Caito's Dune buggy

[Caito]

It seems this doesn't draw much interest.. anyway, here's an update.




That's the welded chassis. 1.75inches x 2mm wall thickness, ERW(sae 1010) steel tubing.
We will add triangular reinforcements in the roll cage, to assure its integrity. We'll do this since some of the fittings were not perfect(gap between tubes) and we're not professional welders.

The little box in the front gets 4 suspension pickup points in the corners. The rear gets semitrailing arm with a suspension right on the corner of the floor. The other pickup points goes along the floor back tube, such pickup points lacks reinforcement.

The engine compartment is huge, but we thought it looked more proportionate that way. It will accommodate a 1.3L I4 from a fiat 128, transversal with transaxle.


Any opinions.. how do you think it will turn out? Do you think is strong enough?

I've read they normally use 1.25'' x 3mm. We though bigger would be better so we went for 1.75. Weight / foot of the chosen tube is just 2% less than 1.25''x 3mm.

We've stopped a little because we have to study.

The suspensions have been already designed, we're just finishing the arms in solidworks and bought 1.25'' x 2.85mm tube for the A-arms. Front and rear coil-overs will be "home-made" since it's not easy to find cheap coilovers here in Argentina. (we just need to build a top plate).


Well.. I'll update soon when I have something new.

Bye!

Caito.-

[elmerfud]

Good work Ciato!

So many like me are 'experts' who dream big and do little.

[Shrieker]

Seems like there's some way to go, but waiting to see first the video of it bouncing around

[Maelstrom]

Looking good. Hope to see more from you soon.

[mx_tifoso]

Any updates Caito?

[Caito]

Unhopefully not, still in progress though. University is really tough this semester(until mid July) so we can't go once a week as we used to do.

Next updates will probably be on July, but it has not been abandoned at all.

[marcush.]

caito ,cool project you are on ....
How did i miss this all those years
With all the projects happening here ,I think i have to get doin something myself now...

How did you layout the chassis of your project ,honestly speaking i don´t really understand the layout of the tubes ..are you willing to share your thought process leading to this design?
I feel we could start a nice discussion around this.

[Caito]

Hi Guys! Me again. We're building the A-arms at the moment, due to money constraints we're not using bearings just silentblocks from some other car that we managed to fit on the tube we're using for the suspension.
Here's a sneak peak.


This silentblock thing got me thinking. I'm not sure how are they supposed to work.. is the rubber supposed to work as the bearing? Meaning, the inner sleeve fixed to the chassis, the outer sleeve fixed to the suspension arm, and the rubber twists to allow movement.

The silent block is similar to this one:


If the rubber is supposed to be the bearing part of it, then I guess I'm in trouble because it will tear out with the whole travel.

So basically I have to put a bolt inside it and I don't knw how tight it should fit.


Any clues?

Thanks!

Caito.-

[Tim.Wright]

The silent blocks I've worked with are designed to twist to give the rotation but your one looks different, like it has a brass bore or something to allow rotation. My experience with silent blocks is that they can twist maybe +/-20deg from their free position.

You might be lucky and find a socket head shoulder bolt that will give you a nice running fit.

[flynfrog]

If you have a lathe some HPDE rods and bore the centers out.

[Caito]

Problem solved, there was no problem at all actually. Though we have around 40cm wheel travel, the A-Arms are long enough, so that translates in less than +-20 degrees. The silent block will hold, but it is important to tighten it in the loaded position.

Here's a quick snap of the A-Arms.

[Tim.Wright]

Problem solved, there was no problem at all actually. Though we have around 40cm wheel travel, the A-Arms are long enough, so that translates in less than +-20 degrees. The silent block will hold, but it is important to tighten it in the loaded position.

20deg is only an esetimate based on what I've seen.

Wouldn't you want to tighten it up in the middle position? Then they only twist the amount required to go +/-20cm?

[Caito]

Problem solved, there was no problem at all actually. Though we have around 40cm wheel travel, the A-Arms are long enough, so that translates in less than +-20 degrees. The silent block will hold, but it is important to tighten it in the loaded position.

20deg is only an esetimate based on what I've seen.

Wouldn't you want to tighten it up in the middle position? Then they only twist the amount required to go +/-20cm?

They move those (more or less) 20 degrees without much effort (at the end of a 60cm lever ) if I keep rotating it starts to get tougher, but my guesstimates says it's ok.

Yes in the middle position, in the natural position with the car loaded with all the parts, ready to go.