon, just sorting a few things out first...

I'm pleased to see new posts on here. I feared it was all over!

Kirkynut

Right, where were we? Getting up to date...

December was busy in the shop and Post Office...

January - the other two Jimnys were sold off... mostly health and eyesight reasons, but also some personal reasons we won't go into... Anyway,, some time off greenlaning, but I hope to get the buggy ready for a trip with Brett and his cohorts in August, so that gives me six months to get everything sorted... they're on my patch then, so I've signed up for that trip, so let's get on with it!...

I might be 52 and a bit, but this past week I ordered some dollies :woohoo:



Only trouble was that they came needing assembly! 16 castor wheels to bolt on! So after a lie-in, walked the dogs, and a cooked brekkie (of course!) I started tidying the garage after the blue Jimny had been hastily emptied as it sold quicker than I thought, and the dollies were eventually assembled...



One per wheel!



So on the passenger side there's a fair gap to the wall...



And on my side there's enough of a gap to pass...



With all the dollies under the wheels the buggy can be pushed around to suit...



Leaving loads of room to fettle, shape, weld...

That done, time for a cuppa!



There you go, pushed to one side to make access to one side or the other much easier!

Tidying was all I planned to do today, I was going to restart the build next week when we got into February... but no time like the present!



I disassembled the front grill, cut a sleeve joing for the winch tube and welded it in place/// with just enough room to bolt the dont fairlead in place!



With he MIG welder out, I took the earth clamp off, and used the wand to run some MIG wire through the tube ready to pull the rope through later... from front to back...



Another sleeve was made for the rear of the tube... note the 10mm bolt to clamp the inner tube inside the outer tube



Back to the front and you can see the same on the front end of the tube...



As a reminder... the winch is on the back of the buggy, the rope always runs to the front of the buggy through the seamless tube that runs under the passenger (Alan's ) seat and along the chassis rail next to the engine and out the front through a matching donut fairlead... To winch forward you use the winch conventionally even though it is situated at the back... to winch backwards, you simply pull a loop off the drum through that mahoosive fairlead and insert a snatch block (roller) in the loop that was pulled through.... Later they'll be another fairlead on the back of the roofline so in the same way a loop can be pulled off the front of the winch and threaded through the fairlead for self-righting or to stabilise the buggy on side slopes, etc...

I finished the day by messing about with the rear recovery points...



These were made from some ARB disconnect brackets featured earlier in this build thread, I've now added some poly bushes that were angle-grinded with a sanding disk to suit, and stop the shackles rattling around...

More soon!

Nice to be back

Excellent news. Little bit and often and it will be driving in no time!

Just reading the forum and thinking it might get confusing now I've sold the S200KYS registration to another member of the forum...

So I've just created this new username 'X8GGY' which is the personal registration going on the buggy, and as this is my own Jimny / build at the moment it would make more sense...

Dave