Pirate 4x4 banner

Bottoms Up Rock Racing #504 Continual Rebuild

45K views 285 replies 49 participants last post by  dynamixjk 
#1 · (Edited)
Bottoms Up Rock Racing #504

Current Pictures




Current Specs

Chassis
- 1.5" 2 Seat Chassis
Body/Skids
- Cambell Fiberglass Hood and Grill
- 1" Thick HDPE Skids and Boatsides
Engine
- 2009 Turnkey Engine Supply 410HP LS1
- Air/Oil Separator PCV Mod
Transmission
- TCI Streetfighter TH400
- Reverse Manual Valve Body with No Compression Braking
- Derale Atomic-Cool Cooler
- ArtCarr Shifter
Transfer Case
- Atlas 4 Speed 3.8
- Roark Fab Tail Support
- Cable Shifters
Drieshafts
- Tom Wood's Custom Driveshafts
Axles
- Front and Rear Steering Spydertrax 9" Housings
- Spydertrax Fabricated C's and Knuckles
- Spydertrax Unit Bearings
- Spydertrax Brake Hats and Rotors
- Willwood 4 Piston Calipers
- Dual Willwood Master Cylinders with Dual Pedals and Swagelok Parking Brake
- Ouverson Engineering 300m 40 Spline Shafts Milled for Extra Steering
- Ouverson Engineering 2.5 ton Universal Joints
- Front and Rear Spools
- Front Hi9 with 4.56 Gears
- Rear Strange Engineering Ultra Housing with 4.56 Gears
Steering
- Howe Full Hydro System with 10" Rams
Suspension
- 14" ORI ST Struts
- 4 link rear
- 4 link front
- All 1.25" Shank Heim Joints
Fuel Cell
- 32 Gallon Jegs Safety Fuel Cell
- Turnkey Fuel Delivery System
Wheels
- 17x8.5 Raceline Beadlocks with 4.5" Backspacing
Tires
- 39.5" BFGoodrich Krawler Tires

On one of my long trips to an offroad event with a teammate, I laid down a very expensive shopping list of everything I wanted in a buggy. I got a phone call from him one day telling me to check the link in my email. We took a day off from work, we hooked up the trailer, and made a trip down to Mississippi from Maryland.




I picked up this 2009 built buggy in 2010 with the intentions of it being an all purpose buggy. The triathlon of buggies. Trailride, race, crawl.....back to back.....every weekend I wanted. It replaced my Zook buggy that I beat on a little too hard.

That was the hardcore wheeler to go with my built up 95 ZJ family wheeler.


As always with something that you built or bought, there were some things that I wanted to change.
I wanted to put a thread together just to show some of the work that I did, had done, am doing, or want to have done. Get opinions on options to change or fix things. Also, to highlight the people and products that have helped me get the truck where I wanted it to be. Sort of a rebuild thread with updates and thank yous.



Full Photo Album Here
http://s25.photobucket.com/albums/c97/CrawfishStu/2009 Buggy/



 
See less See more
10
#2 ·
After getting it home and trail riding it for a little while, some things were apparent that I wanted changed.

Things made contact when at full bump, the bump stops were landing on the links and had already bent one of the bumps, the cage was low and sleek but was made for a shorter driver in a laid back position that hurt visibility over the hood and left no room for a helmet, there was no place for a spare tire, the shifters were hard to reach, the rear steer valve was hard to reach, the driveshafts bound at full droop, the interior was poorly insulated, the interior was hard to work on, it needed protection for the steering rams, and the trans cooler blew hot air up through the floor on the passenger side. You know, a short list....
To make it better for trail riding and so it would pass racing tech, I put it in a shop to get some work done. The cage was redone, a roof was added, a tire carrier was added, the trans cooler was upgraded and moved, a deep trans pan was added, Lokar locking oil and trans dipsticks were added, the orbital was moved out of the cab for safety, new steering lines were made, the shifters were moved and cable shifters were added, the rear steer valve was moved, the rear steering ram was rebuilt, the interior was redone and covered in DEI heat shielding, an engine skid was made, an engine protection bar was made, steering skids were made, useless bump stops and cans were removed, window nets were added, the fuel and hydro lines were all wrapped in DEI products, and the full exhaust system was wrapped in DEI wrap. I also added in some poly bump stops just to get me through the end of the season.

