I know we have touched on this in the past but since my daughters Ody is finished i thought i might take a stab at trying to recreate that 2 seater Ody we have all seen that was wearing the :Pilot plastics. I have had a 350 Ody frame for well over a year that I couldn't even give away so it will be the victim of this experiment. It was used and abused so I don't really feel too bad about cutting it up. My gaol is to keep the stock rear suspension so I don't have to deal with building axles, plus with the tail end stock, everything will just be a bolt one and go. I got ambitious and drug the frame around and chopped it up for mock up. I just used some conduit to figure out the width, I will go buy some tubing next week and try & start on the fab work.

here are a few pics of the Ody I am trying to recreate..

I can hear Baz now......The steering wheel is on the wrong side!

I am really going to pay close attention to this one!

Rand

will be interesting. i will be watching this build

Very cool that should be able to easily accept a snowmobile Engine with the extra width?

Love the idea of installation of sled motor (( Internal Combustion Engine ? ))!
Great build, I too will watch this too with much interest!!

I love this stuff.

Now this is what I should do with my extra FL350 frame!

Subscribed...

You have to put Ody plastic on it though!

Rand

Great project!

Since it's cut anyways, move the rear clip back 6". This will give you more room for sled Engine exhaust, and a little smoother ride with the added wheelbase.

Thanks guys it should be a fun build, I love doing stuff like this. My goal is to get the chassis built and then I will strip down my other 350 and bolt everything onto this 2 seater frame to get it going. Once we get a chance to ride it some and if it handles well I may start to look for a donor sled Engine. My whole goal behind this is to have a way for me or my wife to take our 6 year old down into the Rio Puerco when we all go riding as a family with a buggy that has enough power to hit some of the sand hills.

That is a good idea about stretching it 6 inches, I was thinking 3, but 6 will even be easier to do IMO when reattaching the rear section back on, plus it would give me a little more leg room. I will use my 350 plastic, well at least the 4 fenders anyway. My Ody has a nice foot tub and I don't want to hack it up to use on this. Most likely, I'll just build a floor out of some sheet metal and then maybe make a hood & some side panels from roll plastic.

Awesome. Take tons if pics, man!

Very cool.
Yours looks a bit wider than the "original" one based on the distance between the seats and side rail.

Wow. Very cool! I want one! How about a rarerat subforum. You do some awesome stuff.

One thing to consider on how wide you go...that magic trail limit on width so you can take it places...check your favorite riding areas to see what they allow for width if you haven't already...

This thread can not move along faster. I think I checked back about 20 times to see if there was any updates. No rush but I know I for one want to see this thing happen. Keep us updated andgood luck.

Thanks guys.

I never made it to town today, I am also out of gas for my welder so I will try and run tomorrow morning.

2nd. I need one of these so the lady can ride along too!

Updates??? <scratching my beard like a crack-addict>

My extra FL350R frame is calling me, texting me, and sending me Morse Code messages telling me to follow suit and make 'er a double-wide. LOL And then there's a local guy with a couple of Arctic Cat 580cc two-up powerplants, one EFI and one carb, with all the fixin's for $400 & $300, resp.

Only thing that concerns me is the additional weight on the stock gearbox & axles, plus more power form a bigger Engine. You're talking another 100# of steel / Engine and a 110-200# passenger. WOT (Wide Open Throttle) with good hook-up, and you can kiss your stock splines goodbye. I assume you have some beefing up in mind, or else this may be just a novelty cruiser rather than a high performance 2-seater?

Following closely...

If done with thought I bet you could make it a 2 seater by adding less than 15 lbs of steel, then weight of second seat and passenger, all the rest of the weight would be the same as added to a Pilot or Odyssey that you did a Engine swap on.

A FL350 Engine would easily pull the 2 seater.

Drive line has proven to be rock solid on these I would not worry about it.

When I did my Engine swap into my Pilot adding the 440 sled Engine I kept track of the weight added and removed I added about 8 lbs, my complete 440 Engine weighs about 3 lbs more than the complete Honda Engine.

I could probably remove about another 2-3 lbs if I refined my mounts and brackets slightly, I over built them so I did not have to worry about them in the future.

Other thoughts
My Polaris RZR's is rated at like 45 hp, the RZR claimed dry weight is 1000 lbs it pulls itself and about 400 lbs of passenger/gear weight to 63 mph easily.

Getting a FL350 Engine to make 45 hp and more torque than a RZR Engine does is easy then you have the benefit of the FL350 Engine putting 2 power pulses to the ground over the 4 stroke RZR Engine another words your putting twice as many power pulses to the ground in the same time as the 4 stroke.

Have any reservations go get a sack or bag like a pillow case, fill them with sand, weight down your Pilot or Odyssey by adding about 300 lbs take it for a ride, you will see the biggest problem will be braking since the Pilot and Odyssey tire foot print is marginal at best for braking off road, just not enough foot print to support great braking.

The standard Polaris RZR is only 50" wide, the FL350 and Pilot is 60" wide you should be able to make them 2 seat with a narrow foot print like the standard RZR just mod the cage for 2 seats, too maintain the same look as a stock machine you need to make the whole thing wider like you see done here.

Rarerat you may have started an epidemic. I think we're about to see a lot of Odysseys chopped in half following along with this thread! You've got my full attention! Very good

I agree with the above statements. Make that rear section wide as well. You will have more room and things will be easier to work on. Shoubadaba has started one of these projects as well, the thread was lost in the crash I believe. He is planning on making the whole thing wider as well as making a wider gas tank.

You know, for some reason I thought there was another double-wide project going before...

Glad to hear the stock powerplant is likely plenty-o-power for a double. Especially because I've got 1.5 engines for each one of my buggies (4 + 2 spares)!! Last thing I'd want to have to do is become an expert on another Engine type (i.e. EFI, 2-up) or make (i.e. Rotax, Arctic Cat, etc), mess with more carbs & clutches, and mothball a good working mot...(almost said it)...Engine. ;)

Ok. I'm no longer a skeptic. Now go build this thing and share your progress!!! =) I've got a couple projects to finish before I can even think about a FL350R-X2. (new model number? ha)

Didnt he get distracted by that silly Briggs built?

I can't say with 100% certainty exactly what this will turn into, maybe indeed all it will be is just a novelty cruiser. After all the one in the pictures I posted was supposed to have been a miserable failure, per the last know owner of it. My goal isn't building something to take on Baja, my goal is to build a low budget side by side for my family to go out & have fun with. IMHO, there is no possible way I am going to add anywhere near 100 lbs to it during the conversion. I want to keep the ass end the same width as a stock Ody so it can follow the same narrow trails my other Ody & Pilot run on. As for power, my wife weighs about 130 lbs My daughter maybe 60. The 350 I plan to use as a donor for the running gear hauls my fat 250 pound butt around no problem, so I don't see power really being an issue, but I guess time will tell.

I will indeed update my progress as soon as I have any. I still havn't gone to pick up any tubing yet, I've been tied up with other things all week.

Just a thought here about engines. Has anyone ever thought about an out board motor (( Internal Combustion Engine ? ))? (Boat motor (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )))
Don't they have gearboxes with reverse? Just a thought but don't know how difficult.

looking forward to this project.I always wondered how it would be if you stretched it instead of widening it,so the seating would be like a biplane