[Strange Rover]

It that time of year again so heres what im building -

Thought it was time to step up to a full tube buggy, this will be the spec:

4.4L Leyland P67 motor with rover heads (very similar block to 3.5L rover motor - everything off a rover can be bolted up to this motor with adapters)
ZF auto
lt230 transfer with stock 3.3 gears
rover/toy hybrid diffs with 4.3 centres and longfields

Planning on using lots of rover stuff in this rig. Things like pedals, steering, brakes, dash (eventually), springs, and standard rover axle housing mountings (which means radius arms for the front and still using the stock centre ball joint in the rear).

Wheel base will be a stock 100 inches and basically all the major components (like motor/gearbox/transfer , axles , steering box, panhard etc) will all be in standard locations relative to each other. Which means that I will be using standard drive shafts also. Doing this makes it alot easier because Im basically just measuring of my disco to work out all the critical dimensions. Hopefully it will be running less than 3in of lift over stock as far as the front diff is concerned to try to keep all the front geometry not too far out of wack.

I want to run at least a 37in tyre for street work and will probably end up with my 42s on it for trailered wheeling.

Back up plan for axles is a rear salisbury and front D60 that I got but these axles need a bit of time and $$ to get them up to spec (namely 35 spline for the salisbury and narrowed and rover hubs for the chev d60) so for the moment the rover/toy hybrid diffs are going to cop one hellofa floggin.

May also go to maxi 4.3 transfer gears if I have to.

After a few half days and one solid day this is where im up to. Even pinched my series 2a bonnet of my mog rover and an old series 2a grill to try to get a feel for what its going to look like.

Anyway heres the pics.

Sam

 

[Strange Rover]

 

[Strange Rover]

 

[Strange Rover]

And one with me sitting in it. :cool2:

Not real big huh.

Sam

 

[redrangie]

you know,

I really think that people with their own successful business, ample workshops, benders and sufficient time SUCK!
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I like it by the way.:flipoff2:

I think your idea of keeping the misc stuff is cool. not only more cost effective, but a good way of keeping the rover :cough: :cough: soul.

j

 

[wilsby]

Nice! Any profound thought on why not portals, or merely a time and $$ decision?

And yes, I am seriously jelaous and impressed by the speed you do these thing at.

 

[Strange Rover]

Nice! Any profound thought on why not portals, or merely a time and $$ decision?

And yes, I am seriously jelaous and impressed by the speed you do these thing at.

Im thinking that this is going to be more of a thrashing machine rather than a crawler. Now Ive still got my series 2a with the mog 404 axles and it is an awesome machine, a very good crawler and behaves well with a bit of throttle. BUT after driving one machine (BJ on roids new rig that I help build) that has an auto and weighs about 1700lb lighter (my 4700lb vs his 3500lb) and possible more outright power has made me realise that my mog rover is a tall, wide, long, heavyweight pig to drive. Especially with the NP435 manual gearbox.

So basically the mogs are too tall and too heavy (and to wide as well) for a rig that needs to be very light and nimble with lots of power. So this tube buggy is going to be it.

Sam

 

[wilsby]

I understand. My Defender is approaching 6000 lbs. But it's perfect for longer trips. I just took the easy route to lightness by buying a 1500 lbs Suzuki LJ80 trialler with a Samurai driveline... It climbs like a goat.

 

[Red Ibex]

Nice work Sam

I was going to build something very similar myself. But as I build stuff at about 1/1000 of the speed that you do, I decided I'd concentrate on the Ibex that I've already got.

You are on the money with light weight, decent power, and a tube frame. The other advantage for me, was tube fenders that I could attack forest sections with no risk of damage to bodywork.

I bet you'll be upgrading your shafts before too long though :flipoff2:

 

[Strange Rover]

Got most of the steel into the frame now. Still got to be fully welded yet. It weighs 340lb so far. Dont know it thats heavy or not although i havent really skimped on the triangulation.

Sam

 

[Strange Rover]

:flipoff2:

 

[BJ On Roids]

That looks spectacular!

I want one so bad!

 

[Strange Rover]

Got the motor and the rest of the drive train assembled and sitting in place ready to fab up the mounts. Also got the seat, steering wheel, pedals sitting in place. Very tight fit but a fit none the less.

Sam

 

[Strange Rover]

 

[Strange Rover]

Check the cranked radius arms - should be good for 14in travel by my reckoning.

Sam

 

[SeaRover]

no really Sam . . . you suck :flipoff2: nice work!

the cranked radius arms - should be good for 14in travel by my reckoning.

cranked or not, i don't see how you're going to get that much travel out of the radius arms - unless you're leaving one of the bushes completely out?!


[edit: ] also, with the sexy pinion angle on there, how will you mount the panhard? (not critiquing . . .i'm just a dumbass trying to understand)

 

[Strange Rover]

no really Sam . . . you suck :flipoff2: nice work!



cranked or not, i don't see how you're going to get that much travel out of the radius arms - unless you're leaving one of the bushes completely out?!


[edit: ] also, with the sexy pinion angle on there, how will you mount the panhard? (not critiquing . . .i'm just a dumbass trying to understand)

If the arms were cranked all the way untill they touched in the middle then they wouldnt bind at all cause they would just pivot about the centre mount. In the stock straight position we have gotten 10in of shock travel in articulation (which is the difference in the amount of extension on each of the front two shocks) on a number of rigs (slotted or drilled radius arm bushes). So i figger I should get a proportional increase in bind free travel by mounting the ends of the radius arms proportionally closer together. Which is why I come up with 14in.

Panhard could be mounted as normal because the front end geometry is the same as stock + 3inches of lift. Maybe it looks worse because of the toy high pinion in there. For the steering Im actually going to reverse the taper on the pitmen arm and put the steering link on top of the pitman arm and also mount the panhard rod above the pitman as well (to keep everything parallel although at a steeper angle) to get all the front links up heigher. Ive done it this way on my mog rover and ran it this way when I have the d44s and it seems to work well.

Sam

 

[wilsby]

Sam, this makes me like the front end of the P38A even more. Did you bend the radius arms, or have you scavenged them from a Rangie II? BTW, do you do slotted bushes that fit the P38A?

How much are they move inward? I reckon 5" would be required for the extra travel?

 

[Strange Rover]

Sam, this makes me like the front end of the P38A even more. Did you bend the radius arms, or have you scavenged them from a Rangie II? BTW, do you do slotted bushes that fit the P38A?

How much are they move inward? I reckon 5" would be required for the extra travel?

On the P38 the arms are kinked to get around the chassis although the actual chassis mounts are still in line with the diff mounts so they work the same way as an old school rangie.

I just bent my stock arms and in actual fact mounting the arms the way I have isnt strictly correct because as the arms are loaded backwards the arms will want to move outwards on the diff end because everything isnt in line. Im dont think the missalingement will cause any problems for this rig or possible a street driven rig either. The totally correct way to do this would be to not kink the arms and to actually mount the arms onto the diff on an angle. But I will see how this works.

Never looked into the P38s. Although I just bought a 96 HSE so maybe I should. Very nice rig BTW, very nice - carnt believe how well they drive.

I have moved then in 6in each side.

Sam

 

[wilsby]

Yea, I just got myself the same thing, a ´96 HSE. While it is still a solid vehicle, it was cheap enough for me to consider some mods. Slotted bushes, detachable anti roll bar, and maybe longer travel shocks and air springs could do wonders withouth ruining its on road performance.

Oops, did I just hijack this thread?