So I figure that I should post some some pictures and a little back ground on my buggy project. I found the company rhino buggies in Austrailia back in 1999 when I was in high school. I wanted to build one of them but never had the opportunity. Then in Feb 2007 on a random trip to Big Toe Auto Recyclers in Finley, Washington I found a running 82 Subaru, bought it for $200 and drove it onto the trailer. When I got home I tried contacting rhino buggies only to find out that they had closed that part of their business and would not send out ony plans for building their buggies. 6 months later I found a guy in Austrailia that had plans to build 2 different buggies, the stalker and the bandit. So $25 later both sets of plans were on their way to Washington state. I recieved them in October 2007 but had no time to start building because I was in school full time trying to finish a Criminal Justice degree. I started the Buggy in May of 2008. Between working full time for my National Guard unit in Pendleton, OR and going to 3 Army schools and a 2 week AT these pictures show how far I have gotten in the last 7 months. And between the donor car and metal I am into it $450

 

 

 

 

Edited December 18, 200817 yr by tubesoob

nice

 

looks good.keep us updated.cheers, brian

I want to see it in action when you finish it. Richland Aint that far from me

-Bill

Way cool another Rhino!

 

Its looking good, the easy part is the tube frame.

The hard part is all the details once you have the rolling chassis.

 

Rhino is somewhat vague/non existent when it comes to explaining

anything past the frame assembly.

 

The Steering box needs to be reversed and its not as easy as it sounds!

 

What are you going to do for tires?

You may find tire problems if you follow the plans exactly.

 

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/album.php?albumid=54

 

 

Good luck,

Glenn

Sweet82- I know what you mean. Looking ahead I can see where there is going to be some brain scratching. I have even had to do a little trial and error on some of the angles. I have decided that I am going to use the plan as a guide. I am going to use rancho rear shocks and modify the mount. As you can see I haven't even started the front suspension, the plans look a little vague and I am out of tube. As for the tire I was going to run a set of 27 or 28 inch ATV tires and 12 or 14 inch wheels. What specifically were the problems that you ran into, hopefully I can avoid them. Here are some options that I am looking at. Of course I will have a set of steel wheels and some all terrain tires

Wheel

 

Tire options

 

 

 

Bill- we will definatly have to get together. I am kind of working on this in my spare time and everything is only tack welded right now. I am hoping to have it fully welded and painted by memorial day. If you have room, maybe I can ride with you on a couple of trips. I haven't been wheeling in a couple of years.

I went with a 26X12X12 Dirt Devil because it was a 6 ply and not too big.

I'd be careful about going too big on tire size because you'll

loose your gearing. The next set I get may be 25's?

 

There is a frame brace that will be in the way with your tire selection.

It goes at an angle from the chassis area to the motor frame rails.

 

I had to move it twice and I still hit it when I put the buggy hard on one front wheel. See attachment.

Sounds good, when I get the hatch running in spring Ill hit you up for some wheelin', I have 27" ATV tires on it, Im sure you seen it

-Bill

Wahoo it was about time for a good buggy build.

Great to see someone finally building one of these. I purchased the plans a couple years ago and so far I've only finished the EJ motor/DR Trans and drivetrain. Thought I would integrate the firewall and wiring harness from the donar car to help with the FI wiring, steering and brake issues. In the process of building a house right now so the Buggy is on hold. Great job so far and keep the pics coming.

You could use the original gas tank in the original position.

This would still give you clearance and you would get a ton of storage in the back end.

Trust me, storage is important in a tube frame buggy.

I put the tank in the original position and added a back seat in that area.

You should still have around 2 feet of clearance between the chassis and the ground.

 

 

 

The red fuel cell is mounted in the same location that the stocker was supposed to be mounted and that fuel cell was a freebie. I didn't know if it was going to fit there but it does clear the rear diff. The plans call for mounting the battery up front by the firewall, with the top of the battery at the same height as the top of the struts. I think that is a little high. I was thinking about mounting the battery, maybe dual, right in front of the fuel cell. Don't know yet

Finally got the engine out of the donor car. It got dark on me but I will take some pics tomorrow. Also got the mounts for the rear end tacked in. I am finding thing that I do not like about the original design so I am making changes as I go. For example, the plans say to mount the battery between the struts with the top of the battery even with the top of the struts. I am planning on running dual batteries and I didn't like the battery being mounted that high, so I am going to move it in front of the fuel cell. Small things that make it mine.

Here are the pics of the front end out of the car, and then set under the frame. Hopefully I will the engine bolted up tomorrow and the struts mounted on Monday. Anyone have any recomendations on where to get a driveshaft shorten in Eastern Washington? Also if anyone is interested, 3 of the 4 doors are in good shape. The passenger front has a slight dent. They have all the hardware, glass is good if I remember correctly. Also The hood is in good shape, so are the gauges, driver's side front fender, cruise control and headlight switches. I am not looking to make any money off of it. If anyone wants any of it let me know and we can set up a time and date for you to come get what you want

 

 

 

If you havent already i would suggest getting a hold of a D/R 5 speed tranny to swap in instead of the stock 4 speed D/R right now while it is easy to swap. You will wish you had later if you dont now. The 5 speed is an all around better tranny.

-Bill

Ok thanks. What vehicles came with the d/r 5 spd? Do they use the same crossmember mounting locations?

85 - 89 wagons I believe.

No, they mount differently with better mounts.

If you want to use the original crossmember from your donor car, Jerry (bratsrus1) makes a kit that makes installing a 5 speed D/R into an EA81 car a bolt in affair, otherwise you could just as easily modify your design to accomodate the 5 speed crossmember.

-Bill

Makin' some progress.

My point was the original gas tank will fit snugly over the diff because of it's contoured shape. This will allow you to drop it quite a bit (way lower than the plans).

 

I also dropped my front/hood by 6" to allow better visibility. There was no reason to have the front that high.

 

The red fuel cell is mounted in the same location that the stocker was supposed to be mounted and that fuel cell was a freebie. I didn't know if it was going to fit there but it does clear the rear diff. The plans call for mounting the battery up front by the firewall, with the top of the battery at the same height as the top of the struts. I think that is a little high. I was thinking about mounting the battery, maybe dual, right in front of the fuel cell. Don't know yet

Nice looking setup and i like the idea of building it on a table. The wedge shape of the front 'screen' and cabin area is pretty cool.

For what its worth can i suggest you watch the castor angle when you mount the top of the front suspension struts. More castor (leaning them back) can help reduce understeer quite a bit, and a slight amount of negative camber can also help.

 

When you lean the struts back you will have to wind the tie rods in to compensate for the added toe-out this causes (due to the steering rack position) and may have to add some more thread to the rack ends.

what tubing bender and notcher have you used on this?cheers, brian

I have the JD Squared tubing notcher. Great product. As far as bending the tube I went to a guy in Ephrata, WA that makes sprint car chassis. I just met the guy when I showed up there and him and I knocked it out in about 2 hours, very unexpected. And he only charged $200 including the tube, which ended up only being $75 in labor.

 

When I do buy a bender I am going to get the JD Squared model 3. The bender itself is only $300, $500 with the stand and degree wheel. Hopefully with my tax return:banana:

any progress ??

Have you made any more progress on this Stalker Build? I have had a set of plans for years now, and am finally getting around to starting the build...