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Dust Buggy

I went to weld the AN fitting on the water pump and during disassembly I realized that both alternators, brackets, steering pump, and trans cooler have to be removed. The seat for the thermostat has some wear from chatter of the thermostat and the block seals were old and needed to be replaced so I figured it was a good time to replace it rather than modify it, only to have to do it all over again a year later.

FYI the 6.0L pump has more room behind it than the 5.3L to clear the front cover so you can not use a 5.3L pump on a 6.0 block, but you could probably use a 6.0L pump on a 5.3L. The top outlet ports are a little different angle as well, but close.

For plumbing, the old setup had a surge tank that worked perfectly. The bottom of the surge tank connects to the big barb on the water pump which is the inlet low pressure side pulling in water. This creates a low pressure in the tank so the top of the tank pulls whatever it is connected to. On the last buggy the top was connected to the head steam ports and a high point on the radiator. Since the new radiator is all the way in the back and the inlet/outlet are already at the top I decided that it would already flow out bubbles. So the top of the surge tank is connected to the high pressure/small heater port on the water pump. Many LS plumbing diagrams show using a TEE between the small and large heater ports and teeing off a small line to the surge tank. I think that the bubbles could run past the tee and not make their way out of the small line and get to the surge tank so I decided to run the high pressure line to the top of the surge tank and were the bubbles had a chance to float up before the low pressure side pulled the air free water back into the pump. In theory the tank is the TEE, which matches many diagrams of what works. It is also very close to what worked on the old buggy so I'm giving it a go.

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The air compressor is mounted. It is heavy so I wanted to mount it down low but didn't want it to get submerged in water or be picking up dust so I went with almost the same location as it was on the old buggy. It is on vibration rubber mounts so it is very quite and smooth running.

I also relocated the front lights. The original location was perfect for beam coverage but the stacked square look kept reminding me of the square body GM's. Couldn't get over it, so I went 4 across which to me looks more classic old school Baja styling. It also free'd up some room for mounting the steering cooler in a better spot.

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I really like the lights four across. Have you tested the coverage? If there's a problem, you could raise them easy. It's possible the coverage could be fine even lower. (More protection) Not sure if you can lower them much though.
 
WaterH said:
I really like the lights four across. Have you tested the coverage? If there's a problem, you could raise them easy. It's possible the coverage could be fine even lower. (More protection) Not sure if you can lower them much though.
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I tested them out at night and the spill is so bright it lights up the front tube and reflects back to the driver so I’m going to mount the fire extinguisher on that bar which is a good spot and make some new mounts to put 2 of the Q’s on the sides. The new mounts will stick out some to protect the lights.
 
Started working on a hitch for the rear. At first I didn’t want to take the time and figured a simple shackle point would work but then decided I might want to pull a trailer.
Since it’s going to be dragging on the rocks in the rear I went with stainless 2.5” tube so it doesn’t rust up so quick. Stainless tube has the weld removed so it works well for receivers. It’s also not as sloppy as regular hitch box.

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HYDRODYNAMIC said:
I tested them out at night and the spill is so bright it lights up the front tube and reflects back to the driver so I’m going to mount the fire extinguisher on that bar which is a good spot and make some new mounts to put 2 of the Q’s on the sides. The new mounts will stick out some to protect the lights.
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Any chance you could paint that tube flat black? Might not reflect back at ya. Worth a test. (Just wrap it with black paper)
 
I was never happy with the trans cooler in the front since it wasn't intended to go there from the original CAD/frame design. I finally figured out there was room under the rear seat while figuring out seat positions and mounts. There is plenty of air flow under the seat since the seats are inclined. I have seen this location used by others so I do not foresee any issues.
Also had some room to mount the dual Yellow Tops down low and towards the rear for better weight distribution.
This has freed up a lot of room in the front so I am reworking that area to fit things better.

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I wonder if the cooler blowing down will raise the dust or snow. How high will the fan be off the ground at ride height? Is it pointed directly at the diff? I guess that would break up the flow.
 
WaterH said:
I wonder if the cooler blowing down will raise the dust or snow. How high will the fan be off the ground at ride height? Is it pointed directly at the diff? I guess that would break up the flow.
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This particular fan shroud and blade design throws out the air in an open center cone flood pattern so it should disperse well. The cooler and fan is over sized, so it should be running at low rpms most of the time to keep noise and dust down. I would imagine the only time the dust from the cooler would be more than the tires would be in the rocks while slipping the trans making heat and the fans go full speed. The fan is in front of the diff almost centered on the u joint.
 
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Started looking into the front driveline layout some more. I read about every thread on two piece, three piece, and all the different types of bearing setups. I had planned on running a single u joint off the case with a mid shaft with a rubber mounted radial mounted ball bearing. I clocked the NP205 down as low as possible to keep the middle u joint low and angled the mid shaft down 5* degrees. This ended up with the mid joint at too much of an angle somewhere around 30 at max droop of the shocks. This would also probably still have some vibration at speed.
Now I plan to clock the case as high as it will go and use a CV at the case and point the mid shaft down so the mid joint angle is as small as possible. Right now the CAD shows both upper and lower joints around 24* at droop and canceling out parallel at ride and droop within a few degrees. So there should be almost no vibration with this set up.
The shaft shown is the old Super Duty two piece rear shaft that I was going to rework since it has the bearing holder stub shaft and 1410 yoke. It is also backward, it was just in to check fit clearance and angles.

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Routed the radiator lines. They are -20 with AN fittings on all ends. I am planning on mounting with rubber insert cable/hose clamps and trick tabs.

