Tony's buggy build

I've been wheeling and building my XJ now for about 10 years, but have lately had the urge to build a buggy. It was something that I wanted to do, but I didn't think it was in the near future... until I found this guy

A couple of text's and a trip with the trailer and it followed me home. I did a little trading, so its a cheap base to build off of.

Got it home and started looking, was surprised to see how well it was set up
Chevy TBI 4.3. Was running when the buggy was parted out, so hopefully wont be too bad to get running again.

Set up for full hydro. Has the orbital valve, remote filter and cooler installed already.

Ac compressor is converted for OBA. All the solenoids and valves seem to be there, its just a mater of cleaning everything up and making sure its GTG

Set up as a 4 seater. I'm going to try and run a XJ rear folding seat in the back so I can fold it out of the way when I don't need it. I think I can make it work.

The chassis was built off of a Yota frame so the wiring is there for a Yota pickup dash, probably pick one up from the JY for now. Later I'll do a custom dash

It was set up for a 3 link with panhard in the front and a triangulated 4 link in the rear. I got some PVC to mock up some links, and the set up looks pretty promising. I'll probably add some gussets to the link tabs and run them as they are.

Plans:

Chevy 60/14 bolt
14-18 inch air shocks on all corners
Fuel cell
Turbo 350 and twin sticked 205


It will be a slow going project until I get the XJ sold or parted out, but at least its a start!

 

[xjtony]

Last week I drained the oil in the 5.2 to see how it looked. There was a little gas in the oil, but nowhere near as much as I had feared. I filled it back up and started doing some checks. Spark and injector signal both good, but 5 of the 8 injectors were firing then sticking open, dumping gas into the exhaust. These were the remanufactured injectors I just installed. On Pritchett I was running on 3 cylinders. I ordered 8 new injectors and she fired right up.

I also welded in the other shock mount so I could drive it a bit and it seems to be running better than it ever has, so we will see.

I have a buddy bending me some tube for gussets.

 

[xjtony]

Well this year Pritchett taught me something. I've had a list of things that were questionable on the buggy. Stuff that I didn't like when I bought it, but hadn't fixed yet. This stuff has left me wrenching on the trail several times. It's time to start fixing.

Front passenger C/O mount ripped off.

These were questionable in design to begin with, and not welded very well.


Busted out the plasma cutter and with some time and LOTS of grinding....


Busted out the plasma, and with some time and LOTS of grinding...

Not fancy, but should be strong


I didn't think that the break did any real damage until I noticed today that the C/O on that side didn't extend all the way. It's hard to see in the pic, but the shaft is bent at the end. I suspect that its bent the same at the top.

 

[xjtony]

Whole box of rebuild showed up today. Hopefully I'll have it sitting on it's own weight again soon

 

[Bart]

Cool. Good luck with the rebuild.

 

[xjtony]

Got some time in the garage today. Rebuilt both coilovers, replaced the shocks, and installed bumpstops. I still need to have them charged with nitrogen. I also need to free up the preload adjuster on one of them.



The shafts were both bent, one of the eyes was as well.

 

[I Lean]

Don't throw the old shafts away! My favorite drift is made from an old coilover shaft.

 

[xjtony]

Don't throw the old shafts away! My favorite drift is made from an old coilover shaft.

You coming tonight? I'll bring em and you can have em

 

[I Lean]

You coming tonight? I'll bring em and you can have em

Sure am! I look forward to replacing my old Doetsch Tech drift with a King.

 

[I Lean]

Sure am! I look forward to replacing my old Doetsch Tech drift with a King.

I missed you tonight, apparently.

 

[xjtony]

I didn't stay too late, but I forgot them at home anyways. I'll keep ahold of them for ya.

 

[xjtony]

Shock mounts finished up and painted. After I get the coilovers charged and add some keeper springs it'll be back on it's own weight.

I also replaced the ECU with a backup (last trip to Moab it went into limp mode towards the end of the trip). I'm going to see if it runs better with this one. I also cleaned up some wiring, replaced a fan wire that melted last trip, and fixed a short in the rock lights. Making progress!

 

[xjtony]

Should be able to get the buggy back on it's own weight this weekend got the C/Os charged today and found the parts I needed. Basically they were never set up right to begin with. I had to run tender springs to get them preloaded right.

I got some dual rate sliders locally, but had to open them up just a touch to get them to slide over the threads.


I also made some 1/2 inch spacers for under the bumpstops out of some UHMW I had laying around

 

[Jinx]

Nothing better than a coil over set up right!

 

[xjtony]

With the full charge and preload it sits a little high in the front, but there is a little adjustment left. I've got to get new limit straps too. Looks like I have maybe 2 more inches.

 

[Greg]

It's looking good, Tony!

 

[xjtony]

I've gotten a ton done, and hopefully fixed a bunch of issues.
1. Realized that I measured wrong when I set up my fuel pump and the pickup was almost 2 inches off the bottom of the cell. Fixed that and added wiffle balls for baffles (after letting one soak for 2 weeks to make sure they were fuel safe)

2. Installed a new to me ECM. So far all of my engine issues are gone. Hopefully that lasts.

3. Replaced some brake lines.

4. Fixed some cracked mounting points on my belly skid.

5. Fixed my 0 degree caster issue.

I still need to nut and bolt everything for the season, and I need to rebuild my upper control arm from Pritchett last year, but I think it should be good to go.

 

[Gawynz]

Let me know when you're ready to take it out!

 

[xjtony]

Got everything finished up today. The buggy has always had an issue with death wobble and overall drivability (wandered real bad on the road). This weekend I was checking all the hardware and replacing lock washers and found the holes in the track bar mount totally wallered out. Added some weld washers.

When I was making my maintenance list this winter I also found that I was running 0 caster.
Fixed the last damage from Pritchett last year. New bung on the UCA

I pushed the lowers out some and shortened the upper. I'm now running 10 degrees caster, which is a little much, but I think it'll work. The only issue I see is that at full bump I'm really close to the balancer.
There's about 1/4 inch at the closest point. I dont forsee any issues, but I will monitor it closely on the trail.

 

[xjtony]

Engine issue strike again. This thing has had literally no issues running it around town over the last few weeks. It also ran good in Moab last year until the very end of the trip where it went into limp mode once. Today I loaded it on the trailer with no issues, but as soon as I tried to head from the trailer to the rocks, nothing. No power, stumbling completely undriveable. I barely got it loaded back on the trailer, drove home, and low and behold its running perfectly again. I've replaced every sensor on this engine, as well as just about every component on the top end. With the intermittentness (thats a word right?) it almost has to be a bad sensor. I'm going to try a new TPS before i scrap the engine all together. A faulty TPS would cause all the problems that I'm having if it had a dead spot. The issue is always at light throttle, but makes it so I cant really get moving at all.

 

[Hickey]

That's frustrating man.