damn, u guys have a lot of cash to spend on these things. the one i'm helping to build cost about 4 grand total. we made everything else from scratch. i guess it helps to have a master welder/metal worker as the owner. lol.

 

Yes/no, I have a welder, bender, etc... I have gotten alot of deals and hope to have mine complete for 12-15G. After a season or two it should still be worth 20-25G.

 

nice. what type of shocks r u using? how much travel front and back? the shocks we r using on the buggy r the same as the ones u have on ur car. they r jus the shock absorbers. they r like 6 inches of travel or something like that. we r gonna build new shock towers in front so we can put some 12 inch travels on.

 

I looked into that explorer chassis quite a bit. It is nice, and I like it. However when you start adding in all the parts to make it all work it gets pretty darn close to the price of a long travel. For instance, I can purchase a sandcars.net frame, trailing arms, a-arms and a few misc parts for about $4000 and closer to $3200 for the mild steel version. The explorer frame in mild steel is $1500 and $2100 for chromoly, then add in all the suspension peices and it is right there price wise.

I could run a VW in anything, and of course it saves money, although the 2.5 liter 250 hp version is not cheap and is also not the most reliable.

I also dont plan on spending $15k on any engine. I can get an LS1 crate engine with computer and harness for $6000. My biggest concern is the trans, they get real spendy real fast.

I can do alot of the fab work myself. I used to build street rods for a living and have had several projects on that end. I still have two projects, but the sand obsession is more fun as of now.

I could purchase a standard travel 4 seat buggy for $3000 right now also. I just know myself and if I dont get what I want the first time I will be sorry. There are many 4 seat vw based rails for sale, just check the cycle trader, and most are upgrading to mid or long travel cars. I dont want to build one or buy one just to turn around in a year and sell it.

Sorry to ramble. Thanks for all the info and suggestions.

Bat

 

YFz'n, do you have any pics? I fully understand the money issue, it is an issue for me as well.

If you dont mind, What did the chassis set you back? You can pm me if you wish. 12-15,000 is a great deal. It is hard to put one of these together for that. It adds up real fast. Are you getting your engine from a salvage yard? or where? I have heard of people dumping $14,000 into just the engine alone.

I will most likely end up with about $20,000 into the whole thing, half will be the chassis and parts, the other half will most likely be engine trans.

I dont have $20,000 up front, but over time and about a year that is what I should have into it.

Thanks again

 

Bat, I traded my 01 Raptor for the frame (5500), I bought the Micro stub kit 1700, I got sway-a-way coil over piggy back res. from another buddy (2-14"/2-8") I just need to buy the springs. I got front break hubs from another friend, who also gave me a set of rear 14.50 extremes on bead locks (with one season). IM getting the motor from another buddy that is updating his car. 2.0 sub with turbo, comp, adaptor, harnes, clutch, ex for 3500, I still need the tranny (mendeola) Hopeing to work a deal on that, but don't know. Fortunatly living in the heart of buggy world I have made some good freinds, and they have helped me out ALLOT.

PM your E-mail and I can send you some of the WIP pictures.

 

You have mail.

Yeah, living in wyoming you dont see too many rails, and what you do see are peices of shiot for the most part.

It is funny, we have dunes just 45 minutes from my house, they are not huge, but real fun to play on and you dont see that many people from this area there. Over labor day, I bet that the people from colorado easily outnumbered the wyoming people 5:1 if not more.

You got some good deals it sounds like.

Bat

 

The 2020 in my rail has been running for over 15 years with zero problems. It puts out about 110 horse. My Dad just spent 32,000 on a long travel that has a 2275 putting out 175 horse at the crank. My 2020 will beat my Banshee up Comp hill in Dumont. I see mope broken down Northstar cars than I do VW cars in the dunes.

 

i was workin on the rail today and we got a lot done. all that's left is the rear seat belts, painting the rear rims, and the electrical. does ne body have ne tips for the electrical? when we got the buggy all the wires were spliced, frayed, out in the open, and rusted. we have plastic tubing to put the wires through and we r not gonna splice ne thing. also, we r gonna put a fuse box in. if ne body has a tip that will make this easier, or longer lasting it is much appreciated. we're takin the rail to the dunes next weekend!

 

I just saw an ad in the last sand sports mag I think it was unique supply or something like that. They had a buggy wiring kit for $35. It looked like it had a fuse block and the wires. Something like that will make it much easier to do.

When I was working in the street rod industry we used painless wiring and another kit, Ron Francis I think. They worked well also. It makes it so much easier then trying to peice something together which we did sometimes as the customer would request it.

bat