Mastercraft Off road project

Most racers run around 4" of clearance - even thats pretty low. If you could locate a go kart setup( hubs/wheels/brakes ) you could still keep brakes up front - you might want them when racing with others.

Its just the ease of swapping setups out when either racing or running around - i suppose its why i chose to stick with golf kart 4 bolt rims/hubs- its universal and a simple wheel swap.

I think youre limited on tire size with atv stuff on how low of profile you can go - i noticed that when i got some ATV wheels, theyre a 9" rim up front - my rear wooley booger 8" ATV wheels actually have a golf kart rim on them.

my fronts are 10 inch, In order to run a smaller rim, I'd have to remove the caliper and disc. I'm looking at modifying a smaller rim to slip on the spindle, with out the ATV hub.

More pics

Got a bit of work done. Finished the assembly of the chain guard, Need to clean up the edges and polish it a bit,






Building a new exhaust for it. The tubing is well over sized so I should have some good flow. I have a spark arrestor to go on the end for some backpressure.




Installed the brake master cylinder and reservoir brackets.



And the reservoir for the rear shock. Once I take it apart for finish welding and paint. I can weld the tabs up completely.


Building the battery box. It'll be a pain to change batteries, but I simplified nose removal as much as I can so its only three bolts, I was hoping to use a small car battery but there just wasn't enough room. As it is, I have to notch out some of the sheet metal between the headlights. It will be coverd by a smoked plexi cover over the headlights.


I had to notch the angle for access to the front a-arm bolts

Cleaned out a corner of the shop for new tractor, Hope it gets here soon.

Easier way to make the hood removeable is to weld a couple bolts to the chassis - drill them out for pins- couple rubber washers would keep it from moving around .

The way its set up now is spin off two nuts, and pull 3 bolts and the whole front clip comes off. I'm still thinking about a one piece tilt front end, but i'll have to think on it some more.

Time to post some new pics....

Got a gas pedal

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Cut down a motorcycle cable to go to the carb. Has a nice smooth easy movement, but needs a stiffer spring.

The honda clone still has the governor till I see how it runs.



Got it all stripped down, and rolled over for some welding in a few hard to reach spots. Getting it ready for last minute fab work, and frame paint.



Working on some brakes.
Using the stock brake pedal and shaft, with custom made linkage to the master cyclinder. The Rear brake system was removed from the quad withhout loosening any fittings. I don't even need to bleed them. The rear brake is a hydraulic 9" disc.
The red parts are stock. Custom stuff is all 1/4" plate steel, Pins will be 1/4" gr8 bolts.
I cut the factory plates off the shaft, and smoothed it down so I could slip 1" x 5/8" DOM tubing over the shaft. I made some 1/4" plates and drilled some 5/8" holes in them. I put a plate and a short piece of tube on a stub shaft for alignment. I welded them together, and drilled 1/4" holes for the linkage. The DOM tube bushings are drilled throught the shaft for 1/4" gr8 bolts. All bolts will have a solid shoulder so there are no threads at the bearing surfaces. It will wear eventually, but it will be a simple fix.
Been putting some primer on the frame too, i hate bare steel.




Its only got rear brakes right now. I need to roll it over and figure out something to do with a motorcycle style front master cylinder, for my front brakes to work off the same shaft. I'm thinking of removing the lever and handlebar clamp, and bolting the MC to the frame, actuating it off a pushrod from the brake pedal shaft.







All the parts are still rough steel. Corners will be smoothed etc, when I start the finish process. Right now the idea is to get it right. Tear it down, and put it together painted.

Some really nice work here, way above most of the mower builds I see. Not so much of a woods or mud machine, but should be very cool, smooth, and fast. Looks bullet proof on the design.

Are you running a dual jackshaft? Looks like an extra gear on shaft in some of the pics.

You have your gearing figured out for top speed?

It runs a single jackshaft.

