JHF Goatbuilt Trail Buggy

[Uzaree]

Listening to advise I picked up some dzus fasteners for the side panels and roof. They showed up today.

Where did you order these from? I’m torn between doing this or tabs with nutserts.

 

[chaplinfj60]

x2 where do you get said tabs

 

[crazybluerider]

Where did you order these from? I’m torn between doing this or tabs with nutserts.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product...itle_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1&tag=91812054244-20

 

[Uzaree]

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product...itle_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1&tag=91812054244-20

Thank you, that is cheaper than I normally get them.

 

[crazybluerider]

Thank you, that is cheaper than I normally get them.

Yeah, I thought that was a pretty good price too.

 

[Yotota]

Damn dude, I missed this earlier! Killer looking buggy and I'm really looking forward to seeing it on the local trails.

Paint is a tough call in the PNW... Every time I try to "do it right" on tubing with lots of prep, self etching primer, and lots of nice even finish coats, I still get flaking off paint.

Compare that to when I give the tubing an acetone bath and wipe off, preheat the metal with a hair dryer or heater, spray on a heavy coat of Krylon rust protector satin, and flash it off with a hair dryer. Then the paint sticks just fine.

 

[Mr Stubs]

Brush on Hammerite or Rustolium for the PNW win.

 

[crazybluerider]

Bought a pile of Rust-o-leum yesterday. I spent most of today painting. My fingers are ready to fall off. I was hoping the machine grey that I used on the chassis was going to be a little darker but I think it looks good. The blue is real close to the same color as the plastic skins, it is a few shades off but I bet once thing fade in the sun and get a little dirty it will be close enough.

 

[The Unknown]

That looks great

 

[Mr Stubs]

I dig the stripe and multi color paint.

Going to be ready this season?

 

[crazybluerider]

I dig the stripe and multi color paint.

Going to be ready this season?

I'm hoping to have it done in the next couple months. Still some small fab stuff to do on the front axle. The other big job will be wiring.

 

[crazybluerider]

Well, I've had a few busy weekends in a row with not a lot of progress but I'm finally back to work. Spent last weekend getting the rear axle finished up and installed and started putting the powertrain back in this weekend. Got the front half of the exhaust all welded out and ordered up some piping to get the muffler back assembled. Today I went through the transfer case and put new bearings in it before installing it.

After getting the transmission in with a torque converter on it for the first time it looks like I'm going to have to talk to my torque converter shop because it looks to me like there is too much space between the flex plate and converter so there may be some fitment issues with the th350 behind the late model 4.3l.

 

[crazybluerider]

Back at it today. Started off by getting the O2 sensor placement figured out and then moved onto the rest of the exhaust. I was attempting to convince myself that I could be happy with a turn down at the back of the skid but I've had vehicles with short exhaust before and I always end up hating it. So I put in the effort to get the tail pipe back to the back of the axle and turned out the side. Should make things much more enjoyable.

 

[crazybluerider]

I spent Saturday getting a locking dipstick installed on the transmission as well as an oil pan with drain and new filter while I was in there. I then got the cooling lines ran to the rad and external cooler. I also sorted out the engine coolant hoses and got the final install done of the fuel system.

Then I spent most of Sunday morning chasing down little parts so I could get the engine running and make sure I didn't have any leaking lines or other unknown issues with the trans or engine since both are new to me. I got the battery installed in its mount and ran power and ground wires to the engine and fired it up. With the exception of one small fuel leak on a line that I didn't get quite tight enough it all went well. No leaks from the transmission or engine and both had oil pressure. I was glad to find out that the exhaust is quieter than I expected.

 

[crazybluerider]

Got the side panels fastened tonight. dropped the hood on for color comparison. Not going to win any car shows, but it'll pass for a wheeler.

 

[Snowracer]

really like how this is coming together

 

[crazybluerider]

I spent most of the weekend wiring. There isn't much to show picture wise because I spent most of the time laying everything out and figuring out the most effective routing so I could keep things tidy. I did get the rear chassis harness nearly complete and most of the engine sensor harness. Front chassis harness and dash harness should be done by the end of the week, I had to order a couple of bulkhead fittings for the gauge cluster.

I also got my seat mount pins knocked out while I was working through wiring in my head.

