Legends Class 4800 Build - "Tinkerita"

[FSU Off-Road]

With the empty chassis it was time to get the LS1 installed. When I dropped it in, I went ahead and bolted up the TH400 as well as our empty Behemoth D300 to finalize the output shaft and motor mounts. With a lot of back and forth with height adjustments and keeping everything centered, I bolted on our headers so we could fabricate our finalized motor mounts. After getting the motor mounts completed, I went to the back and finalized the D300 mount as well.

Now with the drivetrain secured, I went back and worked on our oil pan skid plate. I utilized tube clamps from the motor mounts as well as the chassis so it could be removable. I'll probably change the clamp style as I only had locking clamps instead of flat clamps, but regardless I made it work. Added a little bend to the front to help get over rocks and add a little flare. Finished it off with 3/16" plate and counter sunk holes for a smooth bottom.

To finish the last little bit of fab work to the drivetrain/driveline, I transitioned to the carrier bearing. Without the front 3rd member, I just temperately put it in its place where I thought it would work. No binding and no clearance issues with the motor mounts/skid, however we'll see once I can bolt in the front driveshaft.

While I wait on parts, I decided to get the first battery installed... least for now. Enough room to run both batteries side by side here, although still not 100% sure I want these placed behind the seats in this orientation. But for now, it'll work.

 

[FSU Off-Road]

 

[FSU Off-Road]

Its been a while since I've updated on the thread, however I assure you I've still been steady on the build. From the video above, we were able to get a Novak adapter to help with the mounting solution of the transmission to the chassis. That helped complete the powertrain mounting which allowed me to move on to something else. While working on all the mounts, I received our Locked Off-Road bump stops. I started mocking those up in the rear and fabricated some custom mounts for the cans. I integrated them onto multiple chassis bars for extra support. Shouldn't have any issues with them twisting by doing this. Went with a 4" stroke in the rear and a 2" in the front.

After I got the initial assembly tacked into place, I reinstalled the bump to create a pad onto the axle. When I weld the axle, I'll add gussets underneath. Just made these for now.

After getting the driver side done, I duplicated this on the passenger side. Flexed the rear axle and everything looks good. The next day, our Method wheels arrived. Took the next couple of days to get these all painted, assembled, and installed onto the axles.

Aside from final coilover installation, the last thing to install on the rear suspension is our limiting straps. To make things easy I simply used double shear limiting strap mounts (non adjustable) and trimmed the axle mount to contour the axle tube radius.

 

[FSU Off-Road]

I'm getting a little burned out on the everyday fabrication of the same old stuff. Instead of installing the bumps and limit straps on the front, I decided to go back and finish up some of the stuff I had left unfinished before and finish it up. This included the rear interior panels, harnesses, mounts, and the rear flooring. The rear upper panel was easy, I needed to cut out where the harness mounts would go and install a wire mesh for protection. But the lower panel wasn't as easy as I had to cut out a portion for the batteries since they stuck out 1". In order to make them quickly accessible, I used some leftover aluminum and made a "cover" so to speak with a few bolts holding it down. Since I don't have a TIG for aluminum, I had to bend everything and rivet it together.

Glad I was able to come up with a decent solution the the aluminum paneling because the next thing was to do the same thing to the rear flooring. This was TIME consuming getting everything bent in the correct location and notched. The end result was dang near perfect though.

After I got it all installed and completed, I threw the seat in there with the harnesses to complete the interior... least for now.

Aside from some small fabrication things, I was able to get something fun installed. Ever since I was little, I always loved the KC lights. I wanted to make sure I incorporated some on Tinkerita so I bought some for our headlights. Although not important right now, definitely made a difference in the appearance. Sometimes its the small things that keep the motivation alive.

As of right now, we're doing small things in preperation for everything on order. Within the next few weeks, we'll have our 2.5" coilovers, front and rear sway bars, brakes, lights, 3rd members and a few other goodies. Stay tuned... I'll do my best to keep it updated.

 

['84 Bronco II]

How was dealing with Behemoth? I understand they are supposedly under new management. Any reason you went for their case rather than the Midnight Metalworks case?

