LocostUSA.com

I have no relation to the listed provider. I found them today via Silodrome. They have plans and laser cut files all the way to turnkey off road buggy (in Australia). Sportbike engines to industrial singles for power. Some of the suspension files and the rear differential/brake/reverse also looked good. I am interested in what you think.

https://theedgeproducts.com

Looks good in general based on the level of detail provided. The suspension pivot bolts are extremely long, so low grade threaded rod would probably be the only source. Don't know if they are thick enough for that to be ok for the loading and there are some sources for higher grade threaded rod. Threaded bungs could be installed in the control arms so much shorter/readily available, higher grade bolts could be used.

Also unclear if the bushings have an internal sleeve to act as positive stop for tightening those long rods to a reasonable spec or if the bushes ride on those rods as an inner race. That would not be good. If that is the case, the tubing in the arms should be upsized as needed to provide room for positive stop sleeves and adequate fastener thickness.

Also don't know the size of the rod ends acting as UBJ and LBJ and where the shanks are loaded in bending by the coilovers. Didn't try to eyeball the suspension geo.

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Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS cheap viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
Frame LxcockpitWxengbayH
Lotus 7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

I built a Sidewinder just out of high school, maybe 14 years ago, using just a drill press, angle grinder and a stick welder. The plans were pretty easy to follow.







The suspension pivot bolts are round bar with a thread cut on each end, then a nut welded on one side to form a bolt shape, so the bushes run on a smooth surface - threaded rod wouldn't work as it would flog out the poly bushes straight away. From what I remember I welded a small tab on one end of the suspension mounts to stop the bolts rotating, and used a cotter pin through the nyloc nut to stop it undoing... not ideal, but again, easy to make and it worked.

They definitely aren't an optimised design, there is very little triangulation in the frame and they use mostly single swingarms, but they are fairly simple to build and the end product works well.

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Scratch built turbo V8 hot-rod in progress
http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=19549

Cool! Why do you need a production chassis for the jeep when you can build this. Is it off road only?

Threaded rod can be used with positive stop sleeves on each end inside the poly and they also allow fully tightening the threaded rod without crushing the poly.

_________________
Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS cheap viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
Frame LxcockpitWxengbayH
Lotus 7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

That would certainly work!

The buggy was indeed off-road only the pre-1949 original chassis on my hot rod build just makes it 100x cheaper and easier to get registered for road use here in NSW Australia. After I made the buggy I did start building a car from scratch, even got the (extremely) complex chassis fully welded up, but abandoned the project for various reasons.


https://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewto ... =36&t=9971

I often wish I'd had a space to store the chassis until I was ready to complete it, but I ended up cutting it into pieces and taking it to the scrap yard.

_________________
Scratch built turbo V8 hot-rod in progress
http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=19549