A wolf in Jeeps clothing - Goatbuilt 1200 LJ/TJ Chassis build

[Wisconsinite]

I had a few hours to putz in the shop this weekend and knocked off a few little lingering projects that I wanted to finish before I moved onto something else. Most are boring / rework, but the parking brakes are pretty cool.

Dumbass me mounted the tail lights too high, and caused interference with the rub rail. I had to move the holes down 1.25". Luckily, the tail light covered the old holes. I'm calling this modification weight reduction stage 1.

Next, I made a pair of parking brake caliper brackets out of .25" domex, and glued them on. Besides plumbing and wiring, the rear end should be ready to rock. I just need to install the third and shafts.

This is a newer push button parking brake kit from Wilwood. I had to have the blue portion of the caliper machined down .435" to fit the .375" rotor. Time will tell if they hold up to the rigors of off roading, but I am pretty excited to have them mounted and fitting inside my wheel.

I finally trimmed the little rocker panel to match the wheel opening.

Modified the factory filler neck to better fit the chassis. I upsized the vent tube from 5/8 to 3/4 and changed the angle slightly,, and changed the angle of the main fill tube also. It should work out well, but is a really boring update.

 

[Wisconsinite]

Then a few pages back I installed a upper fender panel on the front end. It didn't fit like it should, and I was in a mood, and burned it in anyway and called it good enough. You guys said I needed to fix it, as the details make the build, and you were right. I cut it out and redid both sides, it was definitely the right thing to do. Thanks.


Before

During

After

 

[Wisconsinite]

With the slight wander or drift that comes with full hydro, I wanted a steering wheel that would look decent no matter the rotation. I found this marine steering wheel and thought it would do the trick. It is 14", and the largest I think I would ever want in this rig. I have it bolted to an NRG ball bearing quick release. I love the feel and rigidity of the quick release, but I am not sure how well it will hold up in dirty and dusty conditions.

Got some front end goodies from Spidertrax and CTM. With this combo, I will be able to get as much steering out the axle as the chassis will allow for. I am pretty stoked on these parts, the quality is top notch.

 

[HYDRODYNAMIC]

The progress is looking good.
For the cooler I would run the rectangular bar and plate style. I would mount the cooler is an optimal spot for cold air flow and plumbing simplicity AND add two small Spal fans for active cooling. It will perform way better and save a headache of mounting locations and non optimal fluid path. How you control them is up to you based and how hot things get. You can get a simple PWM variable controller and or a toggle switch and change the speed based on seasonal temps. I would bump the cooler ports up to -10 or -12 which would be the same as your return system to keep hose and fitting sizes common. I would also run the cylinder ports at -8. The larger hose and port sizes will allow you to run a higher flow pump or unregulated CBR if you want to down the road without having to replumb the system.

 

[IronmanOffroad]

Nice Job!!!

 

[Wisconsinite]

I managed to get a little time in over the holidays and got the dash in, gas pedal mounted, brake pedal mounted, and orbital mounted. Is there any reason I can't mount the orbital with the fittings pointed down?

 

[HYDRODYNAMIC]

I managed to get a little time in over the holidays and got the dash in, gas pedal mounted, brake pedal mounted, and orbital mounted. Is there any reason I can't mount the orbital with the fittings pointed down?

Ports up can help with purging of air from the orbital but can also make it difficult to purge air from the hose/line depending on the fittings and angles. Once the system is purged it doesn't matter.
In your setup it looks like it would allow straight fittings down for a less restrictive flow path.

 

[Wisconsinite]

Ports up can help with purging of air from the orbital but can also make it difficult to purge air from the hose/line depending on the fittings and angles. Once the system is purged it doesn't matter.
In your setup it looks like it would allow straight fittings down for a less restrictive flow path.

So ports down = good to go?

 

[HYDRODYNAMIC]

So ports down = good to go?

Yes, you can run it ports down.

 

[Wisconsinite]

Perfect! That will work out great!

 

[WaterH]

Very cool build. Just went through from the start. For some reason not all pics worked, but lots did. I’ll be watching now.

 

[ridenby]

Cooler than hell. NMP

 

[TacosGrande]

whos dash is that?

 

[Wisconsinite]

whos dash is that?

Genright. With the price of aluminum and our current lead times for laser cut parts, I didn't want to wait to have a protype designed and have to pay for a one off. Hindsight being 20/20, I had plenty of time to get one cut. I had high hopes to have the engine started already.....

I will say that it was expensive, and I had to cut a bunch of it off to make it fit, but they do make a nice product. The majority of it is .125" AL with PEM serts and 10-24 screws. It is in and fits pretty well now. I am having my brother 3D print some defrost ducts for it, as well as a drain for the cowl/wiper area.