The front end plumbing and component locations has been one of the most difficult puzzles to figure out. Takes forever and doesn't look like much when its done.

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The PSC steering reservoir is in and partially plumbed. The CBR pumps have a special inlet fitting that has a shorter threaded o-ring boss portion that is also ported out to smooth the flow. I needed a 45* degree fitting so I shortened it and also ported the fitting with a counter sink to copy the profile. With the 45* fitting and a 90* tube fittiing I was able to route the inlet through the alternator bracket for a straighter and shorter run to the reservoir.

The Moroso 3qt. oil accumulator and remote oil filter are also in. The accumulator has been sitting for awhile and had a lot of sludge to clean out. The o-rings were all replaced as well since they were hard and squarish and not sealing well. When I had it on the old buggy the seals would always leak down the precharge so hopefully this fixes that issue.

Some of you might already know this trick but when mounting tabs to parts that have different size holes. Use a tapered head bolt to align with the larger hole. Once its welded out with holes properly centered you can use what ever bolts you want. This also works with threaded tabs with larger holes in the mounting part.

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HYDRODYNAMIC said:
Welded up the exhaust hangers. These are old Ford OEM silicone hangers I have had for close to 20 years. This justifies all the other things I need to continue to hoard.
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The hangers look great. That's what I tell myself when I use something I've had for years. It's not true when I say it either.
 
WaterH said:
The hangers look great. That's what I tell myself when I use something I've had for years. It's not true when I say it either.
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Hey, that's my rationalization too. Some day my kids are going to need a yuge dumpster to get rid of the crap that was "gonna come in handy one day" that I didn't get around to using yet.
 
You have to be my favorite fabricator of all time! I still have some stuff you made on my shelf from your last project and show it off from time to time:smokin:
 
The steering shaft is 1" SS round turned down to 3/4" at the coupler end and the other end is slip fit welded to the splined QD wheel mount. The bearing is a 1" SS tap base. I can hang on the wheel and it still spins with no effort or friction.

Next up is the brake and gas pedal layout. I had a truck pedal but the offset doesn't leave enough room for the brake pedal so I have a gen4 corvette pedal on the way which is more compact and metal so I can work with it.

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Ignoring the fact that you'd be in a world of hurt if you rolled.............the rig looks damn cool as a convertible right now.:smokin:
 
gt1guy said:
Ignoring the fact that you'd be in a world of hurt if you rolled.............the rig look damn cool as a convertible right now.:smokin:
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I thought about finishing the the top tubes and then realized how much easier it is to build everything else without them in the way. Climbing in and out is quick.
 
HYDRODYNAMIC said:
I thought about finishing the the top tubes and then realized how much easier it is to build everything else without them in the way. Climbing in and out is quick.
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I hear you. I've been waiting to install the door bar on my pile until the very end.
 
Question, how is the play in your "quick disconnect" steering wheel? I have one on my project and there is a noticeable click back and forth. It s probably not really a lot of travel, but I have thinking of installing some kind of set screw. Of course that would eliminate the disconnect feature. Yours looks more substantial than mine. I was wondering if maybe it locks more solid.
 
Stephen Wilson said:
Does part of that steering coupler weld to the shaft, or is it strictly a clamp/friction connection ?
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It’s 3/4” smooth/friction only. Rated at 4000 rpm and 950 in lbs. or 80 ft lbs or 135 lbs of pull on a 14” steering wheel. That’s the industrial rating which is conservative. I imagine that at hand speed the rating goes up as vibration is not an issue at low speed. I’ve used them for other things in the past and they always seem solid. I don’t see a reason why I would need to put that much input force into an orbital and at that point it would probably be better it slipped than rip my arms off and beat me with them.

FSAE has determined that 75 ft lbs rotational force is minimum and 150 lbs lateral force on the wheel is minimum.

Update: Tested an old coupler. With unsupported ends the coupler started to slip around 175 ft lbs., I almost had all my weight 220lbs 12” out on a pipe wrench. Then put two wrench’s on the shaft and turned like a 18” diameter wheel and was barely able to slip it. In conclusion I don’t see how I would need to exert this much force. No damage was done and the weight holding/ slip was repeatable. Don’t know if this sip is a good torque limiter safety feature or if I should drill two set screws into the coupler and put indents on the shafts.

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WaterH said:
Question, how is the play in your "quick disconnect" steering wheel? I have one on my project and there is a noticeable click back and forth. It s probably not really a lot of travel, but I have thinking of installing some kind of set screw. Of course that would eliminate the disconnect feature. Yours looks more substantial than mine. I was wondering if maybe it locks more solid.
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I don’t know the brand of mine but it is the splined version which is tighter than the hex version. If you get it too good it might lock up with dirt and mud.
 
The leg room looks awesome :smokin: what cad design program do you use?
 
WaterH said:
Question, how is the play in your "quick disconnect" steering wheel? I have one on my project and there is a noticeable click back and forth. It s probably not really a lot of travel, but I have thinking of installing some kind of set screw. Of course that would eliminate the disconnect feature. Yours looks more substantial than mine. I was wondering if maybe it locks more solid.
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The hex ones are the cheapest and sloppiest, which (like an AK47) means they can take/deal-with the most dirt. Splined ones are generally a lot tighter (and less crud tolerant). There are better-yet (as defined by less play) ones out there as well, though not as debris tolerant, that index on balls and divots instead of splines or flats. But they get expensive quickly. https://drivenrg.com/collections/qui...um-chrome-ring
 
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