Carwash Crawler - Build Thread... again.

[carwash]

Got a lot done today, thanks to the help of Kargomaster (brad). We banged out the entire front end, then started eyeballing the interior... another weekend i guess for that.

Finishe the upper links on the front suspension




Got the shock hoops built and braced in final position... can't believe the shocks wont have to come throug the hood, very exciting.








Finished the damn front grill hoop, this thing has haunted me for 3 months... done.









Jeff stopped down and chewed the fat for a while, also helping a lot with the PITA grill hoop... Thanks guys.

there is actually light at the end of the tunnel now.

[carwash]

that t-case is mounted at all 4 corners by poly to the chassis. Is that not enough poly in a mount? You can see one in this top pic and then some in the other pics too... the case is solid mounted to that crossmember, but then the cross member is mounted with 4 poly bushings at the frame. I thought this would give it more than enough flex... am i wrong?







opinions on this? please discuss....

[carwash]

A little bit done this weekend, not as much as i would have liked... Brad and i had a crappy day Saturday... couldn't seem to get into the groove, wasted a lot of time and a lot of tube... oh well, it happens.

Sunday turned out better... got all the stuff done i wanted to... interior is about half done, both front seats are mounted and rear is in place to be mounted.

















And yes, the front seats are sitting at different heights. The passenger seat sits about 1.75 inches higher than the driver seat. It was necessary due to the need to clear the t-case. The only way to get it to sit any lower would be to extremely modify the seat frame, and i wasn't about to do that to my new seats.

The passenger (Rae) is about 6 inches shorter than me, so it works out fine, and i don't think it's too noticable.

The rear seat will only be safe and usable by a person under about 5' tall... so should be just fine for my daughter...which is who it was intended for.

[carwash]

No updates for a while... because progress has been super slow... but here are few pics...

first interior panel made, the plate to hold the shifter.









Got the lower firewall done. 1/4" aluminum, threaded tabs, etc. Was very happy to get the lower done in one piece. Makes me feel secure. The upper firewall will be located on the outside of the firewall.

[carwash]

Got my centers and rockrings from copperhead fab to recenter my hummer wheels. Not as pleased as i has hoped with them. The price is right but the cutting seems to be not the best. I guess it's what i should expect from plasma cut rings. I need to have the holes machined.





And i have a small concern about the gap between the hub and the edge of the center. It is about 3/8". While this will make it easier throw the wheel on the hub, it definitely will make the amount of meat on the inside of the lug holes less. I will have to see how it looks after i have them drilled and chamfered.







Probably won't do much more work on it until I move the rig and all parts to the new shop... stay tuned.

[carwash]

I have contacted Kyle at Copperhead and requested he remake my centers with some tighter specs and no lug holes cut so that i can have my machinist get those perfectly centered and chamfered.

Like i said, they were very inexpensive.

[carwash]

Originally Posted by JeffHPK5
I talked to Carwash on the phone earlier and we discussed how we can "sharpen-up" the fit of his replacement centers. We're going to machine the I.D's and lug pattern and combine Copperheads work and ours and hopefully make a nice set of centers.

I'm not a plasma expert but it looks as though these centers max out the machine Copperhead has or there running stacked stock to speed up production.

"your machinist"...

I'm more appreciative than you can even imagine Jeff... honestly.

Kyle says my new centers will ship this week. I'm having him cut the centers at 6.4", which is exactly what i measured my hubs at. We can then clearance them to whatever you think fits nice when you have the hub and centers.

There will be no lug holes in them at all.

Thanks again Kyle from Copperhead for GREAT customer service.

[carwash]

Well, new centers came from Copperhead a couple weeks ago. Dropped them off to Jeff for the finish work. He is machining the center hole, the lug holes, and the outer edge... should be able to drop into the wheel and weld in... I owe him big. Pics of those soon... maybe he will chime in here and give me an update...

