Sabretooth rolling spectacularly, repair advice needed.

[ANDRECHT]

Today we put our Suzuki 750cc Powered Sabretooth to the ultimate test....the roll crash test!!
Thankfully I am particular about safety, so I installed a proper 5-point harness and always ride with a proper helmet.
Walked away from the crash unscathed, but the buggy frame did not end-up very well.
Here is a video from the crash:
http://youtu.be/cexuUg5KXLY

Any suggestions on repairing the damage?

[entropy]

Originally Posted by ANDRECHT

Any suggestions on repairing the damage?

More triangulation...

[TheBandit]

It's hard to tell the damage from the video, but in a similar repair on a friend's similarly-designed buggy, we cut it off at the waistline and replaced the upper cage section. He used it quite a bit after, but we never "tested" the repaired cage. Looking at the last images in the video it seems you might be able to cut off the "A-pillar" tubes at the dash bar, the "B-pillar" tubes where they they meet the waistline tube and the "C-pillar" / rear downtubes wherever they meet the end/rear of the cage, though it's hard for me or anyone else on the internet to judge the extent of the damage. Based on the image in 0:19, it looks like you don't have much head clearance with the helmet on, so I would suggest rebuilding it a little taller this time and try to make some kind of a hoop or diagonal around or just behind the driver. Looks like it did it's job though and that's the important thing.

[ANDRECHT]

After reassessing the damage this morning, it seems that i will have to replace the entire frame from the waist line upwards. I was hoping to just straiten out the frame, but the rear engine mounts are integrated with the two parallel pipes running to the rear, which have shifted 1/2" to the left.

Appreciate the advice.

[ANDRECHT]

Ok, stopped at CRD (corporate racing developments) today and chatted to a very friendly gentleman by the name of Arnold.
He proposed to straighten the the frame and replace the kinked tubes. Additionally he suggests that I install a roll-bar behind the seat made from 1' chrome-molly tube mounted directly to the bottom sub-frame independent from the top half of the frame..

Ill take the trailer around tomorrow for a "rough" estimate....
My wife is pretty peeved as it is about my "childish" hobby, hoping Arnold understands my "situation", and is kind with his estimation......

[ANDRECHT]

http://youtu.be/_QO4VRj6swU

After an extensive repairs to the roll-cage, basically a complete replacement, and modifications to the suspension, fuel supply and sprocket ratios...This is the final product.
Modifications include: New fuel tank mounted behind the seat, now pumping fuel to a intermediate tank, with return.
Modifying the seat mounts & lowering the seating position.
Widening the entire unit by adding extensions to the A-arm mounts.
Moving the battery as far forward as possible.
New sprocket ratios.
The aim was to lower the overall center of gravity, and increase riding stability.
The 15/48 sprockets replaced with a custom 14/57!!!! An bigger gear ratio now giving 28% more torque, and 100% more fun in the corners.

Will upload more videos of the day later this week.

[IceFyre13th]

looks like all your tires on the left should be on the right.........

[bullnerd]

Lower seat/headroom looks much better.

Your shocks and the way they are mounted are really limiting your cars potential!

Nice buggy.

Have you been to minibuggy.net ? Lots of info there.

[jhovel]

Originally Posted by ANDRECHT

....
My wife is pretty peeved as it is about my "childish" hobby, ......

Just ask her: "remind me again, what was it about me that made you want to marry me?"

I hate hearing about relationships which start off because a girl is totally enthralled with the 'wild' or 'thrilling' hobbies we have - and set about extinguishing that spirit. Only a few years later to say dumb things like "you used to be such an exciting person to be with and now you are boring...."