 

[FSU Off-Road]

How was dealing with Behemoth? I understand they are supposedly under new management. Any reason you wen for their case rather than the Midnight Metalworks case?

Sorry for the delay, you are correct. The previous owner sold the company and the new team was easy to work with. The main reason I went this route was two fold. One, on my old crawler I used Behemoth's D300 flip kit and had good luck with it. The second reason was for the shifter mechanics, I want to utilize cable shifters with my designed dash/console versus stick shifters. Behemoth also manufactures parts for the upgraded 32 spline outputs as well. Since they were willing to help us out, it was a no brainer.

 

['84 Bronco II]

Sorry for the delay, you are correct. The previous owner sold the company and the new team was easy to work with. The main reason I went this route was two fold. One, on my old crawler I used Behemoth's D300 flip kit and had good luck with it. The second reason was for the shifter mechanics, I want to utilize cable shifters with my designed dash/console versus stick shifters. Behemoth also manufactures parts for the upgraded 32 spline outputs as well. Since they were willing to help us out, it was a no brainer.

Good to hear the new owners are running things right. I have an old Behemoth doubler in my Bronco II that has served me well, but wasn't sure I'd consider doing business with them again. They had a lot of support for the Ford stuff at a good price point back in the day, I'll have to look at their current offerings.

 

[Winchested]

Good to hear the new owners are running things right. I have an old Behemoth doubler in my Bronco II that has served me well, but wasn't sure I'd consider doing business with them again. They had a lot of support for the Ford stuff at a good price point back in the day, I'll have to look at their current offerings.

They're prices are pretty out there now.
Was looking at the NP205 VSS kit. Was $128 in 2019. Now it's $295... Anodizing it blue doesn't increase the cost 2.5 times.

 

[FSU Off-Road]

As I continue to fabricate and build Tinkerita, work a full time job, record and edit videos, and try to keep up with my personal life, just wanted to thank everyone that been encouraging and supported us during this process. It's kept me motivated during the days when I don't want to get into the garage. So thank you all.

 

[FSU Off-Road]

To follow up on the build, I've continued to knock out the small brackets and mounts throughout the chassis. Just trying to keep things interesting as I wait on big components and wait for my wife to let me spend more money haha.

After getting the KC lights installed, I just stayed on the front trying to finish everything that would secure the front hood, cowl and fenders. I had to make a bracket that would tie the cowl down in the middle, so I fabricated a mount that not only secured the cowl but the hood hinges as well. With just a few bolts, we can take the hood and cowl off without wasting a lot of time.

As for the front of the hood, I simply installed some aluminum hood pins to keep the hood down. Definitely kept the pins themselves on a lanyard that way we don't loose them. Been there, done that too many times. As for the front fender, I just bent and welded some 1/4" solid rod to hold it in place. If nothing else, would be easy to bend back into place when its damaged.

As mentioned in my previous post, I've been awaiting a lot of ordered components. Some I still haven't seen, some I have. One of those orders was from Branik Motorsports. I'm sure most of you are aware of them, but if you aren't, they've got you covered for your axle needs. Go check them out. As you can see, they hooked us up with our sway bars and brakes.

I was basically like a kid in the candy store when they arrived, itching to get everything installed. So I worked on the rear sway bar first and finished with the rear brakes. Although I'm not 100% sure the rear will stay this way, I at least got this installed for now. Probably going a little wider since I ran into clearance issues. Started with full bump and full droop for measurements, just don't like the resting point at ride height.

As for the brakes, this was a simple install the hats and rotors on the unit bearing, cut my bracket to fit, center the pads, and make sure everything stayed straight as I tacked everything in place. Right now we're going with the 4 piston calipers as I already had 2 laying around, and leaves room for upgrades in the future.

During the whole sway bar/brake install, I did manage to fab up a couple of brackets for our rear light bar. Was a little bigger than I anticipated, so I had to move it further down. Works and allows for me to access the radiator cap without having to remove it.

As of right now, I've done the same things to the front, sway bars, brakes, etc. Hopefully installing lines and pedals in the near future.

