4wd woods buggy

[Baloo]

any news on this yet islander ?   must have got it all home by now,   any pics yet

[Islander]

nothin yet, the weather here seems to have wanted to be a little more like over there, it's rained for like 2-3 straight weeks, with not enough dry time in the middle to get back to where the Zuki is.  Way too muddy, I hope to have it out this weekend though, the weather is supposed to be improving    All I can think about is how much damn fun it would have been to have it home and running with all this mud around

[Islander]

After a chat with a friend of mine, my direction has somewhat changed, even though I don't even have it home yet.  He's running a Suzuki Sidekick and he was putting Toyota axles under it, but has decided to run Jeep Wagoneer axles instead (Dana 44's front and rear) they are only 2" wider than the Toy's so he's not gaining that much width.  He's also running a 1.9L VW turbo diesel.  A friend of his used to have a Sammy like the one I'm getting and I'm going to copy that drivetrain.

350 and the TH400 are going in 

It fits as long as you move the rad to the rear, and the transfer case will hold the power.  I didn't think that it would, but the one I'm going off has been run hard for 5+ years now with no breakage, so that is saying something.  Other than tire size, I'm going to run the same basic setup.  The reason for this is that I already have the motor and trans here, and I can get the axles for next to nothing.

[b.c.bugger]

holy krap that's funny right there

[Baloo]

hi islander

well l think the toy axles are good, not to much heavier than the sj ones and nice and strong, but a 350,  is that a chevy and is it iron blocked 
l always think the thing that sets an sj apart from the rest is the weight or lack of it, dont you fancy using a 1600cc sidekick engine ?
think of it like this,  if two guys were going out for a jog up a very steep hill and you stuck a rucksack on one of them full of paving slabs which one do you think is going to struggle to get up the hill ?
you might be bolting in a heap of horsepower but you are  making the task so much more difficult to do ?
anyway need some pics which ever way you go

andy 
 

[Islander]

I agree with you 100% about the weight, but here is the kicker, I have the motor and trans here now, ready to rock, and I would have to buy the 1.6L.  I want to keep the engine-trans combo for a later project, and if I have to wait until I have the money to buy the other motor, it'll be more then a year.  I just found out my wife is expecting our second child  .  Unfortunately, that means zero funds available for the buggy.  Everything that I do to the chassis will be reversible, as I want to eventually run a VW turbo diesel.  I do want to keep the weight down, but I want to be running offroad soon more