Travis, If you need a cowl drain, let me know and I will have him print one. The space between the intake manifold won't accept the factory one.

 

[TacosGrande]

Genright. With the price of aluminum and our current lead times for laser cut parts, I didn't want to wait to have a protype designed and have to pay for a one off. Hindsight being 20/20, I had plenty of time to get one cut. I had high hopes to have the engine started already.....

I will say that it was expensive, and I had to cut a bunch of it off to make it fit, but they do make a nice product. The majority of it is .125" AL with PEM serts and 10-24 screws. It is in and fits pretty well now. I am having my brother 3D print some defrost ducts for it, as well as a drain for the cowl/wiper area.

Travis, If you need a cowl drain, let me know and I will have him print one. The space between the intake manifold won't accept the factory one.

Ahh, I didnt like how the dash was narrow to clear the stock cage. I was pretty disappointed how bad ass their JK dash was compared to the TJ. I haven't even looked at the cowl drain, whats the printed one look like?

 

[Wisconsinite]

Alright, Back on this! Had a shitty few months due to shitty family members, but I am hoping to knock out some serious progress in the next few days......weeks....... I am trying to make progress.


A little back story real quick. When I was in highschool, I traded a 2002 Kawi Ninja 250 for a blown out YJ with a 2.5 and AX-5. I "built" that up (BDS 2" lift springs and shocks, body work, and paint), tosses on some American Racing Bajas with 31X10.50X15 BFG recaps. I was big pimping in my small town. Ha. This is the jeep that started it all. And for those wondering, yes, I am stuck on the dirt hill and had to be pulled off.

When I graduated HS, I went to a tech school 80 miles away by interstate. This little guy didn't have the power to cruise interstate speed, and I decided to sell it for a more practical car. Watching it leave my parents driveway on a trailer was a boner killer I will never forget. This current build is version 2.0 that I promised myself I would build someday. Although it has exceeded my wildest expectations so far.

In an effort to pay homage to the OG jeep, I bought myself a set of street wheels, still need tires though. 17X9 AR Baja 172s. I think they will look killer.

Once I had the dash installed, I messed around with the layout of my dash and switch panels. I thought it would look a little different (don't know why), and I am not sure I love it. But that can re-done down the road if it doesn't work out. Once that was situated, I started on the steering column. I didn't like the idea of a fixed column, and the Goatbuilt adjustable one wouldn't work in this application. I took some of the GB column parts and made my own.

The tube started out as 1.5" X .250 wall DOM. I turned most of the OD down, and ended up with ~.150 wall tubing.

After a lot of dinking around, I ended up with this:

 

[Wisconsinite]

I saw an ad for a cheap china air powered chamfer tool on ebay, think mini router with carbide insert cutters. I decided to give it a shot, for 37 bucks, what's the worst that can happen? I used it on the tabs for the steering column, and it worked out pretty well.

That is a pretty large chamfer on .25" domex, it worked well, but took quite a while.

Once I was happy with the placement and functionality of the column, I pressed in some bushings, and reamed them to fit the .750" DOM steering shaft. One side of the column was easy to ream, the other side, not so much. Ready for some sketch?

Yup, I used that 3/8" bolt as a drive dog, and got the other side reamed out with out losing any digits! So sketchy.

I welded on a limit tab to stop the column from hitting the dash. Once I tear down for final welding, I plan to add some gussets to the mounting tabs to reinforce it laterally.

When I had the axle out to do some final welding, I followed the advise of mobil1syn, and added support plates to the bump pads just like he said.

 

[Wisconsinite]

A silver lining of the shitty family is I got a new shop dog! He is a ~3 year old ridgeback/shepherd mix, and he is a good boy. The sliver lab is the owners pup.

They make sure they is no funny business going on....

Getting geared up for plumbing and wiring!

I am messing around with options to fix 3/16 hardline to the axles, and think this will be a pretty clean solution, obviously I am not the first person to come up with this idea.

 

[chaplinfj60]

holly chit

thats a canadian dime.



made ya look

 

[WaterH]

The work is fantastic. That column is beautiful. Couple questions. The chamfer looks really cool, but in that application it appears to be counter productive. (Less metal for the lock bolt to grab) Also, I don’t quite understand those little L-studs, will you be welding them on to stuff?

 

[Wisconsinite]

The work is fantastic. That column is beautiful. Couple questions. The chamfer looks really cool, but in that application it appears to be counter productive. (Less metal for the lock bolt to grab) Also, I don’t quite understand those little L-studs, will you be welding them on to stuff?

