Kabuki's Lazy Build Thread - Portaled Buggy w/ Jeep skins

[kabuki]

I’m calling this my Lazy Build Thread as the only reason I’m getting around to posting it is so I don’t have to continue emailing updates for people that want to see progress. And, although the build appears to be moving quickly it will get stopped for some long periods for me to complete some other projects such as remodeling house, having baby, ect. Ok…on to the build.


SPECS:

3 seater Full Tube Chassis Buggy with a few dented jeep skins
4 wheel steer with 119” Wheelbase with full POS steering system
4 link front and Rear with 2.5” SAW coilovers
383 w/Edelbrock MPFI – full roller balanced and blueprinted
Stak 3 speed (1, 3.05, 5.44) behind TH400
Steering Unimog 404’s (HIGHLY modified)
Tires – 47” LTB's

KOH (King of Hammers) Influenced:

This project started as an axle swap on my jeep but shortly after starting this build there was a race with 13 guys down in the Hammers that has inspired a lot of this build. You will see the influence of this in my build in such items as the CTIS system for inflating and deflating while driving, cryo treatment of all gears in portal axle to reduce heat buildup and increase fatigue and wear resistance, overkill on Link Brackets and other strengthening methods for drivetrain components, solid cooling systems and the best in steering components to withstand the race demands.

This will be quite a challenge for me as I’ve only bent some Pipe in the past with a HF kinker in building a cage for my old CJ, and never seen a 404 axle till now. So lots to learn…lots to f*** up.

Here is the pipe CJ7 that I just parted out to fund this project. This is where my limited previous experience comes from when I built it…so I’ve got a lot to learn if this buggy is going to turn out the way I want it to.




And, yes I’m keeping the old dented skins off the CJ7. It was the first rig I bought out of college, and I drove it for a long time. Sentimental crap.

[kabuki]

Made a platform to build my chassis on first day. Found two straight pieces of I beam at the scrap yard for $41 each. Leveled them out and trued them to each other and welded them up for my platform.


Actually bent some tube the first weekend as well. BTW using almost all 1.75x.120 wall DOM. Didn't accomplish anything on
Saturday except purchasing some misc tools and playing with the
bender a bit. The bender is borrowed from the friend I’m setting up the 404’s for.

Made a $5 tube rotation measure device with an angle finder and a clamp with flat steel welded to it.


Got to it on Sunday. Moving slow as I’m learning. And yes the chassis will end up looking strikingly similar to some tube chassis that are on the market.

[kabuki]

Well, only Kent and Jaron made it on Saturday.

We knocked out some good progress. On Saturday we bent and tacked most
of the rear of the buggy together and the triangulation at the top of
the cage. Kent broke down my portal boxes off the Mog axles as well.
One stumbling block was some interference between Tcase in put and
Transmission output. Since both are aftermarket I don't know which is
wrong but there is about .003 interfence between the ID and OD. Going
to call Stak 2 morrow. Anyway with that and no torque converter we
didn't get the drivetrain together as I had hoped.

[kabuki]

Sunday I was alone, but made excellent progress. I welded up the
entire driver compartment and the rear of the buggy. Added more
triangulation to the rear and welded that up as well. I broke the
front down and dropped the hood and cowl hoops by 1.5" for some
additional visibility. Reassembled, added some more triangulation and
tacked it all in place.

[kabuki]

All alone again in the shop. Hoping to get some help for a big weekend in the shop soon.

Welded up the motor mounts and the bushing mounts on the frame. Seems
to work pretty well. And I was able to get the engine quite a ways
back which will help with the weight distribution. Also welded up
all the steel in the firewall and the triangulation running from the
front halo center down to the frame. Took out the front engine cage
and redid the whole bit with a new hoop and different location with
the beams tying back to firewall.

This brought the front of the hood down to where it has a real nice
slope for visibility (see pic with level). Still 3-4" clearance
between the hood and the tallest items on engine. I was hoping to
getting the triangulation dropping to the engine mounts in and get the
whole front burned in, but I had to run to Lowes to pick up my
birthday present and accidentally almost ran over my boss in the parking lot.
Sorry Kirk...my eyes were on that new BBQ :-)








Also going to wait before adding the fenders until I get suspension
and tires on and articulate it to make sure there is not clearance
issues.

So far I’m really liking the setup, lots of visibility, yet tons of
clearance below engine, nice front to back weight distribution.
definitely won't be a problem fitting cooling and fans in front of
engine.