 

[FSU Off-Road]

 

[FSU Off-Road]

Over the past few weeks a lot has changed on the build. Since my last post, I've received our coilovers, adjusted some mounting, installed new bump stops, changed the sway bars, and hopefully finished the suspension along with some other needed things. Before I jump into all of that, I want to show you what I had finished before all of that took place. First thing was the window nets. I reached out to 5zero3 designs regarding the custom window opening. Within a couple of weeks the nets arrived and it was time for me to install them. To keep things simple, I used a latch style for the top and a solid rod for the bottom. The only difficult was fabricating the brackets for bars. I also built an antenna bracket and got this installed.

After getting the window nets installed, I wanted to try and get the interior done. So I began working on the gas and brake pedal. For the brake pedal, I went with a dual master cylinder design so I can keep the front and rear brakes separate, just in case we ever rupture a line. By removing the bearing in the brake assembly, we'll always have some kind of brakes regardless. Since we're utilizing a cable style intake, I went with a standard floor mounted gas pedal. After building a custom bracket for the brake pedal and a shim plate for the gas pedal, we were able to get these installed.

One of the mail reasons for going ahead and installing the brakes/master cylinders was to determine where my steering components would align through the firewall. With plenty of space between the two, the only thing I needed to add to complete the steering was a simple 3/4" heim and a few joints. Was able to determine where I like the steering wheel height wise, and get everything welded up and installed. As for the other side of things, I had to figure out the best location for the reservoir and orbital. I used some scrap 1/8" material and made a custom bracket that allowed me to utilize the bolt holes on the back of the reservoir as well as the top mount. Just clears the hood and provides direct fluid to the pump. As for the orbital, I kept it low and out of the way. Have to get a few different hose fittings, but I like where its packaged. Keeps everything aligned and out of the way.

After that was all installed, I briefly mounted the cooler and ran some of the non pressurized lines. Unfortunately, I'd find out that the cooler was in the way of where I wanted to put the winch.

 

[FSU Off-Road]

As previously mentioned, I had to move a few things. With the up travel of the front axle, I had to raise the front winch bar to clear the hydraulic ram and fittings. To get around this, I had to miter cut the existing piece to raise it up 2" and then custom cut my old winch mount to make it fit. By doing this, it allows for the up travel I need while keeping the winch inside the chassis. I did NOT want to put it on the outside up front. Regardless, it worked and was able to cut some tubing to add braces for the sway bar and fairlead mount.

After getting the winch figured out and installed, I was able to go back and determine where the cooler would fit. Luckily it fit up front right behind the grill with no interference. The last piece to getting the front all done with recut the grill to fit the new fairlead opening. Basically just eliminated the height from the fairlead mount and was good to go. Just need to go back and reweld the grill and grind it back down.

With the new clearance, I was able to finalize the front sway bar and bumps. I utilized the winch bar and mounted the bumps there to add support so the bar wouldn't rotate. The only thing I still need to add is a secondary bar to keep the bar from bending up. As far as the sway bar goes, there's just enough clearance at full bump and full steer. Was also able to establish the bump pads on the axle as well as the sway bar mounts. Everything tucks nicely with no issues.

With the front completed, I moved back to the rear for verification. Glad I did...

 

[cdemart2]

I have the same cooler in the same spot. it works well.

 

[FSU Off-Road]

With a couple of weeks under my belt of flexing everything with the intalled coilovers, there were some changes that I made to the overall mounting locations. First off, in the rear, I went back and minimized my overall up travel with the new coilovers. This allowed for a more down travel which I wanted and allowed the rear sway bar to mount without any interference. To make this happen, I had to build additional plates to lower the upper mounting location as well as cut outer plates to reinforce the mounts. By doing all of these changes, I was able to reinstall the longer rear sway bar 1/4" further back on the chassis which allowed a better look in the end. The last thing I did to completely finish the rear was install the swapped pin style bump stops in the new bump location and trim the aluminum paneling for the rear sway bar link arms.

Since I was working in the rear, I decided to start planning the routing of everything underneath and finalize a few other things such as batteries. As previously mentioned, I wanted to install (2) batteries and originally I figured out where I was going to put them, just didn't have both to install. Now I do, so I basically used my old battery mounts and welded some gussets onto them to install them onto the chassis bar versus my original plan of bolting them in. With just a few piece of material, I was able to get both batteries installed. Gives me room to get to them from the outside if need be and yet centered enough to run all the wiring cleanly underneath to the kill switch.

