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nobggrnchvy Goatbuilt Ibex

205 teardown/cleanup/cutoffdisc assault/weldyweldy/tape+paint.

Baring some bearings I'll rebuild it and marry the ORD Magnum to it next.

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FYI, cheap ultrasonic cleaners are awesome. I bought this one for all the little carburetors that argue with CA gas and it cleans them up with a quickness. It does the same with greasy transfer case parts. 140°F, 50/50 Simple Green/H2O, 5-10 minutes of ultrasonic party time and they come out looking really good.

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thanks bud, i did get one of the ultrasonic cleaners and they work like a charm...:beer::beer::beer::beer:
 
man i never had good luck with the cheap unit. 3 HF ones never did work, tried a ebay one and a couple surplus ebay units and meh. Finally was able to trade one of the ebay unit into to the manufacture (had a failure that they said they could repair or offered a trade in value) to upgrade and it works much better.
 
man i never had good luck with the cheap unit. 3 HF ones never did work, tried a ebay one and a couple surplus ebay units and meh. Finally was able to trade one of the ebay unit into to the manufacture (had a failure that they said they could repair or offered a trade in value) to upgrade and it works much better.

The Amazon special above is still kicking. I have found a lot of things that I can shuffle through it to save time. The bottom of the stainless pan is showing some rust however.
 
Lots of things in the works, but not a whole lot of things happening currently.

I modeled up the rear (incorrectly, inside to inside and outside to outside are different :shaking:) and had Jason @ECAutoandIronFabrication shoot out some upper shock mounts and a gas tank mount. The plate he ordered was P&O, but by the time it showed up in mill scale they needed to get cut. More work prepping for sure.

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Upper shock mounts fit perfect, really happy there. I do not however see myself doing anymore laminated construction garbage, what a time suck. Side plates should have been straight 1/4" A36 and an 1/8" bridge over the top. Oh well, I'm learning.

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The problem is with the gas tank mount. When you draw the vertical tubes as 3.5" closer together than they are because you thought your inside to inside measurement was your outside to outside, the tube reliefs are all messed up and the rosette holes are in the wrong spot, sigh. Fixable, cut up some filler plates, a 1/4" aluminum backing bar and some time with the welder and were fixed. Some more time drill new holes and I'm ready to weld it all together, yay.

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#dimpledietheworld It might be the mid-late 2000s 20 year old on PBB I used to be, but I love the look and feel of useful dimpled holes. The Funbuggy was a favorite. There will be many more holes in this chassis future.
 
a 1” tube of some plate work to the b-pillar would help keep that thing in place. your are relying on a few inches of weld to keep things in place.
To be fair, that's all this whole thing is doing.

I will stare at it some more.
 
205 teardown/cleanup/cutoffdisc assault/weldyweldy/tape+paint.

Baring some bearings I'll rebuild it and marry the ORD Magnum to it next.

20220319_132913.jpg
20220319_142350.jpg
20220319_160710.jpg
20220320_133338.jpg
20220320_142012.jpg
20220320_182220.jpg

FYI, cheap ultrasonic cleaners are awesome. I bought this one for all the little carburetors that argue with CA gas and it cleans them up with a quickness. It does the same with greasy transfer case parts. 140°F, 50/50 Simple Green/H2O, 5-10 minutes of ultrasonic party time and they come out looking really good.

20220320_143501.jpg
20220320_180534.jpg
thanks for the tip on ultrasonic cleaner. i cleaned up some of my 205 tcase this past weekend also. same parts actually. lol
 
Since it has been 7 months, maybe I should update this?

Life got in the way, had to gut and remodel a bathroom, do some major changes to the Dodge, holidays, vacation, work, etc.

I've been stabbing at this when I can and am finally starting to get back on a roll.

The current project(s) is to get the fuel cell mounted and the rear suspension done. To get that rolling I made some PVC mockup links for the rear to work out the bumpstops. Since I wanted bypasses in the rear, bumpstops no longer fit where they are supposed to so I have to design a solution.

With the links figured, I built the uppers (1-1/2" .12w), the lowers will have to wait until I confirm lengths on the front as they will be ordered (2" .25w 4130HT) so lets pay shipping once. No pictures, because, well I forgot.

