Building a buggy: nobggrnchvy

bggrnchvy · May 19, 2025

****** cooler lines got run in parallel to the fuel lines.

I didn't want to have to drain the ****** cooler circuit every time I removed the seat mount tubes, so I made the bulkhead mount bolt in as well. All the clamps were 3D printed except for a single aluminum double I had left over.

mobil1syn said:
a 1” tube of some plate work to the b-pillar would help keep that thing in place. your are relying on a few inches of weld to keep things in place.

I did something about it with some leftover tubes from the first single shock rear frame. I wish they could have been a little longer to tie into the node, but as an additional brace they will work. I like that the small bend in them makes them land more squarely on the plate work so the edges don't roll off as if it had been a straight tube.

Brake lines continue. I was able to salvage the prop valve from the last rig as well. I thought about running it into the cab for adjustment, but the panels having to be removable around it meant I was going to get yet more hot air entering the people space on a valve I was going to probably adjust twice and then never touch again. So under the future hood it goes.

I love this flaring tool. So much better than the double bar/clamp style we have all used. It's a little pricier, but not by a whole lot. With the AL hard lines and the brake lines it made sense for this project alone.

Bodj Built · May 20, 2025

Great work on the plumbing. It's looking super clean

bggrnchvy · Aug 18, 2025

I've about got everything plumbed now. Just have to print a couple of brackets to support the ARB supply line going from left to right.

Added a 1gal air tank, PRV, and an air quick disco on each side. I snuck a gauge where you can view it from the side just past the tire (hopefully). It all just barely fits behind the rear seat firewall and over the rear axle at full bump. The truss misses the air tank by 1/4" or so at full bump.

ARB line was plumbed in 3/16 cupronickel parallel to the rear brake line so they both run off the same mounting tabs. Rear brake line on the link is waiting for some t-bolt clamps that are the right size ( :shaking: ). Trusty zip ties for the moment to allow my to cut a straight piece and flare it to call it done.

zmotorsports · Aug 19, 2025

Very nice and clean work.

bggrnchvy · Aug 19, 2025

I needed one more clamp to support the ARB hardline on it's way back across the vehicle and I didn't want to have to cut/grind/etc. I printed this in 25% infill PETG with 5 support layers. It just bolts to the existing hole with a longer bolt holding the fan shroud to the ****** cooler. Bolting it on was more complicated with the captured spacer Derale uses than drawing and making it.

bggrnchvy · Sep 15, 2025

The goal is to use all the available space possible and if possible add cubbies to hold things. There's just never enough reasonably secure storage for some of the naturally loose items in a buggy. To that end I did some cardboard design work to make sure the plan was going to work out.

I had to make some edits and I also added a few bends to buy back some cubic inches that were available, but it all got remodeled and sent of for fab. Parts turned out great, all the joints fit up nice so they should be easy to weld out.

There was a trim I had to make to let them sett in just a little lower, but in the end they lightly press into place. There will be two 'rails' they bolt down to via rivnuts on the side and back. I may add something lower towards the front too, but I am undecided.

The unsupported air cleaner end got a simple solve as well, I hope. It now bolts to an existing panel tab rivenut with a 1/4-20 backwards and the panel is secured with a nut from the front side.

bugnut · Sep 16, 2025

I took the time to print and also buy some molle panels for the baja. Hopes of fastening down loose items and also holding bags in place. In the process of creating nut plates so i can really bolt things down. YMMV

bggrnchvy · Sep 16, 2025

bugnut said:
I took the time to print and also buy some molle panels for the baja. Hopes of fastening down loose items and also holding bags in place. In the process of creating nut plates so i can really bolt things down. YMMV

It all helps. I'm always interested in how people maximize the space.

I neglected to get an image of the air filter support mount in it's place before.

bggrnchvy · Sep 22, 2025

Worked up some mounts for the bins and pressed in some rivnuts.

I mocked them up and tacked them in, pulled the bins and welded them out.

