Building a Nitro Buggy From Scratch

[sanders683]

I acquired a nitro 1/8 buggy off a friend for free as it was Brocken. I struggled for a while to find replacement parts for my nitro buggy as parts are no longer made for it, after finally having a massive crash and damaging some major unreplacable components I have now decided to make a fully working nitro off-road buggy from pieces salvaged from my current buggy or pieces made from scratch. However all this said I have very limited experience and knowledge building my own buggy and would like help from the nitro community on this topic.
I would like to know mainly what to make the main base plate from and all other relative information please, any help would be most appreciated.
I will be keeping an online diary for the progress of the buggy when I start building it.

 

[Snook Man]

You will want to make the chassis plate from 3 to 5mm thickness T6 6061 or 7075 aluminum preferably. Thickness will depend on how many, and where you place the chassis braces.
7075 aluminum is approx twice as strong as 6061 and is only a few $ more when dealing with a buggy sized plate so if you can afford it, use it.

I’m building a Muggy from scratch atm and have built quite a few rc’s over the years from scratch, if you have any ? just ask.

 

[jose.28]

This is a good thread to me. I've also wanted to build one myself. I just dont have the shop tools needed.
I want a no name brand one. Just something i built.
If you post your progress i will follow it lol.

 

[sanders683]

I can't find anywhere on the internet where I can buy 7075 aluminium from so I am going to source it locally, however in the mean time I will need to get prepared for it. what do you use to cut it, what tool, what attachment, etc. this is the first time I have built an RC car so I will need to buy all the tools and I will need help on what to buy.

 

[Snook Man]

I get my aluminum plate and other materials from
www.onlinemetals.com
They will have what you need in aluminum.

As far as tools, if you don’t have them there going to cost as much or more than a decent new buggy would.

You can cut the plate with a decent jigsaw and a sacrificial cutting table (I use a Bosh) with Bimetal blades.
A drill press and assortment of good drill bits are almost a necessity to do a good job. A small table top model will do.
Files, sanding equipment, dremel with assortment of attachments, scribes, calipers, taps, angle finder/protractor etc. will all be helpful and should also be included if you can swing it.

If designing your own chassis, I highly recommend a mockup (or several) made out of cheap plastic or even luan before cutting the good stuff.
If just duplicating another chassis its not that difficult with a little patience…

Measure twice before cutting

From this

To this, and many hours of design and mockup’s in between.

 

[sanders683]

I think what I may do instead of building a new buggy (more expensive than I first thought) I will make a new chassis plate for my existing one however change it slightly so that it will accommodate newer parts that are more readily available, such as a new fuel tank or different shell by putting in ne w body posts. I checked out that website but I live in the UK so shipping is over £100 for me unfortunately.
Also that car you have looks amazing

 

[Nitro Nerd]

This is good stuff - I simply don't have the skill to fabricate my own parts. The first thing I did in this hobby was blow the con rod on my CXP .18's very first start. The second thing was trying to fabricate my own con rod (didn't work). So Smitty's got nothing on me. Ha ha! I can design well and have created parts in the past, but fabricating metals like some of you do is a an impressive skill. I'm jealous of that.

 

[ZenRC]

Very impressed with that Snook Man. Wow.