Builds Moonshine - A Build Thread (1 Viewer)

[FullyLitLED]

That wagongear lid is on my priorities list! I want to make something custom but I know his is better! lol

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Johnny, have had good luck with the CSF's i have run over the years, heck my 60 that you got the body from had one in it for years.

Good to know that the CSF is a good choice. Is there any advantage to going to an aluminum radiator while I'm in there or should I just stick with another brass unit? You think I should switch to electric fans or stick with the stock mechanical unit?

Feel like taking a close up of that seal? I have an annoying clunk coming from the hatch/tailgate interface... and that looks like it would be a good fix.

Not today, but I'll try to get another couple of shots of it when I pick Moonshine up. This is the quick overview of the kit, but I'll get some closeups and cross section shots.
http://wagongear.com/Weatherstrip.html

I'm glad you cleared that up, I knew you got yours right before I got mine and it's been in BT for at least two years. Doc Wonderful things Kevin comes up with.

I know it. Who would have thought that it would take a whole new body to install one piece of weatherstrip?!?

That wagongear lid is on my priorities list! I want to make something custom but I know his is better! lol

Kevin does DAMN fine work. He is an artist with a welder.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Another update. Dropped Moonshine off to have a proper exhaust put on by Henry's Muffler Shop here in Raleigh. A couple of the ONSC guys have had exhausts done there and they do damn fine work. I should have her back tomorrow or Wednesday, so there will be plenty of pictures

 

[donutfj80]

nice!

 

[TLC Norway]

cool, sometimes it just makes sense to let others do some work on the rig...

I'm very happy with my alu rad, cant remember the brand. Using a temp controlled 16in spal, without a shroud.
Enough for most stuff, but i like beeing able to shut it off while crossing deep water or mud.
Thats the main reason i want the spal. Another benefit is full cooling power still at engine idle.
And easy access to engine front.
Without the shroud it's easier to clean out mud, since i have the IC close up to the front.
At speeds above 20km/h its plenty cooling, but when slow and tucked with mud it can get a bit hotter. need to figure out a "easy to remove shroud" that the spal is bolted to, so i disconnect the fan, pop the whole thing out so i can clean mud out.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

nice!

Thanks buddy

cool, sometimes it just makes sense to let others do some work on the rig...

I'm very happy with my alu rad, cant remember the brand. Using a temp controlled 16in spal, without a shroud.
Enough for most stuff, but i like beeing able to shut it off while crossing deep water or mud.
Thats the main reason i want the spal. Another benefit is full cooling power still at engine idle.
And easy access to engine front.
Without the shroud it's easier to clean out mud, since i have the IC close up to the front.
At speeds above 20km/h its plenty cooling, but when slow and tucked with mud it can get a bit hotter. need to figure out a "easy to remove shroud" that the spal is bolted to, so i disconnect the fan, pop the whole thing out so i can clean mud out.

Yeah, I tried to do an exhaust twice and it didn't come out right. I'm not giving away the surprises, but what I'm having Henry's install is going to be both unique and bulletproof

So you have a single 16" SPAL fan, without a shroud, and everything works perfectly? Is the motor waterproof?

I'm not worried about the mud situation because I tend to avoid mud at all costs. Sometimes my inner kid gets the best of me, but not often I do like the idea of being able to shut it off during water crossings however. I'm also interested in the extra room you'll gain from not having the big mechanical fan and shroud up front.

Do you have a couple of pictures of your setup? How'd you wire up the fan?

 

[TLC Norway]

Here is my setup, just without the spal fan. (which has a sealed water tight engine housing. search spal and you figure they rock)
Had to test for the fun of it. In idle speeds the clutch fan does nothing but stir up air without the shroud. Since the big spal is directly to the rad, it cools pretty well without the shroud.

As you can see, rad needed new mounts, as its a tad bigger than oem. And the IC is directly in front of the rad.
Put in a 82 degree celcius sensor right after the t-stat on the hose. That one shuts the fan on when the "auto-switch" is ON. That's the switch i always have ON, exept when i guess ill get mud into the rad and engine bay. the spal fan is coping well with some water, but i shut if off when it's getting fully emerged.
On the same wire harness, i can close that circuit with a FULL ON switch.
Using that when i am hauling heavy loads, or in hot summer days in 4LO.
That way both the IC and rad gets a lot of cool air at idle speeds too.

both the switches are in the center console.

The sensor on the lower hose lights up a warning light in the dash if water OUT of the rad is 85c.
That way i get an early warning if something is wrong, usually thats telling me to clean out the mud from the rad, or when im stuck in deep mud and air cant get out of the engine bay. Once it came on in the bush, at low speed. Turned out the connector to the fan had came loose, probably a branch getting up there. Plugged back in, all good.
Anyway, i love getting that warning.

This summer i had it come on at normal driving speed. which was weird, because when at speeds above 20-30km/h the fan rarely needs to cool any extra.
That warning had me check the water pump, and that was leaking a bit, and the impeller was worn.

Only thing i would change now, is the "easy to remove shroud" i was talking about.

 

[TLC Norway]

and here it is, you can see the "suck-marks" from the fan on the front of the rad.

the switches in the console, two for cooling, rest for light and 12v aux.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Ok, so you have temp meters in the upper and lower rad hoses, but you still have the mechanical fan in your engine bay. Do you have the SPAL mounted as a pusher fan through the radiator towards the engine? I was considering removing the mechanical fan all together and running just the electric fan.

Other than that, it looks like you're enjoying the aluminum radiator. Did you choose that over an aftermarket brass radiator or a re-cored brass radiator for any particular reason?

