LWB RAT - bought, crashed, rebuilding..

[davydoff]

I thought it was about time I brought everyone up to date with my buggy.
About 2 years ago I was looking to get a buggy, I’ve always fancied one right form when I was a child.
So the ebay trawl started, and as luck would have it there was one for sale 15 miles down the road, so  I set off to take a look…
The buggy was a LWB RAT, I didn’t know it was a RAT, but I like the look of it and it was correctly registered as a buggy, bonus ☺
I deal was done and I was the proud owner of this. 



Heres one of it back at home


On the way home the dynamo light came on, and I started to worry what I’d bought…
However when I investigated this seemed to be the problem

so the brushes were changed and I headed for a drive, and a opertunioty for some more photos



Next up on the list of things to sort was the exhaust, the engine was popping and farting and quite difficult to drive. The problem was the cannons were very rattlely and looking at the rear J pipe not attached! 
So the buggy was shipped of the Wrexham where Leon of Alunox crafted a new one. So the rear went from this


to this



and a video

The smoke will go away and is just from the manufacturing process.

Then disaster..
In the form of a slippery righthand bend, and a tree… this was not good and the buggy was rather damaged.
The lefthand side took the impact, the gearbox nose cone was snapped, the springplate bent and the chassis dented.





So the rebuilding process would start, with the help of Fran and his brother Mark we stripped the buggy back to get a better idea of the damage.


one broken nose cone


Thanks to David (manxdavid) I had a new nose cone and a gasket set


one bent spring plate


Luckily I had a set of adjustable springplates in the garage, so on these went


The axel tubes and axel didn’t escape damage so this needed changing too

after much messing about trying to remove the big circlip to change the axel and tube it was done and the gear box was sent off for soda blasting to clear 40 years of crud off it.




Next up was a look at the chassis
Here was the impact

so the dented bit was cut out

and a new bit tacked in


next the pan was treated to rust protector



and painted with expoxy mastic 121



a couple of little repairs will be needed


The gearbox was primed

and painted


and re fitted



Then just what you need with a buggy not on the road, a new engine 
1776 sp power, built by RNJ  Motorsport



Next up was to get the chassis rolling again so I needed to put the rear wheels on. I had a rear disk conversion kit that was in the garage and as it didn’t sell a while back I decided to use it

Also took the opportunity to change the rear wheel bearings
First the axel was cleaned up with some emery paper

Next the small spacer, not the flat side to the bearing, beveled side towards centre of the car

then the new bearing drifted on

this is the degree of movement I have, the bearing is only housed in the axle and I assume when the hub nut is torqued up it will all pull together

washer and small o ring

Larger spacer, note bevel on outer side, so internal bevel sits to seal o ring. Disk carrier and large o ring also

hub retainer on with new seal in too

now there’s a larger washer that I think I’ve missed out as part of the kit it goes after the seal in the hub carrier, but I will check and update when I get back out to the garage.

That’s where I’m up to, thanks for reading
Dav
 

[Baz]

That's a nice looking Rat, I hope the damage was limited to the car and no one was hurt. Good to see you persisted with getting it repaired and didn't lose interest!

You're not too far away, a few more and we'll have enough to have a Staffs/Cheshire/Shropshire/Derbyshire meet up 

[Shaggy]

just remember, there is supposed to be a back plate for the rear drum brakes in between the hub and bearing end cap, just in case it makes a difference to tolerance thickness on bearing and seal position 

[Big Clem]

That must have been a fair wack but took it better than I would have thought but rebuild looks like its coming along well 

[BEELZEDUB]

good work rebuilding it , so what's left just shell repairs?

[Dave DND]

I remember this well from the thread when it happened - and I am so pleased to see that you are indeed rebuilding it

Good on you !!   

[davydoff]

That's a nice looking Rat, I hope the damage was limited to the car and no one was hurt. Good to see you persisted with getting it repaired and didn't lose interest!

