Major Dilemma here guy's...

[RockRover]

I'm starting to get horny for a buggie again. I'm thinking of a Shannon Campbell chassis, and building it up from there....But I'm torn. I still love my 90, and I don't think I could get too much out of her now if I did sell her...And I can't afford both.

So. My options are...1) Bring my 90 back to stock and hope to get 15-18k for it mind you she has headers, HD rear-trailing arm brackets, auto conversion, many many ding's, and cut fenders so I may be dreaming on the 18k), and THEN build the buggie.

2) Keep the 90, and do the mod's I've been planning month's for....Do it RIGHT, and have the 90 I've alway's wanted....

Fawkin' A....I hate it when I see thing's like this

[offroadr35]

why not keep the 90 as she is now and build a buggy with all the time and money you'd save from not going to that EXTREME step. I'm sure you'd still love to take the 90 out sometimes...it woudln't pick up dust. And then you'd have the best of both worlds. Don't know if it works financially for you, but it seems to be a good solution.

-Steve

[evilfij]

Doug,

You sound like no matter what you get you are going to want something better, so I say go with it.

I think you should leave the D90 basically as is now and build the buggy slowly. You can wheel the 90 while you figure it out. No more spectating while working on more and better mods, just wheel it.

You have run up against a wall of what can be reasonably done with the D90 without some huge redoing so leave it at that. You will still have a more capable rig than 99.9% of the D90s in the country.

I am kinda doing the same thing, at the start I was all gung ho to get the 110 done and on the road (I built my series in 6 months and I have had the 110 over a year already) but now I just work on bits when I can and enjoy the building process and wheel around in the disco, series, or rangie (when I can get one to run!)
Life is just better when you can wheel SOMETHING, it does not have to be perfect.

Am I making any sense?

Ron

PS Also you could probably sell the D90 better as is than as stock, especially by the time you go to the trouble of pulling off all the stuff and finding stock components to replace them.

[60seriesguy]

Whatever you decide to do, just be aware that once you cross that threshold into serious modifications, the overall value of the vehicle on the *open market* begins to drop rather than climb. From personal experience, most hard-core rigs sell for way less than they cost to build, and the market for them is tiny! Most people that are into hard-core rigs tend to prefer to build their own.

Personally, I couldn't justify two heavily modified wheeling rigs; if your D90 is already well in its way, then my recommendation is to go the exta step and keep modifying it. Not only will you get the wheeling capabilities you want, you'll have it in a unique package that's very different from all the *tube-flatties* out there. I don't know your truck, but if it's going to cost you a fortune to reverse a lot of the modifications, might as well go forward rather than backwards with the project.

Just my $0.02...

[fcfred]

what are the current specs of your d-90? does it have the 60 and 70 in it yet?

Also what do you want to do?wheel and camp out, or compete.

I'm currently building a pretty serious truck, but I already know that if I want to compete I would build a buggy. The way I look at it is I will build this truck first. Wheel it, learn how it works, learn how to drive it, figure out what I would change and then build the buggy. Then this truck, which will be pretty extreme, but still my daily driver, will become the tow rig, unless I can afford something else.

This is because I do not see how the buggy could ever be street legal. Plus this truck though under 5000 lbs will still be too heavy for the buggy idea. To me the Buggy that Randy Ellis is building, and is shown on the General board is the way to go, though the jury is still out on the Independent suspension, but a single seater or very tight 2 seater and a very light drivetrain are the way to go in my opinion- for a buggy.

so my vote is.
if you feel like you want to compete, and you can still drive the rover on the street then why not build the buggy? If you have a gutsy enough motor it could be a great tow rig

but if you want to take your family or friends and a bunch of gear and drive it there and then home I would keep the rover, build it big as planned and just have fun with it.
thats the point

[RockRover]

Thanks a bunch guy's....This is what this board is all about!

I haven't made up my mind completely yet, but I'm leaning towards total demise and chop of the 90.

The reason is several fold. First, my 90 right now is sitting on jack-stands with no axles, springs, tank, bed off, etc...I'm very good friends with Bill of Bill's European, and he has a bunch of wrecked rovers...So getting parts to make her "complete" again isn't that far of a stretch. BUT! I've already cut the front fenders, the bed is essentially trashed (but repairable), I've converted to an auto, and am running headers. That alone would be a monster of a "have-to" to get her legal in 50 states and make her "pretty" again. I've done a back of the envelope estimate and with paint I'm looking at about 5k to have her right again.

