When i first come up with the idea of producing some videos to accompany the plans for our new dune buggy i didn’t think i’d get such a positive response!

How wrong I was!

If the sheer amount of positive emails i received is any indication, It seems as though this is what you guys as buggy builders are after, some assistance to help you through the build process as quickly and easily as possible.

Well good news, it’s going to be time consuming to say the least but we ARE going to be filming some videos for you to help you build your new buggy!

Stay tuned!

Nick

Ok so we’re well underway with the design of the new buggy and its coming along superbly! Hopefully within the next few days i will be able to put up a pic of the 3d CAD sketch and get your feedback on the design and take any suggestions etc. As you can imagine, undertaking such a project is not easy and there has been many hours brainstorming the technical aspects of the buggy such as SAI (steering axis inclination), scrub radius angles, caster angles etc etc! But it’s all starting to come together now and i think you’ll like it.

Anyway, i was thinking the other day about how to structure the plans once they’re ready to be released so that the “average Joe” can successfully build his/her own buggy without running into too many difficulties during the process. The old melon started ticking over and i thought “well the best way to learn how to do anything is to get someone who knows what they’re doing to show you in person how to do it” Now obviously i can’t be by your side to show you how to put this thing together, so what if i flmed the build process of this buggy so you can watch me build it… In front of you?

If i filmed the whole process from cutting the first piece of steel to firing it up for its first drive, would that make it easier for you to build your buggy? It will most likely be divided up into parts and to be quite honest a lot of them, but i think it would be far better that trying to put a jig saw puzzle of CAD drawings together. Don’t you?

Let me know your thoughts on this by either commenting on the blog here or sending me an email to info(@)skababuggies.com (remove the brackets) and tell me what you think. If we get enough positive feedback for something like this, we’ll weigh up the options of putting together a set of instructional videos. If not then we’ll just stick to the CAD plans.

Come on! don’t be shy, tell us what you want!

Nick

Apart from the design of the buggy frame/chassis the steel that is used to construct it is one of the most important factors in building your buggy. Cutting corners at this point of the build process is a recipe for disaster in that if the wrong material is chosen you will most likely encounter some kind of failure in a serious accident which would not be good.

To provide a safe chassis that you know is going to do the job in the event that you flip your buggy upside down or collide with any fixed objects etc it is best to use something that has been proven in a racing environment. Now you may not be using your buggy for competition use but im sure you will agree that sticking to the specifications that these associations use is a good thing.

Here in Australia all motor sport categories are governed by CAMS (confederation of Australian motor sport) which outlines the details of roll cage and dune buggy frame construction. CAMS also bases its technical specs on the FIA which are used globally.

It is for this reason that we are going to adhere to the CAMS specs for dune buggy frame construction and have chosen to use the following steel tube for the construction of our chassis:

Prospec 350 - 38.1 x 2.6mm CDS

This tubing is a stress relieved 1020 grade, seamless mild steel tube available in various Mpa. The tube we will be using is the 350Mpa CDW which complies to CAMS and ANDRA.

Here’s some more technical specs on this tube

Tensile Strength (ksi)        80
Yield Point (ksi)                 70
Elongation (% in 2″)           15
Rockwell hardness            RB80

This isn’t the cheapest steel tube around but hey can you put a price on your life? Spend the extra dollars and get something that you know will be there to protect you in the event of an accident!

Don’t forget to get on the VIP notification list for the buggy plans so you can keep up to date with how the build is progressing

Nick