New Ibex 4-seat Chassis by Goat Built

[GOAT1]

Back in September I started a new company, Goat Built, Inc. First on the list of products is a production tube buggy kit, sort of a buggy in a box. I have had this idea is my head for a few years now, started the design over a year ago, and have been hitting the Solidworks hard the last two months. All the tubes are laser notched and bent, just make a fixture base (or not if you have a nice table), assemble and weld it together yourself (of course I can assemble and weld it if you would like). Putting it together yourself takes a lot of cost out and is easily shippable on a pallet, probably $200-$300 to most places.

This chassis is an all purpose dual sport trail rig. Suspension is set up for KOH type wheeling, works great in the rocks, great in the desert. Not an IFS desert car or rock comp rig, but the best you can do in between. Of course you can race it in KOH type races, but most of us are recreational wheelers and want a well thought out, affordable, comfortable trail rig. Here are some of the requirements I had:

• GM LS truck engine
• TH400 auto trans
• Atlas 2 T-Case
• fits standard D60/14b
• 40 tires
• rear bench seat(or storage)
• 14-16" travel coil overs
• flat floor and firewall for ease of fabrication
• sway bars front and rear
• front mounted radiator
• same front and rear control arms
• same drive shaft front and rear/No CV joints
• triangulated 4-link suspension front and rear
• plenty of leg and head room

The chassis has been completely designed in SolidWorks, I have drawn every part, cycled and checked every thing for fitment. Here is the result:

[brooksy1]

What skins/clip will fit ??



brooksy

[GOAT1]

Here are some key features and specs:

• 110" wheelbase
• 54 wide chassis at the arm rail
• 40" wide rear bench seat, that right, 40"!!!
• 14" front/16" rear coil overs, will fit 2.0, 2.5 C/O or air shocks
• air bumps front and rear
• front mounted 28 x 19 radiator, with electric fan
• full-hydro steering
• will accommodate standard full width 60 front and any rear, or custom diffs, recommend 66" wms w/ 4.5" BS wheels
• same front and rear lower links and same front and rear upper links
• Uses the same length front and rear drive shafts, NON-CV!!!, (front is two piece)
• FITS A STANDARD GM TRUCK 4.8/5.3/6.0 ENGINE!!! STOCK INTAKE, OIL PAN. EXHAUST MANIFOLDS AND ACCESSORIES (NEEDS AS P/S PUMP RELOCATION BRACKET)
• will accommodated just about any other power-train combination
• Fits standard Anti-rock sway bars

These chassis kits will be in stock on the shelf with optional brackets, mounts, panels, and accessories:

• 4-link suspension brackets
• air bump mounts
• shock mounts
• skid plates
• exhaust kit
• radiator mounts
• seat mounts
• steering mounts
• all panels: firewall, sides, floor, etc
• roto-molded fuel tank
• suspension links
• uniquely designed hood
• uniquely designed dash
• motor mounts
• any thing else required to assemble, just supply the parts.

[GOAT1]

Some more SolidWorks eye candy: These images are at full bump, it has 8" of uptravel!!!! All the SolidWorks models have 40" tires

[GOAT1]

Some flex shots:

[GOAT1]

Here is what I started with, GM truck engine, in 4.8/5.3/6.0 flavor. I designed this chassis around this engine, they are cheap ($500-$1500) and have plenty of power. Best of all it will fit stock, no need to swap the intake manifold, build custom headers and swap the oil pan or accessories, you easily spend another $1000 if you had to do all of that like many of you had to. Just pull a motor out of a truck, have the harness and computer reworked for $400 and bolt it in. I have engine mounts that fit this engine and simply fit the chassis.

[GOAT1]

A few shots of the bare chassis

[GOAT1]

And now the good stuff, the build. I picked up the laser cut tubes on Monday, Jan 23. Built the fixture and sorted all the parts on Tuesday and the started assembling tubes Wed and Thurs, what you see below is from Wed and Thurs.

Here's 200 ft of 1-3/4 DOM and 100 ft of 1-1/2 DOM

[GOAT1]

This buggy kit was designed for a moderately skilled fabricator to be able to put together in a garage, need a welder, grinder and a level (and some clamps and welding magnets help too)

First step is to build a fixture, I used a 20' stick of 2x4x.120 tube, cost about $80. You could also use 2x2. This is the most important step, you need to get this thing square and flat.

[GOAT1]

First part of the chassis is to build the belly assembly, this will be built upside down

[GOAT1]

Notice the small bolt and holes at the center of the mitered joints? The hole is laser cut in tube at the center line and nodes of each tube. This does three things: lines up the tubes to each other to their exact center lines, helps hold the joint together for assembly, and provides a easy reference point to measure, on the rectangles, just measure diagonally bolt to bolt to square it up. Many of the holes will be left open where they are inside another tube, but exposed ones can be welded up, it's a 1/4" hole. Also notice the part numbers are laser marked on each tube, the chassis was built on the left side, then mirrored, the right side tubes have the part number mirrored.

[GOAT1]

Next, flip the belly assembly over and bolt it to the fixture and start the base of the cage. The arm rail tubes are a mitered rectangle that was welded before I put it on the uprights.

[GOAT1]

Here is the construction of the front, the cross tube fits the front sway bar and fits in the fixture to hold it to the correct height and distance from the subframe.

[GOAT1]

Rotate the chassis 180 on the fixture and start to assemble the rear section, the fixture again holds the lower cross bars in the correct position.

[GOAT1]

The rectangle is the back of the chassis. Sets into the fixture and attaches with the rear arm-rail tubes.

[GOAT1]

Here are some of the many funky notches and nodes in the chassis. Completely a PITA to do by hand but it all fits together effortlessly with the laser.

[GOAT1]

Thats about all I've done so for, I should be able to get the rest of the tubes tacked into place tomorrow.

Any one want to guess where these go?

[GOAT1]

Originally Posted by brooksy1

What skins/clip will fit ??



brooksy

I am developing my own hood/grill, skins and dash. But should fit other clips out there similar in size. The chassis is 54" wide at the arm rail.

[Pook]

Very nice. Was wondering when someone would bring something like this to market.

[JESSE_at_TLT]

Looks fucking fantastic Drew. Digging the chassis design, and the whole idea of a CNC-bent, laser-notched DIY kit that includes some really slick fixtures to aid in assembly.

[uninformed]

when I saw the thread title, I thought it was going to be something to do with the Ibex 4x4's built in the UK...

non the less, awesome stuff!

[CRSU]

Very nice Drew!

[pennsylvaniaboy]

This is sweet, will it come with a link/bracket package? Just supply your own drivetrain and tires?

[87JeepWrangler]

thats a great setup. did i miss the cost?

where did you get the solidworks model of the truck engine/trans?

[X-Rated]

Originally Posted by GOAT1

Thats about all I've done so for, I should be able to get the rest of the tubes tacked into place tomorrow.

Any one want to guess where these go?

They go inside the tubes at miter joints to re-enforce key areas