The Donkey ECORS B Class Buggy

[Donkey]

Hey guys, im new here and am running my rig in the B Class at Durhamtown. Still alot to get done in a little bit of time but am well on my way.

First a little back ground, i bought my first jeep at 14 totaled. I rebuilt it and over the years slowly built it up with alot of help from friends and family. A year ago i had a friend selling his old retired Pro Mod W.E. Rock chassis. I stripped my tj down and put all the drivetrain in to the buggy. 6 months of work and it was finally ready to go, only took me two runs to find the weak links and has set for the last few months. Then me and a friend went to jeep beach where i met Rob from ECORS and its all been downhill since then.

Heres what i got.
Pro Mod W.E. Rock chassis based off YJ frame with a TJ hood and grill
Stock 4.0
TF999 Transmission
TeraLow 4 to 1
Currie 9 Rear 35 spline Detroit Locker
Rubicon 44 Front with RCV Shafts and Detriot Locker
37in Blue Krawlers on WalkerEvan Wheels

Heres a picture after i finished it with the former owners panels on it.

Heres what iv done so far.
Got a front detriot locker after i blew the factory locker up
Gusseted the front axle
Have a box of psc full hydro kit sitting waiting to be installed
Lined up tons of stuff to be borrowed
Racked my brain over and over again about everything ill need to pass tech

The plan:
-Im redoing the paneling of the rig no loss or over hanging panels, the front is going to look even more like a jeep when i am done. Should have that finished this weekend.
-Install the steering
-Drop the seats down to give me 3in with a helmet on
-Remount Fuel cell with straps
-remount radiator as it previous mounted position will be going away with old tube work
-remount front shocks
-make trans skid
-make rear mounted tool box between seats a fuel cell
-grab handle for the co driver
-add cross bars behind the seats
-sleeve the front axle tubes
-mounting winch
-installing lights
-then finish out the safety equipment
-and round up all the borrowed equipment


This month and next month is going to hurt, lots of late nights and long weekends. I cant wait to get out there though looking forward to meeting alot of you.

I will be trying to update my thread as much as possible asking questions about what ill need to pass tech and your guys opions. If anything jumps out at ya please let me know.


There are a few people helping make this happen:
Xtreme Jeep in Tampa, FL
Off Camber Outfitters
and everyone helping work on the rig to get it ready

 

[rockcity]

Rig looks good! Nice to see some more coastal rigs join the Series

 

[biggoofy]

Where ate you from in Tampa I'm originally from lutz!

 

[GONOVRIT]

Good lookin rig

 

[Donkey]

Thanks guys, im getting really excited. I cant wait to see it take shape, should really look awesome once i get my own panels on it and my own number then it will feel real.

Biggoofy I live in Citrus Park, by any chance are you on LOJ i could have sworn iv seen that user name thats got a build thread on a 97 zj.

Also i just made Donkey Motorsports (our team name) Facebook offical. Ill keep it updated and also have some pictures of the rig before it was buggied. Check it out and like it. WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/DONKEYMOTORSPORTS

 

[biggoofy]

Yea I'm on LOJ and it's a 96 Zj lol. Glad to see a Florida boy runnin Ecors!!!

 

[nctom]

Looking good!

 

[Ron]

Welcome!
My wife is from jst south of Tampa (Bonita Springs - between naples and ft meyers) love that gulf coast area!

 

[scottinFL]

I'll be following this on LOJ. Good luck!!!

 

[Donkey]

Got some tubes bent yesterday for the front, today we got the front axle under the rig and rolled some tubing without a roller.

heres some pictures from today

Putting the Co-Animal to work (no one rides for free)

Remember you can follow us on facebook as we prep for the durhamtown race.
WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/DONKEYMOTORSPORTS

 

[Donkey]

 

[snappy]

Looks cool!!!

 

[rockcity]

nice tube roller I've done that MANY times in the past!

 

[Donkey]

nice tube roller I've done that MANY times in the past!

I asked a few people how to do it, was told that was the best way. Took a bit of practice but finally got it. We bent 6 and managed to get 4 kind of usable tubes.

 

[nctom]

Sweet! Nothing like having built your own and knowing every inch of it.

 

[Donkey]

Sweet! Nothing like having built your own and knowing every inch of it.

I bought the chassis and put all my stuff in it but heres what iv learned.

When the previous owner owned it and was selling it i thought it was exactly what i wanted, I wouldnt have to change a thing, with in a week i knew i was going to completely redo the driver compartment and some day do the road change the front and rear body up a bit.

So heres my advice to anyone looking to buy a retired chassis, go in expecting your going to eventually rebuild almost the whole thing. I wouldnt have done it differently though, buying the chassis got me in to tube buggy status alot quicker then building one from scratch.

By the way heres some pictures from last night, things are moving right along.
Picture of the old tube work with a peek at the new grill hoop

New grill hoop and connectors from firewall to grill hoop, left the old front hoop in for now because its holding the radiator

Still got the tube fender part to put on, shock hoops, and some bracing. I have to figure out how the radiator is going to mount along with lights and hood pins. Have to be close to being done by the end of next weekend. Looks like ill have a couple late night after work this week.

 

[snappy]

Better hurry, race is in 4 days!!!!!

 

[rockcity]

I asked a few people how to do it, was told that was the best way. Took a bit of practice but finally got it. We bent 6 and managed to get 4 kind of usable tubes.

I've always used 2 layers of 3/4" treated plywood cut to the shape I wanted to bend. It was easy to change and make. We just bolted it to the table. Works killer!

 

[Donkey]

Looks like ill be working on this thing almost every night and weekend leading up to the race. Got some more tube work done on the front its starting to look like a jeep. Going to the co drivers house Sunday and plan to have everything done on the tube work except the front radiator mount by then.

 

[Donkey]

work never ends, im already tired and its just the first week of working on it.

front tube work just bout finished

fuel cell mount to make it legal, hated the fact it was mounted by tabs anyways
the base

all mounted up and yes i got lazy and decided i would paint everything later, at the same time

 

[Donkey]

A week and a half with out a day of down time, were still chopping away at this thing.

This week we got the rig moved to my co drivers place, we got the shocks mounted in place a one of the braces added, we got the seats lowered to give us 3in of head room, a O2 sensor bung welded in, old steering removed, and started making cut marks on the rear aluminum box.

We plan to have the steering, and rest of floor pans done by the end of this weekend.

first attempt at a planning board

 

[Donkey]

Be sure to check out Donkey Motorsports on Facebook we have a poll going to decide on the rigs number.

 

[Donkey]

the orbital

the reservoir

the new work space and to do list

 

[Donkey]

getting closer to be completely ECORS legal rear light housing built

only one light on because im using a power probe, dont have the wiring run yet

 

[Donkey]

still chipping away at this thing just got done for the night. heres some of the progress and i got a question at the end.

first up is the battery box

Then the winch install

you can see the Warn peeking through the slots

and then added a little lateral support

Been busy and were in the home stretch only a couple big things to do. Now for the question we do not have air bumps on this rig, so on a scale from 1 to 10 how much is that going to suck when it comes to jumping this thing, seriously though is there anything we can do to help from killing my shocks and from killing our backs or are we just going to have to take it easy on the airing it out.