I've got a bunch of Barnes stuff to: diff covers, pinion guard, and disc brakes brackets. Good stuff at a reasonable price.

 

I also find that since Barnes is east coast the shipping costs and times are generally better than similar stuff coming from west coast.

 

Wheels showed up today 😁 Damn I need to clean up the garage

 

It is looking good!!! Can't wait to see it completed. GO GO GOOOOO

 

Thanks! Think I'm coming up on the six year anniversary of starting the project. I'm getting close to the finish but a lot left to go. Try not to get discouraged by that, just keep plugging away, one little task/project at a time. I'd really like to have it done this spring/early summer. Its possible.

 

I like those wheels. Verrry nice!

 

And one of the cheapest. A win-win in my book.

 

Looking GOOD! Dig the wheels as well.

 

She's a roller!

 

Almost 🤣 Tires and coilovers are my last two big financial hurdles. But I do have a set of mostly worn 35's that I'll probably throw on at some point to make it a roller.

 

Man that’s a stout looking build! Can’t wait to see how it comes together!

 

No new pictures to post, but I've been putting in a lot of hours late at night working on getting the wiring finished up. Starting to have a love-hate relationship with wiring. It fairly easy and my OCD is having a good time making it all tidy...but damn I am ready to be done with it and onto something different.

 

Still just plugging away at wiring. I'm down to lighting circuits so I'm getting there. Once every wire is run then I'll worry about taping, looming, fastening things in place, etc. Also got center concole layout finalized and trans/tcase shifters installed. I have the majority of my hydro steering parts in now so need to figure out how/where that's all going to go. Still lots to do but starting to feel like I can see some glimmer of light from the end of the tunnel.



Days and days worth of wiring. Not as tidy as I envisioned but still happy with it so far.

AW4 and D300 shifters are in.

Trans cooler and battery in there places

 

Looking good. So much better than political posts!! lol

keep going.

 

I agree! Thanks for the motivation

You need to look at venting that D300 while it's still easy to do. Also, make provisions to capture the oil leaking around the shift rails with it flipped. It's going to leak.(new rails, double seals.....yeah, it still leaks.) It'll leak much worse if it's not vented well.

Noted. Everything is going to come out of the chassis at some point before it leaves the driveway....engine needs a rebuild, trans needs seals, and I was going to see what the tcase needed. Just want to get EVERYTHING roughed in before I start pulling things out.

 

You need to look at venting that D300 while it's still easy to do. Also, make provisions to capture the oil leaking around the shift rails with it flipped. It's going to leak.(new rails, double seals.....yeah, it still leaks.) It'll leak much worse if it's not vented well.

 

A word to the wise on wire looms. Tucking everything in looms looks great but make sure you can still trace and trouble shoot electrical issues. Ask me how I know........

 

Makes sense. I think I've left myself a good way to troubleshoot. Power wire are all red but I've labeled them where I feel like its needed. There isnt much left of the factory wiring and I know more about it then ever before, so I think I'll be good with the engine wiring.

 

Ill check back when it gets fired up and those wires are connected correctly for sure.

 

It's been fired up multiple times 😁 I checked with every cut of the factory harness and it's been fired up about a dozen times since. The shifter makes the AW4 manual shift, no computer needed.

 

Got some of the hydro steering components mounted. Tried to consider hose routing as I went.

Cooler tucked next to the radiator. Hopefully gets enough air flow.

Orbital on the same bracket as the brakes. Fabbing up a steering column soon. Filter is just in front of the master cylinder.

Decided the only way to mount the reservoir high was to run it out above the hood. Not the cleanest look but I'm ok with it.

 

Decided the only way to mount the reservoir high was to run it out above the hood. Not the cleanest look but I'm ok with it.
View attachment 280879

KillerB (OG's know) asked me exactly why I had mounted the reservoir so high and that got me to thinking. It was because the older, log-style intake manifold was in the way. Well I forgot I had recently picked up a newer style intake for free so last night started cutting out the brackets for the reservoir and working on swapping intakes.

 

I wasnt sure how to properly size the hoses for the hydro steering so I decided to contact Eric @ Radial Dynamics (where I ordered all the major steering components) and he gave me good direction on what size hoses to use. I'm going to post this here for future reference.

You are running a 6 GPM pump so for this, I recommend a -12 low pressure feed hose from the reservoir to pump, -8 high pressure hose from pump to orbital, - 6 high pressure hoses from orbital to ram, and for the return from orbital back to reservoir (including filter/cooler) you should use low pressure -8 minimum but -10 recommended.

