Crosshammer....crossfire 250r irs makeover.
 

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never posted much here but i've been telling myself that when i get the time to start. here's my current project......the wife's crossfire. got a 250 swap in the beginning of 2012 so it's time to take it to the next level. going to be I.R.S. w/ a full weld on cage. i've started a similar thread on the other sites so i might do a lil cut'n' paste to catch up.
well if all goes well this is the last vid of the crossfire as a swingarm buggy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnpHb92rgUg
i want to get this done for the CAW ride in april so after thinking alot about it and trying to come up w/ a game plan i decided i would go the route of using the back end of the HH donor for her 400 buggy and fabbing the rear end of the 400HH project. so the back 1/2 trailing arms and cv's will be HH. i figure the HH rear end is better suited for 250 power then 400 2 stroke power, being's great builds like the hammerlaris and kearney's 500 who has used HH stuff on their swap has had problems w/ trailing arms tweaking and hubs breaking. so after situating the shop back in order and staging everything where it needs to be (i got multiple thing going on right now) i took out the HH CN250/tranny and got out my trusty saw. G-ray gave me his spool and cv's he was using previously on the Hammerlaris so this is going to be a chain drive buggy and i'm axing the cn/direct drive combo. here's our story thus far.

more pics

the donor HH

pics

I have seen you build on B.N. and some of your vids on youtube great job.
Is that a CN 250 in the crossfire? If so on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best and most happy.
How happy were you with the transplant.
I have been considering a 250.
I am either gonna a 250HH and rebuild the whole thing, get a cross fire chassis and put a CN 250 in it, or find a crossfire type chassis and put in a 300ex, yamaha warrior type of engine.
As that will be my 1st build. what do you think? I have searching CL to find some of these items. So far no luck.

at this point i was still undecided how much HH i was going to use. i was goning to fab the whole trailing arm mount section but opted to cut the hh part off and incorporate it.

Been following this thread on some other forums, but glad you're posting here, jd! Love the work you do! Keep it up!

it's relative.
when we were riding around in manco silverfox's w/ 6.5hp motors they were great. then we got a few 150's and they were great and better than the mower karts. when i swapped my 1st few 250's in a yerf and the crossfire it was night and day. then i built the 400 joyner and there's no comparison. so is a 250 swap better than a 150? maybe in some cases. when we put it in the crossfire , the crossfire seemed to like the 250 better, like it was built for a 250. now i just want to get the wife out of a swingarm. i do have plans to build her a 400 though just need to make her more comfy to buy me some time. the argument can be made for a modded out 150 out running a 250, but then the scale is money. ive dragged a couple of 250's w/ my yerf and won, and thats alot of fun(and bragging rights) but this crossfire trounced me by a buggy length at least and ate up both 250's i raced. so if you get the 250 running great then it's worth the swap.

thank you,
i plan to try more to post here. seems i cant find the little devil's head, it was there before..............and i definitely need to update my signature!

Thanks for the feed back. You have been there and done that so ... 1st hand info is the best.
I have even been looking to get a 250cc from an old helix scooter. just waiting for good deals.

once i got the frame squared up to chinese tolerances i tide the 2 1/2's together w/ some bent side cabin bars. the goal was to bend that section out of the crossfir that hits the driver's left knee. later on in the build i heard from the complaint dept ( the wife) that the sides were too high. they looked claustrophobic prone. see the nice thing about being married, been w/ her almost ten yrs, married to her for 3 1/2 months and you learn someting new about her everyday.............who new she's claustrophobic! :banghead:

that is one sweet looking, almost natural looking, morphing job you got going on there!!!

just a couple of shots of the seams of the 2 buggys being welded together from the bottom.
hahahahhahaha on a side note i just realized i have a smilie budget. you only get to use one once, hence no mas devil head.

