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Yeah the body on the Cat stick pack chassis car looks like the short wheelbase alright but the car itself looks like an XL.
Great find by the way!

Now that all that has been settled....the next question is what are you going to do with them Mr Railey? Shelfers or runners? Original or bitsa?

QuackingPlums wrote:Maybe this was an SWB that somebody upgraded to XL/XLS spec?

I think you are right now that I have had a chance to spend some time with the cars and parts. I have been talking with the original owner but he can't recall everything he did to them. My best guess is he started with an XLS and an SWB. When he added the aftermarket chassis to the XLS he must have swapped out the SWB chassis for the original XLS chassis. I found the original swb top plate among the parts and it is considerably shorter. Thanks to everyone who helped out with ID'ing these buggies. I have certainly learned a lot about the CAT's in the process.

I plan on keeping the XLS and cleaning it up. It is complete and should make a nice restored buggy. It will be run

I reckon he started with a SWb CAT first and upgrade to the modified version you see today....the reasons are as follow,

(1) Front Shock tower appear to be the 0 degree version the XLS have 15 degree rake.
(2) The XLS had turnbuckles on the steering
(3) It also appears to be missing the widening parts on the suspension

It may be an idea to switch it back the other chassis if you wish to fit the original shell and undertray......at least the belt is also protected this way. With the SWB top plate already at hand, you could try restoring it back to SWB version if you can find a chassis. If you wish to leave as per its present state you could consider a Procat shell and undertray...it might work with the wider after market chassis.

Uzzi,
Thanks for the ideas. The top plate I have has a chunk broken off so I really don't have anything swb except the body. The XLS actually has a belt cover underneath. It is aluminum and has Hirobo stamped into it. Looks like it bolts right up and fits very well.

Hee hee - didn't know you could buy alu belt covers! We used to make ours out of old biscuit tins!

Whatever the original owner was doing, he was definitely on a mission - there's a spare XLS bumper (looks unused) and some front shock towers (with what looks like 15deg rake) in that pile of spares!