Bins back in and marked the holes and got those opened up, then I bolted them in. I used g8 1/4-20s because it's what I had. Probably will swap them to the Philips button head x 3/4" style bolts Goatbuilt used for the rest of the panels to keep the continuity and single tool to remove.

They need to come out again to get welded out, but the Dialarc at home and thin aluminum are annoying. At my skill level, meaning hobbyist, it's a job for an inverter machine so I'll bring them to the shop and boggart a Dynasty for a couple of hours.

no704 · Sep 22, 2025

bggrnchvy said:
Worked up some mounts for the bins and pressed in some rivnuts.

I mocked them up and tacked them in, pulled the bins and welded them out.

Bins back in and marked the holes and got those opened up, then I bolted them in. I used g8 1/4-20s because it's what I had. Probably will swap them to the Philips button head x 3/4" style bolts Goatbuilt used for the rest of the panels to keep the continuity and single tool to remove.

They need to come out again to get welded out, but the Dialarc at home and thin aluminum are annoying. At my skill level, meaning hobbyist, it's a job for an inverter machine so I'll bring them to the shop and boggart a Dynasty for a couple of hours.

Ya putting any drains in those? One r both might make a cooler?if there is any room for insulation.

bggrnchvy · Sep 23, 2025

no704 said:
Ya putting any drains in those? One r both might make a cooler?if there is any room for insulation.

Yes, drain holes are going in. Just haven't decided exactly how to do them. Thinking I might weld the bodies up, then drill them in mid span right on the weld so the holes are harder to plug with debris for a given size. Obviously I don't want big holes, or small things fall out so If I can make a 1/4" hole not plug it's ideal.

bggrnchvy · Oct 6, 2025

Lots and lots of minutia in the pipe line. It's that part of the build it feels like.

Some of the solves and progress:

1350 dual cardans for the front driveshaft and the spare for the front and rear. I couldn't get the combination of tube weld yoke OD and flange yoke pattern/ID I needed so they were purchased piece meal and I had to build them.

The result is they fit 2.125x.188w tubing and have a common 3.25" pilot and 4.25" bolt pattern with the rear driveshaft.

Of course up front I'm using D60 companion flanges from a 60's GM truck rear end which has a smaller pilot diameter. Enter The pilot reducer.

This means with a common (close enough) length, the spare shaft fits front and back with the spacers making up the difference in pilot ID.

I am laying out the dash and one of the items was to mount the radio/intercom. The intercom is the cheaper solution out there with push to transmit outside the vehicle buttons directly on the unit. It fits perfectly behind the transmission shifter and in front of the t-case shifters, so I built a mount that put it on end and nests between the seats. Problem is I am trying to tie into the t-slot on the side with 10-32s, but it's up right. The nuts slide around in the groove and it's impossible to line it all up.

3d printer to the rescue. Now the nuts are properly spaced and held lightly so I can adjust the height simply.
In laying out the dash I am adding 4x gauges to monitor critical items so if torque on the tablet looses connection or the tablet fails I can still go on with confidence. To make the gauges work, they need senders. The oil pressure is going to be pulled on the outlet of the remote filter and instead of getting a -10 ORB plug to 1/8NPT adapter I just drilled and tapped the aluminum plug for the sender.

Simple, it should give me the best indication of oil pressure into the engine, and it's right on the other side of the firewall from the gauge cluster.

WoodsTruck · Oct 6, 2025

Real cool.
I'm helping a guy put likely that same Comm system in his Rzr.

tarbellb · Oct 6, 2025

Can't wait for this project to see rocks

WoodsTruck · Oct 13, 2025

Similar?

bggrnchvy · Oct 14, 2025

WoodsTruck said:
Similar?

Definitely a Rugged Radios intercom, but I think that's the newer 696+ or the STX that has some of the Bluetooth controls in closed loop. I just got the simple 364.

bggrnchvy · Nov 3, 2025

Bouncing around a lot on this project, but among things I'm tackling have been dash layout. Originally I was thinking all glass, touchscreens everywhere, but then I found some sense: tablets fail. I went back to some backup/quick reference guages and a center tablet for Torque to customize what I want or use for nav. Likely another tablet in front of the passenger at some point.

