Well thanks to some good weather, good timing with the sled break down, and with getting my shop in order...I finally got to work on the Rotax Buggy this weekend. Will be a slow-go, but it's on the priority list! =)
Accomplishments:
1. Got the gearbox (from Nelly), axles, and rear suspension on (note the new Fox 9.0 shocks!).
2. Dropped the
Engine in the cradle to see what I could see.
3. Swapped the 580 SeaDoo intake/carb onto my Engine. It's literally bolt off, and bolt on. Will need to be re-jetted, obviously.
Learned pretty much exactly what the previous folks learned when they dropped their 470 Rotax into their FL350R frame; nothing new here.....
- Amazing how much you can strip off the Engine. There's a lot of extra mass in mounts, etc for the sled that you don't need for a buggy.
- It doesn't fit! Will require some frame adjustments in order to fit the fatty TRA clutch and the pull starter. Will make my own Engine mount plate to fit the stock mounts. Will have to carve out at least one section of tube (both sides) and brace. This will be a combination of tubing and medium sheet (for armor). I can gain plenty of room on the clutch side by swapping the TRA with a 94c, to where I wouldn't have to modify any chassis on that side, but we'll see how it goes. Plan is to keep the Engine as low as possible in the chassis. The farr-offroad.com guy makes mounts for this swap, but his design lifts the Engine pretty high to get the dual-carbs above the gearbox. IMO...too high, plus I don't have the dual carbs!
- Electric start has to be re-located. Thought maybe I could fit-up an FL350R starter, but its made to sping the opposite direction. But since so much of the sled bolt-ons can be removed off the Engine, it'd be easy to relocate the starter to the exhaust side of the Engine. Seems the guy from Farr-Offroad.com did the same thing with his FL470. I shall do the same. But in order to get the starter where it needs to go and leave room for the y-pipe, I'll need to replace the coolant pump cover with a side hose barb instead of up/down barb. Found one for $8 and its on its way.
- The exhaust will have to be re-worked. The stock y-pipe is made for a sled chassis -- not a buggy. So it will need to be shortened and turned. Pipe will need to be reworked as well to accept the modified y-pipe as well as fit/mount in the buggy. Fortunately, I've read this Engine is very pipe-forgiving. Both the pipe and y-pipe are abundant and cheap, so chopping it up won't be a problem.
- Dual carbs take up a tremendous amount of space. The seadoo intake...God, I hope it works because it seems to be the exact thing the buggy swap needs! Not sure if I'll keep the oil pump or block it off and switch to mix (?).
As you can see, I've got my work cut-out for me for the Engine. That's my focus. Once the Engine fits, I'll get to the peripherals and then to front suspension. Front suspension will be either [1] LT500R a-arms/spindles/brakes/Fox-Air, or [2] custom from scratch.
Stay tuned...