I was also able to verify fuel lines, however without tearing the fuel cell apart and ordering a few other fittings that I need, I only installed the vent tube for now. With a few weld on zip tie tabs I was able to secure the vent around the chassis as required per U4 rules. I might go back and add a shutoff valve in the future, but for now the rollover ball will have to work in the cell.

 

[FSU Off-Road]

 

[Wisconsinite]

Looks great! I dig the new bump can mounts. The old ones seemed a little too big and heavy on the pinch clamp bungs.

 

[FSU Off-Road]

Like I said, I had a few weeks of flexing everything with the coilovers and much like the rear, I wanted to change up the front a little. While I brainstormed, I took a couple of days to finish the hydraulic steering lines. Routed everything from the orbital and used Trail Gear clamps to secure them to the links. Also was able to check full bump clearances with the fittings. Everything fits like a glove.

I also installed a little mount for our brake reservoirs. Not my first choice in locations, but it'll have to do. I could always install a removable panel on the fiberglass if I need to. For now, I'm going to run with this.

After I changed my mind on the original location of the front coilovers, I had to figure out new mounting. Honestly, the original design would have worked, however I personally didn't like the overall appearance and clearances were extremely tight (probably rubbed springs with hard flexing). I honestly tried a few different ways, but I also wanted to get away from the lower coilover mount off the axle. I used this originally for 16" coilovers to fit, however I'd rather mount the coilover on top of the axle for rigidity. So I scrapped the original design, used some old mounts, cut them and got an idea of how to make new mounts for the axle. I flexed the front axle, and was happier with the design and coilover angles. I then removed the scrap mockup mounts and used cardboard to make our permanent mounts. I was able to mount these on top of the axle, wider than the original design which gave better angles, and allowed the coilover to have a better angle off the chassis.

I'm now happy with the suspension and how everything flexes. Probably a good thing considering it's September and KOH will be here before I know it. With all of that said, 90% of everything is either ordered or here, so now it's up to me to get it all done. Fingers crossed we make it to the starting line... one day at a time.

 

[FSU Off-Road]

Looks great! I dig the new bump can mounts. The old ones seemed a little too big and heavy on the pinch clamp bungs.

Thanks, yea I like the pin style way more. I agree, they were a little big and bulky for my liking.

 

[FSU Off-Road]

 

[TMR CUSTOMS]

Awesome build thread, it’s super cool to see our chassis kits come to life. It’ll be even cooler to see this one ripping in 4800 Class!

 

[FSU Off-Road]

With a ton of parts here at the house, it's time to start tackling each system with the build. Since we already have most of the brake system mocked up with rotors and calipers installed, I started working on getting the soft and hard lines ran. As with most of the build, I wanted to keep everything the same for the simplistic nature of it all. Each corner has 14" soft -AN3 lines going to 3/16" hard lines with -AN3 soft lines going back to the chassis. The chassis itself is completely hard lined with the installation of a line lock for a "parking brake." To finish is all off, I also installed a Painless brake light switch for the rear lights.

I will have to get a 45 degree NPT adapter for the front brake lines, however everything lined up nicely against the axle housings and on the chassis. After getting the brakes all but filled with fluid, I switched gears and started figuring out how I was going to run everything under the chassis to the front. My plan was and is to split coolant lines, fuel lines, cooler lines and electrical lines on different sides. After some brainstorming with some buddies, I decided to run fuel and brake lines on the driver side while keeping the coolant lines and electrical on the passenger side. This keeps fuel and 12v supply separate and keeps the fuel lines from running with the hot coolant lines. With that all figured out, I started getting the fuel lines ran and installed a custom mount for our filter. With a few zip tie tabs welded to the chassis, I was able to run the fuel lines pretty quickly. Just incase anyone was wondering, we're using -AN6 lines with (2) in-tank pumps on two switches with fuel check valves into one supply line. This allows us to have a spare pump already to go with just the push of a button and keeps the pumps cooler inside the tank. Just like the brake lines, I started on the rear, worked my way to the front, installed our regulator, then used the leftover line for our return.