The second reason is that the high end used car market is WAY soft right now. And there's a cherry 94' with 100k miles (all highway) for sale on e-bay right now...Reserve met and it's sitting at 18.1K...Shiat it still has the factory running boards and a glass hardtop. So I dump 5K into my rig and pray that I get 20k? Sheeze, I could hardly touch a nice TJ for 15k.

Now I really don't want to compete...But I never say never. Paying someone to launch my rig over backwards is...Well...Kinda fun! But rather insane.

The other thing is I just ran into a friend of mine that has chopped his CJ to the point of NO return, and is running 42's...It looks Damn nice!

Not only that, but having a rig that is 100% my own is nice to. If I bought a Campbell chassis I would always have Shannon's rig. No matter how much work I put into the suspension and drive train.

So, again thanks for all the nice words guy's. I'll wait a couple of weeks before I really decide if I'm goin' 100% chop-o-rama' or I spend the better part of the summer cleaning her up for sale...I think I already know the answer! JUST GET IT!!!

--D

[Strange Rover]

Not only that, but having a rig that is 100% my own is nice to. If I bought a Campbell chassis I would always have Shannon's rig. No matter how much work I put into the suspension and drive train.

I think you nailed it here Doug.

Build the Rover.

Sam

[roverhybrids]

The question is not what you're going to build it's
WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO FINISH THE D90.

You always have the fall back plan of using the D90 title for something else.

So hurry up

[RockRover]

Okay! Okay!!! Building the 90 it is! Thanks to all for leading my strayed ass back on track!

(Even though I'm a sick bastard for cutting a collectors car all to pieces!) Makes it all the better actually!

--D

[road1will]

hey doug whats the status on that thing anyway? it seems like youve had her out of service for a looooooong time now (almost a year, right?) but you havent done anything yet.

[RockRover]

Originally posted by 9-Volt
hey doug whats the status on that thing anyway? it seems like youve had her out of service for a looooooong time now (almost a year, right?) but you havent done anything yet.

Waiting for tires, and dialing in the fuel-cell and pump. Essentially I'm chassing parts. Funny, but the more I wait, the better deals that pop-up. I found an awesome frame-mount high pressure fuel pum on e-bay, the cell from a Nascar guy, and heims from the same. I would have paid hundreds more had I bought from Summitt or the like. I'm getting close to the supper chop...After Cruses.

--D

[madcowdungbeetle]

So what does a chopped up D90 look like?

I think we need some PICS!!!!!

-Jon

[RockRover]

Originally posted by madcowdungbeetle
So what does a chopped up D90 look like?

I think we need some PICS!!!!!

-Jon

Just remember that beauty is in the eye's of the beholder! Actually, the 90 will look very similar to Srange's Serries....However I'm thinking of tappering in the bed sides from the cab to the end of the new frame-rails...Should keep me from dragging the sides...Havent' made up my mind yet...I would still like to run a top once in a while! But hey tops are for whimps!

--D

[Way]

Could probabl y sell the hardtop for the same price as having the body chopped professionally and having it repainted!

Way

[Rover Addiction]

Well Doug, I hope the visit to the Chile Challenge helped reinforce your decision to build your 90. I'm sure it'll spank the stuff we had trouble with out here!

-John

[RockRover]

Originally posted by Rover Addiction
Well Doug, I hope the visit to the Chile Challenge helped reinforce your decision to build your 90. I'm sure it'll spank the stuff we had trouble with out here!

-John

Yea, it sure did John...BTW it was great meeting you finally! Your rig is awesome man! .....(just get that clutch fixed! )

Dunno' about spankin' stuff. Seems that some of the REALLY well built rigs did better than the 90's...All in all I felt the 90's really held there own this trip...Maybe I'll start another thread...

--D

[Rover Addiction]

Doug, If you go through with building your D90 like you were talking about, you'll have a longer wheelbase, larger tires, and the ability to romp on the stupid pedal without worrying so much about axles and such.

Sounds to me like a great combination. You should still be able to flex through the stuff we could and then on top of that, you will have the wheelbase to get some of the taller obstacles.

The only one I didn't do was Nemesis III where even the mog and the built stuff didn't make it. They were close though and with a little more tire and work, they could have.

I only winched when I was broke or didn't want to wait for the clutch to cool. (So I winched twice in 4 days of seriously tough trails!) Not bad if you ask me. Lower gearing and a little attention to not being stupid and I think I'll be doing all I can with this truck as is.

Check out the pics coming on a new thread in a couple minutes!

-John