NASTYZEN
Well-known member
The shots are to far away to see. But I'm sure there is a smile from ear to ear there. The wife on the other hand may have a look of terror.
Looks good man!
Looks good man!
Mid-Engine Sandrail build
- Thread starter zmotorsports
- Start date
theoldwizard1
Well-known member
I don't want to through a wet rag on this great build, buy 30 years ago I new a guy who built a sand rail on a VW chassis. First time on the dunes he rolled it and killed himself when his head hit the ground. I don't know what kind of belts he was using.
The side rail are very low and there is nothing to hold the upper part of your body in if you roll it. Anyone on the dunes use arm restraints like midget or open wheel sprint car drivers ?
The side rail are very low and there is nothing to hold the upper part of your body in if you roll it. Anyone on the dunes use arm restraints like midget or open wheel sprint car drivers ?
Max Power
Well-known member
I use arm restraints in mine since I rolled it my second time out. My son still denies putting his hand out but he tore his finger up pretty good. Also helmets are always worn in my buggy, just my choice. Rail looks great! Keep having fun.
illmatyk
Well-known member
Awesome!
OP
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
RKSpeed
Well-known member
Mike, I dunno how I missed this build but that is a bitchin lookin rail! Looks like after waiting 15yrs you got to go all out on this one(must feel great) Wheres the vid BTW?
dragginbalz
Well-known member
Something tells me that he is safe..
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SoL from Sweden
Well-known member
i dont know anything about sandrails, but this looks great! but what are those two levers used for? those by the drivers and the passengers knees
the single one i guess is handbrake yes?
the single one i guess is handbrake yes?
dlc
Well-known member
See post #77
SoL from Sweden
Well-known member
dlc
Well-known member
The individual rear brake levers allow you to apply either rear brake independant of the other which results in quicker turns.
OP
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Thank you. I haven't visited this thread in a while. I thought it had been forgotten. I will have to get a video of it next trip out.
I wouldn't say that I went "all out". I had a pretty tight budget to work within as per the wife. I would have loved to have more travel (mid-travel car) and a turbo charged Honda VTEC but maybe next one.
Thanks again,
Mike.
OP
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Absolutely NO on-off-on-off welding here. This is squeezing the trigger once and keeping the torch moving until I have to reposition. I am not a fan of the tack, tack, tack welding procedure.
Mike.
Wingnut65
Well-known member
Sweet ride, Mike. I love the color! Congrats on making your dream come true.
I'm sure you are enjoying it much more since it fits your budget than giving in, biting the bullet and always having the expense hanging over your head. Go out and enjoy it!
I'm sure you are enjoying it much more since it fits your budget than giving in, biting the bullet and always having the expense hanging over your head. Go out and enjoy it!
I figured it was on a non structal area. Your other welds, TIG included show your skills !
I have a RE Sand rail powder coated the same color.
OP
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Thanks.
Like I said there is not a single MIG (GMAW) weld on this car that is welded by the tack, tack, tack method. All of the welds are continuous, torch manipulation is what adds the stack of dimes look that I was going for whether structural or not.
Mike.
who built the center consoleYeah, the seats finally showed up. Now I can make sure they fit between the rails and start the seat brackets.
Fabricated the seat brackets. Now just need to tack them in place.
This is the upper crossbar. It resided just behind the seats and will be the attachment point for the new Crow 5-point 5-way harnesses as well as the upper radiator mount.
This is one of the welds on the fuel tank mounting brackets.
This is the fuel tank mount tacked in place. Now I just need to test fit the fuel tank and make sure there is enough room between the seats and the radiator.
OP
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I built most of it. There was one in the car that I purchased but it was too short and was built to mate up with the bench style seat that was in the car original car. I basically used the area where the quad-gauge was installed and the swithes mainly just because I was using the same gauge and figured no sense in reinventing the wheel and save myself some time. I fabricated the rest of the console to fit my new chassis and to continue rearward further so it ends up between the suspension seats.
I also fishmouthed it slightly to fit around the tube directly in front of the console. Many that I have seen merely **** up against it or sit slightly over it but I wanted a tighter fit and minimal gap as well as using Dzus fasteners rather than screws. I also relocated the cutter brakes from where they sat so that part was cut off and refabricated to move the cutter brakes slightly rearward closer to the seats. I then had it sent out for polishing from a local shop that does all of my chrome and polishing.
Mike.
willymakeit
Well-known member
Nice build.
Have you ever built one using a late model fwd setup in the rear?
Have you ever built one using a late model fwd setup in the rear?
OP
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
No I haven't. This was actually my first complete sand rail build. All of the other rails that I have worked on have had the VW style transaxle, whether they are the actual VW cased transmission, the Rhino cased, the Transform or the Mendeola transmission.
I have never worked on one that had a late model front wheel drive engine transaxle assembly.
Mike.
That's my thought, too. Seems like it would be easy enough to have a buggy builder leave the rear frame area stubbed/blank...
zmaxmotorsports
Well-known member
Thanks for the comments guys. I appreciate it, like I said this is the first (hopefully of many more to come) sandrail that I have built. I am really enjoying the build. My son is helping a lot in between his college classes so that is an added bonus. I really enjoy the time in the shop with him.
Like I mentioned the little things take time and don't look like much is getting done now that most of the tubing is bent, fishmouthed and tacked into place. I am finishing the welding as I go in increments as I am working on other things around the car. I feel that I am almost to the point of starting my 'completion list', you know the one, the list that we all make as you near the end and start crossing off things so they don't get overlooked. I start getting that perma-grin when I get to the 'completion list' phase.