At least I can bump to droop and flex it in between to see where everything fits.
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Before making the bump pads, I had to figure out a way to mount the bump cans. I drew about 3 iterations until I just decided to see what I could find. Sure enough WOD had a simple kit that I could add a little bit to. They fit together well, but the actual job of fitting up was a pain. A slug of 2" .25w mockup for the stop well and I had a drop of 1-3/4" that stood in for the frame. Then I proceeded to cook them and prove welding is a perishable skill.

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I honed out the ID after burning them together so the bumpstops still slid in nicely.

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For the bump pads, enter CardboardAD.

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A little magic dust and a change or two.

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Bumps fit, the last part of the puzzle was snugly fitting the rear sway bar. RJ Anti-Rock was pre-designed in from Goatbuilt at the frame side. That fit very nicely. The axle side, I had to some tab making, but I got it very tight and it clears without binding or going over center at droop.

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Thus closes this episode of 10lbs of cr@p in a 5lb bag.

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We will pick back up soon with how to add too many dimples and tie down a fuel cell at the same time because some of us are stuck in 2005 :flipoff2:

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I needed to mount the fuel cell and while a couple straps or pieces of angle and some threaded would suffice, I couldn't get myself to do it. I wanted to integrate as much in the way of common mounting points to unitize the rear and add some cohesiveness. I took measurements and drew up a solution I think I liked. The side plates tie into the vertical tube towards the front with a cross drilled and sleeved hole (yet to be added), the base plate the fuel cell fits on, and the support rails for the rear area sheet metal (yet to be added) while also mounting through fuel cell can.

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I sent the flat patterned files to EC Auto and Iron Fab and Jason shot them out on his plasma and was kind enough to bend up the 14ga on his brake. Biggest brake I have access to is 24" and these parts are ~27" long sadly. After a little work with the surfacing disc, they were ready to form.

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I was about 4 dimples in when my compressor started hissing and I lost pressure. The pressure switch diaphragm wore through and killed the air over hydro ram on the press. Hand pumping the press ram makes you appreciate every dimple a little more I think.

After that I burned formed ends together, added a front to back dead stop that also stiffens the front mount tab and then added some weld washers to the main bolt holes to reinforce the 14ga. I test fit them, and found I had to make a modification in the rear to fit the vertical tubes on the chasses, but then they dropped right on. The space at the mating flange of the upper and lower fuel cell shell currently being taken up by washers will get a turned full diameter spacer. I just need to get the upper fuel cell mount full mounted and tightened down to see how it affects the distance there.

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I started making the angle support rails to mount the very rear of the fuel cell mounts, but for some reason have lost my tube notcher, so instead I spent the day mirroring the bump pad/bump can mount and sway bar to the driver side. Hoping to get some work on finishing the fuel cell mounts next weekend.
 
I was out on vacation the last few weeks, but I did manage to make some progress just prior. I finished mounting the fuel cell, the only part left is the cooler rack over the top to come in future.

I took a piece of 1-1/2" .095w box and cut/coped it to fit and burned it in to act as a secondary plan to clamp to. At the same time I laid out some holes, cross drilled the vertical tubes and welded in sleeves to receive 3/8" bolts which capture the front of the upper fuel cell mounts.

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Those in I drew the parts I wanted to lock in the backside. These 4 parts capture both the fuel cell mounts and will act as the middle supports for the rear sheet metal.

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Parts came in and got dimpled, had rivnuts added for future sheet metal and got burned together.

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Then they slid into place, got marked for level/plumb and clearance and got burned in themselves.

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There is not a lot of clearance.

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But I am pretty pleased with how the system came out.

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Need to finish burning in the other side, then time to pull the rear axle out for bump pad and sway bar mount weld out.
 
I keep running into situations where the regular standby pipe jacks are difficult to use to adjust buggy height. The adjuster spins in axis with the support leg, so you need to make sure you have clearance, but the legs spread out so much at the bottom putting two next to each other in the width of the buggy is difficult.

Somebody, who I wish I could recall, showed me this kit Brennan Metcalf makes called the Tauler Jack. It converts a trailer tongue jack into a Hi-Lift of sorts.

Tauler Jack

So I ordered the kit and Curt jack, stripped the paint off the jack on one side, prepped the precut pieces and fit it together, burned it in, and gave it a coat of paint. It's already been very useful in the garage and I think I'll make a mount for it on the buggy in lieu of the old Hi-Lift from the Chevy.

