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

This is going to look AWESOME!

JackonlyJack's suggestion of front hinging would be cool as well. Maybe just the bonnet tho, the whole body would be a lot of work!

Great work Dave, its been said before, but it really is impressive what you get done yourself, and quickly too.

Looking forward to seeing the finished product...

... Maybe at the 2020 big Jimny meet

Thanks All!

After cutting the doors, and trimming the back of the cab to shape on Sunday, I measured the voids in the door carcasses and the back lower part of the rear of the body and found they were indeed 4" / 100mm, so on Monday I ordered some 4"x2" box, that will get cut into 4"x1" U sections to cap the doors and fill the back of the cab in, that's supposed to arrive Thursday, so may be Sunday's job...

I also ordered some CDS "Cold Drawn Steel" tube, seamless rollcage tube to you and I, but for another purpose, which I measured and mocked up today -



You mat remember earlier in the thread that the buggy is havig a rear mounted winch inspired by one I'd seen on the ORA (OffRoad Armoury) Jimny buggy some years ago... I've recently added the Warn 8274 huge fairlead to the back, this will be used to winch backwards if needed by pulling a loop off the drum and using a snatch block within the loop, but normally the winch will be used to winch forwards through the seamless tube...



So I used a spirit level on the chassis rail to work out where the tube needed to come through the firewall and used a 43mm holesaw (the seamless tube I'm using is 42mm OD) to cut through... the mockup is using plastic waste pipe until the real tube arrives , the donut fairlead is supported by a marker pen just for the photo!



Inside the passenger footwell...



And back under where the passenger seat will be, currently supported by a brick so make it level so that...



... I can pop the seat back in and check it clears the tube...



"Perfect"...
But...



A bit in the way of the passenger's legroom?
A necessary evil though! :lol:

So there only needs to be two bends at the end of the run where the tube comes under the passenger seat and needs to rise up to meet the second donut fairlead behind the winch (in the first photo)... it's a bit of a steep angle so I may end up cutting through the rear of the cab where you can see the indentation on the top left of the fuel tank? (above the tape measure in the photo! :lol: )...

The bucket seats will need fitting to the existing Jimny seat runners too, so I'll do that too to make sure they clearence enough for the tube too...

If I were ever to want a winch it would be mounted similar to that. Super cool!

Dave,

are you not tempted to put a couple of gentle sweeping bends into the tube in order to improve passenger legroom?

I do have slight reservations that the pipe may cause problems if you're ever in a front and rear collision, as it may telegraph in the interior? perhaps not.

Irrespective of my ramblings, the work looks fantastic.

Paul.

Hi Paul

I'm trying to keep the winch rope tube as straight as possible... just out of the garage after a full day out there, walked the dogs and had a shower and now back to the shop... I'll post an update later

Dave