Builds Family haulin' (1 Viewer)

[boots4]

weekly update

I received my order from Marlin for my TREs and started to replace them. The passenger side came off no problems but the driver side was too tight to do it underneath the rig. I took out the tie rod and put it in a vice. Pliers around the TRE body didn't make it budge. Then I started to worry that the blown tire jammed the TRE in and messed up the threads. I used some heat and got out a strap wrench for more leverage and it finally loosened up. Threads looked fine so I slathered on some antiseize and put the new one in. I took a couple of measurements from rotor to rotor and how far the TREs stuck out of the tie rod and matched those when I put it back together to do a lazy alignment. The new TRE got rid of the driver side tire wiggle I found.

While looking around in the engine bay I found that the rubber boot that connects my boost signal line to a hose barb was looking fatigued. I moved it and a hole showed up.

I removed the barb and found a compression fitting for 1/8" line. I planned to reuse my previous fitting because it reduced the line size going to the signal line. I still get some gauge flutter and thought maybe this could be a cause.

Wrapped it with teflon tape and screwed it in. I'm much happier with this style connection even though I still get some flutter on my gauge.

I also removed my air filter shroud because I think I just can't get enough air flow to the filter. I took it off to test.

It's interesting to drive around with a tach now and see what the engine is doing rather than just hearing it. I idle about 700rpm when in gear (T. Converter load against the engine), 810rpm in neutral. I think I'll bump the idle just a little more. I do about 1950rpm on the hwy TC locked in overdrive going 65-70mph just like the calculators I've used indicated. I'll get my GPS in there and really get rpm to mph dialed in.

Rims and tires have been shipped with the centers cut out and the rims sandblasted so I should see those next week. I've decided on my color combo and will see if the pressed centers allow me to eliminate my wheel spacers. That will determine what backspacing I'll want to go with.

 

[boots4]

I got my turbo this week. I bid and won a HE351 Holset VGT from a 6.7 Cummins. The dealers are replacing these with new ones to clear trouble codes coming up. They are building up carbon inside and the part that changes the flow to the turbine is sticking so they are on ebay for ~$100 all the time. All they need is a clean up and I think there are 2 main factors as to why they get sticky. One, the turbo isn't worked hard enough and two, all the emission stuff that is on the new cummins. I'm sure there are better technical reasons.

The challenge has been to control boost when the flow changes. Factory wise this is done electronically. What some of the ricers have done is to ditch the electronics and hook up a wastegate to it. Sure you won't get the variablility the electronics will offer but you do get a turbo, if set up right, that is fast to spool and flows reasonably well. I'd be happy with 30-40psi of boost and I'll initially try out the wastegate I took off my WH1C Holset. This is not a priority project so it'll happen some time in the future. I'll need to get a different exhaust manifold or even build my own which would allow me to place the turbo where I wanted. Anyways, just some quick thoughts on that. When I got it I was suprised how big it is! It's crazy to think the ricers are stuffing these under their hoods. I wanted to see how it worked so I took it apart since it needed to be cleaned anyways.

This is the piece that makes it variable by changing how much flow sees the exhaust turbine. This is also the piece that tends to get sticky. When I tried rotating the lever it wasn't very smooth and the turbine/compressor shaft didn't spin freely.

Old H1 tubine wheel on the left and the HE351 on the right. They are the same dimensions except for the threaded part on the HE351 is different.

Old compressor wheel on the left that I tried out first on Dora. The HE351 compressor wheel on the right is a little bigger and has 7 blades. It looks a little too big but with the exhaust flow being modified it could work out great.

Here's the flow piece sitting in the main body. I lathered it up with anitseize which said it was rated up to 1600F. The back side of the turbine wheel was caked with carbon build up and so was the part of the housing it sat against. I cleaned that all up.

This is the inside of the main body and shows the linkage to get that flow piece to raise and lower. As the arm rotates it will slide the flow control piece in and out and that changes the flow the turbine wheel sees.

Here's a video that shows the concept of variable geometry. The video shows the vanes moving to modify the flow. The HE351 does the same thing in a different way. If you notice from the above pic you'll see the vanes are fixed but have different cuts in them. By sliding this in and out of the exhaust piece it exposes different parts of the vane thus changing the flow.

YouTube - VGT

After inspecting the internals, everything looked great with hardly any wear so I coated the bushings with oil and put it all back together. The shaft spins freely now. I've taken the electronics off and whats underneath is that lever you see on the main body. That lever is what I'll hook up a wastegate to.

 

[Tapage]

that´s a huge turbo ..

would be nice to fab/attach some kind of lever so you can control the flow ( controling the vanes ) on the turbo .. and then adjust your desired level of boost ..

 

[Falco80]

I love turbo-porn!
That is one huge turbo. I'm looking forward to seeing it bolted up to your 4BT eventually. Great work Mike, I love this thread.

 

[boots4]

I've been unmotivated to start editing videos but I finally got these out. Now I can start on the Rubicon stuff.

These are when we took Dirtgypy's rig for it's first trail testing after his SOA. Brown's camp was wet and slick and we went down Bate's road and then played on the Archer's trail.

Part 1

YouTube - Wheeling at Brown's Camp 5-09 Part 1

This one's just of me and since it was pretty slick and I didn't have a skid plate yet I basically just spun tires.

Part 2

YouTube - Wheeling at Brown's Camp 5-09 part 2

Tracking number says the tires are here so I'll be picking them up today.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Videos are sick. Looks like your kids were having quite the time.

 

[brokenparts]

need more meat.

 

[boots4]

weekly update

H1 rims and tires showed up Monday so I hooked up the trailer and picked them up. I got them from 406 YJ over on pirate and had him cut out the centers with his waterjet guy. He sandblasted the front halves. I touched up the edge with a flapper wheel to round it off.