I did a layout in SW and sent it off to SendCutSend to get shot out of 3/16" 6061 and anodized and to press in some hardware for a flush face.

I used surplus .mil sealed toggle switches for key power on, high/low beam and one momentary for the starter.

I winged the wiring, but the end result is 2x Deustch connectors (1 for guages, 1 for switches) and the panel comes out.

The rest of the switching is Switchpros both for ease of wiring as repuation of quality. A simple mount off the back of the dash bar keeps it in place.

End result is coming out about true to vision.

bggrnchvy · Jan 2, 2026

Pluggin away through the holidays.

Hood/grill showed up:

Need to move the oil cooler up and in front of the PS cooler a little for the grill.

Mounted the disconnect with some 3D printed template help and got a tablet mounted for more guages/nav.

After welding in more zip tie tabs than I care to think about, I have started pulling the spicy multicolored spaghetti.

bggrnchvy · Jan 19, 2026

NOS power distribution and relay block mounted. This gives me 4 channels with up to 35a each and then 4x outlets per I can trigger on or off via keypower, etc. to supplement the 12 channel Switchpros panel. Great for all the random items like comms, ECM, interior lights, USB outlets, etc. with plenty of room to grow.

I added a pair of fuse holders for the dual ARB comp that follow the curve of the air cleaner a bit and started running more main power wires. I am printing some simpler to pull off TPU covers for the fuses studs.

Measuring the back for height and the light bar was going to get blocked by any cooler I had back there in it's old location. To fix it, I nothced the roof pannel and drew up some tabs to get it almost flush with the roof itself.

To mount some mirrors I made about 3 iterations of a slip on clamp, finally getting enough rigidity with both some ribs around the body and a .025" undersize on the ID. They go on really easily and take a concerted effort to move, you can move the lense as much as you want and the clamp won't move. Reasonably happy with them and a pair takes less than 2 hours to print when I innevitably break them.

bggrnchvy · Jan 20, 2026

More little bits hot off the printer. The covers on these fuse holders were terrible and not going to work when they were ganged together (oddly, something they were designed for), but I still wanted a insulated cover for the studs, so I gave printing in TPU a shot. Quick designed for a snap fit cap pair and a short time later a usable part.

clutchee · Jan 21, 2026

bggrnchvy said:
Pluggin away through the holidays.

Hood/grill showed up:

Where did you get hood and grill from?

bggrnchvy · Jan 21, 2026

clutchee said:
Where did you get hood and grill from?

Jimmy's4x4

bggrnchvy · Jan 26, 2026

I did a terrible job with pictures this weekend, but it's for the best. It's super tedious pulling wire, welding in zip tie tabs and trying to keep it tidy.

I chopped out the oil cooler mount and pulled it so the grill can barely squeeze into place. The fiberglass will need a little kiss from the DA on each side. The PS cooler hoses run right where the headlight plugs go, so I need to 45° them down and out of the way. At least now I can build headlight mounts and we start to see what the end result will look like up front. The oil cooler will have to get relocated ontop of the engine (there's plenty of room under the hood) and the hood may need some louvers as a result.

Among wiring things, I added 2 sets of seat heaters to the rear bench so my daughter/other passengers aren't freezing back there while we're warm up front. Pulling the cover off was not as bad I thought it would be, but the hog ring pliers they sent are garbage, so I have some other cheapies coming so I can resecure the cover to the bottom. I also chopped up their harnesses, removed the 3 way switch, stuck to high power only, got rid of their relay(s) and wired it to a single Deustch DTP connector. They're only rated for 6a ea, but I feel better with a 25a rated connector at 12a instead of a 13a DT.

bggrnchvy · Feb 24, 2026

It doesn't seem like it, but I am winning.

It will all get tidied/loomed/routed when I'm done adding runs. Just not quite there yet.
It's amazing how many zip ties you put on and cut off trying to keep it laying where you want it, especially as you add runs to trunks.

bggrnchvy · Mar 16, 2026

Plugging away, trying to work on about 8 fronts at one time so I'm not stopped waiting on parts.