I got in one day of trail riding / low speed testing and had zero issues.


I took it to a race the next week and the tail housing on the transmission cracked on the first lap of really gentle prerunning.







With just two weeks before the next race, my friends in the offroad club helped me pull the TC and trans. Todd from F&S Racing out of Hagerstown, MD. rebuilt my trans. And again my friends helped me put it back in and get to the race. It looked like the new trans pan was thick enough to bind against the trans adapter support and along with a loose atlas tail support and a couple of cracked welds it helped to create enough stress to crack an HD case at the top. I refabbed the mount and bolted it back in. I also added 20 gussets to the belly of the truck.

Things were still landing hard in a few spots but I managed to run the race for a 12th place finish.




I knocked the dirt off of the truck and took it out to trailride the next weekend without issue.
This was pretty close to exactly what I wanted to be able to do with the truck.
 
#3 · (Edited)
The outstanding issues were the lack of a real bump stops and bent shock hoops. I also wanted a bigger fuel cell and wanted to upgrade to one that would pass tech for the RCQ. So, I started parts shopping and arranged for some shop time.

ORI struts were ordered through Kelly, Blacksheep10 on here. My 12 gallon fuel cell came out and a 32 gallon cell, tons of fittings, and walbro pickups were ordered. The struts, cell, and a new bumper rule for one of the racing series meant that a lot of tube work was redone on the back half of the truck again. The rear ram was also leaking again and was found to have a tweaked shaft. So a new ram was ordered as well.

Back from the shop, I still had a list of things to work through.
I also aired up the ORI Struts and found an issue with one of them. Kelly worked with me to get it resolved quickly and also managed to round up a new spare for me to buy. With the extra time, I tore into a bunch of the smaller issues.

There was a hole in the dash from where the orbital was mounted. When it was moved, a heim was mounted on the dash and a larger hole was cut so the dash fit around this. It also seemed to have a bit too much play in it.
 
#4 ·
Parts of the interior were hard to tear apart and get to fuel lines, hydro lines, and electrical wires.
The heat sheilding was just coming unglued and needed to be riveted into place.
At full bump the front driveshaft still barely touched the exhaust and the rear drop out hit the tab of limit straps.
The driveshafts would bind up a little at full droop.
The belly was getting new skids made of plastic and needed some bracing to replace the gussets.
The dash panels needed to be redone.
The master kill needed to be reloacated.
I wanted to remove the electric line lock and add a ball valve.
The new fuel setup needed shut off valves.
 
#5 ·
I got a present today.
Michael from RaceLine Wheels worked with me to get a new set of wheels that included a couple of spares. Just what you need for a busy race schedule.
I've used their products for years and I'm happy to have them as part of my race team and to be a part of theirs.
www.RaceLineWheels.com
They were packaged with care and came in very quickly.


 
#7 ·
Wow if thats what you changed to your ideal buggy I'd hate to see what you would have done to mine :) I take it the price on that engine, tcase, trans and axles must have been too good to pass up :smokin: I can't really follow going from coilovers to ORIs? I could see ORIs being less expensive than COs for upfront cost but you already owned the COs and springs?

Looks like your trans and AJs broke in nearly the same way? or was his on the adapter itself?

See you on the 16th!
 
#8 · (Edited)
You said it. The pile of invoices that came with it says I didn't even pay for the driveline.
My vision of ideal changed with more experience. But the top and back of a cage isn't really all that much but at the end of the day it added up and I wish I had just had a new chassis built.

They were only 2.0 coilovers with no room for 2.5s, the mounts had to be changed to get them to work right and they were already rubbing on the steering, it needed sway control and bumpstops and I just couldn't fit anything in there reasonably. I'm sure you know how complicated it gets with rear steer and and all the parts that come with it. I wanted to be able to easily change from race to crawl to trailride without having to have too soft, stiff, tall, short, or floppy.
We had ORI struts on AJ's unlimited buggy and I really loved them. They have only gotten better and I think for the smaller chop out here in the woods racing they are going to work great and give me the flexibility I was looking for.

AJ's adapter actual broke off of the mount and then tore the back off the case. Just my tailhousing cracked. I also knew about it right away and towed my truck back to the pits. So my rebuild was pretty cheap since I didn't blow the whole tranny.
 
