Add one PL Comp buggy, one engineer, a TIG welder and some stainless...

[SHEPPO3930]

G'day all,

It's been suggested i post up what i've been toying around with lately, so below is a little story about how i have modified my PL Comp, and what's planned for the future. It's a long read but for some this may be interesting.

Got bored with my PL Comp, for a number of reasons:

- i'm 6'4" and even with the extra long PL down tube, i was cramped up riding it

- the seat was too close to the rear axle, thus when the power came on the back end would slide out

- standard front caster wasn't enough, steering was twitchy at speed

- wheel base wasn't long enough for speed runs, thus twitch at speed

- side rails weren't high enough, no support when loaded up with kite out to the side

- poor back support due to low side rails.

So wanting all these "issues" eliminated, Nigel and I got to work on measuring up his Libre Full Race, and my PL Comp, and we came up with a solution that may solve alot of the above listed.

I've constructed a "swan neck" style down tube, with 25deg of caster, and made the rear section perfectly parallel with the ground. By doing this i've now altered the side rail angles, making the front junction point lower, and kicking up the rears.

Now with the side rails up higher, they needed to be extended to meet the axle. I took this chance to lengthen the wheel base also. Machined up the extensions from some Ø25.00mm round bar, made them about 360mm long, and reduced 80mm of it down to Ø22.20mm and pushed it into the existing side rail... this will be welded up with a butt weld and a few plug welds, and will be BLOODY strong. NOTE: round bar is over kill, but it was free and i already had some in the saw at work, so hence why i've used it.

I fitted the seat after work, and WALLA! for the first time i'm actually in a buggy and not all cramped up. For an outlay of $0.00, and about 2 hours of my time, i've got a buggy that has eliminated all the current issues i had with my PL Comp when it was in it's original form.

The whole time my apprentice, Mack, was on hand to help (re: get in the way) wherever possible, and decided he would join me in testing how strong it was. I was bouncing up and down in the seat, noting the flex in the frame (amazingly not that much!), when he jumped in to join me. 93kg of me, 21kg of him, total 114kg!

Overall, the buggy is fairly well balanced in terms of lengths, especially for my tall, lanky frame. Below are some basic specs:

- 1600mm wheelbase

- 1600mm rear track

- 25deg of caster (front)

- ~1000mm from my harness hook to the center of each wheel

Corner weights with me (93kg) sitting in the buggy with no added ballast (yet):

- Front Wheel = 42kg

- RHS Rear Wheel = 37kg

- LHS Rear Wheel = 37kg

- Buggy = 23kg

Hope this will help some fellow PL buggy owners, and stay tuned, i'm going to be fitting my own design steering dampening system, making adjustable rear camber blocks that will mount to the standard rear PL axle, a GPS mount, side rail bracing & back rest, and fitting a new seat.

Lastly, i'll take this chance to mention the PL Comp is a fantastic entry level and intermediate buggy. For the price it'll do any beginner proud and serve you well for many, many sessions. Mine has lasted me 3 years with no bolts bending/breaking, no broken welds, no failures of any kind apart from 1 set of bearings after 12 months of ownership.... oh and a 80+km/h top speed. I rate it highly for a first buggy, but for more serious work, you may need to modify it like i have, or buy a race-spec buggy like a Libre for example.

Enjoy

[nigel]

Looks great Dave!!!!

As you say the PL buggy is a good Buggy, it just needs new side rails and down tube to make it better.

PL just need to make these items and bang! you've got a better buggy for little outlay.

Now if the brains at PL are listening, Dave and I want some commision if you do this!

(not that they are listening, they have their fingers in other pies )

I think one free ARC each per season will just be enough?

You'll need a new seat too:p

On further thought Dave, as this a MKI PL comp, you might want to think about putting in a backrest/bar to stop the side rails flexing?

[Gog]

Thats awesome sheppo!!! The most pimped out PL i've ever seen. The PL Full Race.

You just need some siderail padding, a mud flap dover to keep the sand out of your eyes and a brace across the siderails to make it super stiff.

Excellent workmanship. You cant tell that its not a standard design. PL should take a leaf out of your book. $100-200 dollars of parts and labour, and you turn an excellent entry level bug into something that wouldn't look out of place next to a purpose built race bug.

Nice. Very nice.

Gog.

[.Joel]

Nice work there dave!

That would have to be the best improvements i've ever seen on a PL buggy. Now the question is, will it still fit on the back of Gav's hilux ?

Regards,

.Joel

[popeyethewelder]

Hi Dave....I see you have found the joys of making a buggy to suit you and your needs....well done

25 degree forks is what I set mine too, I have found after many different trials seems to be the best angle, nothing wrong with solid bar either weight for you as it is me is not an issue, as the more weight the more power you can hold and the straighter you will run. A friend of mine beefed up his Radsail Buggy....nothing major and done 53.6mph, he often beats the race guys in his little buggy, and is often known as the Rocket man...