this is kind of cool having already done it , like retelling the story w/ a different perspective.
ADAPTING THE SPOOL-
the original HH was an older model so the frame was designed to hold the gear box. the gearbox on the older HH's are CN/ direct drive tranny combo.
i wanted this to be chain driven so i could play w/ sprocket/tire combos and gear changes.
i cut out the cradle that the tranny mounted to and the front and rear bars across where that cradle was located to make room for the sprockets and spool axle.
i needed enough space to accommodate up to a 45T sprocket. to do that i needed a bend in the rear cross member. G-ray had given me his HH spool and carrier from his HH/polaris 400 project when we tweaked his trailing arms and went to arctic cat A-arms.
here's some pics of that to explain.

more rear end pics

and more......... sorry for the posts w? 1 or 2 pics , if they share the same # even taken on a different date they replace the other one w/ the same #

thank you sir

:evil: hahaha look who's back!

ENGINE MOUNTING FIASCO
i had already made a rear engine mount when it was in the swingarm, i thought about making a new one, but because of time andhow well this already worked i figured why re-invent the wheel.
i actually had to flip the stock mount and move the frame tabs over to get this to line up w/ the sprocket.
alignment is the biggest thing to screw up cuz there is really no room for sprocket spacers.
i clamped some angle and flat stock to the sprocket to help me square everything up.

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the moved tabs

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rear motor mount

And it's when I see stuff like this that I want a welder. And money. Money is nice too. :biggrin:

at this point in the game my tubing order had arrived so i was ready to start on the cage

Looking good JD

bending, cutting welding

Mmm.. Fabrication, my favorite.

this was the direction i was going

i guess what i was going for was a smaller 2 seated version of my joyner

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fuel tank mount............
basically i came up w/ one idea .... hated it and changed it the next morning.

what it changed to

radiator round 1.............ding ding
this was the first attempt at the rad. i saved some of the HH pieces for this.

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roof hoop
something else that kend of got tweaked until i liked it w/ not that much forethought.
i was lucky enough that through all of the idea changes that i didnt waste the tube, the same one i started w/ is the one that's on it. ended up being a total of 8 bends in the one piece which for me is a record. once it got on there it got tweak a little when i decided to basically start over a little bit.

this is some intense fab work! I like the looks, very "evil"!!!

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trying hard to get this caught up.
this was the final product and how it started to look on the buggy.

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next day i came in and didnt like it. didnt think it had a mean enough glare. decided the front of the roofline needed to be lowered so i cut the bottom welds loose on the a pillars and chopped to inches off. pulled the front down w/ ratchet straps and used a level and welded it back up.

finally welded upt the bottom and hard to reach places

came in the next day and was just hatin' on it. the night before i just wasnt liking everything from the seats back. it was just to long so i decided on deviating from making it look for like my joyner and going for more the look of it there's a style to the both of them but they look different enough. so backwards i went but on a mission....all done in one night.

played around and took some perspective pics

I was looking at your FB page is that 3/4" square tubing you are using for your a-arms and shock mounts?

i'm confused nick, which part, which pic?

What type of tubing notcher and bender are you using? Your buggy is looking great.

JD2 model32 bender and JD2 T100 notched.

Been looking at their benders and their prices really surprised me, and to top it all off they are 100% American made.

Jersey I understand why you would move that bar where your left knee hits on the crossfire. I have no idea why they didn"t do this at the the factory. that is the one peave I have about both of my crossfires.

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yea that was the 1st thing i knew had to go

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the wife loved the changes but still didnt like the sides. she said being that high made her feel claustrophobic.:banghead::banghead::banghead:
i cut them loose and put a bend in them and welded them back on . once that was done i finished both sides off. here's what i came up w/.

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couple of odds and ends

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thought it would be cool to make shock hoops like the ones i made for my joyner to liven up the look.

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Looking Great.

Do you ever get the feeling that it would be easier to start from scratch? Many of my projects seems to go through that phase at one time or another.

hey Jersey if you are not going to use the rear rims off the crossfire I may be interested in buying them, let me know.

i kind of like changing up existing buggies makes me feel like i'm making the next gen. lord knows they aint changing up from china lately. the original idea was to take the remainder of the HH and build another polaris 400 powered buggy, but i dont think i left enough HH left. the next 400 i build will be from scratch.

you mean the stockers or the ones that were on there?

the stockers would be fine, but what kind did you have on there?

