4 Seater for a Buddy

[TutTech]

I am building this buggy for a buddy of mine.
He wanted a version of my style buggy but able to take his young boys with him.
So the back will be set up a little bigger for 2 small boys to ride in.
I made the car plenty big in the front as my buddy is taller than I am and long legged so I wanted him to be comfortable.

This is a play car and will come out and watch us race at best. The rest of the time it will be for him and his sons.
It looks like the car will be about 14.5 feet long over all with a 30inch rear seating section for the boys.
I was able to climb in with a big wide sand seat and they will get small child seats instead or maybe even a small bench seat so I know they will fit.

I did the pan a little differently as I wanted to make sure all the seats were going to fit in and have enough leg room etc. so I did those first and then added in the center bars instead of the other way around. Making all the bars just run across the floor was much easier for all the moving I was going to be doing.
Here is what I ended up with.


So as this is a friends car and I can experiment a little and just try stuff I did the old tape trick to see where I wanted bars etc. so you can see one of my ideas here.


OK here are some shots with some seats.. these are sand extra wide and big boy seats so don't pay to much attention to them. Plus as said earlier the back will get smaller either kid seats or at least normal size seats.







The floor space is just big enough for my size 11 shoes to fit in, so the boys will have plenty of room for their feet. The seat bar for seat belts etc. is just tall enough and far enough away that I don't hit knees in case I or another adult should climb in the back. Also the rear seat is almost on the ground and it will be raised up pretty tall so the back seat guys can see out etc. and have more leg room by being in a more sitting position.

The car is 42 inches wide at the bottom pan and 55 inches wide at the mid rails. The sides of the car is 22 inches tall.
Well that is all for today. I will post more as soon as I get the roof and the back worked on.

By the way I hope to see some of you out at the Powder Puff race please come join us and enjoy a great weekend this weekend.
Thanks for looking,
Tut.

[deviant_illusion]

Very cool! Every time I see one of your projects it has me wanting to build something with a beam front end. I know nothing about VW stuff but with the stuff I have in the garage and the low cost of VW stuff I really am thinking about doing something like you do. Best looking beam cars around! Keep it up.

[TutTech]

Oh wow thank you for taking the time to let me know that. Very cool.

Ya I started with a beam car because of my dad. He taught me a cheap way to build a buggy.
We went all over through back yards, adds etc. and found a running VW bug for 500 bucks!
I then with his help bought a single seat kit car frame and where the single seat cross bars went in I instead put in longer bars to make it a 2 seater.

It was fun and I used it at the desert for 1 year back when I was like 17 I did this.
Then I sold it and built a baja bug sand buggy.. It was way to heavy so the next year I was
going to build a sand buggy again but left to the military.

After the military I wanted to race and so in 2000 that is when I really started doing the race cars a lot. It has taught me a lot of safety etc. Plus I started working for a buggy building company until they went Bankrupt. So I still build frames etc. on the side to pay for racing but have another job.

Anyways it has just always stuck with me on how you can actually still build a decent car for a decent price just using VW parts.
Now don't get me wrong if you want long travel and big motors your still going to spend the same as any other car or design so you can do whatever you want.
But on a budget build.. wow you can get a lot for your money with VW parts and they are tough as heck. Your talking the stock parts come off a 3000 pound bug and your building 1,200 pound little buggies. So your parts last a long time and take a beating.
Plus you can buy a part over the counter that is made by several companies.
Brake an a arm and you have to buy directly from the builder and he can charge anything he wants.
Or try to get another builder to fixture his arm and build just one and he can charge you a lot.

Anyways something I was taught and so it sticks with you. You know stick with what you know and keep it simple has really been my thinking.

Well the frame is going to look exactly like my other beam cars but just have an extra 30 inch section added to the back for the boys.
Well cool and thanks for looking.

[kevin quesenberry]

Tut, has your buddy decided what powerplant and gearbox he's going to use? Is it heading towards torsions or coilovers? This is real close to what I'm going to be needing, so of course I'll be paying attention to this build.

[TutTech]

He is going to go single coil over rears, VW engine and tranny as he bought a fully running bug with a race motor for like 500 bucks.. so he is going with that.

So I will set up the rear end for that for him.

This frame can be moved around a lot to make more room up front as this car is as my buddy is pretty tall but mostly long legged.. and he has 2 small boys so the back is smaller and more room was given to him.
You can give more room to the back and use up to 6 inches more of the front cab section to give to back passengers.

Lets see I will have the roof on today and post pics probably tonight if not this weekend.
Then back to work.. and then off to the Kartek open house for discounts, raffles and who knows.

If anyone ever has any questions please post or contact me I am more than happy to explain or talk about an of my projects.

All of the projects I build can be set up for any type of motor from ecotecs to motorcycle motors also.

[kevin quesenberry]

Sounds like your buddy got a screamin' deal on a sacrificial bug! What luck have you had with Fox air shocks? They run alot less than coilovers, but that usually means...The Kartek open house would be fun, but I'd already told my friend I would help him with his garage. No good deed goes unpunished, but he's a guy who's helped me for 15 years on almost anything. Besides, probably shouldn't start buying anything until I have good idea of what I'm after.

[TutTech]

The fox airs have worked great from everyone I have heard from. I have not used them but a couple friends that go do the deserts in their minis have them and have had no problems.
The only problem is when you just weight them down to much.. like by adding all the weight from an automotive transmission and car motor.. then they don't do so well. Then you just exceed there lift and weight limits basically. So then change to a coil over.
Also when racing they cant hold up so far. Fade etc. the heat gets to them. But for play like I said my buddies little cars kick butt and ride good doing it!

If small enough you could probably do an air up front and a coil in rear.
Keep weight as low as you can where safety will not be a factor but just keep stuff simple as
simple usually saves weight.

For playing and lighter weight cars they are awesome.


No worries about this weekend help your buddy for sure.
Yep know what you want and then get parts.. as things change the more you learn.

[Turbolark]

Luv these projects of yours!

Edited cause i didnt read everything..lol.

[TutTech]

Sorry haven't posted much about this but it has been going just fine and here is a quick camera phone pick. Sorry about quality.


Thanks for looking.

[kevin quesenberry]

Whew, I was worried that you had to stop after I saw the unlimited for sale. Looks good, amazing what a few bent bars and well placed welds can become. Every step moves a project miles. From tubes on a rack, to a wheeled rocket on dirt. Darwin would be proud.