Carwash Crawler - Build Thread... again.

[carwash]

ok little more progress done... everything that is left has jsut become very tedious and time intensive... ugh.

Got the timbren bump cans mounted. Took forever cycling the suspension, allotting for expansion and crush of the bumper, etc, to get it just right. The bumps make contact on the link, as it was the only place really to easily mount them without getting in the way of other stuff.

[carwash]

Brake pedals mounted... that sucked. At this point, i feel like i'm trying to fit 10 gallons of **** in a 5 gallon bucket.





And steering valve is now in place, and hole in firewall for shaft. Rode the fence for a while about where to put the orbital. Enough talk about lava-ish hydraulic fluid pouring down my legs was enough to convince me to go on the other side with it. This way, only the shaft has to go thru i guess, instead of 4 hydro lines.







That's it for now... started the rear pinion brake guard tonight, and started making templates for my boat sides and interior panels.

[carwash]

Ok, here are some pics of the Timbren bumps under compression. sorry for the ****ty phone pics, but it was all i had at the shop to take them with. These are all of the front, and the chassis is being sucked down with a ratchet strap. shocks are within about a half inch of fully compressed, and timbrens are all but maxed out, if their stats on their site are correct.

[Bear Chow]

Looks great Mike, at some point your going to have to start welding though. I don't know anything about the Timbren bumper. Is that an adjustable sleeve? Or is it temporary until you weld it.

Paul

[carwash]

The sleeve itself is an air-bump can... i have used them to mount my the shafts i made for the timbrens. The air bumps are about $200 a piece while i made my bumps for about $23 each and some scrap steel.

Here is a shot of an airbump in the cans...



Yes the can makes it adjustable up and down, but some say that you can't tighten the can enough to hold the bumps on a hard hit bottoming out. So, usually they are designed to be used right at the bottom where i ahve them, with some kind of retaining ring on them.

Make sense?

[Bear Chow]

Got it. Are you taking on new projects. PM or Email me a price for a full cage. I'll email you a crappy drawing of what I'm looking for.

[carwash]

Got a little done over the past week. Lowered the rear seat, to make it more usable by those taller than a toddler or a pygmey.

Before:





and after, lowered it about 3.5". Will still clear the driveshaft at full compression... in theory.

[carwash]

Rear clevis mounts from AtoZ fabrication clearanced and welded on. These came with a flat bottom. Coby ground them down to sit flat on a 1.75 tube... glad he was htere, i hate grinding.

[carwash]

Steering column fabbed into position... now i can sit it in and make loud motor noises...

[carwash]

and here is the big news... and when i say big, i mean big block. picked up this big block chevy today... forget the small block, time to put some cubes up front there....







guess i better learn about big blocks... need to do a cam, lifters, some roller rockers, a timing set... but i dont know what the hell i'm even looking for. completely new animal to me.

[KargoMaster]

NICE!! Sorry I missed the fun... Nice to know that you found another grinder *****...

That BB sure looks pretty complete at this point, what'ya gotta do all that for...? Slap the 'Pane on and GOoooo!

(You figure out if you need a double intake like -I think- JeffH is doing, or what?)

[carwash]

Jeff and i have talked a bit about this. we will both be running single mixer. All the top propane guys swear we wont need any more than a 450 on there, unless we get into the 700+ HP range. That won't happen for a while, at least not til next winter... ha.

I went with the MM450 with adjustable fuel rods. it is rated at 500 hp for like 30 seconds or something like that... i think jeff has all the hp duration times for the mixers, maybe he will chime in.

The cam and all is stock right now, want to get a little more oomph out of it. Gonna do timing, cuz at this point, it is stock, and no reason to not throw it on while i am switching the cam, etc. And no reason to not throw some roller rockers on there at the same time... eek every last HP i can out of this, maybe it will keep me a little longer from building that 572.

[Coby]

You got that motor quick!
I'll have to check it out tomorow. Nice valve covers BTW...

[94Dodge Truggy]

When I saw the pics the valve covers did seem a bit wide to me and then I read the post on the new big block! Bad ass!

The shackle connected to the single tube done? Looks weak.

Seat looks much better! Keep it up!

(Now I am going to have to throw away my 360 mopar and go with a viper 10 cyl to keep up. Wife will not be happy._

[carwash]

yes, the valve covers are the ghey. they are for sale...

i agree on the clevis mount, no way to make that kind of mount stronger tho. If pulling something, i will utilize both of them to cut the load in half.

it's .134 wall tubing, and the weld is good.

