The Fun buggy is getting closer and closer To the trail. in case you've missed previous episodes, i've been working on this fun buggy project for just over two years. I started with computer-aided design, then chassis fabrication, suspension, and drivetrain layout. now we are moving into some of the final stages of the build. i'm working with the crew at poly performance, where we have been putting in weekends and evenings to showcase the many products poly performance offers for anyone looking to build their own rock buggy.
For this month's progress on the Fun buggy we did lots of plumbing. With the layout of the buggy we decided on a rear-mounted radiator. This required piping the coolant back and forth to the ron Davis radiator from the front-mounted Chevy V-8. in addition, we needed a custom exhaust to clear all the drivetrain and suspension components. Feeding that healthy 383ci V-8 is a canister air filter and intake from unique Metal products (uMp), which also needed some plumbing to get to the throttle body. so now the 13/4-inch DOM steel tube chassis is accessorized with plumbing made of silicone, aluminum, and stainless steel. Tune in next time when we continue on the interior, truss up the rear axle, and hopefully get some fuel running to the engine. For more detailed photos and up-to-the-minute updates, check out the project vehicle section, blogs, and forum on our Web site, www.4wheeloffroad.com.
 Getting a fresh cool gulp...  Getting a fresh cool gulp of air is important for optimum engine performance, but having that gulp as clean and free of grit as possible will make your engine last. We decided on a unique Metal products (uMp) 4-inch super Filter. The 8-inch-diameter, 18-inch-long aluminum canister fit nicely along the passenger side of the engine compartment, and we also used some 4-inch aluminum tubing and 90-degree rubber elbows to route the intake to the slightly modified ACCEl DFi throttle body. |  This system uses a centrifugal...  This system uses a centrifugal canister, inside which the air circulates due to the small fins on the air filter. This in turn drops any larger dirt clods, pebbles, and grains of sand along the bottom before the air is sucked in through a central-mounted paper filter. in fact, UMP studies have shown this swirling airflow removes up to 85 percent of the dust and particles in the air stream, including the fine dust. UMP's high-quality paper-element filters are designed to be 99.9 percent effi cient at dust retention, which the company feels no cleanable filter can match. |  At the end of the canister...  At the end of the canister there is a small rubber valve that allows the air charge to force small pebbles and sticks out should they get sucked into the canister. Should water spray or rain get pulled in it will also drain, thus keeping the 383 happy and healthy. These types of air filters have long been used in mining and agricultural machinery, where dirt and dust are just as-if not more-prolific than when four-wheeling, and where downtime costs money. |
 Though there are many supposed...  Though there are many supposed "recipes" for radiator size to engine output, the team at ron Davis has found none to be 100 percent correct. For this buggy we went with a 28x19-inch double-pass 3-inch-thick radiator with two 13-inch spal electric puller fans giving an estimated 3,420 cfm combined. The radiator came with the dual fans on the same side as the inlet and outlet, so we moved them to the opposite side and then mounted the radiator at a slight angle in the chassis such that the cool air is pulled down and through the radiator. |  Since we were custom building...  Since we were custom building the buggy, we chose an off-the-shelf production radiator from ron Davis, but they also make custom units for any special project you are working on. Our unit came with two rows of 1-inch tubes for some serious cooling when summer wheeling in the desert. We did end up adding these small mounting pins on the bottom of the radiator that then sit the radiator into the custom fuel cell we are building. |  We had to route two lines...  We had to route two lines from the engine to the radiator. burns stainless was contacted for some 6061 aluminum tubing. since it will be wrapping around and under the chassis, and bending the thin-wall aluminum tubing is diffi cult, we chose to get some 90-degree bends and some u-bends of 11/2-inch that we can cut and weld. To allow disassembly and removal we ordered some silicone hoses from butch's speed shop to eal the different sections together. |