DTSFab.com (Desert, Trail and Sand)
UTV's Off Road ( RZR, YXZ, Mini Buggy, Carts,etc.) => UTV Toy Showcase => Topic started by: nagel on April 21, 2011, 05:56:06 AM
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Hey guys, new to the forum, but lurked for a bit..
Built myself a piranha with the help of some of Doug Heim's parts (mad kudos on the craftsmanship Doug!)..
Been racing ATV's for years, and finally took the plunge to build a buggy.. Hadn't welded nor worked with metal before the buggy (its one thing to bolt together a race quad, its something else to fabricate your frame). So, this buggy taught me to weld, work with a plasma cutter, do sheetmetal work, and airbrush as well (I did everything on the buggy except for the few parts I got from Doug). Even made the spoiler myself from some scrap aluminum.. (Sorry, I just love the look, I know its totally non-functional LOL)
Details:
Yamaha Raptor 660R motor
Fox 2.0 Coilovers w/ rezzies all around
IMS oversized gas tank from the Raptor
The rest you can see..
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Welcome to DTS. 8) 8) 8)
Good looking ride!
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And my little trio of race quads.. The two YFZ's are my XC machines (White is the primary, yellow is my backup). The polaris predator 90 my niece raced last year.. Thats got a Honda 300ex front end on it (for dual a-arms, the predator comes stock with single a-arms)
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Welcome to the site. Nice job!
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Good looking buggy, especially for a first one. If kept light enough those big quad motors are a slick setup.
Good work and welcome.
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Thanks guys!
Yeah, I chose the quad motor for a few reasons. I live in NJ.. Hence there isn't a dune within a few hundred miles that you can touch with a motorized vehicle. So, I am stuck with woods and fields (more woods than fields unfortunately). Probably why I race XC on the quad though. LOL.. Anyway, there aren't many buggys by me. I've seen one other Piranha near me, it actually serves as an attention getter at a car wash, and doesn't get driven much due to limited riding areas..
I have roughly 80 acres (90% woods with tight trails) available right behind my house. So, thats my main riding area. Great for the quad, and still needs a lot of work to make it good for the buggy. (the quad is 48" wide, buggy comes in at 69" at the rear). Knowing how I can "hook" trees with the quad when I'm on a fast run, I figure its gonna happen with the buggy too.. Reverse was a must-have.. I wasn't going to be trying to pull a 1000lb buggy backwards everytime I needed reverse. A FNR box is just too much for me right now. The Raptor was big enough, is chain drive, and that big single cylinder is just gobs of torque in the woods.. Sure, my top speed may suffer, but I will get UP to that speed pretty damn quick! I found a gearing calculator online (designed specifically for the Raptors transmission ratios), and I figure about 60mph will be my top speed, with a tailwind, going downhill. LOL. No problem, as I barely make it to 35 in the woods before having to jam on the brakes and turn..
I'll admit too, I was a bit nervous that it would be a bit of a dog, considering most people use street bike motors with way more HP.. But with the 12/60 sprockets, and the big single cylinder, this thing actually throws you back in your seat and lifts the nose a bit.. (I'm sure the bighorn knock-offs help in making that torque transfer to the ground. LOL, I love those tires on my 4x4 quad)..
Already want to build a new chassis.. Built this one to plans to learn, but I need some length and width in the passenger compartment, and would love to find a way to narrow the rear a bit.. 60" would make it much better (might even be able to sneak it past the officials and race it in a GNCC, I know some Baja SAE guys have done it claiming their buggy was a Honda Pilot knock-off)
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Nice looking buggy. Can you post some motor shots up? Thanks
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where is the closest dune to you? nice ride btw and I am surprised there is any riding ground around nj but glad to hear it!
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The 660 is the same as the original Rhinos? Seems like there would be a lot of stuff out there for them and it resolves the reverse thing. I think it is a good call. Specially for your type of riding. Looks like fun.
Welcome to the board.
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Very nice work! :o I bet its a rush to blast it through wooded trails
Welcome to the site!
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Nice looking buggy. Can you post some motor shots up? Thanks
Sure thing.. Here's a few, I gotta find the ones I took of just the motor mounts.. They are MIA at the moment..
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where is the closest dune to you? nice ride btw and I am surprised there is any riding ground around nj but glad to hear it!
We have a pseudo-dune (black coal dust, aka the black dunes) in PA, about 2.5 - 3 hours west. If I want sand? Whats that? The stuff on the beach? Oh the beaches you cant ride on ;) LOL. Actually, I think NC is the closest state that offers beach permits. Otherwise its god knows where, MI? KS? for dunes that is.. I dunno, there's really no sand dunes around here.. I have access to an abandoned RR bed too, which is nice because thats 19,000 acres, and lots of wider trails, and some old farm fields that are adjacent / connected via trails to the RR bed. I just gotta drive 45 mins there (when I was married, I lived on the edge of that 19,000 acres). Boy do I miss having that riding area behind my house. And mind you, just about everywhere in NJ is trespassing on an ATV or Buggy, Motorcycles can get by if they are registered with just a ticket. But ATV's or buggys on state / county / township lands is pretty much a trip to the impound yard.. The abandoned RR bed is even trespassing, but if you know the area and trails, you're generally good. One township (the abandoned bed is like 45 miles long, and passed through a dozen towns) liked to post a bikini clad girl with a rolled over ATV asking for help. Pull over to help her, and two officers would jump out and nail ya. The give-away? The girl was never dirty, scratched up (you hit tons of branches / prickers in the woods), and had perfect hair. Yeah, it worked on some guys! Not me though LOL. Only have to worry about being pursued on Watershed / reservoirs property.. The 80 acres behind my house is clean and worry free though, I do have permission there :D Its actually a tree farm, and part of my XC course is also used for emergency access. Well, I made the course first and maintain it, and the owner appreciates the free work / emergency access areas (wider paths that a truck could fit down) in a few areas.. Its win/win..