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thats what's been on there. i do have alot of used wheels, are you in the market cuz i will look to see what i have.

p.s. by the way i see you're in SC we'll be at CAW from the 16th to the 20th riding if your up for it? should be a pretty good group.

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had to cut the top bar behind the seat because the slide carb sits right under it, so it would block the throttle cable. after that just finished up the cage

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made this to take the place of the HH adjuster bolt for the front engine mount

hey Jersey I just need a couple of the rear rims. I live prob. about 60 to 70 miles from CAW, but don"t know if I will be able to make it or not yet.

i'll see what i got, i have one set boxed up for a BN'r from tampa just waiting for him to pay and give the ok to ship. i'll see what else i,ve got, i do have more wheels than i can remember . undecided if this is my last set whether i need them of not .
try and make the trip, the more buggs the merrier!:banana:

cool just let me know what you have.

did you find anything yet Jersey?

:evil:
i havent had a chance to look yet , been busy as allhell. i have a set boxed up for a guy that ive been holding for him since october. i gave him a heads up that they might go somewhere else. he said he's gonna let me know by friday.

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REAR SHOCK MOUNTS.
the plan is to use fox2.0 air shocks, the wie's shock of choice.
well truth is she just likes the way mine felt in the 400. stock eye to eye is 17 5/8" w/ a 4"-4 1/2" stroke. fox makes a 2.0 w/ a 4.5" stroke that is 16 1/2" to eye to eye. the plan is to raise the trailing arm mount to make up the difference. i cut a peice of tube and drilled holes the size of the stock shock and mounted it in the stock mounts. this placed the trailing arm where i needed it to get a location where the new one needed to be. cut a 2nd tube and drill holes at a 16 1/2" spread and ffound the location or the new bottom mount.

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then the other side

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TOP REAR MOUNTS
basically the pics explain. make the tabs i cut the inner stock tab out and bolted the new wider tabs to accommodate the 1.25 wide fox shock mount holes.

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trade out some bending for some sandblasting w/ the welders next door. i slapped some primer on it to keep it from turning brown.

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figured best off to get the bottom painted and be done w/ it

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BRAKE PEDAL
had a harder time w/ this then a shouldve. cut steel and made parts for 3 different ideas and even ordered a wilwood brake pedal/master assembly.
i got the brake kit in the mail. ordered a wilwood remote resi kit and pedal. wasnt sure if it was gonna fit because the space i had and the measurements that were online were very close. it ended up just being too big.so i was back to the drawing board. i hadnt really looked at or considered the crossfire master , i kept wanting to try and adapt an HH/joyner stylemaster but i didnt like how tall it was and the placement in conjuntion w/ how close it was to the gas pedal throw. i dug out the crossfire master and used the same bracket i made for the HH master. it's alot lower profile and seemedto just fit better. or the pedal i used the HH gas pedal and turned it around. the spring end and spring fit perfect over the stock brake pedal boss and the bolt, altough a little long bolts right up. i mated it to the cantilever from the crossifire's brakes and made a bolt-on tab. this way i can unbolt the tab and get the pedal off because the thru-bolt is too long.worked perfect. :cheers:

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paint's done!! literally had to put some decals on it , so i'd stop messing w/ it.
started painting all of the bolt-on parts and put some diagonal cross braces in the trailing arms. hopeully a little preventive maintenance.
changed the axle bearings and have new bearing and seals for the trailing arms. got a little assembly done before i left it saturday night.
THREAD'S ALL CAUGHT UP!

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Look's great JD

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thanks tom!

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well i cut off the front shock mounts off the arms and made to ones to accommodate the new shocks......i've spent the past few days ordering the last of the parts and assembly. fox airs are on the way, i got wheel spacers for the rears (which looking at it i might not need them), rear wheels are here and i mounted the rubbers on them. by the way thanks to TEAM HOG who gave me a set of take-offs from his RZR in case i needed a set of spares for the 400. i ended up using them now, hahahahaha the perfect wedding present for amber chris.
this is how far i got on assembly so far. i finally have an idea of what this thing might look like now.