Spent the last couple evenings finishing up the chunks for the rockwells. Had to pull the one apart that Kargomaster and I knocked out a couple weekends ago... recall the thrust washer questions... Anyway, those are all buttoned down and ready to go.

the second chunk i got into had some serious pinion slop, maybe as much as 3/32". since i am running pinion brakes, no pinion slop is tolerable. I was dreading tearing into this, as i hadn't even looked in my manual yet, and assumed it was going to be a serious pain in the ass. Turns out it was very simple. The shims for preload are behind the retainer, and there was no need to remove the bearings or anything... so about an hour of off/on/off/on/off/on until i was happy with the preload and i was done.

Put on the rear high clearance skid on the housing tonight. I purchased the DIY kits from Blue Torch. Note to self, don't be a tight ass next time, and buy the welded ones. Here are a few pics of the process...

Starts of course with the bare housing, stock bowl cut off and the area grinded flat to accept the new cover...





I then tacked all the pieces together on the housing.

[carwash]

Then i put the chunk on to test fit it, make sure that the gear clears it...



Then turn the welder up and burn the hell out of it...

[carwash]

Then, grind it down and smoothe it out, make it all pretty.









Hope to have the axles back together by the end of this weekend... Will be moving the rig to the new shop as soon as possible...

[carwash]

Im shooting for EJS 2012. Set your goals low, and you might not be let down...

[carwash]

OK, a few more updates and a few more pics... i doubt it will ever be done at this rate... seems so far off when i work on it about 4 hours a week, ha!

Here is a shot of the 2 chunks wired up and ready to go...



I put in the removable bracing in the engine compartment. Not sure if it will have to come out to remove the motor, but will sure make it easier im sure. Will help provide a little protection for the intake in case of rollover as well. I didn't go directly over the motor, as who knows what kind of motor and intake will end up in this thing eventually... I know the 8.1 Vortec sits a bit tall, and i didn't want to get in the way...

[carwash]

Also tabbed the fenders and put on the plates that were cut so nicely for me by Jeff (jeffhpk5 or something like that). Was going to just weld them and grind smoothe, but these "fender" tubes may come off at some point if they limit flex too much, and it will be easier if these bolt on and off. Also, they will look nice painted the contrasting colors just like the rest of the body panels.





My wheel centers are almost done. Created by Copperhead, finished by Jeff (again, this guy owns a portion of my rig at this point i think. Don't ask to borrow it tho jeff). they are done minus the chamfer on them as well as on the lugnuts. The nuts came with a radiused chamfer instead of a flat one. Making it difficult to match it on the centers. So Jeff is gonna machine both the centers and the nuts with the same flat angle. Will make for a nice seat on the rim, I'm excited. He machined the inside and the outside edge for me, as well as putting them in a press, as they had a bit of a warp to them. As they are machined now, I am looking at about 3.75" of backspace or so.

[carwash]

Gotta get these axles together now i guess... gonna move this thing to the new shop...

[carwash]

Have done a little on it... getting axles back together.

Getting my wheels together finally as well. Centers from copperhead, finished by my buddy Jeff (JeffHPK5 on here).

He cut the centers out for me as well, CNC. tried to chuck them up in a lathe, but the inner shells are too flimsy and warped when clamped tight enought to cut.









I swore that if i ever ran Hummer wheels again, I would tack-weld every stud on the shells. It never failed, it seemed every wheel would have a couple free up and spin when trying to change a tire, etc.

So, on this set, i cleaned up the insides real well, made it clean, and tacked them all. Peace of mind if nothing else. Now if i can just get them to hold air.







Tacked up once center...





I threw one onto an axle to check the runout. visually looked great, clamped a screwdriver to the shockbody to get a better idea. Looks like less than an 1/8 inch side to side and up and down. the worst spot is very centralized as well, leading me to beleive that it's not the position of my welded center, but more a banged spot in the wheel from it's previous life.

either way, i don't think i will feel that while running 44" boggers with less than 10# of air.

More work this weekend, hope to make some major ground.