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Dust Buggy

Still working on the wiring one piece at a time. Wiring disappears in pictures but it takes forever.
Also got the Milwaukee pack outs mounted. Seems like a good mounting system for off road use. Rock bouncers and golf cart racers seem to be running it and production mounts are pretty common now.
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How did you mount the packouts?
Milwaukee makes a plate that bolts to the flat deck. I will probably add the half size ones somewhere near the seats. I’ve even seen them on the underside of roofs. There are fab shops making metal ones but they will have sharp edges to cut stuff. The plastic ones are pretty tough.
 
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While priming the oiling circuit I heard oil pissing onto the ground and found a big puddle. The pan was leaking from both filter ports at the pan connection.
I am using a stock gasket and one of the generic 7 quart pans. The welds looked really good almost robot welded. Not sure what is going on???
I was an idiot for thinking the lower engine skid could be fixed. So I will now add the tube disconnects so I can drop the skid and change the pan.
What pan should I run?

Thinking about this pan.
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Leaking pan for reference.
 
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I have the Pacific Fab steel pan, but it seems they are out of business. Not sure who makes a steel pan of similar shape.

I wouldn't run a cast pan. They like to shatter with any kind of contact.

Looking at Summit, the Milodon #31507 looks pretty damn close to the Pacific Fab pan, size wise. 5.375" deep. Kick outs on both side and doesn't look like the kick outs stick out more than the filter.
 
MAST motorsports.
Mine has been thoroughly "tested" (because I don't run an engine skid).
 
Someone on the old board said Champ oil pans came from the same source as the Pac fab pans. I had one on my last rig, and run one currently. I think I bought my last one through Summit racing.

You need LS1000, 750LS1 and either LS1001-1 or LS1001 and LS1001-2.


 
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Someone on the old board said Champ oil pans came from the same source as the Pac fab pans. I had one on my last rig, and run one currently. I think I bought my last one through Summit racing.

You need LS1000, 750LS1 and either LS1001-1 or LS1001 and LS1001-2.


This, I had the champ pan setup on my old LS engine buggy.
 
The Amazon pan is actually pretty good. The oil cooler ports need to be cleaned up with a bur. I also used a GM gasket for both the pan and cooler ports. The rear bolts are stock length and too long and need about 3/8” removed. Also deburred the pick up tube. Maybe 15 min of cleanup and everything fit.
Still waiting on oil cooler adapters and accumulator fittings as the filter moved.
Waiting on the TMR tube joints to reattach to skid. The upper tubes are 1.75 x .120 same as joints. The lowers are 1.75 x .25 so I will have to whittle down the joints. Might plug weld and fill the joint cavity and then machine down the step so it fits the smaller ID.
Transfer case and NWF doubler is filled.
Trans and steering need some cranking and refilling.
Getting close.
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This pic has me baffaled. So the tranny bolts to the engine oil pan? I’ve never seen that. Is there any problem dropping the pan with the tranny in place? Do you install the tranny with the torque converter all ready bolted to the flywheel? I’ve always had a terrible time getting the torque converter to seat in the tranny correctly. Can’t imagine doing it with it on the flywheel.
 
Finally figured out the fuel issue.
The older year truck pump with the plastic tops uses the same plug but different pins compared to the newer model metal top pumps. So the pump was not getting power.
In addition to that the in tank pump wires are shorter than the metal spring tubes that hold it together so if the tank swells or if over extended the wires will pull off the motor. So I added 3 more inches to the wires so they have slack.
Good news is the pump is so quiet that I can barely hear it run. Key on runs the pump for a few seconds then shuts off if the motor is not cranked over.
 
It fired up right away after sitting for 7 years.
I’ve been filling, running, shut off, refilling and most everything has stopped taking fluid.
Two times now on the restart the starter has spun and ground against the flywheel but has not engage the teeth. If I manually rotate the crank a little then the starter will engage on the next try.
What is going on?

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Two times now on the restart the starter has spun and ground against the flywheel but has not engage the teeth. If I manually rotate the crank a little then the starter will engage on the next try.
What is going on?
Solenoid is weak or rusty or whatever and not strong/fast enough to force the beveled end of the gear teeth into the flywheel and cram the flywheel over a tad as needed for full engagement before the motor spins up.

And once the motor gets current and starts spinning theirs no way that shit is gonna mesh. :laughing:

Pull the starter and cycle the solenoid a fuckton of times and see if that fixes it.
 
I bolted up a new starter and it got worse. Same part but tighter tolerances since it’s new.
I then checked the ring to pinion gap and there was none. Supposed to be a paperclip gap.
Further investigation says there are multiple starter tooth’s 9,11,13 depending upon year and flexplate which are all still 168 tooth.
When I changed the flex plate for the 4L80 the gap closed up.
A 9 tooth #6494 starter opened up mesh to spec.
 
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Orbital was self steering in both directions due to the orbital shaft being side loaded.
The steering column having two bearings. One at the orbital/orbital column and one near the wheel was off about 3/16" which was enough to side load the orbital from about 18" away that is only point .6 degree off. The weird part is that the steering wheel end was welded after everything else so that it would be aligned.
Solution is to weld in a U Joint instead of the bolt in rigid coupler.
 
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