Question on Dune Buggies

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I'm still a little curious about the front end of the GM on the back of the VW. How did they deal with the steering issue? They lifted the front end suspension, drivetrain, and steering, as far as I could tell. Did they weld the wheels on straight or what?

Also, on the Long Brother's sand rail, did they have any suspension or were the axles welded straight to the frame? I can't imagine installing a working suspension from scratch in 10 hours.

-- Michael (Canadian P.Eng.) (michael@mks-tech.com), January 12, 2001

Answers

The sand rail used the front end of a VW bug, which is a torsion bar unit and could be welded directly to the frame. The rear end they used was an IRS unit. The center section apparently got welded to the frame, but I don't recall how they set up the spring towers.

-- Dennis Forcier (dennis.forcier@transcore.com), January 12, 2001.

All the front wheel drive would need would be to weld the input to the rack and pinion in place. the wheels would point straight ahead. The long brothers used what looked like the Irs from a triumph spitfire.

-- Stephen A. Binion (Stephenbinion@hotmail.com), January 12, 2001.

We also used a set of coil springs on the rear suspension unit that were mounted to the frame that we built. Overall we had a good 8" of travel. At one part of the show you can see one of us bounce the car to test the suspension. Thanks for watching!

-- Greg Long (Long Brothers Team) (grglong@aol.com), January 12, 2001.

i was kinda of wonder was the last driver pulling on the throttle cable if he was why i think i missed that explaination. (i was not soppose to be up, parent you know)

-- Robert (Robo_man80@hotmail.com), January 12, 2001.

Is There any way i could get designs for the "sand rail"?

-- Casimir Pulaski (BioHazzard69@hotmail.com), June 20, 2001.


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