The Shopping List (Part 5)

Winches, Electrical, Fuel, and Exterior

The fuel cell is an interesting idea I dreamed up after seeing a stock fuel tank Dallas had literally tied to his buggy with rope.  When he went to hard mount it, he had to pull the filler hose off the tank and right there inside was an interesting 1 1/2” (approx) plastic check valve.  His tank is out of a Suzuki SideKick but apparently is the same in a Geo Tracker.

Thinking about how we want a lightweight fuel system, we know we need to run only a few gallons of gas for competition.  That makes things a bit scary because when you lean a small amount of fuel over in a larger tank, the pickup no longer picks up fuel…This means we need a small fuel cell.  But wait, we need to run all day on long trailruns and we’ll need at least 8 gallons to do that with our Vortec v6.  That means we need a large tank.  Thinking more about this, how about we do BOTH.  First, Bender will fabricate a small (approx 3 gallon) fuel cell that sits in the underbelly, alongside the Lovell transfer case.  The pickup will be at the rear of that tank as will the filler neck that points diagonally upward toward the rear.  Inside that filler will be the ball valve that Dallas has.  If Becca flips the crawler, the fuel will stay in the tank and hopefully keep the crawler running long enough to get things back to normal.  That filler tube will then run up about 8” to the rear of the dividing wall behind the seats to the bottom of a thin but wide and tall tank that holds an additional 6 (approx) gallons.  This tank will have its own filler and will in turn fill the lower competition tank.  This way, we don’t have to fill the whole thing for competition yet have the advantages of a bigger trail tank when we need it.  It will be custom fabbed by Bender and Blue Torch and will use the Aluminum weld in bungs from Russell to deliver fuel to and from the engine. 

As the fuel (super unleaded) leaves the tank, it will head through Russell -6 Steel Braid lines to a filter and high pressure pump from Edelbrock.  The pump is the Edelbrock PN 3594 set up for engines up to 600 hp.  This pump is strong and can be used in many configurations.  I was boning up on the details and found out they use it as a secondary pump for nitrous. Still, its common use is for EFI conversions.  It flows 57 GPH and with a regulator, can run at pressures between 35 and 90 psi.  With the Vortec EFI, we run the pump unregulated without any issues.  If you buy the pump straight from Edelbrock but plan on using AN lines, you’ll need to pick up the -6 AN adapters from Russell as the pump comes standard with 3/8” barb fittings.  The filter will be the same one we run on our crawlers with a huge replaceable element inside that won’t need changing for a few years...even then, you’ll be able to easily clean it out with brakecleaner and get back on the road.  It is a Russell PN649140 Pro Filter that is 8 ¼” long and about 1 ¾” in diameter.  One trick thing about this filter is you can choose the AN size on the ends of the filter and can mix them in any configuration between -6 and -12. 

Our winches…this one is a no-brainer.  We use the WARN 9.0R competition winches because they are light, compact, durable, and match our team colors…you do know that is why they painted those red don’t you…?

In the back, we’ll use a Warn 3.0 ci. We have found that the way we use the rear winch, it is stressed pretty heavily by the shock-loads. Using the 3.0.s we can beat them hard and they still work exactly as they should. We have also used them for recovery a couple of times as they are rated for 3,000 lbs. That’s a huge pull and will do in many trail-type situations. We will use the toggles in the switch panels from 12voltguy.com to run the winches and will look into a remote controller for when we’re winching out of a rollover and not inside the crawler.

For our electric power, we’re picking up the Hawker / Odyssey PC925T batteries from Interstate Batteries. We use a single battery and as it is ultra-compact, it is a snap to mount. Don’t let its size fool you though…it is very powerful and easily runs a couple fans, the engine and fuel pump, plus the winches without skipping a beat. BTF will fabricate a custom battery box, like they do with many other cool items. We’ll actually mount it in the belly, next to the transmission. If you remember, we’re dumping the exhaust out the front of the crawler so we have no exhaust tubes to get in the way of mounting the fuel cell and batteries down there. Interstate carries the version we needed as many of the Odyssey batteries with similar part numbers don’t actually come with the standard battery lug terminal. On top of the terminal of this model, there is a bolt hole so you can bolt additional wires to the top. From the battery, we will go out with two separate heavy gauge wires to the twin “master cutoff” switches we picked up. These Moroso switches handle far more amperage than the other switches and we’ll use one to isolate our winches and one for the rest of the engine, electrical, and fuel systems.

Back on the topic of safety, we’ve now all seen what a runaway crawler can do at a competition so we’re installing a “RECS” (Remote Emergency Cutoff System) from StinkyFab.

This is a simple ignition cutoff that can be instantly activated via a small remote control that is held by someone not competing. The range is about 100 yards and since it uses digital code hopping security, it cannot be jammed or activated by anything but the remote control. It is a 15 minute install with four simple wires to connect. It comes in a waterproof housing and includes an emergency bypass where you can reconnect your ignition with the flip of a switch if something did go awry. If you’re interested in more info on this system, you can contact Dallas Nunn, our Crew Chief, on the Pirate4x4 forums under his screen-name “stinkbug”, or by visiting his website, www.stinkyfab.com.

Finally, the outside of the RockHer II will be fashioned using the S10 body design we have grown to love.

Dirty Dave’s Marine does all of our glass and paintwork for these buggies and the crawler will remain the Red Bull silver color, just as the RockHer I was. To dress up the look, our graphics will be printed out at Blue Torch Fabworks on their large format digital color vinyl printer.

Well, that’s it for the intro, now onto the build!...after I get some serious sleep!
Thanks Dallas for helping proof-read this novel.

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