 

[Blase]

I like the seat mount pins! Looks great.

 

[chaplinfj60]

i too love the pins for the seat and plan on coping that idea. too freaking easy lol

 

[crazybluerider]

This weekend I got a bunch done on the front axle, got it back under the rig and installed the shocks so that I could figure out springs. Front axle needs to come out one more time to get the gears installed and build the knuckle part of the steering. I installed it because I was getting a little nervous about whether or not the ram and tie rods were going to clear the frame with how high I managed to get it on the axle. The tie rod in the pictures is just to keep the tires from flopping around, it will be coming out once the ram is hooked to the knuckles.

I really got into the zone while building out the front axle so I forgot to take any pictures. I do have some with it sitting at ride height and one pic of a kind of cool comparison for how low it ended up being.

 

['84 Bronco II]

What did your belly height end up at? Looks like you have plenty of up-travel.

 

[crazybluerider]

It was asked and I realized that I didn't really talk about it in this thread. I figured I would answer here as well so if anyone else is looking the answer is here.

The front axle is a chev kingpin d60 at 69.5" WMS but has had a brake setup added that moves the rotors out side of the hub resulting in a number closer to 70". The rear axle is a ford e-350 d60u at 67.5". Width at the outside of the tires with method 105 17x8.5 4.75"/0mm and 39.5 bias iroks is a little under 83" front and a little over 80.5" rear.

 

[crazybluerider]

What did your belly height end up at? Looks like you have plenty of up-travel.

It's about 20" maybe just a little under. That is with 7" up and 7" down on the shocks. I may run it an inch lower if I don't drag everywhere.

 

[crazybluerider]

I've been slowly plugging along on the wiring and finishing stuff. Last weekend I got the front end gears finished up and finalized the steering stuff. The through bolts to tie the high arm to the stock location will go in the next time I have the tires off. I also got the brake system all installed in and blead. Not a whole lot of pictures with this kind of work of coarse but it's getting pretty close. I also threw the new springs on the front today. Someone asked for a picture of how I tied the passenger side link mounts together once one of the tabs was on the cast housing so I included a picture of that. Burned in super hot with some preheat and wrapped in my leathers overnight to cool.

 

[crazybluerider]

Still just trucking along. Got the correct springs in and installed and built the gauge pod for the dash. Slowly been finishing up the wiring and getting the rest of the small plumbing done.

 

[crazybluerider]

Spent this weekend getting a few things tied up. Thursday my new to me two post lift got installed so I spent some time Saturday getting that all wired up. The previous owner was just using a extension cord to power it an that kind of stuff makes me crazy so it got wired properly with its own breaker. The rest of Saturday I rebuilt the upper half of the front drive shaft for what feels like the 10th time. It is finally mounted in a way that clears everything and that will actually move with the powertrain a little if necessary. Sunday I finished up the front driveshaft and started on buttoning up the steering. Today I finished up the steering and got the front of the engine skid hung. I also buttoned up some other small things that I'd been putting off because they were under the chassis and I knew the lift was coming.

 

[crazybluerider]

Got into the wiring this weekend. It's really close to ready to run on the key. Didn't take too many pictures but here is the finished switch panel and about halfway through the gauge wiring. I've never really liked the way autometer wires their lights in these gauges as it creates a lot of clutter, I wish they would put the on spades or studs like the rest of the wiring.

 

[crazybluerider]

Spent a little time every night last week and then really killed it this weekend. Got all of the wiring finished and started the engine with a key for the first time. Confirmed that everything is working properly and other than one little fan trigger snafu that was quickly remedied everything was perfect first try.

 

[crazybluerider]

So no updates for the last couple weeks because I've been thrashing on this thing and had little time for anything but real work and buggy work. I'll come back and post the few pics that I managed to take but I took it for the second drive and first real test drive tonight. Ripped it up and down the road and confirmed that everything is functioning properly. Last week I had to pull the trans and transfer out after driving it for the first time and discovering that the torque converter was way way way to tight for an offroad rig. I was pushing so hard in low that it would chirp the rear tires through the brakes when you put it in gear.

Tomorrow it goes on the trailer for its first trip. Offroad test report to follow.

 

[white-rhino]

Looks great. Enjoyed following the build. Good luck on the first run.