#9 · (Edited)
To fix the steering shaft and dash I decided to move the heim back a little bit. This was a mistake. It made the steering shaft a big lever. I cut it and the heim back off of there and used a DOM tube with delrin bushings. Thanks to Appalachian Offroad for the idea and Autofab Racecars for the cheap delrin bushings that they had on hand for me to experiment with. The bottom tab goes to the lower dash bar and is as far forward on the tube as it can be and still be behind the dash. The upper tab goes to the upper dash bar and is as far back on the tube as it can be. It's no longer adjustable like the heim was but I'm pretty set on where I wanted the wheel to be. I probably could have used some tube and made it prettier but it's behind the dash and you can stand on the wheel and it won't budge. I can also get to all of the welds easily to cut it out if I need to remove it for a repair. Function.

I also had already made the pastic skids. I'm removing the 3/16" steel skid from the bottom and the 3/16" aluminum skids from the sides. I notched a few bars to support the large open gaps and stiffen the chassis up a little. The new skids are 1" HDPE and will bolt to tabs. It was actually very easy to cut with a circular saw and I bought a 4x8 sheet of it so I have plenty to make a spare belly skid etc.

I had one body panel that was covering some stuff I wanted to get to easier and without pulling the seats. So I cut the panel in half and need to weld a tab or two on there. This will let me get the shifters, cables, rear steer valve, fuel lines, etc without taking the whole truck apart. Previously you had to pull the side panels, belts, and seats to get to this panel.

The easier something is to take apart, the more likely I am to have the extra time to check things over and take it apart to get a good look at it. Not to mention repairs will be faster.

I reran the battery cables to move the master kill around in the cab of the truck. Before, the codriver could kick it on and off but neither of us could reach it while strapped in. I also ran an extra cable for a quick fix or to run a separate switch for the winches.
 
#10 ·
Looks good Stu!

What are you going to do about the driveshaft binding issue? Mine did the same thing so I clearanced the bearing yoke with a die grinder and put in some offset u-joints. The binding was fixed but those offset joints caused a lot of vibration at speeds. I'm looking for another option, besides a custom $,$$$ HP passenger side front housing.
 
#11 ·
Thanks. It's getting more travel than before since the old shocks were not getting full up travel. I ground the yokes out a bit and need to toss them back in to see. The rear is bad but I can also move the axle back a hair. I have offset joints to try if that doesn't work. Plus limit straps. I've seen what driveshaft bind can do, I'm eager to avoid that. Up front the driveshaft still touches the exhaust so I was going to lower my pillow block a little. Again I have offset joints to use as well.
 
#16 ·
The Zook buggy went to Tenn. I parted out the ZJ and scrapped the rest of it. I'm a one offroader family right now.

Breaking the trans was really dissappointing but being able to get it out and back together in a short timeline for the next race was uplifting.
 
#17 ·
Had a buddy from my offroad club take a break from building his single seater to come up and help me out tonight. We managed to get the front and rear driveshafts rebuilt with offset joints. No binding in the front or rear with full travel.

Thanks to Tom Woods for the nice offset joints and to Tom and the guys in my offroad club for the advice. Just in case you guys don't know, he makes 1410 offset joints now as well.

I also worked on running power for running and tail lights and horns and an auxiliary radiator fan switch. I'm making sure all wires are marked and covered to avoid shorts and aid in repairs.

We also got some mounts done for the new 1" thick HDPE skids and adjusted (BFH) the downpipe where the driveshaft was just barely touching it.

I forget how much I like spending all night in the garage when it's warm and not raining.
 
#20 ·
We ran them in the 4414 and didn't have problems with them. Another teammate has ran them for over two years and hasn't had one issue. I'll give it a shot and adjust as needed.
 
#21 ·
New Skids

Prepped the steering for paint


This morning I prepped and painted the steering support, replaced a brake line, removed the electric line lock and ran a line to the new ball valve and the brake pressure switch for the brake lights.
 
#22 · (Edited)
The skids are going to get washers on the bolts, the edges ground a little, and some counter sinking for the bolts. That was just a test fit to measure for the bottom skid.
 
#23 ·
Thanks to JT for coming up and helping again.

Since I don't have a router and the bits are pretty expensive.....I just ran the circular saw over the edge of the skid and ramped the edges. We then marked the belly skid for mounting holes and drilled them.