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Separately I got all the pieces I needed to finally finish the transfer case assembly, the output housing. You may remember this transfer case had no output housing, shaft or associated low gear. I sourced a used low gear and bearings from Torque King and then got this beautiful piece from Northwest FabWorks.

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It does 4 things:
-Shortens overall length
-Provides a 1-3/4" 34 spline output shaft that is supported by 2 tapered roller bearings (instead of a single ball bearing like stock)
-Converts the output to a flange yoke (easily done stock, but its included)
-Converts the speedo to GM VSS

So, output received, I installed the low gear with it's 64 individual roller elements which made me appreciate cartridge bearings so much.

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Then I got to install the individual rollers in the output itself that align with the input shaft. Another pain in the neck of 40's tech.

Finally with too many types of lube/sealant/thread locker it all got assembled one last time.

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Back to the chassis, insert current overall picture:

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I added two more tubes in the back to protect the larger fuel tank from driver error. It's just so snug, any rock deciding to play a little pookaboo is going to ruin the day. Later a thin aluminum panel will bolt across to protect the open areas a bit.

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The rear axle has since been pulled out, again. I've been cooking it with the tig welding out all the added brackets and I need to go back and add the bolt hole doubler plates I neglected before.
 
That 205 output is sick. I wish it was available years ago, it sure would have made my rear driveshaft angles better. I have used several transfercase parts from NWF over the years. They make really nice parts. I like that it has a VSS provision too. The Dakota Digital setup I have works fine, but I had to swap in a later speedo nut that uses seals on the speedo drive to eliminate the gear oil leaking out of the sensor.
 
That 205 output is sick. I wish it was available years ago, it sure would have made my rear driveshaft angles better. I have used several transfercase parts from NWF over the years. They make really nice parts. I like that it has a VSS provision too. The Dakota Digital setup I have works fine, but I had to swap in a later speedo nut that uses seals on the speedo drive to eliminate the gear oil leaking out of the sensor.

Exactly where I was at. It has a lot of benefits all wrapped up in one. This chassis wasn't designed for this long of a drive train, so shaving a little was required. Face to output flange is only 15" now.

This build is bitchin !
Love the 100% TIG.

Thank you.

If only I could get my wife on board with the fact that TIG is worth the extra time it all takes. She just wants to get back to wheeling.
 
I am still alive. Spent last summer building an outdoor space at the wife's request and my dad died pretty suddenly late last year but I am righting the ship and we are headed in the right direction again here.

Engine got a genIV manifold because I needed injectors (they were all stuck) and I found the whole thing for cheaper than injectors alone. I also stabbed in a mild Truck Norris cam with some upgraded rockers, springs, and pushrods. I splurged on a timing set it didn't need, replaced the cam thrust plate, put on some LS3 manifolds to fit the GoatBuilt exhaust and I'm sure some other stuff I can't remember.

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With my dad's passing I inherited a 3D printer. I printed a clip for the MAP sensor to retain it without the cover.
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Utilizing the hoist and using the upper cage as a block I lifted the t-case in and married it to an 80e mockup case. There's a Maximum Ultra 4 4l80e and converter sitting in a crate at work to replace it when the time comes. The good news it all seems to fit, snuggly, but well.

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I went back and forth to support the middle span from the GM adapter or the Magnum flange and decided to spend more time than I should have an build a small frame that integrated both to a single bushing. The 205 tail shaft is also getting a support straight down to a bushing so there isn't a moment working against the back of the 80 tail housing and hopefully doesn't concentrate torsional stress there as well.

Tried to reuse the opposite tranny bushing from GoatBuilt, but the ears are a little short and it will bottom out. Going to have to redesign that side of it and integrate it into the tubular crossmember. Waiting for the engine to go in and everything to mate up before I spend more time worrying about it.

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Last update is the motor mounts, crossmember and oil pan skid are installed and ready for me to drop the engine into it. Just have to figure out how I am going to lift it as the hoist in the shop is 4' off center of the engine bay. Might need to borrow the mini excavator.

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What trans tabs did you need that were too short?

Sorry to hear about your Dad, but glad you are back on this thing.
Thanks.

I tried to invert the universal transmission mount, nothing you guys did wrong, it just wasn't designed for it. Likely I'll trim off the bushing mount from the flat plate that bolts tot he transmission adapter and extend the length with some box tube or similar.
 
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