You have done a real good upgrade on that buggy, the first thing I noticed was there was no back rest, and then saw other had all ready mentioned this fact, by adding the backrest, and it needn't be a high one, in fact lower the better IMHO, you will not only be able to brace yourself hard against it but it will also add a tremendous ammount of strength to your buggy.

If you are against a back rest as they are not everyones cup of tea, I would add a cross bracing like on the xxracers etc.

Once again top marks, and I look forward to hearing on how much better it performs.

Carl

[SHEPPO3930]

thanks for the comments guys. few things to add...

- a back rest is on the cards, but only AFTER i get the new seat so i know where to position it.

- mud guard is under construction, but i'm not happy with it so i'm going to try something different

- side rail padding hasn't been fitted for these pics as it would hide what i've done

stay tuned, more to come over the following days/weeks

[lickedysplit_au]

Lookin great there Sheppo - Fire off PL an email with your Mods, I am sure they would love to see what you have achieved.

[JKS]

Very Nice indeed

I see you have put in the time and it shows in the finished product.

Nice work Sir

[sinbad]

Top stuff sheppo, when do you start making the bits for all us with no tools and welders

Good job, would be interested in hearing how it performed. Just don't let Nigel in it or he will fall out again

[howie]

Looking good sheppo. What are you going to do with your old seat when you get the new one. I might be interested.

[Goz]

Nice work Sheppo, that's got to be the longest PL buggy I have ever seen.

Pity PL doesn't do more in the way of development with their buggies there's a whole market segment they are missing out there with higher performance buggies.

[SHEPPO3930]

The standard seat isn't deep enough, i'd recomend the PL deluxe seat, or somthing better again like the Libre V-maxx or Full Race seats, they're the go!

Thanks for the comments, more to come soon.

[.Joel]

Nice air forks howie, where can I get a set ?

You're all coming out of the closet with your home built buggies now I'm loving them! If you're after a decent seat Dave take a look at buggybags.co.uk as John builds them all to spec, and has quite a range for people building their own buggies. Have a look about 1/5th down the front page.

Regards,

.Joel

[JKS]

I can definitely vouch for Jon. He makes a good quality kit indeed, I am ordering a few of them myself in the very near future. I am getting complete kits ……. Seat/Side rail covers/Back rest cover and splash guard.

If anyone is in the market let me know as beefing up the numbers should help to bring the price down a bit.

Happy Days

[SHEPPO3930]

what's a seat and side rail covers worth? PM me if you dont want to disclose publically. I can provide all dimensions if needed.

[Jimmy22]

there are heaps of home builds coming out of the woodwork, good to see. I noted the front end is way heavier than the rears, adding weight to the rear would obviously help this, i generally run a COG 34%/66% weight split for even weights on all wheels eg 32 32 32kg with a 50/50 tow point, which is well balanced for lift offs and side pull.

Normally i would expect that my legs were not going to change length so therefore i set up the front end to suit my comfort and ease of steering and adjust the rear length to balance the buggy back out making the axle about 100mm shorter than the resulting wheel base e.g. the person has to comfortably steer the buggy that sets the seat to front wheel length, the rest is altered to suit. An easy way to change the wheel base is to change the angle of the tube under your armpits a wee bit, more angle makes the rear move inward for a shorter wheelbase, then just drop your seat down a bit more to get the body position lower again, which is by far the most important part e.g. Person =90kgs, buggy =23kgs so shifting your weight makes a BIG difference. Keep up the good work.

[Guest Anonymous]

if you have a sewing machine... siderail covers would be easy peasy to make, with some canvas of any design or colour that you wish... and some velcro along the length so they sucure around the padding. All they are is a sock basically with a bit of elastic in each end to pull them snug around the tubing

[JKS]

Sheppo .... you have a PM.

(Price varies a lot with exchange/qty and freight)

NAS .... absolutely, if you can make em yourself .... thats the best way.

I don't have the gear, and there is so much else on my dance card ... I have taken the easy option.

Happy Days

[Guest Anonymous]

I plan to get a dance card,, Id LOVE to learn to rock n roll dance... chicks especially love blokes who can wear em out on the dance floor first. Prollem is the way my fitness is right now, Id need a stretcher to get off the dance floor.

but back on track...

IMHO...I think if Peter Lynn was to go worrying about all these sorts of scientific tests and going into hardcore ultra pro, super serious "equipment"... it would move away from what PL is all about, and thats fun. And under the banner of fun, is their ability to produce a product at a great price, whichever product it is in the PL range. They make a go fast buggy,,, they make a shed load of buggies infact...but they all exist under the 'umbrella' of fun in typical PL style. Thats his secret of success. He's the original.

Thats why they dominate the market.

but thats just my opinion.

What Sheppo is doing is THE way to make such high grade improvements to whats already a good piece of kit, and at the same time... avoiding the high costs that come with precision high performance equipment.

keep us updated Sheppo, im intrested to see how the finished product comes up.

hmmmm... there could be a market for custom siderail padding and covers.

food for thought...

cheers,

Nas.