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The 660 is the same as the original Rhinos? Seems like there would be a lot of stuff out there for them and it resolves the reverse thing. I think it is a good call. Specially for your type of riding. Looks like fun.
Welcome to the board.
Not sure if its the same as the Rhinos, but I think they were 660's, just different transmissions (Rhino is CVT, Raptor is a 5 speed). In terms of aftermarket parts for the motor, oh hell, there's a TON of stuff, and some great forums as well.. 3 plug heads, porting, cranks, pistons, carb systems, tons of pipes, yeah, there's a lot to play with. Only thing I havent found yet that I would like is a slipper clutch, I have a Rekluse on both of my XC quads, and I really think I would love it on the buggy. Nobody makes one for the Raptor though :( and with the 660 being discontinued in favor of the 700, I doubt they will make one now..
As for blasting thru the woods, yeah, 35mph feels a LOT faster when you are in tight trees.. I really need to get used to my width though.. So used to the 48" wide quad, I forget I have an extra 21" in the rears width now. Definitely need to break out the chainsaw and widen a few trail sections :D
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Here's a few more pics I've dug up. I did all the paint myself on this, and I had never airbrushed before either. The carbon fiber dash has fooled most people, and its the simplest technique to airbrush (Wish I learned it before I did all the grey panels!).
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OK,dammit!. Start an airbrush techniques thread! We all wanna hear,at least I do. I've got a FG dash in need of that.
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OK,dammit!. Start an airbrush techniques thread! We all wanna hear,at least I do. I've got a FG dash in need of that.
+1 8) 8) 8)
Did you stretch fish net stockings over it and then paint them to get that effect?
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LOL, no stockings for this effect.. Thats more for scales (fish / reptile).
I'll make a thread with the technique, and links to the vids and supplies.. I did deviate from the instructions a bit, and liked the results more... (I deviated because I didn't have the paint they suggested, and I also applied a technique from a real fire instructional video)..
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LOL, no stockings for this effect.. Thats more for scales (fish / reptile).
I'll make a thread with the technique, and links to the vids and supplies.. I did deviate from the instructions a bit, and liked the results more... (I deviated because I didn't have the paint they suggested, and I also applied a technique from a real fire instructional video)..
Wouldn't happen to be a Mickey Harris vid would it? That guy does some amazing true-flame work. A complete goofball to meet in person though ;)
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I pm'd you !!
I've been into quad based buggys for a couple years, and have not found a better donor engine than the 660 raptor if you want to go the 5 speed route.
For a CVT setup, Polaris has a nice compact transmission that they made for many years and accepts their standard secondary clutch.
This year we will have a couple different buggy configurations running the trails.
The first one is an Odyssey based buggy with a Polaris XC 600 Liberty snowmobile engine. I'm not a fan of 2 strokes, but I think this will be a rocket !! Although we're using the stock Odyssey tranny for reverse, these engines have electronic reverse which might be the way to go.
The second buggy is also Odyssey based, but is using a KLR 650 bike engine. I don't know how well this will work, because the output from the engine has to be overdriven to go to the input shaft of the stock Odyssey transmission.
The Odyssey's stock tranny is a 10:1 unit designed for a high reving 2 stroke, and is a pain in the ass trying to adapt a 4 stroke to it.
The Polaris tranny I mentioned above a 3:1 unit, and much better suited for our application.
BTW, what is that air cylinder located at the end of your clutch cable, and how does it work?
Dan
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LOL, no stockings for this effect.. Thats more for scales (fish / reptile).
I'll make a thread with the technique, and links to the vids and supplies.. I did deviate from the instructions a bit, and liked the results more... (I deviated because I didn't have the paint they suggested, and I also applied a technique from a real fire instructional video)..
???
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Masterfabr,
I actually have it half written up.. I do a thorough writeup, not some quick little tidbit that leaves you wondering (including pics, links to vids, the exact paint and masks, etc..).. I just need to find some time for a few more pics to use as examples.
Hemi43,
I just love how military the one buggy looks.. You would think you stole it off an army base. Definitely cool looking!! As for the "air cylinder", its actually a hydraulic clutch.. I know they make a Magura for the raptor motor, the but Magura needs "Magura blood" (basically a mineral oil). And I wanted a pedal operated clutch.. Which takes brake fluid. They are incompatible (brake fluid will eat the seals on the magura, and "magura blood" is too thick for a hydraulic pedal). The CNC Clutch is made for VW's and I just had to modify some mounts to make it work for me.. Actually works pretty well when its properly bled, but I started with a generic "DIY" brake / clutch line kit (the clear vinyl hose) and that leaks like a siv.. I have some braided stainless lines being made that will solve that issue.
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Where in NJ are you?
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Up north.. A town called West Milford, though I have access to decent trails in Hopatcong and Ringwood as well :)
Where are you from??
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South-central!
Just south of Trenton but before the pine barrens.
Cream Ridge.
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hey, just wanna throw some more compliments your way ! Great looking buggy. Any Video of it in action ? Really like the thread, thanks for posting. Snoopy