Bought an old BTF U4 buggy

Joe_U4

Joe_U4

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2022
Location
Raleigh
I'm a gluten for punishment and make bad financial decisions apparently LOL

Since I rebuilt my current U4 buggy back to 100% I've been wanting another Ultra4 car so my boy and I can tear $hit up together šŸ˜œ

Yesterday we picked up the retired Blue Torch Fab U4 buggy. She's in need of some TLC to bring her back to her former glory but she's got good bones to work with for a badass trail machine. I'll detail the rebuild but for now here are the basics:

BTR U4 race car
1.5" Cromoly chassis
6.0LS engine
TH400 trans
Atlas transfer case
D60 front spool 4.88s
GM 14 bolt rear welded 4.88s
Radflo 2.5" remote shocks
4 link front and trailing arm rear
Racelines with 43" SX stickies

She doesn't have the same drivetrain as when it was raced but it's a good baseline to build a badass trail machine.

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Here she is in her former glory



 
This car has been in my top 5 of all times.
The run up Cable when Peter ended upside down at the top was the nastiest shit I've ever seen. Backfire in the air and all.
I about shat my pants the first time I saw it in person.

 
Wow that thing has been beat on. LOL!
 
CasterTroy said:
Just glad you got something with the right motor :huggy::laughing:
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Being a Ford guy having a Generic Motors LS in the buggy feels so wrong :laughing:

I guess I have to learn LS stuff now :mad:

Let the fun begin:
Currently has the wrong convertor so I ordered a new Hughes 2500rpm convertor. Also ordered gears to convert the Atlas to 4.3 ratio (3.0 now). ECGS is only 30min away which is convenient for parts but bad for the wallet LOL. Need to make trip up there this week for a D60 ARB, Yukon axles for the rear, spool, 14B shave kit, & 5.13s. The front already has Yukon 35spline shafts, super joints, drive slugs, new bearing & seals.

Scottal said:
Literally one of my favorite buggies of all time.
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Cool history to it and I really like the BTF chassis design
 
Joe_U4 said:
Being a Ford guy having a Generic Motors LS in the buggy feels so wrong :laughing:

I guess I have to learn LS stuff now :mad:

Let the fun begin:
Currently has the wrong convertor so I ordered a new Hughes 2500rpm convertor. Also ordered gears to convert the Atlas to 4.3 ratio (3.0 now). ECGS is only 30min away which is convenient for parts but bad for the wallet LOL. Need to make trip up there this week for a D60 ARB, Yukon axles for the rear, spool, 14B shave kit, & 5.13s. The front already has Yukon 35spline shafts, super joints, drive slugs, new bearing & seals.



Cool history to it and I really like the BTF chassis design
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Do not use Yukon rear shafts if you like those spindles and hubs. Way weaker than factory shafts. Branik is the way, 300m floaters and done.
 
Scottal said:
Do not use Yukon rear shafts if you like those spindles and hubs. Way weaker than factory shafts. Branik is the way, 300m floaters and done.
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Good to know about the Yukon shafts so I guess for now the stockers will do. I've got Braniks in my other buggy but not spending that much coin on this one.
 
Joe_U4 said:
Let the fun begin:
Currently has the wrong convertor so I ordered a new Hughes 2500rpm convertor. Also ordered gears to convert the Atlas to 4.3 ratio (3.0 now).
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That sounds like going backwards... This isn't a crawler.
4.3 and 5.13 is going to be a slow and miserable ride.
 
Bebop said:
That sounds like going backwards... This isn't a crawler.
4.3 and 5.13 is going to be a slow and miserable ride.
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Nope, not slow and rides like a Cadillac. No hill killing here šŸ¤”
 

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Bebop said:
That's a go fast buggy though. And turning it into a slow ass crawler is completely killing the soul of the machine.

Don't have to make sense to me, it's your car. I just don't get it.
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I understand and I appreciate the original design intent. However, for what I ride there is no "go fast". When I get the need for speed I'll jump in the drag car šŸ˜œ

BTW, it won't be slow šŸ˜‰
 
ghost said:
If I ever get the shop and money I'd like to get something like that and Godzilla swap it.
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I don't think anyone ON here is the least bit shocked by this statement :laughing:
 
ghost said:
If I ever get the shop and money I'd like to get something like that and Godzilla swap it.
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Did you hear about the guy who swapped a Godzilla into his 8N Ford tractor?
 
I'm not one for doing detailed updates anymore but I did put some lipstick on the pig. New skins made, made nerf bars, reworked the rear cage section, made new sway bar links and bushings, added slap mirrors, bead blasted the hood in prep for dent repairs, and general disassembly to find out what needs unfucking. Swapped the SXs for a set of Treps on TG beadlocks. Hopefully I'll have time this weekend to swap out the convertor and change gears in the Atlas. After that I'll replace or straighten a few bars and paint the chassis. Hope to take here out shortly for a shakedown and see what else will need unfucking. Plan is to go through every nut & bolt until she's up to my OCD standards but that will take time.

Always amazes me how half ass some folks do shit but then again maybe I'm too OCD šŸ¤·ā€ā™‚ļø

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