Not a lot of traffic here. Let me know if I need to do differently to get people's interest. Latest update:
1 step forward and 3 steps back.
After riding for 24h straight at Windrock with my buddy Marvin (we left at 9AM Saturday and didn't stop wheeling until 9AM Sunday), I dedided I wanted to have a piece of aluminum between my ass and the transmission. It was the perfect moment to move the trans cooler to the front and install a bigger one (I went with the Tru-Cool LPD47391 on JDuck and Waffle advice). I decided to move the battery and the electronics further back and free up some room between the seats for some cup holders. I also had to rebuild the fuel lines and the chassis wiring because of the mods...Yeayyyy
Everything went ok and I fired up the engine "for the first time" for the second time on friday last week.
I also changed the fuel pressure regulator for a WIX unit (PN 33737) since the generic one I got from amazon did a shitty job of keeping a steady pressure in the rail. It was jumping up and down between 45 to 55psi. No problems now, it's a steady 58.
My french buddy Ben (Jeepdedication) came to help this weekend. The goal was to finish the brake circuit, bleed it and do the steering lines. In the end, we ended up rebuilding the hydroboost mount since the one that was there didn't work. Then we realized the booster I had ported isn't the right model and my master didn't fit.
So we called it a day, drank whisky and started making plans on how to solve some of the issues I'm seeing in the suspension right now. It helps having another set of eyes after you've been staring at this pile of metal for too long.
In the end, this is what's probably happening :
- Rebuild all the front shock mounts in order to straighten up the coilovers and move the bypasses to the rear of the axle. This will free room in the front of the axle to install the bumpstops and limit straps. It will also eliminate the packaging issue I had when making the steering linkage and arms.
- Rebuild high steer arms and tie-rods. Now the bypasses are going to be relocated, I'll be able to set the steering with a neutral akerman and more turning radius. The chassis and links will clear 50deg of steering with the 43" SXs on a 4.5" bs wheel and I'd like to use all of that
Since I'll be rebuilding the shock mounts, I think I have the opportunity to add some uptravel and this brings few issues.
- Pass side engine mount hits the upper link
- Pass side exhaust hits the driveshaft
- Radiator support hits the axle (it needed to be redone anyway, and I think that I could fit a bigger radiator by redoing the mounts)
- Front lower link mount on the axle (made a mistake during the build of the axle, this would be the perfect time to fix it)
- Brake lines
I'm fighting this thing at every step, but I guess that's how it is for everyone, so I can't complain too much.
This is my first buggy build and I'm learning a lot. Very frustrating. Mostly because my skills are nowhere near close to the type of work I want to put out.