It should be OK in the woods, not really good for deep mud, I will have the air filter up pretty high for water crossings, It should be fast and stable at speed, and small to moderate jumps should be manageable

With the 28" tires at 3800 rpm it is geared for 75+

I'll be running 18.5s when its done., which will get it down to about 55 and up the acceleration, and its doubtful I'd get 3800 rpm out of, apparently most of the clones we get here max out at 3200

Been a while since I added any pics.

I've been working on a combination front bumper mount and rock (skid)rail. It will serve as a front bumper mount, rock rail, lower a-arm mount gusset, and rear brake linkage protector





And I can even get the sheetmetal off, LOL, after a quick trim.

Now that I have 95% of the frame done, I've got to start looking at paint options.

Also will need to buy tires soon. If I want to race for prizes here.

I found Turf tires that will fit the front for racing, but I've been screwd on the rear. I can run ag tires, but i can't get them in my size, so I may have to find an atv tire with an sorta ag pattern and shave the extra bits off.


Otherwise. The OL gets a new set on the ass of her quad, and I steal hers.

Nice work - its best to take your time and do it right like you are- if rushed something might be forgotten and youd have problems.

OK

Finished up the frame fab. No more welding on it.

Hacked a ATV front master cyclinder to work off of the same brake pedal as the rear brakes.

I now have disc brakes all around.

I made the linkage for the front MC adjustable so I can change the brake bias.



Now I can strip it down, and start painting.
Paint is slow this time of year since I can't open up the doors, so 1 piece a night is about all I can expect. Unless it gets really warm for a day or two.

If you have a 4 shocks laying around, build a crash box, this thing is amazing crashes, it's basically a front bumper, attached to 4 (or more) shocks so when you hit something you basically bounce off

I'll have to think on that. I want to be able to ride over rocks and trees.

I have a good collection of old mountain bike shocks. as well as springs of various dimension and strength.

If your considering it, there's a car that's discontinued, but you can still look it up, go to YouTube and look up gum pert Apollo s auto vista fora 4 should be under the hood.

Finally read through all of this, looks real good Chopperhed!

Any new progress?

Its torn Down For paint.

The frame got 2 coats of tremclad black, over tremclad primer, with 2 coats of tremclad goss clear.

Working on painting the front suspension now, I'll post a few pics soon.

looks like its coming along just great! is that all u have to do to her now is just paint and put back togather?

@THE MTD GUY wrote:

looks like its coming along just great! is that all u have to do to her now is just paint and put back togather?

Basically, I'll have to do electrical, and buy/build a fuel tank, but thats about it.

This will be one of the pro builds. Someone who has the time and money to build these things up "Right". I can't wait to see how this turns out.

looks like a wheelie king mower

Painted frame



Front Shocks. Dis assembled and painted



Rear Shock disassembled and painted




Rear Shock Linkage

Looks good.
I like how the frame turned out.

Various parts, rear brake rotor, sprocket, axle adjusters, brake shaft brackets, etc.



Swingarm



Rear axle assemble in primer, thats as far as I could get it apart, with out a lot of work. its worn, but serviceable. To be honest, i bought the quad originally hoping the arse end was in decent shape. Its not, all the splines and hubs are shot.

for the Red you just used the tremclad rust paint and clear coat? looks pretty cool.

I use tremclad on the frame. Primer. black , and clear

The red is obtained with Duplicolor aluminum High performance wheel paint, with a coat of clear, and duplicolor Metalcast Red, over top with an additional coat of clear. Everything is laid over Tremclad Primer or sometimes I'll use the Rust-Check primer



I like the wheel paint becuase it dries with a shimmery look as opposed to metal flake. A coat of clear really helps to bring it out.

http://www.carid.com/universal-paint/dupli-color-high-perfomance-product-4014568.html
The Red and Purple so far have given me pretty good results. I think the next custom project I do, I'll try the blue
http://www.carid.com/universal-paint/dupli-color-high-perfomance-product-4014530.html