I had to land all of these ground in the back of the chassis and hated the bus bar solution because of the exposed studs, but the serviceability was nice. I tried to hybrid it and do a ground harness to a common lug with Deutsch connectors so it all unplugs and I could fairly easily unpin if I needed to. One plug it a DTP and one is DT, can't mix them up.

The oil cooler is going over the engine, but it will need fully removable mounts, as well as some ducting to drive air through instead of past. The 3D printer is helping me solve some of the issues without cutting material.

I am not a jeep guy and sorting out this marking light grill situation took an annoying amount of effort for something so simple. I just wanted amber LED markers to fit in the spots on the grill. I wasn't going to add anything until someone mentioned how silly it would look to have spots for lights, but no lights. In the end 2-1/2" generic round marker lights fit great. Drill 2x 2-7/8in holes and voila.

The same person mentioned how I would be dumb not to plan for a light bar even if I don't have one so I ran 10ga and connector up there. Then irate4x4 had another Baja Designs group buy and well, here we are.

Bought a battery and ran all the high draw wires. Ran out of red 2awg for the starter power lead, so it got black with red heat shrink. Hopefully I don't screw that up ever. The motor still needs a ground, but of course I ran out of terminals.

I also swapped out the 150a mega fuse provided by SwitchPros for a breaker. I was thinking that fuse should never pop, but if it does and I don't have a spare or if the spare pops after install I'm dead in the water. Much easier to have a breaker I can reach up under and reset or pull the top panel off to diagnose.

Chassis wiring is about done. I need to put in the engine harness next and see where I can find synergy.
Currently sorting out headlight mounting.

zmotorsports · Mar 18, 2026

Amazing work as usual.

I like your idea of branching off a ground stud to Deutsch connectors for ease of disassembly. I may use that one.

Question, I noticed quite a bit of flash rust on your chassis tubing, are you planning on tearing everything back down to prep and paint the chassis once mock-up is complete or are you planning on just running a bare steel chassis? I've seen people do both so I'm curious which camp you're in.

zimman · Mar 18, 2026

What a nice build. I got here a little late but happy I've made it. LOL
Nice work Sir.
Zim

bggrnchvy · Mar 18, 2026

zmotorsports said:
Amazing work as usual.

I like your idea of branching off a ground stud to Deutsch connectors for ease of disassembly. I may use that one.

Question, I noticed quite a bit of flash rust on your chassis tubing, are you planning on tearing everything back down to prep and paint the chassis once mock-up is complete or are you planning on just running a bare steel chassis? I've seen people do both so I'm curious which camp you're in.

Thank you.

It's been a running joke as people filter through over the last several years and I am working hard on every little detail that needs attention when your building a ground up vehicle that when I'm finally done, I still have to tear it all down to get it blasted and painted.

So in short, yes, it will be torn down when I'm done.

zmotorsports · Mar 18, 2026

bggrnchvy said:
Thank you.

It's been a running joke as people filter through over the last several years and I am working hard on every little detail that needs attention when your building a ground up vehicle that when I'm finally done, I still have to tear it all down to get it blasted and painted.

So in short, yes, it will be torn down when I'm done.

Thanks for the reply. I was hoping that would be your answer, as it is too nice not to finish properly.

I understand the years that go into the mockup and fabrication phase, only to blow it all apart for final paint and finishing, built several street rods, muscle cars, sand rails, sleds and sand drag quads over the years and I found that in order to obtain a high quality finished product, that is really the only possible way. But I've also seen so many over the years "somewhat" finished as they were being built, but the end result is far from what I would call high-end. This project of yours with all of the high level of craftsmanship truly deserves a highly refined finish as well. :thumbup:

bggrnchvy · Mar 23, 2026

The oil cooler got kicked out of the front of the buggy a little while ago, just didn't fit behind the grill. The only other place I could find for it is over the motor. That will mean it needs some kind of ducting to drive flow through it, but first it needs to have a solid location. It also has to be fully removable otherwise the motor will not squeeze out of the chassis.

