About the 5th test drive on the new buggy I got to hitting some bumps at speed allowing the back wheels to come off the ground and rev up a little bit. About the third time of doing this I heard a pop and the motor revved wildly. I shut it off the motor stopped but I heard the. Torque converter spinning. Pretty sure I popped the flywheel/flexplate or sheered the dowels. I think the crank is Ok because the motor didn't make any noise before I shut it off. Looks like I'll be shopping for a 3 rib a little sooner than I thought.

_________________
If it ain't broke ill fix that

video of it breaking

_________________
If it ain't broke ill fix that

I bet you sheared those 4 little TINY bolts that hold the torque conv. to the flex plate.

I can see the 4 little bolts through the windows there fine my guess would be either the gland nut came loose or it sheered the rivets that hold the flexplate to the hub. im gonna tare the motor back out tonight and see. hopefully I can repair it with just a new flexplate $75.

_________________
If it ain't broke ill fix that

well looks like im down and out for this year. atleast i got to ride it a few times. seems i really got took on this motor. the flex plate is what failed but this doesnt seem to be the first time. from what i can tell the rivets holding the flexplate to the hub have failed in the past and someone tried to weld them together. well the welds failed and it became a 2 peice design once again but it gets worse. the last time it failed it chewed up the block which was also horribly repaired with jb weld aroundthe cam hole. to make things worse the gland nut seems to have been loose at one time or another so the dowel holes are slotted now. at the very least im looking at a crank and a block.

_________________
If it ain't broke ill fix that

I have followed your build posts, and have to say Nice buggy! I hope you can get over this small hurdle and back on the trail in no time.

Seatbelts????

ive come to the realization that i cant really do anymore damage so im going to try to weld the flexplate backtogether and carry lots of oil to buy me some time. the block is already trash from the gouges on the cam journal. the crank is trash unless I buy the dowel drilling jig but i dont really trust that. so im gonna beat it till i cant put band-aids on it anymore. whats the worst that could happen grenade the motor. thats just more excuse to build me a 2054.

yeah i know no seatbelts. I got it moving under its own power and couldnt resist takng a spin. thanks for the compliment, shes nothing special but i think i did pretty good on a budget and being my first time. just the few rides around the field that i took started a huge list of future upgrades but this situation found its way to the top of the list.

_________________
If it ain't broke ill fix that

Why dont you while its apart like that just redrill new dowel holes in the crank and re jb weld the cam, plug? The block is prolly ok as long as it didnt go passed the groove for the cam plug.

it is leaking oil around the jb weld. the block is junk. I welded the flexplate back together yesterday and put it back togather. I got about ten minutes before it blew the bolts holding the flexplate to the torque converter. this thing is just not going to work in a buggy.

_________________
If it ain't broke ill fix that

Do oversized dowels, 8 of them. Another great thing to do is have the crank and flywheel wedge-mated. I got my 90mm crank with the dowel holes ruined, had both of those done, and it's perfect. Just have fun getting the flywheel off if ya ever need to for any reason after it's torqued on.

_________________

-Dakotah/koko
keep on keepin' on!!