[94Dodge Truggy]

Weld some tubing from the opposite side of the clevises mounting point on the existing tube and connect the tube to the lower bend of the cage maybe?

If it were truggy I would have found some metal lying around and started sticking it all over the place and made a mess of it. This build is a bit fancier though!

[carwash]

yeah, i will do some to beef them up. if nothing else, i will run a tube between the tubing at that point.

[RuffedUpXJ]

Yeah I think some tri angulation with that clevis mount. So a piece thats like 10" or what ever long and down to the piece hats parallel witht he ground. WHo am I kidding you know what to do.

Anyways, you think about putting kind of a plate for the bump stop to hit so it doesn't deform to one side or something on a fast hit.

[carwash]

they deform and bounce back just fine... if i put a plate, it will try to turn the link, putting even more stress on the JJ. should be fine how it is.

I am going to run a tube between the verticals, as the location of the clevis mounts. that will add some strength. but either way, i think they are gonna be just fine, and strong enuf.

[carwash]

I have truly been bitten by the big block bug... added another to the stable today, this one a GenV. It will be the motor i use for my slow build... to the 572 point or so...

Here are the numbers off these 2 blocks and sets of heads. (more for me that anyone else, if i don't type it all here, i will lose the info in the stack of scraps of papers that is my office)

Motor 1 - The one being dropped into the rig initially (regretfully)
Block - 14015445...454.......78-90...2 or 4 bolt
Heads - 14092360...86-90...oval...OPEN...454 Truck, "peanut" round ports

Motor 2 - The one that will be built and dropped in next winter (hopefully)
Block - 10114182...454.......91-up...4-bolt, Gen.V
Heads - 10114156...91-up...oval...OPEN...Gen.V & VI 454, 118cc chamber

Doing a cam, lifters, springs, roller rockers, oil pump, and timing set on the drop in motor. Low compression on pane, power won't be the best, but it will get me on the trail til i finish the second motor.

Got some more done on the rig, pics later...

[carwash]

ok, so been searching like crazy for 43#/10 gallon aluminum propane tanks, and almost went ahead and bought a couple new... ugh, glad i didn't. Tinbeater gave me a 43# spare he had to use for mockup, and once i got it in the rig, it became aparent how freaking huge a 43 is, and maybe why a few peeps don't run them. My tanks are going to sit in the small area behind my third seat. That area also seemed much larger until i tried to fit some tanks in there. So, had to move the damn thing forward again... ugh.









That 43 is just sticking way too far out the back for me to feel safe. On a backwards roll, i can just see a sharp rock puncturing it and then a spark from the chassis against a rock, and we are all crispy bacon.... no thanks.

The 33# sit ok sideways, but that bottom tank will be near impossible to get out once there is plate on 3 sides of it, etc.

[carwash]

The 33's fit nice with the set moved forward, and a couple more bars in the rear to mount my clamps to. Seat is still OK for an adult, not the most comfortable, but is is the backseat... it's to be expected.









So now get to decide, scrounge for used tanks, buy new aluminum tanks, or buy a couple composite tanks so i can see just how fast my fuel runs out. I have worries about only carrying 16 gallons of propane. I will always have more at camp, but don't want to run out on the trail, that sucks.

[carwash]

Driveshafts came... damn beefy stuff, good lord, and heavy. Ups destroyed the packaging and had half of my front shaft in a separate new box... One u-joint cup was cracked... Jess took care of it, he rules.











Now, to build that pillow block mount... will likely happen tomorrow.

[carwash]

Harnesses came, from Trailworks (great guy), 5 point Corbeau camlocks in silver. So far i love them... of course they arent full of dust and sand yet, but they are fawkin sweet as they sit now...











Time will tell i guess... Didnt put the rear in yet, as im sure i will have to move that seat 38 more times at least.

[carwash]

Radiator in... shiny, expensive, not worth half what i paid, etc... Still some work to do to it. Need to french it into the grill a bit to clear the front of the motor. Wont know til i drop the new big block in it, maybe tomorrow... It's funny, it sits like sideways, which is cool, cuz if not it wouldnt clear my shock mounts.

It's a 20x20 core... worried about the cooling ability, but is is propane, so temps will be a little lower... still waiting on the shroud/fan combo to come, very tight and flush, 18" fan.