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Project Flat F***er (fender)

Oct 16, 2018

I wasn't going to leave that work of art exposed to the rocks, so I got on making a skidplate addendum.

The plate is made out of 3/16" plate which I cut with my plasma cutter and bent with my press brake.

I tested it with a floor jack and it will support the weight of the GPW.

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Dec 7, 2018

My driver's side tie-rod was being a dick and decided to break at Rubicon Springs a few weeks ago.

So it was obviously time for an upgrade. I also decided to up my ram size to a 1.75 PSC unit. I was thinking about rebuilding my trail-gear ram I bought 10 years ago, which I will probably do and keep for a different project.

I upgraded all of my steering to RuffStuff 7/8 Heims and then decided that I will never endure this shit of having to weld thing back together by having spares.

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Dec 7, 2018
Tie-rod anti-rotate plate - Rev 2.

After much thought, I realized that my tie-rod anti-rotation plate needed some rethinking. It sort of worked, but made disassembling my tie-rod a pain in the ass.

Oh yeah, I TIG welded all of my inserts this time around.

I decided to use a 3/8 plate using the bolt to locate it on the bottom side of the ram tabs. I also gave it a 1/2" dowel pin (you can see the hole for it) so it doesn't rotate.

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Dec 7, 2018

Here are some pictures of the finished setup.

The top of the anti-spin setup unbolts so this can come apart easily. My plan was to make this fairly easy to reverse once I made the decision to switch to coil overs - though I'm not sure when I will do that.

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I've always had a cold-start problem with the GPW and the 351W. When it's warmed up, it runs great. When cold and when transitioning from driving to stopping, I would have odd bucking issues. It would do fine in 4 low, but the idle tended to be a bit on the low side and the transitions were a bit abrupt.

This is a known thing with the Mustang ECUs, EEC-IV specifically, when they are paired with an engine with different parameters. Most of the drivability problems are related to the ECU being programmed to stock engine parameters.

So onto the programming part. The ECU I am using is an A9M out of a manual Mustang - I think it's a 1990. I took the cover apart to expose the J3 port. I will be using a Moates Quarterhorse with Binary Editor Software.

The first few steps involved me adjusting the airflow mapping to get the AF ratio right and adding a VSS. This took a quite a few treks around the neighborhood to get it right. I got a lot of weird looks driving this thing around my neighborhood with a laptop bungee corded to the passenger seat in the 100°+ heat.

The second is I had to adjust the associated start up and air transition parameters. I am stoked that I found a YouTube channel with a guy who was much smarter than me to lead me down the path of tuning. I would highly recommend checking out his channel.





Effectively my engine was taking in about 30-40% more airflow at a given load factor than a stock 5.0L HO engine. Add in that the overlap on the cam shaft would trigger the idle up protocols in the ECU which would swing the timing 20° back and forth. I was able to smooth that out as well. I added additional airflow to the dashpot function, added RPM at startup, changed the cold temp multipliers and even added another 250 RPM idle up when the OBA is triggered.

Once I finished the process of tuning and driving, I took out the Quarterhorse, and burned a J3 solid state chip for the ECU.


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Part of the tuning process led me to discover that some of my drivability issues when it was hot outside was because of the air inlet temperature. My engine is effectively taking in hot air from the radiator fan, which is causing it to defuel and thus make a lot less power. I'm seeing ACT of 200°F at some speeds - which is obviously causing the engine to defuel and pull tons of timing.

Next step - build an air filter box.
 
FordFascist said:
I've always had a cold-start problem with the GPW and the 351W. When it's warmed up, it runs great. When cold and when transitioning from driving to stopping, I would have odd bucking issues. It would do fine in 4 low, but the idle tended to be a bit on the low side and the transitions were a bit abrupt.

This is a known thing with the Mustang ECUs, EEC-IV specifically, when they are paired with an engine with different parameters. Most of the drivability problems are related to the ECU being programmed to stock engine parameters.

So onto the programming part. The ECU I am using is an A9M out of a manual Mustang - I think it's a 1990. I took the cover apart to expose the J3 port. I will be using a Moates Quarterhorse with Binary Editor Software.

The first few steps involved me adjusting the airflow mapping to get the AF ratio right and adding a VSS. This took a quite a few treks around the neighborhood to get it right. I got a lot of weird looks driving this thing around my neighborhood with a laptop bungee corded to the passenger seat in the 100°+ heat.

The second is I had to adjust the associated start up and air transition parameters. I am stoked that I found a YouTube channel with a guy who was much smarter than me to lead me down the path of tuning. I would highly recommend checking out his channel.





Effectively my engine was taking in about 30-40% more airflow at a given load factor than a stock 5.0L HO engine. Add in that the overlap on the cam shaft would trigger the idle up protocols in the ECU which would swing the timing 20° back and forth. I was able to smooth that out as well. I added additional airflow to the dashpot function, added RPM at startup, changed the cold temp multipliers and even added another 250 RPM idle up when the OBA is triggered.

Once I finished the process of tuning and driving, I took out the Quarterhorse, and burned a J3 solid state chip for the ECU.


IMG_0188.JPG

IMG_0186.JPG




Part of the tuning process led me to discover that some of my drivability issues when it was hot outside was because of the air inlet temperature. My engine is effectively taking in hot air from the radiator fan, which is causing it to defuel and thus make a lot less power. I'm seeing ACT of 200°F at some speeds - which is obviously causing the engine to defuel and pull tons of timing.

Next step - build an air filter box.
Click to expand...