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made the exhaust today and pulled the motor. motor is waiting for a rebuild kit so the exhaust is as done as it gets til the motor is back in it. time to move on to the bumper, wiring and brakes.
for the bumper i dont want to use the old one and i bont want to cut it up so i cut the cage posts from the HH and they fit perfect into the frame where the top of the bumper mounts. that'll be a good start. recycle recycle recycle!

Al Gore will be so proud of you for recycling.:laugh2:

Are we talking about the Al Gore that invented the internet :laugh2:.

I keep every pieces of metal that I get my hands on. I have large containers that are about 30" long and about 6" X 6" tall and wide. They almost look like safety deposit boxes. I have them labeled, Flat, Round, Aluminum, and so forth. Then I have milk crates, for the larger sizes and a cabinet for pieces that are about 4' long. After that they go either into my outside scrap pile or they go over head in the garage, depending on how clean the metal is.

I almost never throw a piece of metal away, you just never know where it might be a perfect fit for an application.

:evil:
been a busy week on all fronts but here's an update.
ended up painting the stock bumper, spent 2 1/2 night trying to situate the rack and pinion. i took it all apart and lubed it. when i reinstalled it i noticed the left front had a 1/2 inch of swim. the rack was still , just the LF moved. turns out the inner tie rod end cup had a bunch of play and was worn out. i had a 150R rack and took the rods and cups from that and put them on the original rack. turns out the tie rods are an 1 3/8" shorter than the stockers. why? i dont know. i called BD the next morning to compare their 150 vs 150R tie rods. still waiting for the return call 4 days later. anyhow i did make a set. i found a baja DN250 rack abd those cups work w/ the stockers so i'm good and have backup . in the meantime racks do bite. i got my finger good .
engine is rebuilt and back in , buggy is completely wired except the tail light, all brakes ar installed and just need bled. wheel spacers were routed for the hub centric ring on the front hubs, exhaust is done and painted. shocks are in, tried on a front for fitment.....much easier than trying to do fronts on the 400. i'll have no problem w/ airing them up while installed on this buggy so at least i learned something.

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:evil::evil::evil:

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Ur killin' me!!!
 

I've been following this thread all along, thought not replying to it much, but now that you're close to finished. It's killing me waiting on the final finished pictures!!! I think its going to be one bad-ss looking buggy! :hail::hail:

COuldn't have said it better, bear! Git r done JD!

WOW, you have put some nice parts into this build.

Based on the tube work and fox shocks I wondered if you are also into the tube chassis "rock bouncers"?

:evil:
not necessarily, ive checked them out on youtube but i'm a track and trail type of person. in fact after i built the cage on my joyner 400 a friend pointed out the rock buggy comparison. i just wanted to come up w/ something different that looked cool...... the foxes i tried out on the 400 because i hadnt seen anyone one else w/ our stuff using them so i took a chance. really happy w/ them on the 400, then when i let the wife drive the 400 she loved the ride so she just had to have them on this one.

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exhaust mounted, shocks on, wheel spacers and wheels on, fuel delivery finished, HOME STRETCH!!!!!!!!!!! i hope
BABY TAKES HER 1ST STEPS! :cheers:

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:evil::evil:

Damn, thats a nice looking buggy! do you have any idea of how much this beast is gonna weight yet?!

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got the mirror and brackets in the mail, cooling system is done, so i just had to fire it up!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns9TOU9 ... zUhA7Z34gw

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Geez, that's so bad-ss!!!! I'm envious!

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thank you sir!

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TEST DRIVE!!!!!
so far so good just a few last minute stuffs to finish and it's load the trailer and off to C.A.W.

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Oh boy, oh boy!!!
 

Just let me know if you consider manufacturing these little bad-ss' and I'll start saving my pennies!!! :hail::cheers: