E-ticket ride

[HarveyMushman]

I am new to this site. *Great site, very informative, resourceful and fun to check out everyones project. *Completed mine 2 years ago. *Started with a bare Sandbullet frame for 5 link rear as use is on desert trails, washes. *I modified the rear suspension and geometry to improve handling in high speed hard pack driving. *Also, modified the front spindles to give Ackerman steering. *I made or had machined from my CAD drawings most of the aluminum parts including the rear hubs. *Sheet metal work by Direct Sheet Metal. *Hayabusa motor has a few performance mods by Heads Up Performance but most to improve reliabilty, including tranny work with cryogenic treatment. *Quaife reversing gearbox has ATB diff. *4 wheel disc brakes with ft/rr bias control at drivers seat. *Buggy is very fast and handles very well. *Sand Sports mag did a review article 'E-Ticket Ride' and front cover photo in 05 Nov/Dec issue. *Here are some pics just before first trip out. *I'll follow with pics in the desert and some construction pics.

[renegadespec1]

Welcome Harvey.
Nice ride

[HarveyMushman]

Here are some pics in desert.

[Bullnerd]

Sweet !

Hows that quiffe holding up?

Why's it so clean?

[Rorty]

Welcome Harvey. You've got a very pretty buggy there. Can I ask; in the rear of your buggy, what is the small piece of polished AL plate with the hose clips and the small diameter tube frame it's attached to for?

[HarveyMushman]

Thank you renegadespec1 and Bullnerd. *When I first got the Quaife the input shaft was keyed. *I was skeptical as the Hayabusa has plenty of power. *Well a drag start on pavement sheared the key right off. *Fortunately Quaife had just released a splined input shaft. *Since I had to open up the gearbox to replace the shaft I got to see what was inside. *The machine work and precision ground surfaces are very nice and all rotating parts are needle or ball bearing supported. *Here are a couple of pics of inside a Quaife. *First pic shows worn end of keyed input shaft. *Second pic shows new splined input shaft installed and view of ATF diff. *Since the shaft replacement buggy has been out to desert about 15 times and driven hard on most rides with no problems so Quaife is holding up very well so far.

[HarveyMushman]

Thank you Rorty. *The frame attaches to the rear upper motor mounts and is removable for easier removal of motor. *The AL plate is just to keep the chain from flinging anything upward. *I don't put much on the chain, it is RK 10,500PSI X-ring chain without masterlink. *I clean it with kerosene and use very little RK lube so not much fling but plate helps keep area clean.
Here are some construction pics including scratch built rear hubs, modified fuel sender, etc.

[HarveyMushman]

Just for fun since most of you like things with power here are pics of buggy used to retrieve rockets (no the rocket motor isn't fired while strapped on top of buggy). *Actually the slowest this buggy is ever driven is when bringing a rocket back to camp. *Rockets have GPS transceiver onboard so we just put coords of landing spot into GPS receiver in buggy and use direction finder to locate rocket.

[Gene]

Harvey,
Welcome to the site.

The Sand Sports article was good reading. Iahad Scott make the same modifications to my engine. Your experience with that many reliable trips is great. Great looking car plus the dual sport idea is great.

You mentioned Ackerman in your post indicating that you made some modifications to the front suspension. Please describe what you did to achieve the desired geometry. How do the modifications change vehicle handling characteristics?

[HarveyMushman]

Originally Posted by Gene\";p=\&quot

Harvey,
Welcome to the site.

The Sand Sports article was good reading. Iahad Scott make the same modifications to my engine. Your experience with that many reliable trips is great. Great looking car plus the dual sport idea is great.

You mentioned Ackerman in your post indicating that you made some modifications to the front suspension. Please describe what you did to achieve the desired geometry. How do the modifications change vehicle handling characteristics?

Thank you Gene. *Ackerman geometry is two straight lines (one for each side of the car) intesecting the center of the outer tie rod pivot (heim, etc.), the center of the vertical axis between the upper and lower spindle pivots (ball joints, heims, etc.) and the center (or virtual center) of the rear axle. *So you have two lines in a V shape, one for each spindle going back and meeting at the rear axle center point. *If your tie rods are behind the axles then the outer tie rod pivots would be slightly inside the spindle pivots. *If your tie rods are in front of the axles then the outer tie rod pivots would be slightly outside the spindle pivots.

Ackerman causes the inside front wheel to turn in a slightly tighter radius then the outer wheel so that the center of the turning radius is at the same point for each wheel. *This improves the handling characteristics in two conditions. *The first condition is driving around a corner at a slow enough speed that you are not drifting. *So when you are driving around a right hand corner you are steering right. *Ackerman (with exception to toe in or toe out) prevents the front wheels from scrubbing or creating friction that will slow the vehicle down. *The second condition is driving around a corner at a high enough speed that you are drifting (counter-steering). *So when you are drifting around a right hand corner you are steering left. *The outside front wheel has more weight on it than the inside front wheel thus it is doing most of the steering. *For this counter-steering while drifting or sliding around a corner Ackerman gives the outside wheel quicker steering response allowing more precise control to hold a steady slip angle through the turn. *Increased spindle caster increases the effective weight on the outer front wheel while counter-steering thus complementing the Ackerman effect.

Basically, when set up properly Ackerman helps make you a better driver.