This picture is of the antenna bung (the one machined the previous night) welded onto the 'B' pillar. After welding it on I pulled some mechanics wire through the 'B' pillar and down the left 'C' pillar to the lower main rail to pull the wire after powder coating.
This picture is of the 'C' pillars welded into place.
This picture is of the upper radiator mounting brackets that will be welded to the underside of the upper crossbar just behind the seats. I still need to fabricate the parts between these brackets and the upper radiator. All of these little brackets are what take time to fabricate. I wish I had the capabilities to either lazer cut them or access to a waterjet but I have to cut them all freehand. These two little brackets took about 15-20 minutes so not a tremendous amount of time but to get them exactly the same it does take a few minutes.
Was just wondering what supports the horizontal tubing that rear roll bar hoop is welded into?
OP
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Are you talking about the rear horizontal bar that goes across from side to side just behind the seats or are you talking about the "B" or "C" pillars going up and overhead?
Everything you see there is pretty much it other than some triangulated bracing along the sides. Many manufacturers such as Mazzone Sand Cars, Emil Miller and the old J&J Chassis generally only run a four-point chassis whereas I opted to go with a six-point design to give it a little more rigidity. My chassis design closely resembles Mike Mazzone's sleek, race like appearance.
Mike.
Everything you see there is pretty much it other than some triangulated bracing along the sides. Many manufacturers such as Mazzone Sand Cars, Emil Miller and the old J&J Chassis generally only run a four-point chassis whereas I opted to go with a six-point design to give it a little more rigidity. My chassis design closely resembles Mike Mazzone's sleek, race like appearance.
Mike.
OP
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I was told that the guy who originally built the rail had passed away. Don't remember the name of the guy or the name of the guy I bought the car from. That was about five/six years ago.
Mike.
Mike.
OP
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
That is the one, although it was nowhere near that nice of condition when I took delivery of it.
I cut it apart and used the front suspension, tires and wheels, rack & pinion steering and a few other parts, then sold the rest and started from scratch.
I went through and freshened up the engine/trans because it had sat for a while as per the previous owner and was leaking like crazy.
I sold it this past winter to a guy in West Haven or Hooper, I can't remember which.
It was a fun little car for the couple of years that I drove it after building it.
Mike.
I cut it apart and used the front suspension, tires and wheels, rack & pinion steering and a few other parts, then sold the rest and started from scratch.
I went through and freshened up the engine/trans because it had sat for a while as per the previous owner and was leaking like crazy.
I sold it this past winter to a guy in West Haven or Hooper, I can't remember which.
It was a fun little car for the couple of years that I drove it after building it.
Mike.
WOW. I can't believe the guy didn't keep it up. My buddy Rob put a lot of blood sweat and tears into building that thing. I have pictures of it as a bare frame when he picked it up from Mike Mazzone. Rob lost a battle with cancer back in 2010.
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kanddtowing
New member
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2014
- Messages
- 2
where do u get the swingaxle bearing housings without the bump stop arms on them, plus where would I source replacement trailing arms like what are on your buggy
OP
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Those are OEM VW housings with the bump machined off the outer housing. The trailing arms are also built in house, specific to pretty much each make or chassis manufacturer. Seems like they all have their own style or add a twist to them.
Mike.
kanddtowing
New member
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2014
- Messages
- 2
thanks
RotaryTech
Member
Cool build.
I'm also posting for the rotary engine love.
I'm also posting for the rotary engine love.
scottvsmith
New member
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2014
- Messages
- 2
OP
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Hey Scott, good to see your still around. Welome to the forum.
We sold it about a year ago because we had too many irons in the fire. We sold our snowmobiles, dirt bikes, sand toys and race car. Wallet feels much better now.
It just seemed as though there was always money going out for a repair or modification on something and I wasn't putting enough away. Also it seemed as though I never had any time to work on things that I WANTED to, always things I HAD to.
We kept the coach, Harleys and Jeep is all, sold everything else. At first I was saddened by the decision that my wife, son and I came to but I have to say, this past year has been so much less stressful and I have gotten caught up on so many little projects. It ***** too, because we had a real kick *** sand quad on the chassis jig that we were building for my son. Stretched out 4130 chromoly chassis with a 500+ cc two-stroke engine. All lightweight and just for hillshooting. It would have been killer but we had it for sale for several months as a project with everything to complete it but ended up breaking it apart and selling it off a piece at a time.
I heard that the kid that bought my rail has it for sale again. When he bought it, it did seem as though his girlfriend and buddies were encouraging him to bite the bullet more than he wanted to. He really had to scrape the money together for it. I almost felt bad for him, I really wanted it gone once I made up my mind to sell it, however, I did tell him that this is a "toy" you are buying, not a "necessity". It shouldn't strap you to enjoy it. Sounds like maybe it did.
Scott, do you still have your long-travel Ford powered rail. That was sure a sweet ride.
Mike.
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scottvsmith
New member
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2014
- Messages
- 2
Yes I do. I'm currently tossing around the idea of stripping it down and building a mid-engine 4 seater with as much of the parts that I can. Crazy idea, but hey, I'd never be able to sell it and get enough recouped to buy or build a 4 seater.
OP
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Yep, I hear ya there. I lost my *** on mine. But I figured lose small now or sit on it for a few more years of not being able to use it and losing big later. I chose to lose sooner rather than later.
Mike.
toplessHO
Well-known member
ha pics of the 500 please
My dads beater was a 59 600... It was a whopping 22 HP I burned the rods out trying to go up the hills in upstate NY.