So here goes... I decided to get a buggy with the intent of making it street legal, woods ready, and maybe an occasional trip to the dunes all on a budget. I bought two buggies with the parts in boxes. One was a roller, one bare frame. Both were Berrien Warrior frames. The roller had been chopped up and welded, butchered by what appears to be countless owners. The other frame was brand new, but sat outside and rusted. The previous owner also dented the rollbar tubes while moving it drunk with a forklift. My plan is to go with this frame, rebuild it, and hopefully drive away in a pretty sweet buggy.
Here are some pics

Keep us posted. If you run into any problems just ask for help. You will get it.
Dean

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It's amazing what you can accomplish when you don't care who gets the credit.-
Harry S. Truman

Here are more pics...
The roller"

The Frame I'm Using

Cutting Out the bad Tubes

Fiance Helping Install new tubing

Tubing Fitment

Remade tubes with 3" higher roof

I added the V bracing and Treebars

My winch bumper I made

First off welcome. Your one lucky guy to have a gal that will help you like that. I noticed you live in the Chardon area. Im in Hartsgrove so if you need anything let me know.
Steve

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Water cooled Dry Sumped Subaru Powered Turbo Charged Fuel Injected 2500CC Tank. Oh Rah! He who dies with the most Toys not only wins, He also wears them out!

The bumper and winch kicks ass. Im gonna have to build me something like that..

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Bye Bye Buggy, I'll always miss you and never forget you, your going to a better place now.

First off, Welcome to the site!! Second, That winch bumper is Badass!! I was the second owner of that buggy about 6-7 years ago, then it went to Steve for his son and then it went to Ian who was young and lost interest. You are better off going with the other frame. There has been a lot of fab/mods on the blue one.
Dave

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When in doubt, hit it in second gear!

Thanks. I am really pleased with the bumper. I kinda wanted a prerunner look. I actually bought both buggies off Ian. The blue one is going for scrap. I don't doubt that it was strong enough, but I am a bit too much of a perfectionist, and want one with fitment, welds, etc more pleasing to the eye. Right now I have a 3 rib bus trans and a 1600DP that I will rebuild to be a 1641. The UPS man has been loving me lately, so hopefully I can get some good updated pics after the weekend. Tomorrow I'm going to the swap meet at Jim's Custom VW to try and find some stuff I need.

Hey, Nice buggy,

I think I have drank some beers with the feller in the corner of the first pic!!! Don't remember his name though.

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Bryan

Haha, that is one creepy manican, but great for scaring the sh*% out of people!

What do you want for the blue one? Is it still a roller?

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"YOU CAN MAKE THINGS HAPPEN, WATCH THINGS HAPPEN OR WONDER WHAT THE F$$K HAPPEND...WE'RE MAKING THINGS HAPPEN" The strong words of Captain Phil! Rest in peice!

haha steve get them 'billys a buggy hahahha.... anyways badass man thats some aweeeeeesome tube fitment good luck keep us posted ask questions!!!    

How is ths build coming?

Woody

So after not getting to work on the buggy for a few months... buying a house will do that, I am looking forward to some time off at christmas to get some work done. I came across an esslinger 2.3L ford engine adapter kit, and purchased an old ford ranger as a donor. My question is this... Is my 3 Rib going to hold up to the 2.3, or should I begin looking for a 5 or 6 rib? Also, as far a motor mounts go, reinforce tranny mounts, or add mounts to bolt directly to the motor? I know this swap has been done, but does anybody have any info or pics? Thanks.

Well, it has been quite a while since an update. I got rid of the 3 rib, got a 6 rib, and a 2.3T motor from a Turbo Coupe. I bought disc brakes for front and rear, new tires, and will soon be ordering my 2x3 rear arms.

Very nice..

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Redneck famous last words...hey yall watch this
Buggy drivers famous last words....hold my beer, it dont look that steep

Looks like the engine made it out of the t-bird. Once you get it running do some research on turboford.org its pretty easy to switch to MAF and then you can lose the VAM. Those VAM's can be a pain to fit in the frame. Looks good and it looks like you are going to be done before me. I'm still waiting on my megasquirt so I can wire this thing. Keep the updates and pics coming. It was nice meeting you guys, feel free to stop in if your visiting family again. (Did you end up getting Indian food that night you were here or did you all eat at the Greene?)

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"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal." -Henry Ford

The car tore down pretty quick, but I had to cut and extend the back of my frame to get the engine to fit. I was looking at getting rid of the vam because that thing is huge, but it seems like guys are having trouble getting it to work with the stock ecu. Do you have any suggestions? Also, you need to get pics of your build coming still. We actually ended up eating at some BBQ place that night.

Personally I would get it up and running as is with the VAM first to make sure all the wiring is right. I never did the conversion because I'm going with megasquirt and that loses the vam and distributor and all that crap. Turbo Fords have some issues with dizzy gears especially if you run a high volume oil pump. I know the maf conversion has been done many, many times so it works you just need to find the right help. Turboford.org has everything you need it just takes time to search it all. I should have pics soon, the body is painted but the gun screwed up with the clear so it needs work. I'm waiting for the megasquirt and then the wiring starts and puts me in the home stretch. Landscaping is crazy right now and my main employee just quit 2 days ago so I'm basically screwed for a week or two.

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"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal." -Henry Ford

Great build. What brand and capacity winch do you have.

It is a 3000 lb Gorilla winch. I know it might be too light duty, but only time will tell.

Build is finally coming along. Almost done with fab. Here are some pics of my 2x3 rear arms that I made. I built a jig and made them using 2.5x5x.188 wall rectangular tubing. The round tubing is 1"x.120 wall DOM. I still need to add some reinforcement, my lower shock mounts, and my brake caliper mounts.

The build is coming along nicely. I am curious on what you plan to do to strenghten the rear arms. Butt welding the tubes to the flat plate like that is not very strong. The plate will distort in a high Impact situation. You probably allready new that however some Ideals would be 1" x 1 1/2" corner gussets on the inside and outside of the boxed area were the tubes join. Use 5/16" bar stock for your shock mounts (double shear) and carry it over top the tubes and weld it in.

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Water cooled Dry Sumped Subaru Powered Turbo Charged Fuel Injected 2500CC Tank. Oh Rah! He who dies with the most Toys not only wins, He also wears them out!

Rear arms are finished, and the buggy is in primer. The pictures are in the homemade paint booth I made in my garage. Two furnace filters on one side and two on the opposite side with fans sucking the air out. I just wet the floor and it works pretty good. I can't wait to start putting this thing together!

More updates... I got the frame painted and assembled into rolling chassis. I ended up finding a new +6" warrior front beam with 8" towers, springs, new Tweeds 2 1/4x1 arms for $350 shipped! I also have been doing my own powdercoating with the HotCoat kit from eastwood.com. It works awesome. A little bit of a pain doing one wheel at a time, but huge money saver! I am getting so anxious with this thing. I have been building it for a year and have never even ridden in a buggy!!! Anyway, here are some pics, hoping to have everything finished for spring. Wiring will take a while. I am doing my own harness from scratch with all deutsch connectors.

Beautiful,,,attention to detail is nice,,be careful with the front beam,,consider running a brace from the end back to the frame on the lower beam tube,,they are vulnerable to being bent. keep up the good work

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If your clutch ain't slippin,, you probably got it adjusted right!!!!!