Just for reference, hose sizing goes not by the ports that you are connecting but rather by flow velocity. 6 GPM is a constant through the main circuit but by hydraulic rules of thumb, the feed should be limited to around 4 FPS (ft/sec) flow velocity, high pressure lines 15-25 FPS, and return lines 10 FPS. By evaluating the flow in GPM and the ID of hoses, the above recommended hoses fit those general rules for velocity.

 

Would like to try and get coil-overs on order sooner than later so I'm trying to figure out how I can come up with the sprung weight to get the correct springs. I don't have easy access to race scales so I was thinking about getting a crane scale like this below. Use my engine hoist and lift from the middle of the chassis front and rear to get front and rear weights. Should get me decent numbers right? I'm assuming it wont weigh over 2k pounds front or rear. Not everything is on the buggy yet so I'll have to factor that into what I think final weights would be.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088BL3DF...088BL3DF5/?coliid=I13UTFP3EL3P4Q&colid=383P44OQ4BZI2&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

 

I think you should be able to get some good info using that. Should help you get sprung vs un-sprung weights also.

Please keep us posted on who you choose to order from etc.. I really wanna upgrade my suspension at some point. Accutune seems kinda cool because it sounds like they spend a fair amount of time trying to help you get good valving and set up out of the box.

 

My plan is to order from Accutune for those same reasons. Havent really decided yet exactly what I'm going to get other than Fox coil-overs (probably remote resi) and 14" travel. I'll see what they recommend. Not sure if I'll go 2" or 2.5" and considering the DSC adjusters so I can make adjustments (rock crawling vs dunes).

 

I have 3.0 springs for 2.5 coilovers you can borrow to set it down on if you want to save money not buying the scale. You won't be able to get your final springs ordered until you have it all complete so figure out the shocks, order them, and do springs once it's all wrapped up. I'm sure you can find someone with 2.5" springs laying around to borrow at that time too. Or you can take a look at similar buggies and use the weights they run. If you plan on 2" of preload, you won't miss your guess by more than you can take up with preload anyway. My $.02

 

Updated reservoir bracket. Lowered it below the hood and included a spot for the pressure valve.

 

KillerB was a good dood!

whoa! That pressure valve seems like a neat little gizmo. I may have to add that since I have already had fluid leak out the hose.

I bought my Kings from FilthyMotorSports and they were always helpful. They have a (as do most anyone these days) spring exchange program so you can order springs you think you need, then when you get all the weight settled and you need new springs, you exchange them.

If you do the scale method you need to take the weight of the axles/wheels out.

 

KillerB was a good dood!

whoa! That pressure valve seems like a neat little gizmo. I may have to add that since I have already had fluid leak out the hose.

I bought my Kings from FilthyMotorSports and they were always helpful. They have a (as do most anyone these days) spring exchange program so you can order springs you think you need, then when you get all the weight settled and you need new springs, you exchange them.

If you do the scale method you need to take the weight of the axles/wheels out.

Yes he was/is 😁

From what I know that pressure valve is supposed to prevent leaks and keep a small amount of pressure to reduce cavitation.

Sunday I did end up scaling everything as it sits is right now (chassis as is sits, front axle, rear axle, winch, wheels, and tires) and the total weight was just north of 3100 lbs. Seemed light to me so I need to find something of known weight and make sure the scale is accurate. Not sure what the unsprung weight (minus axles, wheels, tires) was but I have it all written down at home. I still planning on ordering from Accutune so I want to at least get the number close. Once I verify the scale is correct/close I might sit down and see if I can figure what the final weight might be. Most everything is on the buggy but still a few more items to add.

 

He still is.

 

ha ha, for sure IS a good dood.

I read up on the valve after seeing you post it. I ordered it from Summit last night...will be here at about 1:30 today.

If you use the springs for weight, make sure you charge the coilovers up. I did not and it messed with my numbers a bit. I also added a lot of things after, but it helped me out in the long run. Started at 7" shaft showing and now I'm at 6"...perfect!

what is the lead time on coilovers these days? I Had to wait around 3 months at the very beginning of Covid.

 

ha ha, for sure IS a good dood.

I read up on the valve after seeing you post it. I ordered it from Summit last night...will be here at about 1:30 today.

If you use the springs for weight, make sure you charge the coilovers up. I did not and it messed with my numbers a bit. I also added a lot of things after, but it helped me out in the long run. Started at 7" shaft showing and now I'm at 6"...perfect!

what is the lead time on coilovers these days? I Had to wait around 3 months at the very beginning of Covid.

What are you running for travel numbers? I'm going with 14" travel CO's setup with 5"-6" of up travel.

No idea what lead times are these days but I'm sure its longer than I'd like I'd really like to have this thing ready for a shakedown run this summer, which is why I'm trying to get it to the point where I can get them on order soon.