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1988 Samurai Turned Buggy

YotaAtieToo said:
Hard to tell by just pics, but you could try mounting it to facing sideways. Or at an angle.

Just also be weary of the heat blowing towards the fuel cell also.
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Yeah if I move it I will lean the top back.

Fuel cell is getting mounted behind my driver’s side seat.
 
I would move it to the right directly behind the drivers seat. That leaves the middle clear to look at the passenger rear tire and rear diff. Also puts it behind your seat which will block some heat and noise. Its a win win IMO!

RAD behind drivers seat and if you are running one of those tall cells like MarsFab ran put it behind the passenger seat. That keeps the middle clear!

One of my biggest goals in ever buggy is visibility. It makes a WORLD of difference!!
 
I think it would be nice if it could be back a little more, but still not blocking visibility as Blase mentioned. And then try to have a removable heat shroud (along with the reversible fan option) to keep the heat out during warm weather and get the heat in during cold weather.
 
Well, I’m going to mess with this tonight or tomorrow. But the rad has to go on the passenger side for ease of routing hoses.

This is also going to force me locate the battery over the transmission, which isn’t terrible. It at least keeps weight low and centered.
 
if it makes you feel better i have never been able to see the rear tires through the cab area. only in a mirror or leaning out to the side and actually looking.
 
FleshEater said:
I mean, it’s all doable, but since I’m building it I might as well make it visible. Just takes a little more thinking and fabricating.
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I promise you once you've driven a buggy with good vis you will never want to wheel again without it. Its worth all the work to do it and getting dirty because you can see. :lmao: because make no mistake.....with good vis comes getting dirty for all but the west coasters...:lmao::lmao::lmao:
 
Blase said:
I promise you once you've driven a buggy with good vis you will never want to wheel again without it. Its worth all the work to do it and getting dirty because you can see. :lmao: because make no mistake.....with good vis comes getting dirty for all but the west coasters...:lmao::lmao::lmao:
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I agree. I hate wheeling full body rigs in rocks. No matter how much you try to remember what you’re encountering, one hangup and all your focus is on the driver’s side and you forget what the passenger side was up against.
 
FleshEater said:
I agree. I hate wheeling full body rigs in rocks. No matter how much you try to remember what you’re encountering, one hangup and all your focus is on the driver’s side and you forget what the passenger side was up against.
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and that right there is why my passenger side is always getting bashed in... hahahhahaha
 
Moved it. Blase was right…had to go behind the driver. Passenger stuck my hose right out into the rocks. I’m still not overly thrilled with this idea…seems like a punctured rad waiting to happen.

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looks good. Think of it this way punctured Rad or drivers seat.......I know I'd prefer the rad! If it helps you any the upper link is adding some protection to it. I've also personally never seen anyone puncture a Rad mounted in that location.

If you are concerned you could pick it up some. Make the mounts so that the Rad sits in the middle of the the two chassis tubes. That way you both upper and lower mounts are the same height V/s the lowers being short and the upper being long. Just a thought. I like it how it is. Keeps weight down low!
 
Got a battery/ECU mount done. Byro offered a good idea on this. Going to run and see if it kills a busload of nuns. :flipoff2:

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My only concern would be any vibration with hard mounting a ECM to the bell housing. Crusty old solder joints inside that thing and all. I’m probably overthinking it.
 
SKULLYOTA said:
My only concern would be any vibration with hard mounting a ECM to the bell housing. Crusty old solder joints inside that thing and all. I’m probably overthinking it.
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My thinking was, Is it going to be any different than bouncing down the trail or road for the past 25 years of its life.
 
Except they do fail in stock form, probably the least reliable part of those 8v's and they aren't bolted to a transmission :laughing:

I also think having the plugs up is just asking for water, dust, ect to fall in easier.
 
SKULLYOTA said:
My only concern would be any vibration with hard mounting a ECM to the bell housing. Crusty old solder joints inside that thing and all. I’m probably overthinking it.
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Byro said:
My thinking was, Is it going to be any different than bouncing down the trail or road for the past 25 years of its life.
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Could also always add some small rubber grommets/ isolators in-between the ECU and whatever it's mounted to.

Edit: I was more worried about the wiring being plugged in like that. They're going to be up in the air some. Also probably overthinking it here.
 