These are the two piece rubber runflats and how they go inside the tire.

I unbolted the rims and separated everything.

I didn't get the rock rings or pressed centers (so I thought) so I cleaned up the tires. My son was inspecting my work.

I found out that the center and rings had been delivered a week ago and were hidden behind the counter of my friend's business that I had them sent to. So I grabbed them the next day. These came from MadMac over on pirate.

I liked the half rings on attempts to reduce weight (I know, pointless running H1 rim). They just fit right inside the lip but you have to line them up so you can get access to the nuts.

The centers were nicely packaged and came with a coating of sticky oil to keep them from rusting.

One of the advantages of the pressed centers is that it simply drops in for alignment.

It rests on a lip on the inner rim. It's hard to see but it's where I've rubbed off the dirt.

I've read that the pressed centers yield 3.5" of backspacing but that's not what I found. Mine are at 3" of backspacing.

My thoughts were that I might be able to eliminate my spacers so I did some measuring with the pressed center bolted to the axle. My ruler is the same width as my spacer so I used that as a guide. This is at the rear and is where I figured I have clearance issues.

I found that I was going to run into clearance problems with the back of the center, more than a little grinding would take care of so I'll be keeping my spacers; however, I may consider stepping down to a narrower spacer.

Here's the clearance on the front. I've never had any problems with my spacers. I try to check them whenever I have a wheel off but haven't had any loosen up on me so I'm not worried about running them. It's just with 3" on the rim and a 1.25" spacers gives me true 1.75" backspacing and that is a little less than I was thinking of but I have to run it to see if it's a big deal or not.

Since I had the center on the axle I thought I'd do a quick mock up. Here's with the rim.

Here's with the tire in front.

I read a couple articles online about recentering and found some good tips. One was to put the center in the rim and scribe a line so I'd know where to grind off the paint for welding.

The paint is more like a coating, almost a little rubbery but a flapper wheel worked just fine.

Here's the center back in ready for welding. Since I'm keeping my spacers I'm just going to set it up with the 3" backspacing it comes in.

I threw some levels on it just to check. The center sits in there just perfect.

No pics but for welding I used the 12-6, 9-3 method using the face of a clock. I'd let it sit to keep the heat from warping the rim and I'd work on the next one. I did this until all rims were done with a bead around the entire center. I did this same thing for the half rings on the front halves. In total I used almost 1 1/2 lbs of wire. I was on my last spool but finished without running out. After I cleaning them all up and gave them a bath and I started painting them. The centers are done but the front halves are still in the process. I'll wait to show you my color scheme until they're done.

Looks like I'll get access to a bandsaw to cut off the humps on my runflats. My sawzall is broke, a jigsaw would be a joke, and a circular saw was going to take way too long and stink up the neighborhood with burning rubber. The plan is to go to the beach with family next week so I hope to get them together for that since we want to drive ON the beach.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Those half rings look sick.

Man, I'm pumped to see how these come out. Kinda disappointing that they won't work without spacers but that's definitely good to know for when I go this route.

 

[boots4]

Update cont.

While waiting for things to dry I figured I'd look into mounting my CB. I was determined to get it in the dash and here's what I came up with.

I used the mount that came with the CB and cut it down and sliced a tab out of it on the bottom that I could bend.

I ran into clearance problems with the air duct on the right, so I moved the air controls over to the left about a 1/2". I redrilled holes in the center piece, cut it and bent it out of the way. For the left side of the air controls all I had to do was bend the existing tab.

This gave me the little extra clearance to slide the CB in. I made that bracket to screw to the existing one you see in the pic and determined the mounting depth when I was mocking placement of the CB.

For the trim piece I cut out a bunch of stuff to get it to slide on. I still need to fix the crack and make a strip to cover the exposed screws on the air controls. I'm also thinking of painting it to match my dash and gauge pod.

I put the mic on my sub box to keep the wire somewhat out of the way. I'm definitely running out of room down there. The CB isn't hooked up because I still need to get my antenna, mount that, and run cable. I just haven't ordered anything yet.

If you are determined to make it fit, or have a smaller CB then the dash can work. If you want it easy, you'd be better off in another location, because it's tight in there.

 

[boots4]

Those half rings look sick.

Man, I'm pumped to see how these come out. Kinda disappointing that they won't work without spacers but that's definitely good to know for when I go this route.

They won't work for ME without spacers because of my rear disc setup. The fronts would probably clear. If you stay drums or go a different route for rear discs then no spacers are probably necessary.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

They won't work for ME without spacers because of my rear disc setup. The fronts would probably clear. If you stay drums or go a different route for rear discs then no spacers are probably necessary.

I didn't think it looked like it would clear the runner calipers you have in front either. If so, it would be real close.

 

[boots4]

I didn't think it looked like it would clear the runner calipers you have in front either. If so, it would be real close.

Again those are 4runner calipers so they are little more portly. There is that guy in hawaii running these on a 60 in the 60's section that didn't need spacers I thought.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/279324-i-still-dont-have-name-build-thread.html

I was messaging him about his rims when I first heard of them. It doesn't seem he needed spacers. I should have re-read that thread before bugging you.

 

[boots4]

Not a problem, bug away.

 

[brokenparts]

looks good Mike.

 

[CreeperSleeper]

Okay, Mike... I'm now even more jealous.

 

[boots4]

If you're coming to the meeting tonight I'll be bringing one of the rims for a little demo.

 

[kling-on]

DUDE your rig is so COOL... I love all of it

 

[Dirtgypsy]

Mike you have been a busy beaver this past week or so. The wheels look sick.

We need to hook up and have some dinner with the family soon.

Clint