I tightened all of the brake fittings and checked that I had room to pull and tug to work on stuff.
Bleeding the brakes with those 4 piston calipers is always a pain.....until you drop the caliper down more vertical but somehow I always try it the hard way first.

I loomed wires while JT worked on putting rivets in all of the interior panels to help hold the heat shielding on better. I added some pieces of heavy heat resistant rubber hose where the hydro lines were rubbing on the interior panels over the trans tunnel.

We then made the templates for the firewall extension and gave some thought as to how the harness belts need to be routed.

It's coming together.
 
#24 ·
Good progress last night.
Thanks to my buddy Scott that came up to help.

I will be back in there tonight to finish up what I need done for the crawling competition at Rausch creek this weekend.

Reran the vent line so that it runs three sides and down like it should.
Added a ball valve to the vent line.
Fixed the leaking bulkhead fitting on the new fuel cell.
Put a filter on the vent line.
Filled the front diff. (new 5 gallon pail and pump make this job way easier than before)
Cut off the new rear limit strap tab that we hitting the rear diff at full bump. (doh)
Replaced the messed up u bolts on the driveshafts and tightened everything up.
Tightened the link bolts.
Filled the lower shock chambers to crawling specs.
Welded in the side tubes that I added.
Removed the spare mount.
Finished the rivets for the heat sheilding.
Fixed the heat sheilding over the muffler.
Fabbed the new dash panels.
Remounted the rear brake calipers.
Put the wheels back on.
Put toplocks on the rear shocks.
Installed catch cans for the front and rear diffs and the transfer case.
Installed the diff vent nipples.
I reran the main power line to be easier to get to in the event I have a problem.

Also, my neat little tool to pull the selector shaft seal is too long to fit in between the exhaust and use to replace it. So I pulled it apart and found a bunch of dirt packed up behind the shifter. I cleaned it all up really well and it does not seem to be leaking anymore.


Pending list.

A list
Stuff that needs to be done.
Reinstall the shifter arm and tighten the drain plug.
Run the lines to the catch cans. (ran out of hose)
Put dash panels back on.
Check oil level
Check rear diff level
Check TC Level
Check PS Level
Check Trans Level
Clean and install air cleaner.
Mount fire extinguishers. (Just putting the hose clamps back on.)
Put skids back on. (I have speed nuts on the tabs so it's quick.)
Install interior panels, seats, and belts. (This is the biggest job this evening but I get faster at this every time.)
Install side panels.
Hook up the battery.
Tie off the new wires for the horn, lights, and fan.
Lower shock top pressure to ride height.(I jacked them up a but to make climbing around under them easier)
Pack fluids, tools, chairs, canopy, and nitro tank.

B List
Stuff I would rather do before I put it back together again.
Fix the exhaust wrap near the front driveshaft.
Move the supply line filter to where I can change it easily, remove the now redundant Prefilter, and put in a ball valve while it's apart.
Hook up the rad fan axuilary power at fan and switch.

C List
Stuff for before the race.
Move jack mount up or make a floor jack mount (new firewall panels are just too tall for where it was mounted.)
Make firewall panels. (Templates are made)
Mount tabs for panels.
Fab light plate in rear.
Mount and wire lights.
Install horn buttons and wire
Fab horn mount.
Mount horn and wire.
Mount quart crate. (Thanks artec)
Mount tool storage. (Haven't figured that out yet)
Add wiffle balls to fuel cell.
Add a ball valve to the return.
Mount accumulator and remote oil adapter.

That's about all.
 
#25 ·
Why do your wheels look like alot less than 4.5 backspacing? My monsters leave a whole lot of hub sticking out and the face of the wheel is set further back with 4-4.5" spacing.

Or is that just the spidertrax hubs being shorter?
 
#26 ·
Knocked out all of my a list stuff after work on Friday. Went home from the shop to shower and visit my dogs for a few minutes then headed back to the shop to run down a few things and......it was time to leave for the comp. Loaded up at 4am and headed to Rausch for the comp. The buggy did very well with the ORI Struts charged to 150 in the front and 130 in the rear with 5" of shaft showing.

Sunday I dropped the pressure to about 110 front and rear with 7" of shaft showing and headed out to do some wheeling with my buddies. I'm just amazed with how they work. And I love that I can just shoot some air at them and change what it's set up for.

I can't wait to tear through my list and race next weekend.

Jamison, they have good bit of material on the mounting surface.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top