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 Post subject: New guy in phoenix
PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 11:32 pm 
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Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2010 10:37 pm
Posts: 12
Just picked up what seems to be a warrior frame buggy from a guy wha said he got it from an old hippy.

it's got a bruised up and oddly repaired bj front end, and monroe air shocks along with some dual "rancho" looking shocks out back.

motor is 1800dp with what appear to be carter bbd carbs. had to adjust the float on one to keep it from dying going up hill. Guy I bought it from says the motor was worked over to a 21xxcc and has a hot cam.

Runs ok for what I paid. Took it up north right when i got it and couldn't get it running well to save my life. Assuming the carbs. Kept dying. This was before i adjusted the float though. Possibly needs rejetted at the higher altitude?

Battery died on me second trip out. Kept tow starting it with a buddies quad,because it just wasn't getting a charge. Battery is either toast, or alt, or both now. Night time came, and my lights were dim as all hell, and got worse until I could only see using light from the other machines we had running around.

Here's where it get's interesting.

In the backyard is an ecotec with only 500 miles on it. Full engine, trans, most accessories, radiator, shifter, etc. The drivetrain I got a long time ago from a fabricator buddy of mine. He pulled it out of a brand new 03 Grand Am and converted it to a rwd procharged tpi setup. I know. WTF?

Anyways, from what it seems, this is the perfect engine to get swapped into the Berrien Buggy. I've been lurking around a bunch of forums, and was stoked when I got here and saw that it was mostly people with berrien or similar style buggies. That and there's a few ecotec swaps with some decent pics. God bless you guys.

So from what I've gathered, this is the way to go. (please chime in with any suggestions, alternatives, or whatnot)
I'll be needing
VW Bus 6 rib tranny (does year or anything matter?)
kennedy engineering adapter for said tranny and engine
engine harness... now here's a kicker, I've got a complete engine harness from a 2001 Grand Am. It was the LD9 2.4 liter Twin Cam motor. I know they're very similar, but i'm not sure if the engine harness will work or not. Either way, I've heard decent stuff about enginewiring.com for doing the wiring.

Seems pretty plug n play. Hptuners to tune and adjust, I'll be beefing up suspension and basically rebuilding the buggy from scratch. Open to suggestions on it too.

I'm no newbie to the gm 4cyl motors either. I've got a supercharged 2.4 LD9 in my Grand Am. i spray a methanol mixture to cool the charge temps, and that car has a bunch of goodies. Baer brakes, header, exhaust, etc.

The other thing I saw here that I liked is the use of airbags on these buggies! Sweet! I'm no newbie to that either, I've got a 2000 olds alero on air. This is the beast. Turbocharged 60* 3.4 v6 completely shaved handles inside and out. Shaved trunk, full fiberglass interior, suede seats, sliding rag top.

So Hopefully I can be as much of a help to you guys as you've already been for me. In the meantime, here's some pics, and lemme know what you think.
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 Post subject: Re: New guy in phoenix
PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 8:26 am 
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Joined: Wed May 30, 2007 2:01 pm
Posts: 5137
Location: Hazel Green, Alabama
Cool buggy,,good luck and thanks for finding us. Keep us posted.

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 Post subject: Re: New guy in phoenix
PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 10:57 am 
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Location: Rome Ohio
Welcome to the Forum. Sounds like your headed in the right direction. If your going to use an 091, I would build it with Weddle gears to handle the HP of that motor. It would also give you the opertunity to select what ratios to run. Tom at enginewiring.com can tell you if that harness will work with your motor and if nessasary he can modify it to work.

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 Post subject: Re: New guy in phoenix
PostPosted: Sat Aug 07, 2010 5:18 pm 
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Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2010 10:37 pm
Posts: 12
thanks for the welcome. I keep finding more and more info here that's helping me decide where to take this project.

Don's bus box is probably who I'm going to hit up for the trans. He's only a few miles away from me. I'm looking at doing the 091 for sure. Seems like a built 091 is the way to go. Running a stock one with an ecotec would be a ticking time bomb. Anyone getting away with a stock 091 for any length of time on an eco?

Looks like the tranny is going to be the biggest investment here. I'll see just how flexible don is on the cores I suppose. Maybe he'll be down to to some bartering for my current engine/tranny and the 5 speed from the ecotec I have.


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