Wuz-A-zuk said:
Could also always add some small rubber grommets/ isolators in-between the ECU and whatever it's mounted to.

Edit: I was more worried about the wiring being plugged in like that. They're going to be up in the air some.
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Exactly what I was going to do.

This is going in that aluminum box idea I kicked your way. Grommets and I can seal them up with some sort of caulking for 100% seal.
 
FleshEater said:
Exactly what I was going to do.

This is going in that aluminum box idea I kicked your way. Grommets and I can seal them up with some sort of caulking for 100% seal.
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Sounds way harder than the pelican box idea I had :flipoff2:

Also not sure why you would want it right there, but whatever
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Sounds way harder than the pelican box idea I had :flipoff2:

Also not sure why you would want it right there, but whatever
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There is absolutely no room for any kind of box. No room under my seats. No room in the engine area. No room anywhere. So it’s there or on the roof.
 
Wuz-A-zuk I found a new place for the ECU that won’t add unnecessary weight or junk in the dash area. It’s going behind the driver’s seat or the passenger’s seat on the sealt belt bar with the plugs facing down. Only downside is that it will be fully out in the elements, but hopefully gravity and whatever else I add keeps it dry.

Plan is to wrap those wires a decent way out of the box with shrink tubing and they’ll be fully wrapped everywhere with Painless abrasion tape.
 
FleshEater said:
There is absolutely no room for any kind of box. No room under my seats. No room in the engine area. No room anywhere. So it’s there or on the roof.
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You're a stubborn fucker you know :flipoff2:

Almost every buggy or chopped up rig I've been around mounts them in the glove box area. Keeps it high for water crossings, but also close to the engine to avoid adding wire length.

The box I'm talking about is barely bigger than the ecu.
 
Not that you asked for them but here is what I would look at to mount the ECU and battery.

1) battery. I would try to mount it somewhere on the front of the motor. Grab a couple bolts from the accessories and build a little tray for it to sit on. The reason why is weight and visibility. battery cables are heavy:lmao:. so even mounted in the belly you are running big cables up to the starter and winch. Mounted on the front of the motor in your case (because you have no lower chassis structure) you will have super short battery cables. They will weigh less and work better being short. It will also not be in you line of sight AT ALL. An aluminum box on top the trans blocks your view of the passenger front tire from the picture you posted.

2) ECU. I'd mount it to the rear of the motor with the plug facing down. Easy enough to put rubber mounts and wrap it with heat shielding. I see plenty of OEM ECU's mounted to the fender on the hood.
 
Blase said:
Not that you asked for them but here is what I would look at to mount the ECU and battery.

1) battery. I would try to mount it somewhere on the front of the motor. Grab a couple bolts from the accessories and build a little tray for it to sit on. The reason why is weight and visibility. battery cables are heavy:lmao:. so even mounted in the belly you are running big cables up to the starter and winch. Mounted on the front of the motor in your case (because you have no lower chassis structure) you will have super short battery cables. They will weigh less and work better being short. It will also not be in you line of sight AT ALL. An aluminum box on top the trans blocks your view of the passenger front tire from the picture you posted.

2) ECU. I'd mount it to the rear of the motor with the plug facing down. Easy enough to put rubber mounts and wrap it with heat shielding. I see plenty of OEM ECU's mounted to the fender on the hood.
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Where the battery mount is will not block any view at all. I already checked.

Glove box area 100% blocks view.

Front of the motor is probably not going to happen. I’ll look it over. I still have to mount an external slave cylinder, and my p/s reservoir. My tires also get way up into the side of the engine bay area.

Most of the OEM mounts on this block are held on by M8 or M10 bolts. I’m not sure I would save weight by the time I built something to support a 40lbs. battery hanging 6”-8” off the side of the block.

The shittiest thing about this chassis is that the seats had to sit so low into the chassis that I can’t see over the front bar. So I have to be able to look under it and around the engine.

I can see if there’s room to hang the ECU off the front dash bar, but the distributor is pretty much right under it.
 
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YotaAtieToo said:
You're a stubborn fucker you know :flipoff2:

Almost every buggy or chopped up rig I've been around mounts them in the glove box area. Keeps it high for water crossings, but also close to the engine to avoid adding wire length.

The box I'm talking about is barely bigger than the ecu.
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I might be stubborn, but you guys also aren’t looking at this in person. :flipoff2:
 
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