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Partially Committed Racing #006 turn key buggy build

7K views 36 replies 10 participants last post by  slravene 
#1 · (Edited)
Partially Committed Racing #006 turn key trail buggy build

Figured it was time to start another build thread – try to get some good old fashioned tech back onto the boards! This will be build #006 and will be built as a full turn key trail buggy.

We finished #004 for Todd about a year ago, and he has been riding it for a while – has it really dialed in and can drive that thing up pretty much anything he points it at. We were really happy with how these chassis have been performing, and its really cool to see them do so well in the rough rocks.

Not sure if I carried a build thread on that buggy here...but its a (slightly bigger) clone of my personal buggy that I did do a build thread on here. In any case here is the completed #004 turn key build:



Just for reference, here is my personal buggy



and here is the other full turn key that was built at the same time as mine - it is very close to the same as mine...just a lighter weight version, pretty much:



Had another guy in our group approach us about a new build that will be a little different than the last 3, but still retain the key design features that (in my opinion) make these buggies work so well. When combined with some proper shock tuning, these chassis wake up even more and our experience with that lead us to make a few slight changes on the suspension on this one – mainly the trailing arm setup in the rear, and the extra 5+” of uptravel both front and rear. Other than that, the suspension geometry is the same as the other 3 and that should play out well. Anyway, on to the build!

Some basic info:

-57” wide chassis, 2” DOM tube with a mix of 1.75” and 1.5” as fillers. Combination of .120 wall and .250 wall in the high impact areas, as well as some 7075 aluminum slugging in the rockers and the trailing arms. Rear radiator setup on this one to shoehorn a massive 35”x19” CBR radiator in there, coolant flowing through the chassis rails.
-14 bolt axles front and rear
-43” SX stickies
-416ci LS powerplant Holley tuned
-TH400
-Atlas 3.0
-2.5” Radflo coilovers
-2.0” Radflo coil carriers, 2.5” Radflo bypasses, 2.0” Radflo air bumps
-room for a family sized cooler

We started laying out tube in a simple jig which was nice to use and let us get things moving along pretty quickly. We ended up with a base chassis in in 2 work days, which was a little faster than before.




 
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#2 ·
Things started falling into place pretty quickly after that and parts started showing up. You can get an idea of radiator size compared to the 31”x15.5” that is a pretty popular trail buggy size radiator. The 35x19 is more in line with race car sized, but we didn’t want to ever have to even consider cooling being an issue on this build.





Built a simple plate style radiator mount, this will be captured and shrouded in from the top as well. Sway bar tube is incorporated into the radiator mount as well and from there, we filled in a majority of the main chassis support tubing.



 
#3 · (Edited)
We knew going in that we would be doing the rear of the chassis differently than the previous ones. We did this for 2 reasons… first being the obvious difference of the massive rear radiator taking up some real estate back there, but the 2nd , and probably more important reason being that we wanted to make sure that uptravel was maximized back here to really take advantage of the shock package. Too many folks build buggies and spend all this money on shock packages…and slap them on a setup that looks like they were designed using crayons and old newspaper. We are maximizing smooth travel numbers, keeping shock angles ideal through travel, and will work extensively on the tuning to make sure that this thing reaches full potential. The different rear section adds an additional 6” potential uptravel over the “trail buggy” version on the previous 3 buggies (4 chassis are built with the same design, and this 5th one will be the first using this rear setup.




 
#4 ·
Then we got to the fun part! The biggest difference you will see on this build is the body. The owner wanted something different, and settled on the Fybr Concepts bronco body. They redesigned the normal bronco body and came up with a highline fender setup – we had some discussions with them and got the 2nd set coming out of the mold with the understanding that this was still somewhat of a prototype body and there may be some edits needed. They were needed :laughing: The doors needed to be completely changed to match the new body lines, and there is no tailgate…but that is OK, we will make our own there. Beyond that…they are nice heavy quality glass that should put up with some decent abuse.

First thing was to get the drivetrain in place to see what we were working with. And then start laying out the front end glass – which turned out to be a lot easier than we thought it was going to be!






Then we moved on and started to lay out the rear to get a feel for what needed to be trimmed up there. Couldn’t help but to see what it would look like…should turn out looking NICE!


 
#5 · (Edited)
Another big difference on this one compared to the others will be the exhaust setup – in order to get the most uptravel we possibly could up front combined with driveshaft angles and keeping the suspension geometry ideal through all of that travel, we decided to give ourselves a little extra room and remove the standard drop down and around exhaust setup from the equation. Over and back we go! These are obviously not done yet – There are some edits to the driver side header that we will make (original plan was to use stock style fuel rails, so we had to leave room for the side entry fuel line…but we moved to a flow through rear entry billet style rail, so I will make some changes to the driverside header and it will match the passenger side shaping a bit more) from there they will be cleaned up, TIG welded, jet coated, and then wrapped. Heat shielding will go between the headers and the intake, and the collectors will get V-band clamps on down to a true dual exit out the side/back of the belly like the others.