Step 1 was mock up my plan with some 3D printed peices and some thin wall tubing, which became step 2 and 3 when those didn't work quite right.

Go some peices cut, got them fixtured up and welded out.

Assembled the cooler and did a little final fitting and burned it in. The old hoses even fit with some creative routing.

Also fighting through headlight mounts of all things. The grill has to remove upwards, not forwards, so the lights have to come out first. Of course you can't get to the sides of them installed, so I had to come up with another solution.

2 peice with a slot for fine adjustment and it retains the tilt adjustment from Baja Designs so you can aim the headlights. It mounts on the chassis around the upper tube, via a cross drilled hole with a welded in sleeve that accepts a 3/8" bolt that will simply pull out letting the headlight be removed from the front.

I laid out the mounts and drilled my holes, then welded in the tubes. The mounts seem to fit in plastic. Soon to see in metal. You can see one of the above pictures I had to cut a heavy chamfer in the upper rad mount bracket to clear the headlight tabs.

bggrnchvy · Mar 30, 2026

Headlight mounts are done. I added some G8 nuts and washers, after stripping them, to make them easier to service and install. The washers on the back of the headlight brackets themselves were supposed to both add a little more clearance to the PS cooler line fitting and make the easier to rotate/adjust.

The rest of the weekend was a series of small things, but the major take away was powering up the chassis! Other than blowing a headlight highbeam fuse with all the lights on and a 50% battery that was probably undersized as it was, it all works great. All the lights, compressor, solenoids, fans and seat heaters all work off of the RCR12 and the key power and hi/lo beam switch do their jobs.

Light output from the dome lights seems about perfect.

This shows the range of lights available. It's a lot of light with the high beams and light bar on, I'm glad there are 3 stages (lo beam, hi beam, lightbar/a pillar) so there's alot of modularity.

The radiator fan doesn't work on temp control at the moment, because there's no coolant (or engine harness to run the motor if there was) but the bypass switch works and the 100% commanded speed is obnoxious. Glad it's there if you need it, but hopefully it stays under 50% speed it's whole life.

bggrnchvy · Apr 8, 2026

Short weekend with Easter and family commitments, but I was tooling about.

Tires arrived.

Got 3 mounted of the 4.

The 4th one proved to be a problem due to Raceline neglecting to press in the pem nuts on the 4th wheel. Of course I only figured that out after I got the tire on. It's seperated again and the nuts should be in before next weekend so I can set them all and be done with mounting these.

Someone mentioned the solid mounting of the cooler may result in cracks down the road. Not a problem I had considered, but good input. I printed some TPU washers and gave the brackets a kiss of ovaling to account for the increased width and gave it some ability to isolate.

Last efforts are on the fuel cell vent. Going with the old PBB FATS plan, 3 sides and fuel filter off a 1st gen Ram gasser at the end. I'm going to bring it back up from the filter and cap it with a breather to prevent plugging. 3D printer is helping keep the routing clean. I am also putting in a ball valve at the back of the fuel cell so I can shut it off for whatever reason, seems like cheap and easy backup.

PhantomEB · Apr 11, 2026

Which Hammer trail will be your nut buster?

me a full bodied guy so be a long time before I see the Hammers.

Bodj Built · Apr 15, 2026

PhantomEB said:
Which Hammer trail will be your nut buster?

me a full bodied guy so be a long time before I see the Hammers.

Doesn't stop the guys I wheel with.

Sequoia on d60s and 40s

F250 on d60s and 40s

And I have another buddy with an early bronco on 37s that also wheels with us. All cruise the hammers. Come on out!

bggrnchvy · Apr 15, 2026

PhantomEB said:
Which Hammer trail will be your nut buster?

me a full bodied guy so be a long time before I see the Hammers.

Hammers is about 6th on the list once it's done. It's a lot of fun out there, but for a 10+hr haul I'd rather push out to Moab.

A good friend lives out in Hurricane so Sand Hollow is on the list, but I really just want to get back out on the Rubicon.

bggrnchvy · Apr 20, 2026

Punchlist is getting hammered.

