Chaparral 6x6 Restoration Project Questions

[amphibious drew]

That looks like some good stuff there Jim. Tuesday/chainsaw day looks fun, but Wednesday looks like a freaking blast.

[thebuggyman1]

OR, for impatient people like ME. Try this: WEST SYSTEM | Plastic Boat Repair - Kayak Massacre
The prep of the plastic is super important......don't skip steps!
In building the MaxII bigfoot, I also used a cloth to soak up the epoxy.

[amphibious drew]

ABS goo is simply scap ABS soaked until it melts in Acetone or MEK. Just throw it all in a glass jar and stir it around every couple of days until its a nice smooth consistency. To apply it use your chemical of choice (MEK or Acetone) to clean and prep the damaged area. This also helps to soften the plastic on the body to allow it to bond better. I use plastic bond knifes to apply it. You also may want to brush the patch with acetone every once in a while for the next couple days. This makes sure the patch doesn't cure to fast. Then let it cure for a couple of weeks before you go beat the heck out of it. It takes time for it to get its full strength back. As stated before, you can thin down the goo using more chemicals and soak some matt in it and use that to reinforce the body. As for your HDPE body, look in the how to section for a good explanation on how it fix correctly. Evil8x8 did a great right up on how to patch it up.

[RancherX]

Could you explain how the ABS goo is applied, and exactly what plastic welding is? Thanks!

[RancherX]

Is the fiberglass resin a good way to fix the HDPE body on a Trail Boss? The Attex is a 1st generation ST/300/D. If I can figure out the ABS goo, I'll probably strip off the resin patches and fix it right. Thanks for the information.

[amphibious drew]

The trail boss is HDPE so goo will not work at all on it. The attex could be HDPE or ABS depending on the gen machine. 1st and 2nd gen are ABS, and the 3rd gen machines: tomahawk, super chief, little truck, and spirit are HDPE. If it is an ABS attex, I probably would fix it correctly. As for properly patching the HDPE, plastic welding seems to be the favored option. People have mentioned some candle thing too and there is always the big patch that requires melting 2 pieces a bit and then sandwiching the melted parts together to fuse.

[RancherX]

Thanks for that information. You're making me nervous! Almost all of the 6x6s I've ever owned have had some fiberglass resin patching, and my Attex and Trail Boss I own now how some of it... What you're saying totally makes sense. Should I remove the fiberglass resin patches and redo it with ABS goo?

[amphibious drew]

The resin and abs expand and contract at different rates with temperature changes. The changing of the seasons will cause your patch to fail. If you patched it at 75 degrees and it never changed it would be ok, but with 20,30, and 40 degree temp swings it would crumble rather quickly.

[RancherX]

Thanks for the replies, I PM'd both of you.

Could you explain why I should stay away from fiberglass resin? Why doesn't it work?

[amphibious drew]

Stay away from fiberglass resin, but the mesh used with the goo works good, just ask Racerone3. He used it on his Attex tank trainer and its sweet. Snow mobile motor and clutch is pretty much what they had in them anyway, so you should be good on that too. Tires don't come cheap, but....http://www.6x6world.com/forums/parts...-runamuks.html and I got them stored by Akron. I also make frequent trips to Buffalo where HydroMike is near and could get the pan from him for you and bring them down with the tires if that works out too. Also, I shuffle all the stuff around and deliver it all to you if you want. I got a company vehicle that I use for that kind of stuff. I got boat seats for my racer and gotch. I havn't got them in either yet, but the idea seems good to me as long as you make it look pretty. lol So I think we have you covered. PM me if your interested in the tires.

[hydromike]

As far as the floor pan, (I think that is what it's called on a 6x6, I am referring to the plastic cover over the chains), what is the best way to fabricate one of those?

I have a floor pan for a Chap if you'd be interested in it. PM me some time and we can discuss some way of getting it to you. I'm up in Buffalo, but will be going to the Ashtabula races in June. I can certainly bring it with me.....

[RancherX]

Moderator, please delete this post, I posted the same thing twice on mistake.

[RancherX]

Hey guys!

Thanks for all the responses. I took a couple more pictures of the Chaparral so you can better see the condition it is in. As for the motor (it's is totally gone), I'm thinking of buying a cheap snowmobile motor. Is that a good option? How hard is it to rig up a motor mount, and will the snowmobile clutch work? I also noticed the seats are gone. My idea for the seats is to put a something across where the seats should be, (wood or metal), and screw boats seats in it, is that I good idea? As far as the floor pan, (I think that is what it's called on a 6x6, I am referring to the plastic cover over the chains), what is the best way to fabricate one of those? My biggest concern is finding tires. I am located in Columbus Ohio, does anyone know of any used tires for sale in my area?

Although I'll probably have a lot more than amphibious drew has in his, (I already have almost half that in it ), I'm going to do my best to get this ole' Chaparral going again. It sure is a sweet machine!
The ABS goo sounds like a good idea, but would
n't it be easier (and stronger since it's so far gone) just to do some fiberglass mesh repair?

[hydromike]

The Chaparrals are a bit of a mishmosh of being overbuilt and underbuilt, in my opinion. I dragged an old Chap out of a fencerow several years ago, since it had a T-20 that appeared to be in really good shape. Overall, the machine was probably in the same sort of condition as yours; perhaps a bit worse. After mulling over a rebuild or simply scavenging parts off the machine, I came away with these opinions....

* The frame, axles, motor mount, T-20 mount, etc. all seem to be just about completely bombproof.

* The bodies really seem to take abuse poorly. Like you concluded, the plastic is quite thin and seems to be a bit more brittle than what i've come across in other ABS machines. This is the real bummer of it all. The bodies seem to crack at a lot of different stress points, not just succumbing to impacts.

You could always fabricate a polyethylene skid-plate to reinforce the lower tub and protect it from further damage, but you still have to formulate a plan for the back-half of the body. Piecing it back together with ABS goo/fiberglass mat reinforcement is a great option. From a custom design standpoint, it's tough to deviate from the original sweeping lines of the Chap and have it look like it's supposed to be that way.

I wouldn't try to steer anybody away from a big project like this, largely because they're just not making these machines anymore. There will come a day when you can't tow Chap's out of back fields. I've had to carefully wade through different potential projects to decide what I really want to take on. Some times you get halfway through a rebuild and wonder how the heck you're ever going to get it done. The key, like 'Race says, is understanding what it will take (financially, mechanically, and the imagination you can put into it...) to see the project through. I say 'Shoestring it. Strip it down and see what you've got, and put it back together using more imagination and resourcefullness than money.

[racerone3]

Worth rebuilding is a rather subjective question... It depends a lot on your own level of ingenuity, mechanical ability, resourcefulness, and past record of seeing projects through. Tons of rebuilds get started and then people see how much work really goes into one... next thing you know it's 3 years later, the machine has been sitting torn down for 2 1/2 years and the wife is sick of looking at it. To me it is very much worth the effort but I'm the sicko that put 100+ hours into repairing a (very special) Attex body. You don't see a lot of "Chaps" running around, and I for one would love the chance to fix one up!