[Ignore Amos]

I know I know....I have been saying I was going to put something together chronicling our build of our 2013 Can Am Factory race Maverick. Well here's my start... I wish i could have put something out sooner but the last couple of weeks have been 7-4 at my daytime job and 5-till the wee hours (1-2am) most everyday for the 10 days leading up to the Mint 400 last Saturday. Now in recovery mode..and trying to sort some of the pics so I make some sense here. This is our second race build, we built a Commander 2 years ago and made so many mistakes (it was the heaviest car in our class) but learned an immense amount as well...this time is going to be light light light and strong. We were also aiming to build the car so the mechanicals, electrical's were easily accessible and so forth..also trying to keep tools and spare parts easy to get to..something that was a pain in the Commander.

So, to start the Mav was gutted down to its main frame that supports the motor,trans and suspension points. The main cage is built from 4130 tubing for strength and lightness

We then start laying out the main hoops of the cage

trying to find where to tie in the cage to the factory frame (which is required by the rules to keep) also all suspension points must be in the stock locations.

Now to jump way ahead in the cars construction... and not very good pics, hears with the main cage completed...and the initiall placement of the fuel cell (16 gal Jazz)

Here are some shots from the rear....

Here's a few shots as the aluminum starts to go on

We starting fitting the new Muzzy exhaust system...since ours was custom to our race car, we had to make a few adjustments but it went in smooth without a problem...

Ok... thats a start... a lot more to come!

 

[AReed]

Beautiful car and great work, I look forward to seeing more. You desert guys have to build a little bit different vehicle than us east coast woods racers. What did your final weight end up being?
Alex

 

[k goodrich]

looks great can't wait to hear your opinion on the muzzy exhaust.

 

[jason442]

Nice build....

 

[Megadesertdiesel]

looks awesome.

 

[BlueCoyote]

Lookin good....More photos please !

 

[Ignore Amos]

Beautiful car and great work, I look forward to seeing more. You desert guys have to build a little bit different vehicle than us east coast woods racers. What did your final weight end up being?
Alex

Lets just say we were aiming for 1600lbs...and we are close give or take a few pounds

 

[AReed]

1600 pounds is very respectable because I'm assuming your commander was pushing 2k. My old Teryx that I raced was 1600 with no spare tire and no where near the stuff you guys run. How many tires are you running with and did you add any weight to the front?

 

[Ignore Amos]

Our Commander was just a few pounds over 2k...that was with a couple of spares and a full fuel cell (16 gals) so huge improvement in the wieght and toughness department.. you see in a number of pics that we ran 2 spares (especially in Vegas to Reno as the pits are sometimes over 75 miles apart) and we ran the first race with the Maverick with 2...but the GBC Mongrels have proved to really tough so no worries there...we were not sure about the rims (we are not running bead lock 15"s YET but hopefully soon!) I think from here in we only be running 1 tire on the rear... many more pics of the build to come shortly! We intentionally kept the front end as light as possible as its very beneficial to keep the front end light in the whoops...we do have a oil cooler, siren and some lights mounted up front...but that's it.

 

[Ignore Amos]

So Im am catching up with work some...and wanted to get a few more pics up...

So we wanted to get some idea how it was going to look with the hood on...I like!

Here we just added the UTV inc front gusset- sure we have a full tube cage built car but honestly...you find a better way to provide much needed structural integrity than using these pre-made gussets front and rear from UTV inc... they came power-coated and fit perfectly.

And the rear is just as nice but we had to cut a bit away to fit it with our custom cage

Since no one has come out with a heavier duty spindle yet for the Maverick/Commander We take the stock spindles and reinforced with chomolly bands to add strength in the weakest part of the spindle...so far so good!

We also of course added power steering form Wicked Bilt.. since its a custom cage without any of the stock locations...had to do a little custom fab but not a big deal

We are also very concerned with CVT temps and so have added a Air blower under the Drivers seat that blows air into the CVT cover directly. Here is the first look at the CVT cover with our hole made.

Here is the blower mounted and attached to the CVT cover via 3.5 aluminum tube that detaches in seconds

Out with the old (stock suspension) and in with the new HCR Racing suspension... 4+ on each side (8 inches wider now) plus adds 1 " forward and 2" rearward to made the wheelbase 3" longer

Now we replace (the very capable but not quite capable enough for us) Fox's with Kings 2.5's

Here's a shot from the front showing the Kings (we later moved the resevoirs to be more accessable with the hood one)...placement of our front Oil Cooler (between to two shock towers)

And now with the hood on...you can see the 2 Rigid 10"(amber) dust lights on the push bar and the front part of the Factory UTV Skips on the lower part of the push bar

Here's another shot of my Co-driver and the main main in building this rig...Jon Bristol of Bristol Performance..he's put all the electrical just under the pop off hood...super easy access and yes it's all as water resistant as you can get it...Jons a stickler for details and especially the Marine grade wiring.

Ok... so we finished the car at 4am on Wednesday morning...basically 10 straight 18 hr days to get it finished in time to get to the Mint 400- ready to load her up and now I drive 9 straight hrs to Barstow to start Tuning the shocks with King...the saga continues