A free buggy... Is never a "free" buggy.

[Christof13T]

So a little bit about my new to me Crossfire 150...

The good:

It has all 4 wheels and tires, and the wheels are even in decent condition!
(notice I said wheels specifically, and conveniently omitted tires...)
The engine seems mostly complete and is not locked. Spins freely under starter power and does not chatter.
Both of the headlights are attached to the little cute bull bumper thing on the front, and the brake light is actually still attached to the rearmost section of tube frame.
The steering parts are all there...
The brake master cylinder to the caliper look to be in good shape.
Final drive chain, sprocket, and live shaft look excellent save for the fresh coat of 5+ yr old rust on the chain.
Electrical system looks to be all there.
No water sludge in the motor... so thats good lol.
It passed compression test with 155psi on the gauge.


And the bad...

There is no floor pan. It has nearly all but rusted away.
Accelerator and brake pedal mounts are both non existent. The pedals are still there tho.
The steering doesnt steer. Its locked up tight as a drum. Steering wheel sleeve/shaft are basically bonded together and the rack and pinion is a solid blob of rust.
Shocks are frozen in the fully extended position. all 4.
Some pretty bad rust spots on one corner of both front lower swingarms.
Frame tubing directly beneath engine is nearly rusted away.
Rearmost and frontmost roll cage mount points of the roll cage tubing has rusted away... the ends just kind of flop around.
The cute little bull bumper thing has rusted off its mounts.
The carburetor is frozen solid. Ants have taken up residence within it.
lots of corrosion at every electrical connection visible.
The bar style resistor in the electrical cluster seems to have taken some thermal damage and has very corroded terminals.
There is a buss fuse just kind of dangling in free space by its clips.
What looks to be the constant supplied 12v+ to switch got yanked loose at some point... Was given this thing because it woulnt run... hmmmmmm

So far I have torn down the steering system and applied a bit of profanity grease to loosen everything back up. It all seems to work freely now...
And pulled the carb, tore it down, cleaned like a rabid squirrel... and I think it might just survive with a new bowl seal.

This thing actually sat outside exposed to the weather for at least 2 years before i dragged it home a week or so ago. It sat that way with NO SPARK PLUG in it! couldn't believe it wasn't locked up let alone see those compression numbers pop on the gauge. Something to be said for these chicom motors i suppose.

I will get some pictures of this rust monster posted once I figure out how this forum likes to be fondled...

[x-bird]

Welcome, we love pix. my recommendations on what you have would most likely be to remove any good parts and can the remains then find another used buggy.

[Christof13T]

I'm not terribly interested in a body swap with donor guts. Still not quite sure how far I want to go with this thing. I like the idea of just building a new pan on this frame. its not that bad of a job once I clean up around where everything rusted off...

So far i have freed up the steering and have it functioning acceptably...
Freed up and cleaned the carb...
checked compression (155psi)

I am now checking through the electrical system and running into walls.
are the electrical specs for all the gy6 150cc motors round about the same?
wanna check the stator, coil, starter solenoid, rectifier, cdi...
what resistance should the bar resistor be?
Looking at the wiring, the bar resistor seems to control electric choke?

ignition circuit...
which 2 are ignition circuit on, and which one is solenoid signal?

I know for sure I am going to have to repair ALL of the grounds on this rust monster.

pictures...
does this site prefer external links or direct uploaded images?

[Christof13T]

Some preliminary checking with the meter shows some interesting concerns.
There is no juice passing through the rectifier.
Grounds are actually testing good.
The bar resistor for the electric choke is wide open dead.

looking like i will need to just go ahead and replace the rectifier and cdi.

[Christof13T]

Let's see if I can get this picture thing to work...

























So this is what I'm working with.
Again... the metal work does not phase me. 20+ years of fabricating, re-fabricating, retro-fitting, etc in metal work took the fear right out of me.
Before I decided to heed my calling and become a beekeeper... I ran welding and machine shops.

[x-bird]

Crossfires are nice rides, given that you've got the skills and the enthusiasm for a restoration of this magnitude (for a buggy this is pretty extreme) go for it. It reminds me of the little hammerhead that I based my daughter's first build off of. Invest in a tubing bender if you don't have one.

Given the state of rust on it, I would trust very little of the existing tubing that anything that takes or transmits load is attached to. I'd replicate the A-arms and replace all the tubing that the shocks, a arms and swingarm attach to. I'd also go right to good fox etc shocks on it along with a tire and spindle upgrade.

[jmansracerocket]

wow, u sure do have your work cut out for you on that one.

[Christof13T]

Well... this one may end up in the Frankenbuggy section before too long. I have been basically given an old ford taurus that isn't worth making road worthy again... but the motor and drivetrain are just fine.. <evil grin>

also have a couple of old toyota gt26 turbo's laying around... might just start looking for a wrecked mr2 to cannibalize....

I have been tinkering with the idea of leaving the rear end on it alone... and just fabricate another one around the ford guts to bolt on. I'm going to do some serious beefing up on the frame. Same plan if/when I find an mr2 to rip apart.

I dont currently have a tubing bender, but I have all the fun parts to build one laying around my shop. Need a converter for that dang pesky 3phase hydraulic unit tho..
I have been kind of procrastinating on a few shop tool builds. I want to try to use a central power unit to run several machines. Tubing bender, press, and maybe a brake/shear. Too many pies... never enough fingers.

