Go You Aussie Jeepin' Fabbers hey!

[TJ]

[quote="Red Labeli had similar concerns... but i figure with all pete's planning.etc he'd have a good grasp on its characteristics and know what he's doing.

[Hic]

Pete, designed started building his buggy some time ago and the design (correct me if I am wrong Dr Kincade) reflected cutting edge design at the time. The design of U.S buggies has radically shifted across the past 18months or so to the very low COG, rear engine, transaxles, offset drivetrain etc.

[TJPete]

Originally Posted by GMEMUD

Hi Pete.
That is a great looking hat. is there i bit of tubing around the stud holes? If so, how do you drill out the hat to take the tubing.
H.G. is right on the money when he said it inspires him, it certainly does that,I just don't know how you manage to keep things clean & tidy in your shop.

GM,

Yes, that is 1" OD moly tube. First I marked the 10mm hole-centres on the outer ring and plunged them on the mill. Next I MiGed the shell components to the ring, I inverted the cover, clamped it onto the mill table and plunged a 10mm slot-drill through the ring and then through the outer shell from the inside out.

Then, I turned the cover over, clamped it down on the bed, swapped out the 10mm slot-drill and plunged with a 25mm slot drill from the outside with a 10mm guide to locate the centres.

[TJPete]

Originally Posted by Anonymous

Pete its taken you over 2 years to build this one and you have never even driven it. But you are allready planning to build a second one. Why not get some seat time in this one first and make sure you actually like Rock Crawling. It seamed you built your last Jeep to compete in All-terrain events and after only one event you pulled it apart.

Will you be competing at all in this new Buggy? And if so at what events?

I know building things is a lot of fun for you i just dont understand why you dont spend any time driving?


How long before MK2 is started and what things do you think you will do differently compared to this one.

Dear Anonymous, you should join the forum hey

I will let this response suffice for others above and on previous pages who have raised similar questions also.

______________________________________

It is a fair question and I will do my best to answer it. I derive great joy from engineering cars and components for them. Some folks, enjoy just the driving of them. Others enjoy just looking at them and others still derive joy from discussing the various attributes of them without ever needing to either build or drive them.

Personally, I enjoy fabricating, engineering and the interactions I get to have with so many like minded folks; and God willing, I will continue to do so for a long time. I learn something from everyone I meet who is into the development of cars for either recreation or racing. For example, a long time ago Rocket Rodney told me the DANA 6 degrees secret that I had been researching for a long time to no avail.

Trends in motorsport come and go and I see my friends and others competing and breaking components either because they don't know how to prepare their cars or because the components themselves and the mechanisms they belong to are incapable of being raced across broken terrain without failing.

The development and safety of a car's sub-systems and delivery mechanisms (fuel, oil, water, and electricity) is also of great interest. It is this observation that at the end of 1996 drove me to want to do the 4x4 thing differently to my mates. Until then, I had played in club gymkhanas just like everybody else and had enjoyed the fun and endured the breakages; there had to be a better way.

I learnt to work with steel by working for a master fabricator on a race team, attending TAFE and by befriending blokes who were so skilled in their trades and so prepared to help me that the whole experience has been a very humbling one. They were and still are so prepared to help me and continue to teach me that it has changed my life and the nature of my business. I am fortunate, very fortunate to be blessed with patience, great friends in the metal trades and a wife who above all understands and is patient with me. (Trust me, you spend a lot of time making this shiat and it is a selfish pursuit that would not continue without a loving and understanding wife.)

I like to develop race cars and am also very aware of the trends in rock-crawling, but rock-crawling is not the only area of motorsport where folks are pushing the envelope. I tip my hat to all the Aussies who are developing rock crawlers and all terrain and winch cars.

I like engineering and by the time I depart this life I might know one, one billionth of 1% of what there is to know about it when it comes to race cars. Until then, I will continue to work away and learn and try new ideas and not just do a thing a certain way because everybody else does it like that.

For me, I derive great joy from the making and the driving, the latter of which I am the first to acknowledge I rarely get to do these days, is a bonus if and when it happens. Right now, I am fortunate to have met some blokes who want to do battle in their Jeeps but don't know how to build them and by helping them I just might get the chance to give something back and encourage someone else to have a go and discover the sheer joy of doing it yourself. Just promise not to take as long as I do, life is too short hey

I know one of you wants to draw me out on this competing thing and here is what I reckon. I am the least of your worries because I simply am not motivated to have to beat another man or woman to derive joy from the sport of rock-crawling or all terrain or whatever. My joy comes from the building and the pure joy of driving it finally and feeling the car behave the way I intended.

If ever I can help you Anonymous I will gladly do so. Until then, all the best bloke!

______________________________________

This is my first and last comment on this matter, thanks to those of you who asked.

[Wooders]

Jezz that's some eliquent response there Pete.
Being a simple bloke, I just thought Guest = Gutless

[GMEMUD]

Remind me not to get into a debate with ya Pete, it's obvious your are as crafty with your tongue as you are with your hands Cheers.

[andy_n]

The Buggy looked great on 4wdtv tonight.