Thanks for the kind words.

You are correct about it being counter productive. I got the tool the same day I was messing with the column. Friggen everything got a chamfer that day . When I started that tab, the chamfer was MAYBE .030. The damn set screws the secure the table to the chamfer tool worked loose, and ended up with a much larger chamfer than I wanted. I don't anticipate moving the column very often, as it will be tucked up under the dash. If it does come loose, I will set it where I want and tack it in place. I like the relibility of a fixed column, but was hesitant to weld something in solid and then realize I want it 5* higher. Time will tell.

So, we party with guys from Wilwood at KOH, and he stressed and I mean STRESSED that I use as little flex line as possible. The locations that I anticipate mounting brake line retainers, p-clamps, and bulkheads will primiarily be on 3/16 Domex. I was not excited about drilling/tapping or drilling/nutsert for the p-clamp bolts. A few reasons being I am a big dumb animal, and small taps in hard steel didn't sound like a sucessful venture, I didn't want to add multiple points for water intrustion, and I like to get as much tig practice as possible.

 

[CarterKraft]

Thanks for the kind words.

You are correct about it being counter productive. I got the tool the same day I was messing with the column. Friggen everything got a chamfer that day . When I started that tab, the chamfer was MAYBE .030. The damn set screws the secure the table to the chamfer tool worked loose, and ended up with a much larger chamfer than I wanted. I don't anticipate moving the column very often, as it will be tucked up under the dash. If it does come loose, I will set it where I want and tack it in place. I like the relibility of a fixed column, but was hesitant to weld something in solid and then realize I want it 5* higher. Time will tell.

So, we party with guys from Wilwood at KOH, and he stressed and I mean STRESSED that I use as little flex line as possible. The locations that I anticipate mounting brake line retainers, p-clamps, and bulkheads will primiarily be on 3/16 Domex. I was not excited about drilling/tapping or drilling/nutsert for the p-clamp bolts. A few reasons being I am a big dumb animal, and small taps in hard steel didn't sound like a sucessful venture, I didn't want to add multiple points for water intrustion, and I like to get as much tig practice as possible.

I like those little L tabs, all the grinding of the welds (if any) would be under the P clip hidden.
Makes it really clean I bet and fast/easy to install vs trying to weld studs on and getting the weld too high up on the threads.

 

[CarterKraft]

Ya'll probably have this sorted but I thought I would add this chart to try and contribute positively, and as a Olive branch for getting your hopes up in the Midnight Panic thread...

With a full hydro system, the hose size won't impact what flow rate is moving because flow through the main circuit is determined by the pump and flow in the hoses feeding the ram are determined by the orbital valve (however too small of a hose will result in pressure loss and heat).

This is a chart we have to make this easy.

 

[WaterH]

Thanks for the kind words.

You are correct about it being counter productive. I got the tool the same day I was messing with the column. Friggen everything got a chamfer that day . When I started that tab, the chamfer was MAYBE .030. The damn set screws the secure the table to the chamfer tool worked loose, and ended up with a much larger chamfer than I wanted. I don't anticipate moving the column very often, as it will be tucked up under the dash. If it does come loose, I will set it where I want and tack it in place. I like the relibility of a fixed column, but was hesitant to weld something in solid and then realize I want it 5* higher. Time will tell.

yea, counter productive was probably too strong a statement. In that application, you don’t need that much clamp force. I would consider a knob there if you could. I had a slot adjustment on my project For the same reasons as you. After determined the final location, I made the dash, I clamped it solid with a bolt/nut. Its all covered with sheet metal now and kind of wish I had some adjustment. Of course, I don’t have a slot in the dash and it would be hard to get to a knob.

 

[Wisconsinite]

Ya'll probably have this sorted but I thought I would add this chart to try and contribute positively, and as a Olive branch for getting your hopes up in the Midnight Panic thread...


This is a chart we have to make this easy.

Thanks for adding some tech to this thread! I printed out that sheet, and using a straight edge running from left bar @4.5gpm to -6 puts me at the max recommended velocity of right around 13 . Going from @4.5 gpm to -10 put me ~8fps. I went with -8, I hope that wasn't the wrong move.

yea, counter productive was probably too strong a statement. In that application, you don’t need that much clamp force. I would consider a knob there if you could. I had a slot adjustment on my project For the same reasons as you. After determined the final location, I made the dash, I clamped it solid with a bolt/nut. Its all covered with sheet metal now and kind of wish I had some adjustment. Of course, I don’t have a slot in the dash and it would be hard to get to a knob.

I am going to try and use an adjustable handle. If that doesn't work, I will try a lock nut. I will add a slot in the dash panel to have some adjustment.

