Transaxle - Car Engine Based Buggies (2 Viewers)

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Anyone Wheel with anyone who has built one of these?

Project Lo-budget Pimpin - Pirate4x4.Com Bulletin Board

YouTube - HONDA CRAWLING,LO-BUDGET PIMPIN,ROCKAPE

I Relay Like the idea of a 2000lb Buggy and a nice power to weight Ratio. 2 seats would be a must! Id like to do it with a Toyota Engine, Keep it in the Front of the rig.. run Fj60 ish Axles..

What do you guys think? waste of time? It would suck to break the Output on the Trans axle Diff! and you Basically are stuck in one ratio, low Range.. all the time.
 
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a WHILE BACK i was thinking of building one. Honda motor but I would like to adapt a sm465 to it and then an auto transaxle. How cool would an auto t-case be.

2 seater, air shocks, super light, would make a killer rig.
I just need to figure out how to get my wife to believe my accord is worth more without a drivetrain. That might be a tough one.
 
Im not picturing how an SM would fit in the mix, but it would be nice to have more options other than the Trans gears..

Looked at the Subi Engines, (Nice and Flat, Ballanced, good HP) but Pricey, and the AWD trans would not work as well..

VW VR6 Would be Very cool.. Narrow Design would sit in between the Drivers and Passengers Feet, Back far enough to have a decent front drive shaft length.. Diff looks easy to access and Weld.. LSD are available.. 175HP.. and one of the best sounding engines around!

eBay Motors: JDM Volkswagen 2.8L VR6 Engine with Auto Trans AAA (item 220380736013 end time Mar-29-09 07:24:09 PDT)
 
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Bjowett i knew that you would like that idea.. VW's are my other passion, i just haven't had one in a bit! ;)

Do you know any info on what kind of issues i may be looking at with wiring and engine management?

I want to keep it simple!
 
I know the cat that built that, he is in Reno. He popped out 3 other chassis and sold them, there were thoughts of a 2 seater down the road. It's a pretty sick little buggy for sure. He is going to run it in the CalRocs Pro Modified class this year.
 
Cool thread Trev! You are causing problems for me though! I have a ton of Honda high performance stuff at the shop from when we were racing her Acura. I knew I didn't sell it all for a reason! Hope you have a place for me to stay after the wife boots my greasy butt out!
 
One of the guys that bought a chassis from him is putting in a 1.6 ZC motor. I think that's the same one Rockape put in his, not for sure. It turns them Krawlers pretty good it seems, but everybody is looking for a little more power.
 
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Gearheads always have room for another project! Kevin What would be a cool Honda Motor for this project? I know more about the VW's but honda's are killer motors! it looks like the honda motors better in a rear engine, because the Trans sits on the other side of the engine.

175 would be fun, but VR6 guys are Super charging / Turboing them to 300HP.. Now that would be a Fun Race Rig.. XRRA here we come!

now i just need sponsors!
 
I have a complete unassembled B18C5 stroker (2.2l)sitting in the shop right now. Luckily I hadn't got it back from the machine shop when the daughters car got stolen from the Westminster Promenade. (IH8THIEVES!) This is a turbo motor that will push into the 500's easy with moderate boost. When her car was nabbed it had our back up motor in it which still cranked the car into the 13's! That was a JDM B20 with a C5 head (TypeR) and a modded Jackson Charger pushing 10lbs of boost. A buggy wouldn't need the Vtech head at all as the LS cam and heads produce much more low/mid grunt. All B series Honda engines share the same basic size so getting a auto T-axle from the want ads and adding a Quaif limited slip(locker) then dropping in a B-20 with a SC would yeild you a strong 300horses and be relatively cheap and is all stuff that the rice rocket folk toss away (except the Quaif diff of course). B20's are in the CRVs. You can get a JDM B-20 pretty cheap on E-bay from a number of resellers. No one wants the auto trannys so you can prolly get that free. Trev....get some pipe a bending and I supply the power train! Serious! I have a set of FJ-60 axles we could use too! I know the wiring on both the OBD and OBD II's honda very well and also can burn chips (for me and close friends only!) I also have two JR SC's but only 1 C5 manifold and 1 LS manifold that I have acquired along the way. The only issue I can see is the Honda motors are very close tolerance and cam journals are just the aluminum casting. Dust is a HUGE enemy of these little beasts! I see in that vid the guy is running a K&N air filter.....I wouldn't expect much endurance from so little filtration!
 
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Saw a VR6 at the Junkyard today :idea:


Kevin, wow, that would be sweet! can we make it work in the Front of the Rig? Maybe if it where a Passenger Drop Front Axle? The Reason i want it in the Front is for Climbing the steep stuff.

I think i could bend up the tube, i know some guys ;) Me and Bend Tech are going to do some time, and see if i can come up with a Chassis!
 
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Saw a VR6 at the Junkyard today :idea:

Auto Or Manual??

I don't think you could shift fast enough with a standard tranny....they are very close ratio and that coupled with the low R&P gears in the axles ......
 
Yea it would need to be an Auto.. Standard would not have deep enough gears either..

Auto is nice too because it has a Bit of Give before it Breaks! And Rock Ape was saying the Honda Autos have only 15% Drive train power Loss

And Kevin, If you get kicked out, ive got a Room, but you would need to lose some of your Rigs.. my garage will be full of my crap!

How much would that complete Engine/Trans weigh in at?
 
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Yea it would need to be an Auto.. Standard would not have deep enough gears either..

Auto is nice too because it has a Bit of Give before it Breaks! And Rock Ape was saying the Honda Autos have only 15% Drive train power Loss

And Kevin, If you get kicked out, ive got a Room, but you would need to lose some of your Rigs.. my garage will be full of my crap!

How much would that complete Engine/Trans weigh in at?

Not sure on the weight....I'll see if I can come up with a number. I can tell you the complete engine doesn't weigh much....I'm guessing a little over 200#'s maybe! Probably another 150ish for the auto transax...

I don't think the room will work out as if I have to get rid of my toys I might as well stay home.... :rolleyes:
 
Bjowett i knew that you would like that idea.. VW's are my other passion, i just haven't had one in a bit! ;)

Do you know any info on what kind of issues i may be looking at with wiring and engine management?

I want to keep it simple!

Hmmm... I'll have to dig back about 8 - 10 years... that was the last time I swapped a VR6. The donor was a 93 Passat and the recipient an 86 GTI. The Motronic EFI harness may have been easy to separate out and make stand alone.... I'll have to call my bud and ask him. The earlier cars with distributors might be easier, too... those are 92 and 93... mid/late 93 and 94 got a coil pack and then in 95 comes the OBD2.

The VR6 is all about torque. It will lug around all day yet is quite eager to run up 7k rpm w/o issue. The manual 02A and 02J trans have various gear ratio combos and several R&P's are available. Don't know much about the auto trans...
 
From what I understand the Saturn transaxle is really tough for this application. Too bad the motors suck.

Interesting! Adapters can be made for just about anything..... Do you have a clue if the Saturn motors are clockwise or counter clock wise rotation? Honda B& H series are counter clockwise rotation.
 

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