Yoshi

I am actually working on some gas tanks that mount low and on the sides next to and behind the seats that have fuel bladders, that way I can mount a trunk in the rear and the radiator and custom oil cooler back there as well.I use top of the line radiators with really good fittings, I am not worried in the slightest about a hose coming off or I would have moved it, but It could be relocated to the back if you wanted a smaller gas tank. But just so you know, if a hose comes off, anywhere on the car wether it in the tail or the nose, the water will hit you one way or another, there's really no "safe" place for a radiator if your concerned about the hose coming off, and i've never seen or talked to anyone that personally saw a radiator issue, even in cars that were in rough tumbles. Mounting it anywhere else restricts the airflow and the possability of the water overheating and actually popping off a hose is more likely, IMO. Mike downs is working on a a few of my customers rails right now and is placing the fuel tank in front of the passengers feet, that would allow room in the rear for the radiator. The cockpit is pretty good size for a tank, I actually have a 112 wheelbase and a 90" track width. I don't call mine mini rails anymore, they are between a mini and a fullsize, I was told the tom pro car is very small compared to mine, at least 30 percent. My rail is actually a lot bigger than the pics show and the weight is 1250 pounds because all the tubing and plating in suspension to make it more durabile. I gear them lower though so they pull just as hard as a lighter rail, they just soak up the bumps better with the weight. I was blowing through some rather long and deep whoops in the black car last weekend between 90-100 mph and it was awesome....

Hey dune, I was thinking of fabbing up a consol for my rails like what you have, is that something the builder makes or could be bought seperatly from somewhere? I will build my own if I have to, but I would rather not spend the time to prototype it out right now, too busy doing super hero stuff and all...

Here's a few pics of the latest 2 seater that left my shop a few days ago......

Feel free to give me a call if you want, I can give you any info you need, I know every inch of my rails and will prob. give you more info than you want as I talk a lot and really fast, lol My cell is 918-521-3736, feel free to call me up to 9pm your time, I'm up till about 11pm or later and i'm 2 hours ahead of you if you in Cali...

You pretty happy with the air filter your using? I was gonna run my current airbox into another box with a K@N filter or foam filter attached.

It never hurts to have a backup. When the money is there, I will have a backup motor in the trailer so there will be no lost weekends due to powerplant issues. I also keep extra airbags, heims, a-arms, control arms, and bearing on hand. Suspension components are easy to build so it's no big deal having them on hand. Good luck with the motor, i'm sure it will handle any abuse you throw it's way. What ratio are you running in the rear end and what's the rails total weight?

lol,..soon as I saw the title of this topic "second gear project", I knew it was for a busa. Your right, they are very bad with the second gear problems. I've heard of some people chryno freezing the internals and taking care of the problem. You might want to consider regearing the sprockets so there is less load on second gear. You will loose a bit of your top end but you will still haul butt. Just an idea..... I just bought a busa powerplant for 100 bucks. It was in a fire and all the electronics are fried, but the motor itself is still good with low miles. I'm gonna gut the motor and have all the parts cryno'd to put in my own rail. I'm gonna leave the cases empty and use the now lightened shell to mock up frames for the busa powerplant. You might want to find something silimilr so you can treat the internals to the upgrades and switch them over. The parts are pretty expensive and for 100 bucks, I really couldn't go wrong......

There are alot of topics at GD.com that have similiar stories about xtreme and their dealings with Alan......

Damn, carbon fiber body, yeah I bet that was really expensive. I've airbrushed alot of carbon fiber hoods for my customers. Pretty much all imports. I love the effect having the carbon fiber as the background or the grafics....

I have a feeling your directly related to that company but either way those are some nice cars...... www.jessmotorsportsoffroad.com

lol, it's okay....kids will be kids........

hell of a car you've got there, lots of detail. I like the recessed floor pan holes. I also love the ghost detail in the darker set of flames. Bet she set you back a pretty penny.........

3rotortrav, Man, I love your car, got any more pics?

awww,..third grade name calling, I remember it like it was only yesterday don't know exactlly how you came about you opinion about me, but your entitled to it......

There are a few more cross braces that go into the back, I have to get the motor in place to weld all that stuff up. Also, the sub frame drops down from the tail and connects below the driver seat so it is even more solid......

There are a few spots on my design that I should have put bends in . I think the way I did them was as strong as a bend but I was catching some heat about not putting a few more bends in the cage. Well, I redesigned the frame and incorperated the suggestions. The pics are my new frame. I got my hands on a 929RR powerplant for it. I am gonna start switching all the parts from my current frame to my new one and prob. hang the old one from the ceiling, lol.....