Moved on to get the back end laid out some more. Got the fuel cell mounted and in place, got the beer cooler rack mounted and in place. Started on the chassis supports back there, and once we get axles we will lay out the suspension on the buggy and get the rest of the supports all tied in with the shock mounts.



 
#6 ·
Then we jumped up to the front end to get the winch mount / sway bar tube laid out. Winch and steering/trans coolers will all be behind the grill like the rest of the buggies – this one will also have the minimalist front bumper look like the others, but will have a small push bar out front to keep the fiberglass all in line as this thing gets beat up and crashed. It looks a little strange at the moment, but its missing all of the rest of the supports and tie ins. It will all flow together when its done. There is a plan! �� You can see where the coolant will come out here as well.





And that gets us up to how it currently sits – we will get started on the interior here next as we wait on axles to be finished and once those get in, we will make this thing a roller! We are pumped to get it on its legs and get into the real fun part of the build.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Awesome to see you posting another build!

I’ll offer some unsolicited advice and say that some LSA or C5 manifolds would give you adequate clearance without having to go up and over. They exit no lower than where your motor mounts are located and hug the block pretty tight. C5’s dump closer to the center, while the LSA manifolds exit rearward.

If your motor mounts didn’t come straight off of the chassis tube laterally, and had some sort of arch to them, I’d of kept my mouth shut :homer:

Keep up the great work!
 
#8 ·
I am all for feedback, no need to worry about keeping any mouths shut!

We didnt really NEED to do up and back headers, but when we started laying out the things we wanted...it ended up making sense. We wanted true duals both coming out the same side of the buggy, we wanted to give the driveshaft maximum clearance, and we also just kinda wanted to build some headers :laughing:

On the last buggy with the 14b front, the driveshaft to exhaust to upper link clearance is really tight, so we wanted to give ourselves a little more wiggle room on this one just for ease of working on things as well as to just have the space. The issue isnt as much the headers themselves as much as it is the tube that wraps around the front of the oil pan. When its all combined together it just gets crowded - but with this chassis having so much extra space in the dash/console area there will be no issues with space done like this.

Thanks for the feedback!
 
#10 ·
its definitely something that takes a little time to figure out, but once you build the first few sections of exhaust, it starts to make sense and is actually pretty fun.

I have grown to enjoy exhaust building, even with no fancy exhaust building tools...these headers were built with an angle grinder, a degree finder, a protractor, and a marker
 
#19 · (Edited)
totally missed these...and forgot about this build thread :laughing: but i will update it as we are a good bit further along now

We got the rear suspension laid out and put together and we are really excited about the 20+ inches of wheel travel it will have back there. About 8-9 of that being up.





We are using TMR parts for the rear links, and these things are beef. 2 5/8 .25" wall tubing stuffed with 7075 aluminum, true uniball with wobble stoppers at the chassis, and a 1.75" TMR heim at the axle





Got the double shear stuff knocked out already, and you can see here how it all will tuck up under the radiator. We will need to change the sway bar to come in from behind the axle, but that is OK. Plenty of room back there!




Then we slung the front underneath so we could get that placed. Should have about 8" uptravel up here and still have plenty of room. Doing the exhaust up and over has really opened all of that space up and made this go really smoothly





 
#20 · (Edited)
then we laid out the front shocks and got them where we wanted. the original plan was to leave the hood intact and not come through it with the shocks, but we wernt able to do that and not hinder the performance of the shocks, so holes are getting cut! after getting everything laid out though, it actually will look better that way and the hoops wont come too far through the hood, so it will be all good!

these obviously arent completed yet, they will continue on down below the fender tubes on down to the main rails both front and rear as well as some plating and gusseting to tie everything together. the CBR trans and steering coolers will also mount in here just about like a radiator would.

very soon this thing will be a roller and i can finally clean the floors :rolf: :rolf:





 
#21 · (Edited)
Back on this one again -

Started working on the front shocks and suspension again while some of the rough interior paneling gets cut out

Got the front 4 link setup and tacked in, I am going to swap out the upper link tabs for something a little different, but they will stay in the same general place. So much easier with no exhaust to consider!








CBR coolers for the transmission and steering are on order and will fill some space up front behind the winch and then we will be able to brace everything up and finish out all the tubework up front.

Moved on to getting the shocks in place up top. Having to swap some shock fittings to get them where I really wanted them, but no big deal there. Tight clearances, but everything moves like it should, so we are good to go






I think before I go much further its time for a full blown shop cleanout! Been so busy, just about everything in the shop is out and on the floor :dunno:

 
#22 · (Edited)
Made a little more headway this weekend, getting closer and closer to being a roller. Should be able to roll it out under its own weight after a little welding!

Got the steering set up where it will be so we could finalize full bump and get the final lower shock tabs cut out. As it sits, we will have ~7.5" of uptravel in the front when at ride height. Its not as much as the rear obviously, but its going to be more than enough to get a really well tuned suspension setup working great. We are using builder parts from WOD on the front axle that were supplied by the customer, and I've got to say...they build some stuff that makes some real pain in the ass jobs A LOT easier.