This was common on fox body AFM cars. Someone would take off the shroud, or not block the air flow from the fan. The speed density cars didn't care.
 
I was talking with my neighbor about his Jeep build and stumbled across these bumpstops:


I noticed that my bumpstops are deteriorating so I decided to upgrade to these that I bought for $20 on Amazon. They conviently included the cup.

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Step 2 for me was to knock out the 10mm stud and put in an allen head bolt since I couldn't get a wrench under my spring plate.

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I then drilled and tapped two new holes (one for the bolt and one for the tab). I then reassembled. Some real tech shit here.

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Geesh, thought you'd cut off the stud and bolt on the new one and then cut off the old rubber bumper from it's plate and weld the new one to the old plate:stirthepot::stirthepot::flipoff2::flipoff2:
 
I have rocked the same gigantic, space killing fuel cell since I built this thing. Correction - this fuel cell has been in the GPW since August, 1968. My dad built it in the turbine shop at United Airlines. It has served well. I need more space and I am tired of the fuel leak situation.

This meant I will have to re-route my exhaust, cut the floor in the back, move my onboard air lines, ditch the air reservoir, re-route all the fuel lines and probably some other shit I haven't thought of yet. Step 1 is to measure:

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Step 2 is unload all the shit I've piled on this thing and refused to unload.


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Step 3 is to vacuum.

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More of the "the shit" to unload:

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I arrived after much endless measuring at a tank that would fit: a 1987 EFI Chevy Blazer 25 gallon tank. My fuel cell was 31 gallons but I've never been able to go lower thank about 24 and that is really being reckless. I'm also using the factory sending unit with a 255 lph pump.

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Next step: Disassembly.
 
Fitting my previously purchased discount Walbro to my new sender and then finding the appropriate strainer to fit the GM tank pan.


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The strainer that fits this application (which is a Bosch style pump) is a S13010.


My next challenge was figuring out my fuel gauge situation. It turns out that GM changed the gauge sending units in the 90s, but my current version of gauge sender was a 0-90ohm unit. My GPW it turns out has a Stewart Warner gauge that is a 240-33 ohm. I looked at buying a replacement gauge in the right range, but they are back ordered until June. So I had to get creative.

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I bought an Autometer Fuel Bridge - which can adapt any gauge to any sending unit. They are a little pricey but overall worth the effort once you set them up. You can even wire in a low fuel light if you want.
 
Now it's time to get to the real shit. My 77 year old rear floor pan. Fun fact, the floor braces in MBs and GPWs have wood sandwiched in them for extra strength and weight savings. I think 2023 was beyond the service life of the wood because my braces had cracked - and this is the last original bit of the floor.

You can see where my dad cut out the pockets for shock towers in 1968. It hurts to cut some of this stuff up, but I think there was an overall improvement afterwards.

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Let's see how my measuring skills are.

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So far, so good.
 
More of the tank fitting. I decided I was going to use as many stock parts as possible, because my memory isn't getting any better these days. So my tank will use stock straps for the same 1987 Blazer.

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Rear fuel tank strap hangers tacked in.

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Building the front mounts.

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Mocking in the top tank support crossmembers that also double as a floor support structure.

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Front mount for the fuel tank strap. I built the mount off the front the tank crossmember. I then added some rubber around all of the interfaces with the tank for zero chance of chaffing.

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Now to build the exhaust. Apparently I had given MtnYota a set of 40 series FlowMasters 10 years ago, and now I was Indian Giving them back. So I had them boomerang back to my house and got started on my exhaust.

I originally had a 2.25" 70 series dual inlet / outlet so I decided to upgrate to 2.5 in mandrel bends with dual 40 series and an H-pipe.

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The cross-over pipe.

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So I mocked this in and gave it a test fire to see if I could hear the difference pre of post H-pipe.


 
Next was to take it apart again and add my crossover. I decided to put V-band clamps everywhere in the exhaust system so I would be able to get the transfer case out easily.

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Since I broke 6 of the parts store hangers previously, I upgraded to the metal lined exhaust hangers that will not break. They are a hell of a good deal on Amazon -> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X94PQ12?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

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As a test, I then took another video of this thing at idle with a crossover. I will be adding turndowns to it once I get the tank skid / rock guard in place.


 
Now to build the floor.

I built joists that bolt to the tank crossmember.

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And for fun, I decided to add some subwoofers because I don't want people to camp near me, and I can't hear my circa-2000s dance party music over my 40 series. These were pretty compact fully integrated box and amp combo. It was also ported. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08R3R3JNT?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

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Test fitting the box and the subwoofers.

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I decided I'm going to build the floor pan in multiple pieces.

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I wanted to add some beads to the sheet metal to add some rigidity to my panels. I got this sweet roller for Christmas last year.

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I rolled a step first.

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Not the best quality, but good enough to be underneath a tool box and a set of 12's.

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Then I discovered this was too wide for my sheetmetal brake.

So a forklift and a trailer will suffice as my brake.

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I painted the underside before setting this down for good.

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The goal was to be able to get the sending unit out without removing the tank.

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Next was to build the front section of the floorboard.

Cardboard template time.

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My bead rolling skills have improved slightly.

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Time tol weld it in, and not die in an explosion. I also coated all the weld surfaces with weld-through primer.

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Time to seam seal and paint this!

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I had to clearance my tool box slightly to fit over the fuel neck cover.

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My next goal was to make a skid plate for the fuel tank. It's really not for impact with rocks since the tank is almost level with the frame rails and protected by the rear axle and springs. It's more to keep small rocks, sticks and limbs from puncturing the tank. You can never be too careful with your gas tank.



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