Rorty R21

**TutTech** · 01-09-2012 09:32 PM

Nice bracket and set up.. no such thing as over kill...

Watching the videos.. they look great.. and it looks good nice jumps! It looks like it is handing well and doing great.. Wow it looks small.. very cool.

Thanks for the videos.. we love videos on here so thanks for sharing them.

**rgvkid** · 02-13-2012 02:57 PM

The R21 Came out great! I Have been thinking of building a single seater for the kids with a 13hp Briggs or HF engine.

Whats wheels did you use on yours. Are they just wide 5 steel wheels?

I really like the videos! I bet if you played with the suspension some you could get more travleout of it. Im surprised that the Rorty sight says the rear only gets 13.5 travel. What Cvs did you end up using?

**fatal-exception** · 02-13-2012 03:26 PM

Cool man! Any finished buggy is a cool buggy!

What's in it for an engine?

**armymp** · 02-14-2012 08:22 PM

The wheels are just basic steel wheels. I plan on upgrading to aluminum beadlocks when funds allow. For now they work just fine. I am using 930 cv's. Probably overkill but when you are in the middle of the desert I don't feel like chasing balls everywhere. For engine I am using a Rc51. I have a 16 tooth on the engine and a 19 on the RPM. Chain life has been good so far. I still on the original chain. I have about 8hrs of hard running on it. It doesn't get much harder than Barstow. As for rear wheel travel it's probably 12-13 inches. I have 5 inches under the pan at full bump. I really need to update the pics. I will have some this weekend.

**rgvkid** · 02-14-2012 08:38 PM

Where are you located? Im in San Gabriel valley, Irwinadale. With 930s you should be getting more travel out of your suspension for sure. Maybe you just need some tweeking of shock locations.

I always try to overkill, last thing is to be repairing in the dirt due to underkill.

**armymp** · 02-15-2012 07:13 PM

I probably could get a inch or more but I would have to get new shocks. I really don't have a problem with lack of travel. I have been adding oil in 5cc and have got it to stop bottoming. I still have to dive into revalving it. I was kinda hoping someone on here would make a how to. If no one does I will since I can't find a step by step on air shock revalving.

**JoesEdge** · 06-08-2012 09:09 AM

Originally Posted by armymp

I will get more pics when I get the RPM back in. The top mount I am making is kinda overkill (5/8 heims) but it's what I have on hand. Car handles great even in the rough terrain around Barstow. I still have to dial in the shocks. If anyone would have told me how fast it is I would not have believed them. If I had it to do over I would go with one of Tut's frames. I have more in tools to make a frame than his cost ready to weld. It was a great learning experience though.

Wow! I was just emailing Rorty recently about this design. Funny, if I build it I'd be taking it to Barstow too.

So you're saying that you'd buy one of Tut's instead. Tut has some nice buggies and I've seen them race. I've always liked them.

How much was the build cost? How much cockpit room do you have?

Originally Posted by rgvkid

Where are you located? Im in San Gabriel valley, Irwinadale. With 930s you should be getting more travel out of your suspension for sure. Maybe you just need some tweeking of shock locations.

I always try to overkill, last thing is to be repairing in the dirt due to underkill.

Hey rgvkid, you're practically a neighbor. You're just up the 605 fro me. I'm in Downey. I've been wanting to build a buggy for my kid too. Well, for my kid and I since my kid is already taller than me. LOL He's outgrown his go karts. Time to build something bigger.

**armymp** · 06-09-2012 10:05 PM

I am 5'8" and I can adjust the seat if needed for someone probably 6 foot. any bigger than that you head is going through the roof. The reason I would buy one of Tuts is you will not have to buy a bender. The bender was a 600 investment then throw in a quality notcher and you are closer to 800. Then you still have to buy plans/tubing/steel for jigs. I have about 600 dollars in tubing alone into it. The fact that I built the buggy myself I cannot put a price on however. It's kinda nice to have people over and they ask where where I bought it. Then I point to a stick of DOM in the corner and tell them I built it out of that. It's worth it to me. Explaining it to your wife however is the hard part. I am currently working on getting dual disk at the rear end to replace the disk on the RPM. I am using disk off a S10 turned down on a lathe and Wilwood calipers. I will post pics tomorrow.

**chuckorlando** · 06-10-2012 04:20 AM

Awsome machine. Only thing I dont like about the rorty plans is the nose of his cars. They seem way tall.

Rorty makes the best plans I've come across. I love them. Tut makes the best priced frame and rollers. More than price you know your getting a very well built machine.

**armymp** · 06-10-2012 09:42 PM

Here are some pics of the rear brakes I have been working on. And one of my new (to me at least) favorite tool. I couldn't stomach the thought of paying 500-1k for a rear brake set up. I spent 25 dollars on the S10 front rotors and 79 each for the rotors. I only had to buy one extra rotor since the one was already on the trans brake. I machined off the inside of the rotor and turned it down to 9.25 inches. I then took 1 inch rod and faced it to 1.4 inches long and counter bored for the allen head bolts. The bolts are 8mm by 40mm. I then welded them to the rear hub carrier. The lathe is a atlas/craftsman 10 inch. It was built in 1954 but it still works great for what I do. I highly suggest to anyone that is building a buggy to get a lathe. I paid 400 for this one and added about 200 in tooling and I was good to go.