in my last blog entry i mentioned I’ve been in and our of hospitals for the last few months, and the recovery is ongoing… But the flip-side of that is that i have lots of time to kill in between treatments, so i spend lots of time Googling and watching YouTube Videos…
so, my two main inspirations are now the ”Pretty Penny” ultimate rock-crawling buggy and the ”Rock Lizard” (kit) buggies by FABN801…
Remembering I’m doing this as cheaply as possible on a limited budget using as far as possible standard Suzuki Jimny parts which are easy to buy and replace, especially when you have a mate who breaks one from time to time as a sideline… 😉
I also have limited resources – a chop saw, angle grinder, mig welder, tube bender, a pillar drill, loads of hand tools… but plenty of enthusiasm and ingenuity… 🙂
Right, that said the two inspirational buggies –
FABN801’s kit based buggy –
Thats a full sized one on the right and a “kid buggy” on the left…
Which is more my kind of thing… 29” tyres and will fit in my slightly bigger than standard UK garage…
Mine’s going to be a single seat though, more like this one –
That’s a still from a YouTube video… if you search ”FABN801” or ”Rock Lizard Buggy” on YouTube you’ll find them…
While you’re there search ”Pretty Penny Buggy” and watch a few of them, that’s the ultimate dream vehicle, but I hope to replicate some of it’s features on mine, but on a budget with home engineering and tools – four wheel drive, four wheel steer, four wheel disk brakes, rear fiddle (cutting) brakes… yup I’m an optimist! But heres my current road legal buggy –
Built in the same garage with the same facilities… it’s obviously also based on a Suzuki Jimny but had to look like a Jimny for road legality here in the UK… the new one ”lil-bugga” will be a purely offroad and tubular…
Some initial sketches whilst in hospital…
Side shot giving an idea of proposed size and shape…
idea of cross section of main rollhoop through section marked A on first sketch… So the base is boat-sided to widen the chassis out so i can sit slightly off-centre with the transfer box to the side and under the seat as much as room allows, as seen in next sketch…
An idea of the ”chassis” layout…
So a nice small rock crawler inspired offroad buggy, not a serious competition buggy, just something I’ve always wanted to do in my life, a bucket-list item as it were, to keep me busy over the next few years / winters / covid lockdowns ?! LOL
Lil'Bugga 