 

[Wisconsinite]

Made a little progress this weekend! Not going to lie, I am starting to get a little overwhelmed with the amount of stuff I don't understand, the amount of work left to do, and the amount of nickel and dime shit I still need to buy...... If I seem to bounce around a bunch, it's because I am bouncing around a bunch.

My plan is to get the axles buttoned up to the point they can be blasted, painted, and final assembled before I fill it with gear oil. I don't want to mess with prepping a housing that is leaking gear oil everywhere. The last few items on the front end that need to be finalized are the steering stops, weld on some tie down points, and plumbing. Tie downs and steering stops can be done on the bench, but I wanted to get the brake lines and hydro lines plumbed.

I am running Wilwood 6 piston calipers, using a 1/8 NPT- -3AN adapter to -3 lines. I was going to mount a tee bulkhead fitting in the center of the housing, then a single flex line up the driver side upper link. The brake plumbing on the axle led to an interesting conversation with a local road racer. He said if I mount the bulkhead tee off center, the wheel end with the shortest line will lock up first. Example:

O= tire
T= bulkhead tee
/\= front upper links

O---T / \ ---O = driver front locks up first

O---/ \ T ---O = pass front locks up first

O---/ T \ ---O = equal brake bias left to right

Does that sound accurate? It makes sense in my head as the volume would be that same.

I had a shitty brake line bending tool that would create a rather large indent in the tube at every start of bend. It was very frustrating, so I cut it apart and made a little tool to produce clean 90 degree bends close to the fitting.

After getting the bending and flaring dialed, I started plumbing the front calipers.

I took a sheet of panel tabs and milled a slot that would allow the bulkhead fitting to slide in, and then indicate the shoulder of the fitting in the .375" hole. Once installed, the fitting can't walk out of the slot when you tighten the bulkhead nut. This will allow me to remove the caliper without breaking the system open.

 

[RadialDynamics]

Thanks for adding some tech to this thread! I printed out that sheet, and using a straight edge running from left bar @4.5gpm to -6 puts me at the max recommended velocity of right around 13 . Going from @4.5 gpm to -10 put me ~8fps. I went with -8, I hope that wasn't the wrong move.



I am going to try and use an adjustable handle. If that doesn't work, I will try a lock nut. I will add a slot in the dash panel to have some adjustment.

For 4.5 GPM max regulated flow, I recommend -6 high pressure hoses and -8 low pressure return hoses based on flow velocities. Velocity recommendations may vary depending on where you look but most often, general industry standards will be 4 FPS max for suction (feed) lines, 15-25 FPS max for high pressure (I tend to stick around 15 or so), and 10FPS max for return lines.

If you went with -8 high pressure for a 4.5 GPM flow, yeah it's on the lower end of the scale but certainly not bad and gives you room to upgrade to a higher flowing pump in the future. If flow velocity is too low then it becomes more difficult to carry solid contaminants back to a filter and trapped air back to the reservoir to escape the system but you will be fine either way with -6 or -8 high pressure hose in your system. I do, however, recommend the -8 size on the return.

 

[Wisconsinite]

Saturday night I wanted to putz with something small that I could do at my bench, that didn't require a lot of brain power, and was eazy. I spent close to two hours cleaning up some switch panels and trying to wrap my head around how I am going to wire this project.

I am using blue sea systems weatherdeck switch panels, one 8 switch panel, and one 6. I bought them when a local gander mountain was going out of business, and everything RV or marine was 80% off. They are a nice unit, with a 15A fuse per circuit, have backlit labels, and were cheap.

The factory wiring was a little long, and would interfere with a support plate for the dash. An hourish per panel, and they were cleaned up a little bit, and I added power wires that will go to a 6 pin plug.

Before:

After:

I need to figure out the amp draw per panel, and try to find a connector that has the proper rating. I want to be able to pull this panel without a lot of drama. Hopefully just two deutsch connectors or something similar.

 

[Wisconsinite]

The last thing I putzed with was seeing what the door surround situation looked like. The chassis was designed in a way to retain full doors, top, and windshield. Drew, the owner of goatbuilt did a fantastic job on the deisgn of the chassis, props to him! I asked about the door surround, he said cut the bottom of the "C" off, and it should fit. Well, son of a gun. I cut the bottom of the "C" off, and it fit. I am very pleased at the door gaps, and contact between the door seal and the door surround. I am thinking about drilling a hole and welding in a threaded slug to attach the door surround to the cage. I will be using a Besttop Trek Top NX, that is the style without the bows and supports.

 

[Bebop]

This thing is bad ass ! Keep posting progress !