I was trying to be funny, I thought it was a common occurance with alot of ssc owners. Would have meant it the same way if you told me you have a white 95-97 chevy truck and I asked if the paint was pealing yet. Chevy had a bad mix with their white that year and every truck of theirs painted that color is pealing off. I know, i've repainted about 20 or so of them over the last few years and I see them all around town. Like I said, I haven't heard any structural issues with the ssc cars, mainly tabs and cracking around tabs. The customer i'm build one for now said he's had alot of other issues with his ssc car as far as suspension design and cv angles being setup wrong, but he also said it's one of the first cars they made and I haven't heard that complaint from anyone else. The cars look good, tabs can be fixed so as not to break, and the only thing I really see is the roof bracing issue. Even if I wasn't a builder I would still give my .02 on the designs of alot of cars out there. It's not like i've been doing this my whole life and know everything about chassis design. I'm like alot of other Joe Blows out there that wanted to build a rail for myself and save some money. The black rail I have now is the first one I ever built, and the first chassis i've ever built for any kind of offroad car. I formed my opinions about the designs out there before I had any knowledge about them. I just went by appearance and common sense telling me that some of the cars would not hold up in a wreak. I decided to make a "safer" car than what I am use to seeing. I wanted a car for myself in the begining, not to sale. My design may weigh 40 pounds or so more because I use 120 wall over the usual 95 wall, and have bracing in places that alot of people told me I don't need, but i'm fine with that. Most people want things as light as possible but I see things different. I would put my design up against any other mini out there and I feel it would hold up better. I don't want that to sound like I think other rails are crap because their not. I just mean I personally feel more comfortable and safer in my rail than I would in any other rail out there. I don't worry about how my car will hold up in a hard flip. I don't want to test the design, but I certainly don't drive less agressive in my car because I have any reservations about it handeling the abuse. I overbuilt it in every aspect because I'm hard on my toys, I built it for my style of driving and after about 20 trips in 5 months haven't had any issues other than some cheap bearings in a chain tensioner, but even that didn't keep me from driving the rest of the weekend. Your car sounds like it is well built, I wouldn't expect your car, or any car for that matter, to come out unscathed after hitting a wiches eye or breaking a spindle in a hard side hit. Even the tanks people call rockcrawlers break stuff, nothing is bullet proof. Drop a tank from 30 foot in the air and it's gonna break. I'm sure your car was worth every penny for the fun it's given you, and upkeep sounds low and that's a best case senerio. I'm also sure that alot of other owners feel the same way as you. I look forward to meeting you and everyone else that has minis when I make it out to your neck of the woods. I don't have anyone to ride with out here, and I'd love to see other builders cars in person so I can base my opinions better.

I'm not a builder basher less it has merit. I don't care abut competition in the slightest in the mini industry. Every one in the business has a waiting list from 11 months to 2 years and after 4 months in business, I already have 5 orders and 3 more rail deposits expected this week. I'm not talking as a builder trying to get business cause I already have plenty. I'm talking as a rail owner who sees alot of unsafe rails in the dunes. I've talked to alot of people including builders about other manufactures concerning mini design. There are alot of problems that most people don't know about and the one repetitive problem i'v heard about ssc is tabs ripped out and frames cracking around shock mounts. Only other thing I have to say about other builders, I would like to see how the roofs hold up on most of them in a wreak. Not a little rollover, but a high speed flip. The rails today have so much more power than the ones of yesteryear and it's alot easier to get seriously hurt. Without wanting to bash anyone, the orange car just above my post, I don't see the strength in the design. I think any decent flip would cave the roof right in. This opinion is based on looks and I could be wrong. I've never seen one flip at a high rate of speed or barrel roll, then seen the outcome. I think my opinion is sound and isn't bashing, alot of people that called me about rails said the same thing, that all the designs they looked at appear unsafe. That's why I overbuilt my car, I didn't plan on selling them at first, I had a motor sitting around and wanted a rail. My goal was to build something I would put my wife in. Honestly, I wouldn't feel safe putting her in most the rails out there. Again, this is my opinion, I am basing it on what I see in the design and not actual experience of after math following a major acident. With that, My opinion could be totally wrong but is not meant to bash anyone. This applies to all builders as well, i've seen a Funco frame where the entire front of the car from the seats forward broke off, i've seen 80k rails where the roofs caved in due to lack of bracing. I know alot of accidents are driver error but there are some things that should hold up in the worse of crashes. Drag cars can hit the wall at 200+ mph and the driver can walk away. The car is total destroyed but the driver compartment held up. This is not the same as rails. Were talking about alot of cars flipping in the SAND at 30 or so miles an hour and the roofs cave in, the frame breakes in half through the driver compartment, does this seam right? There are alot of people driving around in death traps right now and don't even know it. Again, not trying to bash ssc,..I've only heard of tabs and cracks, never anything about structural failier....Never heard about structural failier in any of the minis either. Only seen a handfull of pics of structural failers of the big rails but heard from alot of people about thier problems. There aren't as many minis out there, I contribute this to the lack of info concerning accidents, but i'm sure they have failed in some cases, after all, I haven't seen many minis braced better than some of the bigger cars that have had problems with their design......

I heard of cracked frames and tabs being ripped off with those cars. I'm building a car for a customer that has broken his short sand car every trip out. He figures it cost him about $500.00 every weekend on average.

Second gear is the weakest in the busa tranny, that's one of the reasons i'm going with 6:1 gear ratio, should put me in 3rd. and 4th. gear for normal ridding instead of 2nd. and 3rd. I know what you mean about the minis,..I haven't rode with anything except LS1's but I have no complaints, I was on their arse the whole time without any problems,...and that was with a 600cc powerplant, lol.....

I don't think he "forgot" to put that one in...lolIs that the rail you have?,...ripped any tabs of yet?

how long is your travel on that thing?

lol,..it only counts if you have the wallet to back it up

this was a little better.........

I think the aluminium played a big part in that. I have hit like that more times than I can count when hitting a razor wrong.... I was seein more of this though till I put some air in my shocks though...lol