You're not too far away, a few more and we'll have enough to have a Staffs/Cheshire/Shropshire/Derbyshire meet up 

Thanks, yes the damage was just to the buggy, i walked away without a scratch or any other aches, that was due to the harnesses which held well and the impact was right on the roll bar which helped.
I did loose some interest, but just shut the garage and came back later when i was more into it.
Yes that would be good, my parents are in Shropshire so grew up in north shrops

just remember, there is supposed to be a back plate for the rear drum brakes in between the hub and bearing end cap, just in case it makes a difference to tolerance thickness on bearing and seal position 

Good point Shaggy, however doesn't the rear disc carrier allow for that? as its in the same position as the rear backing plate

That must have been a fair wack but took it better than I would have thought but rebuild looks like its coming along well 

Yes the old girl did very well, it looked bad when it was in the tree 

good work rebuilding it , so what's left just shell repairs?

yes shell repairs, new brake and fuel lines, fit engine, finish chassis rear corner...basically

I remember this well from the thread when it happened - and I am so pleased to see that you are indeed rebuilding it

Good on you !!   

Thanks Dave, the support from everyone at the time was a major help, as it was a low time
The help also from in particular Manxdavid, Fann and his brother Mark has been great, what with parts and physical help too.
Plus everyone on the forum with the technical advice. 

Hope to be on the road in the summer, ready for manchester children's hospital 

[Shaggy]

having never seen a rear disc carrier set up, im unsure if they bolt up behind the hub cap or if they are welded to the axle tube, thats why I pointed out about the back plate thickness Id be very interested to know how it all goes together
keep us posted on your work mate its very good to see 

[davydoff]

So after a quick re read of the instruction i had indeed left out these little sods!



they go in the axel carrier, like this



and for Shaggys benefit, and anyone else this is the calliper carrier, it sits over the bearing before the axel retainer goes on

\\


Disc rotor bolted on with the fantastic torque mister tool, for those that don't know what it is, its a tool that 9x multiplies the torque so axel nuts are much easier to put on and off, it also does the flywheel gland nut.



Calliper bolted on



and handbrake cable installed




There came the problem its very tight, not in a good way
After much help from Shaggy, snoopy and manxdavid i think i'll need new cables made with longer outer bits, thanks guys for all your help




Next up was the other side, now readers of the blog before will remember the other side was very tight and wouldn't drift on, so off it came



the axel was cleaned up with emery paper and the bearing re installed




As you can see the cable outer are a bit short



Then came a major moment....
Wheels on...



Now does this count as rolling......



 
Now there is quite a lot of camber....this should go down when the engine and shell are on, finger crossed

I will address the handbrake cables later, as the handbrake is none existant and wont hold the car despite being fully on 
i think this is all related to the outer length etc.
but we'll skip that minor issue until MOT time 

as of now we are rollin.....kind of

cheers

dav

[snoopy]

just a quick thought on the cables you could extend the chassis outlet tubes to suit your cables now.
easy enough and fine tuneable tube of the same size and and outer sleeve to align it all.

[davydoff]

just a quick thought on the cables you could extend the chassis outlet tubes to suit your cables now.
easy enough and fine tuneable tube of the same size and and outer sleeve to align it all.

hmmm, yes good point

I guess that way i can play with the length required.
I'll just need a piece of tube with the same diameter

that might be a very good solution, cheers snoopy

[Twitch247]

Hi
Are the cable ends for the hand brake on a disc conversion different to the cables on drums ? I only ask as I needed a longer cable for mine and found that camper ones fitted and are just a little bit longer than beetle ones.
Not sure if this will help your problem?

Phill

[davydoff]

Hi
Are the cable ends for the hand brake on a disc conversion different to the cables on drums ? I only ask as I needed a longer cable for mine and found that camper ones fitted and are just a little bit longer than beetle ones.
Not sure if this will help your problem?

Phill

Unfortunately yes that are different, the drum one has a square hole that fits over the bar in the drum where as the disc is a cable with a end on like a ball bearing 

Theres a place that manxdavid had mentioned that will make me a cable so not too concerned about getting one to fit, just a PITA and one more thing thats not finished, like the chassis, gearbox mounts pedal assembly etc 

[Shaggy]

just a quick thought on the cables you could extend the chassis outlet tubes to suit your cables now.
easy enough and fine tuneable tube of the same size and and outer sleeve to align it all.

hmmm, yes good point

I guess that way i can play with the length required.
I'll just need a piece of tube with the same diameter

that might be a very good solution, cheers snoopy

would making the chassis tube longer for the cable outer end to fit too not work, assuming there is plenty of inner cable at the handbrake to spare....or am i missing something 

two of us with the same idea in different posts.... how good is that 

[Fran_GP]

Brill to see this coming back together Davy. you'll be back on the road before me at this rate!

Cheers

Fran