 

[TLC Norway]

The mechanical fan is just in there on that picture for testing purposes.
So the spal is out at that very moment, the picture was taken for other purposes.
The spal is a pull-fan. Prices on re-coring or stock rads are so crazy here.
Aluminum, bigger, badder, better. Others might hold that against me.

But one thing i cant seem to figure out, is the expansion tank... Has no use for me... Maybe it has something to do with the specs of the rad cap, what pressure it releases on, placement of the tank, etc.
Dunno, but i figure i wont need it. Only serves as a catch tank for what might flow out when my 2h blows up.

 

[brokenparts]

I used a dakota digital controller for my tauras fan. I like it so far.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

There are a bunch of things to consider when comparing aluminum to brass & copper radiators.

Aluminum is easier to manufacture and thus can be had for cheaper, but dissipates heat worse. That is countered by adding more coil rows.

In the end there are pros and cons to both. I just kept a stock replacement rad because I never intend to put a v8 in mine. If that was in the works I would have probably upgraded.

 

[TLC Norway]

I used a dakota digital controller for my tauras fan. I like it so far.

Taurus with shroud? how does it handle mud and water?
Are u using the PAC controller? I did look into that, but i could not find it 24v compatible. Are you using the 50% settings?

Another unit is the Spal PWM, does mostly the same, supports 24v.

The thing i like about theese controllers, is the ability to run at 50% fan speed, and increasing speed as temp rises. That nifty setting stresses less amp out of the fan start up, i can see mine pulling almost 30 amps when it starts from 0 to 100 %.

I went with this solution, because its safe, easy to fix if anything happens, and one tenth of the cost of a controller. But i still want a controller.

Hijack over.

 

[boots4]

Another unit is the Spal PWM, does mostly the same, supports 24v.

Just sharing but I had a Spal controller that started an electrical fire. Luckily I caught it before irreversible damage could be done but I would make sure there isn't a better option out there.

 

[TLC Norway]

Just sharing but I had a Spal controller that started an electrical fire. Luckily I caught it before irreversible damage could be done but I would make sure there isn't a better option out there.

Remember reading that, Boots...glad it worked out. Thats another pro on the home made setup. Just robust stuff.
There has been some bad stuff going on with spal and their non us products batch, but i think they sorted it out... (?) How was your customer service? Here we use spal in earthmoving equipment, and industry. Never heard of anything bad.

 

[boots4]

Never talked to their customer service. I pretty much just moved on and picked up something else. Apparently this was not an isolated event and others have had issues with the first gen controllers. Hopefully it's been worked out by now but I didn't want to take another chance.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Feel like taking a close up of that seal? I have an annoying clunk coming from the hatch/tailgate interface... and that looks like it would be a good fix.

Here you go, let me know if you need more. It goes over the uppermost lip of the tailgate ( when closed ) about 1/2".

Welt on left half, bulb on right

The mechanical fan is just in there on that picture for testing purposes.
So the spal is out at that very moment, the picture was taken for other purposes.
The spal is a pull-fan. Prices on re-coring or stock rads are so crazy here.
Aluminum, bigger, badder, better. Others might hold that against me.

Gotcha, thanks for the heads up. Aluminum fan is looking like the way to go.

I used a dakota digital controller for my tauras fan. I like it so far.

So far as in 'you've driven it for 100 ft' like it?

Good to know, I'll look into it when I cross that bridge. As long as it cools my motor and doesn't catch fire, I'm happy!

In the end there are pros and cons to both. I just kept a stock replacement rad because I never intend to put a v8 in mine. If that was in the works I would have probably upgraded.

I know that aluminum is not as efficient at transferring heat, but as you said, that's offset with more cooling rows, so cooling capacity is a moot point.

You're going to put a 6BT into your 60. Why would you have not upgraded the radiator when you had the chance?

The thing i like about these controllers, is the ability to run at 50% fan speed, and increasing speed as temp rises. That nifty setting stresses less amp out of the fan start up, i can see mine pulling almost 30 amps when it starts from 0 to 100 %.

I went with this solution, because its safe, easy to fix if anything happens, and one tenth of the cost of a controller. But i still want a controller.

I hear you with cost savings, this stuff can get expensive! Not looking to cut corners, but the taurus fan solution looks good to me, but the SPAL fans have the reputation. Either way, I'm just looking for a fan that will last a long time, be 100% sealed and has variable speed control.

Just sharing but I had a Spal controller that started an electrical fire. Luckily I caught it before irreversible damage could be done but I would make sure there isn't a better option out there.

I remember reading about that in your thread. I will definitely not be going with a SPAL controller.

Thanks for the insight guys, right now I'm thinking aluminum radiator with an electric fan. I'm excited about being able to ditch my mechanical fan.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

You're going to put a 6BT into your 60. Why would you have not upgraded the radiator when you had the chance?

Its a direct injection diesel, they tend to run cooler I believe. I know that alot of the guys that have done 4BT and 6BT swaps into cruiser are running the stock rad.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Full bore Moab prep

Sticker will go by the wayside, but I'm pretty stoked about the purchase.

It's been raining for the past couple of days so I haven't been able to grab any pics of the new exhaust. I will as soon as it dries out. Henry's did a great job!! Could not be tighter to the body and it comes out below the frame only only for the tailpipe exit

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Registered for Cruise Moab 2012 today My first choices are:

Thursday 1st: Rating: 8 Pritchett Canyon
Friday 1st: Rating: 7 Behind the Rocks
Saturday 1st: Rating: 7 Golden Spike

Who else is going?