sandrail build help

I have always liked going to the dunes and places and seeing these awesome rails and now am going to be building a sandrail sometime in the future. I am going to be putting it together as i have enough money to buy each piece(s). It is going to be a 4 seater long travel sandrail with around 20" of travel and put a LS motor in it. Plan on putting coilover shocks and bypasses front and rear. Obviosouly i need to start with a frame and the a-arms. Looking for some help in what companies i should go with. I am just starting my research so any help would be great, especially those with experience. Thanks...Mike

 

I remember those days. I built a baja bug to take down to Glamis . I'll warn you,things can get pricey if you dont watch it. What size engine are you running? I had 1- 1776 and 1- 1835. I preferred the 1776 b/c it was custom built with a really sweet cam and a custom geared trans. I knew of a good shop for things here in SoCal but I dont know if they are still around. Their use to be a place called Car Customs in Azuza that dealt in allot of vw type stuff. Don't know if they are still around?

 

I will have to wait and see what's available at the time. Going to get it used and then supercharge it. Going to get used shocks and rebuild and revalve them to my application. Do you remember the name of the shop

 

Check out http://www.dunebuggy.com/classifieds/ .

How much are you looking to spend on a frame?

 

well i am looking for a kit kinda similar to this: http://www.wickedsandtoys.com/xrated_info.php . I want the frame, a-arms tie-rods, spindles, heims, trailing arms, side panels, roof, floor and have it tabbed for coilovers and bypasses in all 4 corners, and be tabbed for the engine and trans that i choose. here is another one: http://www.pacificcustoms.com/BW_PLAYARM-C4S.html . i am thinking it will be around 10 grand for what i want. Then start piecing it together from there.

 

http://fisherbuggies.com/Index.html

Tell them you are a friend of Martha for the best prices.

 

You are looking to buy a 'roller' and add the rest yourself, that is a lot of work. I'm assuming you have decent mechanical experience?
The costs start adding up quickly, so price out for completed project to make sure you can finish it.

We just helped a friend build a Sand Cars Unlimited rail a couple months ago. I'm not sure what he paid for the frame as it was a custom build, but he's got at least $80K into the car now.
We have a Funco sandrail, bought it used and complete.

You are in CA, have you checked out the Glamis Dunes forums? Lots of sandrail builds and parts for sale there.

 

Hey Mike , go to this site http://mybuggyworks.com/ & drop them a line with any questions you have, The owner/owners are David Forbis & Tom Forbis who pretty much were what used to be Johnson's Bug Machine, these guys are pretty well known for doing exceptional work in the SoCal sand circuit, Any kind of repair , custom Hi- performance engine building all the way to building you a custom rail limited only to your wallet, but I've known these guys since I was 16 & are trusted friends if the site is down (it was earlier) just get contact info & give them a call, they're pretty helpful & freely give advice, tell them old man Doug from Tacoma World sent you.....

 

ya i am pretty confident that i will be able to complete the project. I like doing this kind of stuff, havnt done anything of this magnatude but i think it will be fun. I havnt checked out the forums yet, as i am just this week started doing my research. i probably wont start on it till next year, but want to do a ton a research so i know exactly what i am looking for and doing.
Probably going to get a used ls-1 motor and tranny and upgrade the internal parts of the motor. Going to try and get used shocks and bypasses and just have them valved to my application. And if i can find some other used stuff to help out with costs that would be great.

 

That's the way to do it! Good luck with your project. You can learn alot from the forums and other peoples builds just like this forum. GlamisDunes.com has a lot of helpful info and nice people.
CBM Motorsports out there in Rancho Cucamonga Ca does a lot of our friends LS motors http://www.cbmmotorsports.com/index.html.