Look at photo opposite.This is when I had the buggy on it's wheels for the first time. It is at this time that I found a shed load of problems with it.

Problem 1: The front shocks that I'd used from the rear of my trails bike are way too soft. When I loaded the front of the buggy up, it just grounded and stayed there......Bugger.....My fault-they do specify Mono shock type dampers in the plans!! Update - Mono shock dampers are stupidly expensive. I've now used Jaguar(1986) rear "coil overs" on the front of the buggy - looking good up to now. But gotta test drive yet!!!

Problem 2: Remember these (piccys from the steering page). Two problems here. Firstly I left the stub axles too long (My fault- too lazy to cut to length). This in turn made the front wheels miles too wide apart (look at top piccys) And secondly, when I welded the steering arms to these, I found that the angles where wrong - the steering was all to cock when turning lock to lock. Update - Now re-made the stub axles with different sterring angles to what is stated in the plans, and shortened the stubs. I can get the buggy on the trailer now. And the steering works great!!!

Problem 3: Look at the piccy opposite This is where the engine mounts to the frame (circled). After I'd made all the mounts for the engine, I found that the chain fouled on the frame.(My fault again-It does state in the plans Line the engine sprocket up with the swing arm pin -

Then I had to make all the mounts again to suit the new engine position. This time everything does line up without fouling!!!

Looking at various piccys on the web, it don't look like it's only me that's had this problem. See piccy oppersite....

Problem 4: When I'd got the brake calliper mounted and the pedals made, I had a "mix an match" problem. The calliper was off of a Yamaha Fz 750 motorcycle and the master cylinder was off a van!. I needed to connect the two. So I made a copper car type brake pipe to carry brake fluid to the rear suspension area. I then needed a flexy hose with a car fitting on one end, and a motorcycle "banjo" fitting on the other end. The obvious choice was to have a "Goodridge" type hose made up- theses are used on cars and bikes so both types of end fittings are available. So off I trotts to the local "motorcycle spares" (not mentioning no names but it's the most popular name in the phone book!). They made the hose up for me, quite expensive for what they are too. I got it home and fitted it - problem solved. Or so I thought! Bleeding the system proved impossible. The brake pedal was rock hard but not operating the calliper. I could not get any brake fluid out of the bleed nipple on the calliper either. So I took the hose back off, and found out it was blocked solid. Thanks a bloody lot so called "motorcycle spares" shop. Just lately, everything I get from this shop warrents 2 or 3 visits to get it right.

Update - took the hose back, got my money back, and got a professional to make another one for me properly.

If you read this Mr "Bike Spares" - Faulty brake parts cost Lives!!

Update - Well the alloy "sprocket carrier" is actually a "disc carrier" said the man at the kart shop. Oh yeah, I remember, we chose it out of all his vast stock of kart parts because it was the nearest fit to my sprocket. Another trial an error lesson learned by me. You get this when you try to make things do what they are not made to do I suppose..

Anyhow, the very nice man ran around all over his shop to gather a large variety of different hubs. I chose one that had a lot more "meat" on it to take all the torque that the engine produces. This is actually a wheel hub meant for a racing kart, the only down side is that it only has 3 "spokes" rather than 6. But it bolted straight on!! Well the buggys had 2 outings up to now, and the hub is still in 1 piece......

So guys and gals the moral to this is, if you ever build one of these buggys, apart from the steering geometry, stick to the measurements and parts specified on the plans. (And watch for faulty "new parts" i.e brake hoses). I learned the bloody hard way !!!!!

Problem 6

Disaster Strikes!!

So the story continues....With the new sprocket carrier fitted, 2 "test runs" up my drive complete, I waited for the pissing rain to stop and loaded the buggy onto the trailer. Me and my loved one drove to our local field & off loaded the buggy. I started her up (the buggy, not our lass!), put my helmet on, jumped in and drove down on to the field very cautiously. I went around the field once then stopped to put my harness on. It took ages to adjust the straps, then I was off. The buggy felt really good to drive, the gears worked fine, the brakes worked great - locking the back wheels into a skid was possible. But in the corners, the buggy was under steering quite a bit (fixed back axle don't forget). So I thought " the next time I come this way I'm gonna put the steering into a turn and give it a boot full to slide the back around"!!! .........Big mistake!!!

The next thing I remember is sitting on the back wheel of the buggy telling our lass "don't worry luv - I'm coming round a bit now !!!!"

What had happened is that I'd given it far too much "boot full" and the buggy`s tyres dug in. It flipped onto the roof and I was knocked out cold (Yes I WAS wearing a crash helmet!!). Our lass had seen me hanging there by the harness (glad i`d put it on!!) motionless. By the time she'd ran the length of the field and reached me, I'd started to make moaning noises (nothing new there then !!!). She said that after a while, I popped the harness undone and climbed out, then we both rolled the buggy onto it's wheels. The scary bit is, I still can't remember doing any of this. She said I was "out" for about 3 minutes. I've felt really crap all this week (feeling like I was drunk with a hangover/headache at the same time). I'm just starting to feel better today (3 days later). And before you ask, no, there was no damage to the buggy.

1 nil to the buggy!!!!!

My advice is.........Don`t ever drive these buggys alone.

Problem 8: Because the buggy now feels a lot more stable to drive, I've been getting more confident. I even manage to "catch some air" on a brief occasion last week. Well I managed to bust one of the front shockers. I don't know if it was because theses shockers were "donkeys years old" or because the buggy had left the floor, and the shocker "topped out". Anyway I got covered in hydraulic oil!!

Update: An easy one to solve this. I phoned around the breakers yards. I managed to find one, by the second phone call, that was a Jaguar enthusiast He let me have 4 of the rear Jaguar(1986) shocker units for £30. Cheers A&C autos in Sheffield!!