You can also see the swapped over upper truss tabs, so the front 4 link is completely done now.






Then we moved over to get started on the interior layout. We played a bit with seat mounting locations and with this buggy being 57" wide we are learning to love the luxury of having so much room inside for options :rolf: There will be no lack of space in there and with the doghouse and console in there everything should be within reach easily and the big holley EFI screen will be front and center. Passenger side dash lid will be removable and will house all of the electronics. Battery will likely be behind in between the seats or maybe inside the doghouse if there is enough room in there to share with the exhaust.








Then another shoutout to Fybr Concepts on this fiberglass. The glass is thick, well made, and even with it being rough mold cut...they give you plenty of easy mounting locations that are strong enough to support the weight. You can see here where the coolers and all will be fitting in front of the motor like a normal radiator would be. The gap between the hood and that cross tube will likely hold a little tray to rest tools, parts, etc while working on things. We put a similar tray in the last buggy and the owner of that one has said he loves that tray, so we are going to be finding a place to put one on all builds going forward.

 
#23 · (Edited)
Big weekend for this one - it rolled out of the shop on its own weight for the first time

To make that happen we needed to get a few things knocked out...mainly being to tie in and finish weld the main supports and add in some gusseting on the front of the chassis. There will obviously be some more tube going in up here, but are waiting on the CBR trans and steering coolers that will sit in there like a normal radiator would before we add in that tubework. We also made some new lower shock mounts that tied into the truss as well so there was a little more support on that lower link tab. Im not sure if it was totally necessary, but figured it couldnt hurt to add in another plane of support there.

Also not the greatest picture of the trailing arms, but realized I didnt take any once they were cleaned up before we closed them up. They are stuffed with 2" 7075 aluminum that butts up to the weld bung so hopefully they last. They weigh a ton...so I feel pretty good about them. Got those all finish welded up and done as well. They are going to be hot for a week after all that welding...but they shouldnt go anywhere.









 
#24 · (Edited)
Then we rolled it outside to get a full look at it - we are very happy with how its sitting. For how big of a buggy it is, it is pretty shocking how low it is and how much travel it really has. This one is going to be really good looking (in my opinion at least :eat: ) when its done. The body fits on there well and with some (ok...A LOT) of trimming, it should have plenty of room and actually be pretty decently protected.









 
#25 · (Edited)
Here you can see the rear and how low it actually is (43" tall tire obviously). The fiberglass will need a ton of trimming back here, but we will cross that bridge once we get there to make that happen. We have some ideas to make it look as proportional as possible.




This gives a little bit more perspective on where the coolers will fall. Once those are in, we will tie in the rest of the tubework and get everything strengthened up in here.




Front end tucked up in there as far as it will go. Clearances are TIGHT around the steering ram, but we are going to make a slight adjustment to the ram mount that will give us a little playing room and let us keep all the uptravel we have.




Shot showing the clearance around the front fenders. I think we are going to be OK here and not need any more trimming. The highline setup from Fybrworks is the ticket. The non highline set wouldnt even be close to clearing the tires. The grill may get a little bit of trimming on the lower corners, but more so to protect it than to keep the tires out of it, they look like they will clear just fine.

 
#26 · (Edited)
Tinkering away on this, working on some of the smaller stuff that doesnt show well in pics (working on finishing up the headers, playing with seating positions, figuring out how we want to do the front end tubework, etc). We did get the seats mounted in and the tcase shifters in place. I think we will edit this a bit to get the shifters onto the console instead of where they are now, but that will just be with some bent rod for the handles, the shifters themselves will probably only slightly move.

The center console will be really big and nice and we have a pretty cool little thing planned for that, but Im not going to share what it is just yet :dunno: There will be a ton of room for comfort in here with it being 57" wide





 
#27 ·
and that brings us up to current - we just got the trans and steering coolers in from CBR today, so as we can find time over the holidays we will get started on getting those in place and the rest of the front end tubework knocked out. Also now that the seats are mounted, we can get going on the console and the tin work inside and really make headway there.
 
#32 ·
Yes they appear to be fixed but large as fawk :laughing: Imgur allows shortcuts for resizing. You can google them but for now, if you add “l” (stands for Large) before “.jpg” it will auto resize the pic for you.
 
#35 · (Edited)
no huge updates at the moment...still working on stuff that looks like you arent doing anything (programming interior sheetmetal in the machine, waiting on our die for the console tubing, waiting on tubing for that, finishing seat mounts, planning pedal layout, fitting coolers, etc)

Really only one thing that looks like anything has changed :rolf: is the shifter linkage for the Atlas - we got it laid out where it needs to be and built up using some tabs and bushings. We initially tried to use the stock atlas shifters, but they just werent getting things exactly where we wanted them, so this was easier than modifying them to work.





Now we are ready to start laying out the interior and console - thats next on the list! Plenty of room to get that going

 
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