[toomanytoys2]

Today was a success, even though I only spent about 45 minutes working on the buggy. In the first batch of pictures, you can see how I made the front engine mounts. The problem was that I had to make the cradle longer so that I could add the pivot points. Since a butt weld is weak, I ran some round tubing on the inside of the square tubing on the cradle to reinforce the joint. Also at the pivot points, I had included flat washers on either side of the pivot. That way, if things shifted when I welded up the rectangular tubing (it did), I could shift the whole cradle left or right to make sure that the chain stayed aligned. Also, before I seal up the top of the rectangular tubing, I plan on welding in some tubing on the inside. That way the tubing will not crush when I tighten the bolts. My next issue was to construct a sub frame from which the rear motor mounts / adjusters could be welded to.

The main tubing of the frame seems to be too far away from the engine cradle for my liking. It would be difficult to make the brackets for the rear of the engine that did not have a lot of side to side flex. So I decided to build a sub frame that is closer to the engine, so my mounts would be more secure. This is where I got really stoked. I got to try out my tubing notcher and the new hole saws that I got today. All I can say is that I wish I would have bought this setup years ago. Like I said, it took me 45 minutes at the most to make the sub frame (including setup), and this was while I was barbecuing a Tri Tip. I have never used a notcher before, but you can see from the pictures, that it makes some pretty decent cuts for an elcheapo. And the amount of time spent on the whole sub frames was probably the amount of time that it would take to make one tube with a grinder.

Enjoy the pics, and if you see any trouble areas, let me know.