Balducci Bro's Racing 09 buggy build

[crazysammi87]

i think he slept with them for a week before putting them on his rig if that answers your question 

then i guess he does like them alot

[zucruisers]

i think he slept with them for a week before putting them on his rig if that answers your question 

that is a lie!...they were locked in the bottom drawer of my toolbox since i bought them til this was done

what kind of air shocks are u running and do u like them

swayaway(SAW) 2.0's, 14" front, 16" rear

this is the first experience i've had with them on one of my rigs, and i know there are better things out there(coilovers, bypass, etc..)...but with how light this rig is they work amazingly well, i think a lot of it has to do with weight distribution, center of gravity, and suspension setup...we have a currie anti-rock sway bar in the rear which i think helps out a lot with off-camber/sidehilling stability, some guys have issues with unloading and some other weird characteristics with airshocks when not running a swaybar

so far i really like them, im pretty pleased with the way the rig works with them

[crazysammi87]

thanks zucruisers

[ZUKIMON]

Man, this thing has turned out to be more awesome than what I had envisioned!   I know that this thread is a little old, but great work on the buggy man!

[zucruisers]

sorry i havent updated the thread in awhile...we ran the rcrocs series finale on august 22nd, took 1st for the day, this thing works great now that almost all the bugs are worked out of it ...ended up in 3rd for the series

right now the rig is in new jersey at the new shop my brother is working at, liquid iron industries...the toy rear axle housing got bent bad on both sides, partially from the carlisle demo, and the last rcrocs

we ordered a new ruffstuffspecialties axle housing, it should be arriving tuesday, they normally come with 3.5" diameter 3/8" thick tubes, this one is special ordered to have 1/4" thick chromoly tubes instead...it will look like this, but a centered rear version -


there's a race at rausch creek on november 7th that we're trying to make it to, its more of a highspeed, endurance race, since it'll be 4, 8 mile laps, i added a huge steering cooler before the last rcrocs, and im installing a bigger electric cooling fan from a taurus, along with a bigger trans cooler with its own fan, we're also doing a few other odds and ends for the safety rules

over the winter it should be getting a new front ruffstuff housing installed, along with a turbo, possibly rebuild the engine/trans, and maybe a few other things, depends on what funds allow for

[ZUKIMON]

That's one seriously mean looking axle!

[zucruisers]

yeah the 3.5" tubes are going to look huge

here's a couple pics from ruffstuff, comparing it to a ford 9" version, and a stock toy front

[ZUKIMON]

What knuckles do you end up using on those? Would this be a good time to go to a D44/D60?

[zucruisers]

dana 44 knuckles are a joke, and 60 parts aren't necessary, so i'll be using toy knuckles, ruffstuff is coming out with new stronger inner knuckle balls soon, so i'll be using them and my current stock knuckles with this setup that i already have been running -



http://marlincrawler.com/steering/high-steer/25mm-steering-upgrade-kit-w-arms

for the power/weight of this rig i highly doubt i'll ever change the axle or knuckle setup, with a few tricks and the steering setup i have about 40* of steering right now

[paxtylzuk]

   WoW!!    What an axle!

[zucruisers]

new rear axle is done, along with a few other things...i'll get some pics up soon

[zucruisers]

cell phone pics for now...



new derale trans cooler with 650 cfm fan -

taurus fan -

11"x11"x1.5" steering cooler -

pass side grab handle -

[zucruisers]

we ran 1 lap of the rcrocs race event this past saturday(8 laps, 8.5 miles each ), the rig was working great and was even pretty quick, but about 6 miles in, it developed a bad knock in the bottom end, possibly a spun bearing...i didnt want to make a mess and completely destroy the engine so i called it quits after limping it back to the pits

so now im trying to decide if i should fix the 1.6, find another 1.6, or try to afford the 2.0 that i really want, along with maybe swapping in a 4spd auto for a bit more speed

if someone had sold me a low mileage engine like i was promised this might not have happened , but since this one has over 165k on it the bearings might have had some wear on them, so it was disappointing to not get to run more of the race, but i wasnt surprised when it happened

[Freebird01]

If you decide to go 2.0 and not use that turbo let me know I got a new toy so we may be able to some horse tradin;)

[zucruisers]

right before the race line-up -


at the start line, waiting for the flag to drop, i lined up with a healthy 5.3L V8 powered buggy ...and behind me was the race winner erik miller, in his recently purchased twisted customs koh racer, with about 500 hp -