[SYCARMS]

I would start bu totally stripping it taking care of the frame first. You'll have the harness out in front of you to check the wiring. Some of the earlier years the wire ran through the frame up to the dash. If so I guarantee the harness sat in water inside the tubing and will have lots of corroded wires. You will also need an intake by looking at the pictures.

[Christof13T]

already started stripping it down... ill get more pictures up when i have more time.
The harness leads for the ignition switch and engine kill do run inside the tube frame on this one... no big deal to rebuild or just buy a whole new harness... might be better off to just buy a whole new one. The intake manifold boot is definitely cracked up pretty bad. I dunno tho... might have to silly cone it... that 10$ or so for a new one might just break me lol...

I do have a couple of questions about the electrical system tho...

Looking at the stator on my meter... one lead is dead short to ground. the other two both show continuity to ground but checking resistance showed 4.6ohms on both leads. I'm assuming those are the actual field coil leads?

pretty sure the rectifier is toast.

[Christof13T]

Wasn't the regulator...
Grounds all looked fine.
Coil checked out ok...
Exciter coil on the stator is toast.
Perfect excuse for a whole new electrical set... for less than 70$ why the heck not and be done with it eh?

[Christof13T]

some more pictures...









Will take more as this project progresses.
Flywheel removal tool and starter clutch removal tool are both on their way.
Should be in my mail box by Monday.

[SYCARMS]

You will not find a direct replacement harness for that buggy. It will be easier to repair or make up your own harness using the old as template.

[Christof13T]

I don't need a direct replacement. Just need it to make spark. rather start with all new wiring and connectors than fight this rotten junk. New harness comes with everything...
cdi, regulator, stator, coil, switches, etc...

[Christof13T]

Started the re-fabrication on the frame..
It's actually not all that bad. All of the rusted out spots were right in the areas of welds... tells me someone either used the wrong wire when it was manufactured or maybe had some gas shield problems. The metal cleaned up nice enough for a bond... damn chicom crap steel...

More Peektures...







And my flywheel removal tool came in...





interesting tho... when I tested the stator on the motor... It showed the exciter coil basically wide open.. now that it is off and cleaned up a little bit i can actually get a reading of .556ohms. There was quite a bit of rusty bits and magnetic dust covering the magnet. Wondering if I just had a grounding issue? probably still going to just replace the whole dang harness... Again... I dont need a direct replacement harness... I can shoehorn in any accessories i might want... Just need it to make spark for now... Does not seem to matter wether the harness was specifically built for this buggy as long as it has the right stator to bolt up to the motor correct? looking at a 6 pole stator with complete harness for 60$ shipped from right here in Texas.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CHINESE-GY6-...3D132180396043

[BuggyMaster]

Just the title cracked me up. Been there...done that. You're in it now!

[Christof13T]

Got a little more done with the metal work.
Finished out the bottom rail of the frame. Still have a little fill welding to do but its pretty dang solid. I loosely bolted the swing arm back on to look at the ride angle of the frame and I got it dang close to parallel with the ground just eyeballing it. I test all my welds with a sledgehammer and everything is holding up nice and solid. I did some monkey jumping with the frame just using my weight and got the shocks to free up! Still deciding on how I want to build out the floor pan and seat supports. Junkyard vinyl bucket seats or maybe build a bench? Ice chest racks and rod holders lol? The more I mess with it the more it seems like it will be a lot of fun.

[jmansracerocket]

gotta give u credit for bringing it back to life. I wouldn't even have attempted to.

[Christof13T]

Originally Posted by jmansracerocket

gotta give u credit for bringing it back to life. I wouldn't even have attempted to.

My time is free when I'm not using it to make money so I figured it is only really costing me about 50$ in metal and a little extra electricity from using the crackerbox. Except for the gaping hole I need to fill in there on the front vertical support, the welding was pretty straightforward. Most of the thing is just surface rust, makes it look much worse than it is. A fresh coat of flat black rattle can and it will be unrecognizable.

[wmgeorge]

Well you have inspired me to look at a used kart that he says only needs a Reverse Cable, yeah and its 10 years old yeah. But it may be a project I can handle? It does Not appear to have a rust issue like yours, and it does start and run, he does not say moves however.

[neo71665]

Your welds anything like the ones I just got done fixing they just layed a welding rod on a poorly cut gap and hooked it up to a couple of car batteries. Inside my rear they missed the joint by a good 1/4 inch and ran the bead up the middle of nowhere in 2 spots. I'll give them credit at least the steel seems to be good. I just got done fixing a mini bike that was a nightmare. You would be welding along and then hit impurities in the steel blowing a hole out. I almost just told the owner to go get some tube and I'll build a whole new one.

I wish I woulda took pictures but it was so hot outside I just work a few minutes and cool off for a hour.

Good to see another apiarist. I do it purely as a hobby though. The way CCD is going I'm not sure how much longer I'm gonna try. One cousin gave up 2 years ago and another one lost 3 of his 5 hives last year.

[wmgeorge]

Hmm interesting, as I was a beekeeper when I was your age, a long long time ago. When I went into the military nobody took care of them and they died off.