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

Thanks Riccy Picked up a new welding helmet today with some bits I needed from Screwfix

Optician can't do much at the moment... the eye hospital have advised me ot to get new glasses for a while whilst my eyes are settling down and hopefully improving with the 4 weekly injections... Yikes! :blink:

Bit more today...




The transfer box is back in! :woohoo:



And all the props are back in place too...

So I then turned my attention to the breathers... You'll remember both axles were tapped and elbows fitted, and the transfer box recently...



So the only one left to do was the gearbox... with this being a soft-top I already knew what I was looking for as S200KYS is / was also a soft-top... on the passenger / nearside of the gearbox you should be just about able to see the stock factory breather with this little cap on it...



It's quite snug but I could just about get both hands up to squeeze a (8mm OD) breather tube into the existing rubber hose on the breather...

Tubes were then connected from all the elbows and separately run up to...



A five-way manifold block on the engine firewall

So the one on the left goes to the rear axle, the three pointing down go to the front axle, gearbox, and transfer box, and the one on the right will go to the highest position possible, in my case, usually up into the top of the snorkel's head

SO.... that's it! All the crawling around under the donor Jimny is complete! the front and rear axles have both been rebuilt, the steering bars strengthened and renewed, and the sspension redone and lifted ~2", and the transfer box has been slung in a cradle for protection... oooh, and the diffs have been swapped for later 4.3:1 VVT model ones and a rear "Lockright" (Lunch Box) fitted along with Trail Gear rear shafts...

So the rest of the project is fashioning into looking more like my buggy inspirational pictures...



More on that at a later date, I'm disappearing into the garage for the winter

Sorry! Not been around much lately... staff holidays, lack of free time, etc., etc...

Some progress though -











Front inner wings / clip have all been removed
Bonnet has been trimmed to shape
Doors have been cut down to 'buggy style'
Metal has been ordered to fill everything back in...

I decided in the end - with grateful input from Riccy = to leave the doors functional, they will still open rather than being welded up - as Alan and I are both old scrotes these days, and throwing ourselves through a small gap isn't the best idea! LOL :lol: so the 'half doors' are to mimic the inspirational yellow buggy, still give enough wading depth, retain the excellent sized door mirrors. and also protect us from side impacts... and will make on-going registration and MOTs, etc, easier too...

More soon!

Looking really good Dave look forward to seeing more doors look great but you will have to stay clear of those scratchy lanes

looking good matey
have you considered having all the front end hinged
so you can lift it all forwards

Looking like it's going to be a real weapon when you are finished. Good work as ever.

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