While I waited for a few fittings that I needed to finish off the fuel lines, I finished off the weekend with a little electrical work. Since we already established the 12v supply would go on the passenger side, I started running the wiring to our selectable kill switch. This would give me the needed 12v supply to start figuring out everything with the dash and with our Holley Terminator System. To finish off the update, I did take the time to cut out the dash panels and start installing what dash components we have. Makes a huge difference seeing stuff of the dash.

With this update, it marks 1 year with this build. Been an eventful year for sure, however we're not at the finish line yet... or should I say start line? Regardless, I just wanted to thank everyone for the input, motivation, and the following over the past year, it's meant a lot.

With the exception of a few brackets and needed gussets, it's about time to completely strip the chassis and get it prepared for KOH!

 

[FSU Off-Road]

 

[buc4x]

Turning out nice!

 

[Weasel]

any reason you can't run the short ram fittings and clock them back for more clearance? They seem like they are way up there.

 

[FSU Off-Road]

any reason you can't run the short ram fittings and clock them back for more clearance? They seem like they are way up there.

I totally could do that. Luckily early on with the build I had to redo the front axle truss system with the ram and was able to lower it enough to use what I had/have. With that said, there is still clearance just doesn't look like it in the photos, but if need be I'll remember this. Thank you!

 

[FSU Off-Road]

 

[FSU Off-Road]

Well, with our anniversary trip to Costa Rica (much needed), the days counting down until KOH 23, and a full plate at work, I have been struggling to juggle the build updates, recording for Youtube, while trying to finish Tinkerita at the same time. Regardless, I've been pushing to get a lot done. As previewed above, I was able to get the last few brackets in place and start stripping the chassis for final welding and paint. With only a few hours, the chassis was stripped completely to bare bones and I put dollies under it which was the best idea yet for moving the chassis around. Before the time consuming part of welding began, we cleaned out and organized the garage as best we could to make space.

My intentions was to weld the top of the added gussets, tubes, tabs, etc. and the then flip the chassis over to weld the bottom side. I was making progress, but I didn't like not having things completely welded, started getting confusing on what welded and didn't weld. So I decided to flip the chassis and angle it so I could get full welds on everything, allowing me to mark them off. This probably took more time, however was easy to keep track of my welds since I went back and forth between sides. After welding everything up, I went back to my list of things I knew I needed to add, which included bottom skid plate tabs, additional subflooring gussets, front protection plates, things like that, and knocked that all out.

After getting everything welded, I used a day or so to prep the chassis for paint. Since it's been a year, there were some areas that began to surface rust a little. If you're wondering the overall dimensions of the Tinkerita, see below. I took measurements before I began the disassembly.

 

[FSU Off-Road]

After getting the chassis prepped good enough, we wheeled it outside to start painting. As mentioned in my video, we went with Seymour's 316L stainless steel paint for the chassis. Very similar to Steel-It yet 1/3rd of the price and since I ran out of money months ago, was the best bang for my empty pockets. I started from the inside out on painting and after getting a decent overall first coat, I flipped the chassis over to paint the bottom. Taking more cans than expected, I was able to get 3 coats on the bottom before flipping it back over and painting the remaining 2 on the top side. 30 cans later, the chassis had a nice shiny appearance. Should work out perfectly for seeing any stress fractures to anything in the future. While I painted the chassis, I also worked on painting the axles, link bars, and everything else that needed paint.

After a few days of welding odds and ends, letting the paint cure, it was time to start the final assembly process. My goal is to get it to be a true rolling chassis first before I start digging into anything else. With that said, I got the chassis on the jack stands for hopefully the last time as I started assembling the rear. Added a few of the painted parts to simply get them out of the way before moving to the front to do the same thing.

Now that the axles are in place, I have to align them, install the re-drilled unit bearings and get this thing under it's own weight. It's been nice snugging bolts down and marking things to show there tight. Still a long ways to go, but were making progress. Hope to have more updates soon!

 

[Wisconsinite]

Keep up the killer work. I can't wait until I am at the tear down and paint stage.