[kabuki]

Received a new looser input shaft from Stak to fit over the slightly larger AA output shaft I have. Have not installed it yet, but it does fit very well. Ended up having to notch out the frame rails for the Tcase clearance.


On to the Axle build up. I don’t know anyone personally that has built up some 404’s so this is all research and guess work. Started with Disc Brake Conversions.

Took the stock hub off, machined the flange off, machined a new register for a laser cut flange to change it over to standard 8 on 6.5 pattern. The flanges TIG welded on now by a friend…just only pictures of them pressed on. Then used a Chevy ¾ ton rotor and some junkyard corvette calipers.

[kabuki]

For the Tube shortening I haven’t made it any further than just plasmaing off the ends of the axles yet. Sure hope I know what I’m doing 

[kabuki]

Decided to take the Disc Brake conversion one step further and add the famed Portal Box Brace. To my knowledge this is the first application of being able to make the Portal Box brace and a wheel end brake work.

This is my first one that is the prototype so there is definitely some more room to add some more meat to the brace around the caliper. My next set will have that filled in. The average depth of the brace is just shy of 1” with the thinnest sections around the caliper at 5/8” deep.



Some grinding to the calipers…more than what is needed.


Brace attached to the caliper. This is where you can see where the extra material will be added back in. (these will go on buddies 404's...i'll have the meatier ones burned for mine )



Attached to the portal box...yes I know the portal box is broken. But check out that nice fit with the portal box. Nice work I must say so myself.



Calipers on rotors. Only .050 of pad not in contract with rotor at the very top.

[kabuki]

That's it for now. Probably won't get to it for a couple weeks.

I did receive in my Staun Beadlocks last week and also got a few new power tools for my birthday

[BCzuk]

Look like you are off to a great start. Nice bending and notching

[Slowerthanu]

Nice work and regardless of whos it may look like, I love the lines.

[44cj51ton]

Glad to see you started a build thread on this awesome portal axled buggy project. Keep up the great work, you’ll be out wheelin again in no time.

[kabuki]

Originally Posted by BCzuk

Look like you are off to a great start. Nice bending and notching

Thanks, it's damn easy when your using BendTech Pro. Just design the chassis then it prints out setup sheets for each tube with the cut length, bend location and angle, rotation, and the copes if you need it.

Although i have not used the coping feature...just been using my HF hole saw notcher.

[redneckengineered]

I like the fact you are just diving into it. Looks awesome so far!

edit: Did you design the chassis in Bendtech or in another program and import it?

[kabuki]

Originally Posted by redneckengineered

I like the fact you are just diving into it. Looks awesome so far!

edit: Did you design the chassis in Bendtech or in another program and import it?

Designed it in Bendtech. Took less than an 8hr day to learn the program and complete the chassis design. I was impressed. I ended up going back and redoing a couple things later, but that went quickly.

And yes...just diving in and learning as i go. of course trying to research as much as i can first. But its certainly not anything I have experience with, or resources with experience to help.

[spidr]

Looks sweet...I'll have to watch for updates

[guidolyons]

Carry on.
That is all.

[Bigger Valves]

Originally Posted by kabuki

This notching/prep job could use some refinement. First, you're only helping yourself by removing the scale from the tube before you fit and begin welding. Second, it looks as though you've left the thin tapered thickness point of the notch. What you want to do is cut the point back to where the tube has retained its wall thickness while maintaining your tight fit (if it's a good fit already, cutting the point off will not make a difference). Overall, this helps the integrity of the welded junction.

[kabuki]

Originally Posted by Bigger Valves

This notching/prep job could use some refinement. First, you're only helping yourself by removing the scale from the tube before you fit and begin welding. Second, it looks as though you've left the thin tapered thickness point of the notch. What you want to do is cut the point back to where the tube has retained its wall thickness while maintaining your tight fit (if it's a good fit already, cutting the point off will not make a difference). Overall, this helps the integrity of the welded junction.

Thanks and agreed. I made that adjustment already after some feedback from a couple people at work that saw those pics.

[tomota]

Hey kabuki looks really good. You will be happy to know the Bilstein shocks you sold me awhile back are in the middle of my buggy build. Give a holler if you ever need a hand I am only a few blocks away. -Tom

[Grendel]

Did you do your engine mounts? I like those alot!

[under_psi]

that is some good progress for such a short time. sure must be nice to get some help like that...

keep it up. i look forward to seeing the progress...

[Daltongp]

Man, your work is real good. I like how this is coming along. Makes me really want to get off my lazy ass and get to work on my rig.

[weps]

Looks good except for those orange axles

[Jeepermat]