Lil' Smoke kid mini buggy rock crawler

You could probably fit an 800cc in there. Chris will have to answer that. But, I did ask that the engine area be big enough to allow for upgrades.
 
Yes. I feel pretty sure that any atv or UTV engine would fit in it. I built this chassis around the belly cradle. What's this does is allow the entire cockpit, all the controls, all the suspension, transfer case and seats to be the same on every one. All that's required to change to a different engine is to move two tubes left or right or in or out in the rear.
I knew that the biggest variable will be the engine. Anybody that builds one of these is going to be searching craigslist for a deal on a wore out Atv so there's a 100% chance they'll rarely use the same power plant.

I also built it in a way that would allow the front and rear rails to be centered so you could mount a rzr drivetrain and all the production rzr control arms.
 
MarsFab said:
I also built it in a way that would allow the front and rear rails to be centered so you could mount a rzr drivetrain and all the production rzr control arms.
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Which pretty well answers a question that I had for Rob: Why build a buggy from scratch when you can buy somebody's old 800 for $7-8k? Then you get the advantage of having a standard platform and all of the aftermarket that goes along with it. But if it's just a question of making some minor tweaks to the chassis, then it's actually a BETTER platform. What you're building has got to be stronger than the production RZR chassis.

Really, really cool.
 
That production rzr chassis is junk. I see many people have tons of issues with them. And anything aftermarket for them is big $$$.

Keeping the mini buggy simple with affordable off the shelf parts will (hopefully) be much more cost advantageous in the long run with the fun and coolness factor to top it off.

And, I think it looks way better than any rzr ever will. :)
 
im sure this guy^^^ will be next in building 1 of these.
i have a honda 350 odessey chassis i have been build something out of
 
The ATV trans is now cable shifted to a nice repurposed polished hurst shifter, the brake master and pedal is mounted, most of the tabs are on for the body panels to mount to, I finished out the rear taillight area finally and a couple other small things. Nothing really photo worthy yet. I do however have a large pile of parts already here from Rob waiting to be fabbed up and or installed.

Had a bit of a slow down on things this week. My youngest twin (2 yo) spent the last few days in the hospital because she was having trouble breathing. We've since learned that it pneumonia. She came home today finally but now my oldest who's 4yo. appears to have the same symptoms. It's definitely been a rough week here.
 
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Shifter done.

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I hate to hear the lil 1s with pneumonia! Just found out mon I have it. hate to think about lil 1s feeling like this. mine stems from not listening and not letting them cancel my last surgery because of a sinus infection. i asked whats the worst that could happen... this was it.

lockedup5 said:
Nope. The wife already put the quieetas on that. She said we already had enough "Money Pits" lol
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I dont believe it, and those 2 would def make it a Money Pit. Im sure you would spend more time fixing what those 2 would tear up versus yours. lol . Those 2 are all boy. I think its awesome! too many want to just sit in ft of some kinda of screen 24/7
 
rockcity said:
Checking out the buggy. Laying out several of the finishing touche like exhaust and a custom heater with duct and variable speed motor. Yes, this is an air cooled motor :D

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My god you are a giant!!!

I'm gon show this pic to the guys at work and tell them its a regular sized rig. Haha its looking good!
 
rockcity said:
Ugh! Please don't tell me that. We were trying to stay AWAY from looking like a bug but still keep the curved roof. I saw a lot of others that did look like a bug and I think we steered away from that look.


But either way, it looks good.
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Remember this?


rockcity said:
:D yep.

I bought the exact blower motor on my universal Sunmit heater on my buggy. Going to create a heater box kind of like a heat exchanger and duct the heat up to the front for the kids.
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You're not helping your case! :flipoff2:

Hopefully it works better in that than it ever did in a Bug. Ever tried to defrost a Beetle windshield? ;) I was at a friend's the other day, looking at his Bug project. He had pulled the optional gasoline fired supplemental heater out from under the hood. I had seen one in a bus before, but never in a Bug. Scary contraptions.
 
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