Harness is loomed front and back in a combination of techflex/heat shrink/Tesa tape. It's not perfect, but clean enough for me.

Fuel cell breather is finished. I was going to use a sintered breather, but the restriction ontop of the 90s was too much. I parted off a barb fitting to clean it up and give this cheapy filter a cleaner installed look, then proceeded to bury it behind the bypass shock. Not a lot of room, but it clears.

After plotting a design for the rear panel with a bunch of dimpled holes and and redrawing it a few ways, I settled on some dimples, but simple. They double as great tie-down spots for gear. Of course it needed more than the existing 4 holes to mount and those were the only easy ones to layout. Bolting tabs to the panel makes welding them on a mission. Instead I fixtured all the tabs to keep them in plane, then made 6x transfer screws. The regular ones aren't long enough for Riv nuts becuase of the recess. I bolted the panel in from the 4 existing holes, a little love tap to the 6 areas for the new mounts and it all bolts together easily.

Made the tailight harness as well and tested the running lights and brake lights (not shown).

The 4th wheel needed the pemnuts installed and setting the ring back on top, sans tire, and using a cheapy 1-2-3 block masked made really easy work of setting all 32. Just insert the lubed bolt through the block, thread the nut on the backside of the wheel lip, tighten with an eletric ratchet and they're all done in 15 minutes. I wish it hadn't have happened, but it was a simple thing to solve after I got the wheel back off the tire.

Last project of the weekend was mounting the grill.

First to make sure it fits right, I had to make it fit nicely. This meant removing the interference.

I'll put some glass on the backside and use some filler to smooth this out after.

Then I built some top tabs that bolt into the radiator mounting holes. The 1/4-20s in the grill itself got nuts welded in the backside and the side mounts have pemnuts installed as well.

To close it out for the weekend, make sure to top up your tig cooler tanks with biocide and/or clean out the system oncein a while. Otherwise you may find yourself doused in glycol whilst welding and get the oppurtunity to tear it all apart when it's least convenient.

LS1-IROC · Apr 21, 2026

Great looking project! Quick question, do you worry about mud and dirt getting into the braided loom that you used on your harness? Seems like that could be a recipe for failures down the road with grit getting into the wire bundles and chaffing the insulation away over time.

bggrnchvy · Apr 21, 2026

LS1-IROC said:
Great looking project! Quick question, do you worry about mud and dirt getting into the braided loom that you used on your harness? Seems like that could be a recipe for failures down the road with grit getting into the wire bundles and chaffing the insulation away over time.

No, not really something I'm concerned about.

Most of it is loomed inside the body panels or on top. Its not perfect, but Im also not out east and dunking it to the top of tires in mud holes.

zmotorsports · Apr 22, 2026

bggrnchvy said:
No, not really something I'm concerned about.

Most of it is loomed inside the body panels or on top. Its not perfect, but Im also not out east and dunking it to the top of tires in mud holes.

Agreed. In all honesty, even the factory wiring on a Jeep or new Bronco is just encased in polyloom running down alongside the chassis. Yes, there is a chance of debris getting inside, but as long as they don't go for a swim, it shouldn't be anything out of the norm for an off-road vehicle.

bggrnchvy · Apr 27, 2026

I tried my hand at fiberglass and body filler to fix the holes in the grill to clear the tubes. I cleaned up the backside, laid 2 layers of glass/resin, then did 2 layers of body filler on the front to smooth it out in between a bunch of sanding. Also filled some other imperfections while I was at it. For a crawler it will work, respect to the body guys out there, hard to make it look good.

With the grill mounted I started mounting the hood. There's no support directly under the flat in the corners of the hood where hoodpins fit the best, so I had to cope a peice of tubing and add a tab, but it works. Hopefully the other 3 go smoother, this one fought me a good bit.

Before I assemble the front axle, it was time to paint it. I got it roughly cleaned up and taped off and my wife was nice enough to lay down some primer and hammer finish to seal the housing and the knuckles up for me.

I'll let it bake out over the week before I try and get it back in the garage.

Building a buggy: nobggrnchvy

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