ZMotorsports Shop Projects 2.0

[OutlawDrifter]

Glad to hear they took the time, Mike. I agree, that speaks volumes.

Classic Instruments is another company I hold in high regard for their customer service. I was having some issues with the gauges in my '49 GMC after installation and called the tech service line. The president of the company actually answered my call, gave me some things to try, and then spoke to me for about 40min afterwards about my thoughts on the product. Completely blew me away!

Early in the phone conversation I had commented about the difficult nature to install the gauges, and asked him to pass it up the chain of command for me...he laughed and said, "well, its actually as high as it can go, I'm the president of the company!"

 

[zmotorsports]

Glad to hear they took the time, Mike. I agree, that speaks volumes.

Classic Industries is another company I hold in high regard for their customer service. I was having some issues with the gauges in my '49 GMC after installation and called the tech service line. The president of the company actually answered my call, gave me some things to try, and then spoke to me for about 40min afterwards about my thoughts on the product. Completely blew me away!

Early in the phone conversation I had commented about the difficult nature to install the gauges, and asked him to pass it up the chain of command for me...he laughed and said, "well, its actually as high as it can go, I'm the president of the company!"

That is good to hear Marc. I have purchased a lot of components from Classic Industries over the years and never really had an issue. Good to know if I ever did someone would address it.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

That is good to hear Marc. I have purchased a lot of components from Classic Industries over the years and never really had an issue. Good to know if I ever did someone would address it.

Typed the wrong company!!! Classic Instruments!!!

 

[zmotorsports]

Typed the wrong company!!! Classic Instruments!!!

Thanks. I haven't purchased from them before but if I ever need to I will keep them in mind.

 

[LXCam]

I just received an unexpected telephone call from FASS. The same tech I spoke with about my pressure issue had called me back to make certain everything was ok and I was not experiencing any further issues.

I have to say, THAT right there impressed me very much. THAT is customer service and to be honest makes this little hiccup that I had with my pump pretty much a non-event.

He wanted to know if there was anything else FASS could do for me pertaining to this issue or any other issues. I was honest and told him nothing more could be done as everything is fine, but the fact that he called me back a couple of days later to confirm everything was ok had been enough.

At this point I can't say enough about FASS and their customer service after the sale.

That is very impressive Mike, kudos to them.

 

[zmotorsports]

That is very impressive Mike, kudos to them.

Agreed Cam. I thought the same thing. Not all companies would have gone to that measure to make sure several days later that everything was still ok.

 

[zmotorsports]

Here is the video of the FASS installation on our 2003 Monaco Dynasty.

 

[bigdave_185]

Good detailed write up


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[zmotorsports]

Good detailed write up


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Thank you. I appreciate that.

 

[zmotorsports]

Finished up my son’s WJ tonight and got it back on the road again.

The front coil springs had quite a bit of arch to them as we didn’t correct the spring buckets when we clocked the knuckles last year.

Usually a little arch isn’t too bad but his was severe enough that the inside of the coil was making contact with the jounce stop bucket and making some noise. It took us a little bit to locate the noise as is was so intermittent.



Axle adapter for transmission jack came in handy again. Had the axle out in no time.




Axle fixture worked awesome.


It worked great to set the axle to zero and lock it solid to the table and then do our cutting and welding off of that dimension.
















We could have taken a bit more time and cut everything off and started from scratch on the front bracketry but a quick cut with the plasma cutter and weld everything back together compensating by about 6.5 degrees was all that was needed and it was back on the road. No sense in dragging it out longer or making it more complicated than necessary.

 

[bigdave_185]

Clean work !


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[lilscorpion]

Never occurred to me to do it that way, slick and WAY faster Mike. Nice job.

 

[E12-535iTurbo]

Now that's the difference in having the tools and knowledge to make that a quick job. Well done!

 

[Bighead38]

Thanks. Can't remember what the other valve was right off the top of my head. You may have to remind me.

I was confident the problem didn't come from the install and I figured the new pump was the place to look, especially after I drug the information out of the tech about how they control pressure. To be honest, I really didn't think that little burr would have been enough to cause the high pressure and was quite surprised when I reassembled the shuttle valve, spring and fitting and the pressure was right where it was supposed to be.

As for the landscaping rake, I hope he's happy with it. I haven't talked to him and just put it in his truck at work yesterday morning.





Most of the older diesels had hand pumps vs. the electric lift pumps of today. The CAT 3208 in our last coach was in a 1991 38' Beaver Contessa and the engine was a 1990 model year. It did not have an electric lift pump and the manner in which to prime the new filters were to unscrew the manual lift pump and pump it about 20-30 times until it filled the filter.

Even on the Duramax engines where they don't have a lift pump they have a manual prime pump to pull fuel from the tank up to and through the filter to purge the air prior to starting. I believe the Ford Powertroke and the Dodge Cummins light duty trucks are the only ones with electric lift pumps to prime the fuel system.

Cummins states right in their manuals to not fill fuel filters externally on these engines but to use the lift pump once the new filters are installed. Cycling the key a couple times is usually all it takes.

I get that a lift pump can fill the filters but what harm would be done if you filled the filters before installing them?

 

[zmotorsports]

Clean work !


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Never occurred to me to do it that way, slick and WAY faster Mike. Nice job.

Now that's the difference in having the tools and knowledge to make that a quick job. Well done!

Thanks guys, I appreciate the comments. This job would have been completed on Saturday but we had our power go out Saturday afternoon as we were wrapping up the job so had to complete it last night. All in all it went rather quick and yes, having the lift, the axle adapter for the transmission jack and the fixtures that bolt to the fabrication table to hold the axle sure made the job go much quicker.

I really should have built those tools years ago when I first thought to build them rather than keep putting them off. I can think of many jobs they would have worked out great on.

Thanks for following along and for the comments guys.

 

[zmotorsports]

I get that a lift pump can fill the filters but what harm would be done if you filled the filters before installing them?

On the modern diesel engines to achieve today's high pressures at the injectors (approx. 30k PSI) the tolerances are so precise that any debris will kill an injector in short order, and possibly even damage the high pressure pump. All of the manufacturers now advocate to absolutely not fill filters externally for fear of introducing foreign material into the fuel system. The new Davco priming pump we just purchased at work will filter down to 7 microns during the priming process whereas the filters on the Detroit engines are an 8 micron so they even have us filtering finer during he priming process.

 

[aka Larry]

Nice work again Mike. I was almost surprised you broke out the plasma cutter since I know that is not you favorite tool.

I still love the custom bumpers you built on your son's Jeep. They really do look awesome.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Mike, I have/use the same cube angle finder in my projects such as this.

Great job on the son's Jeep, there is nothing wrong with the KISS method!

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice work again Mike. I was almost surprised you broke out the plasma cutter since I know that is not you favorite tool.

I still love the custom bumpers you built on your son's Jeep. They really do look awesome.

Thanks Vincent. I really tried to get a die grinder with a cutoff wheel in there but there simply was no way so I had to break out the plasma cutter. Although it's not my favorite method to cut metal with, I have to admit it was quick and required very little cleanup with a Roloc disc on either side prior to welding.

Thanks for the comments and for continuing to follow along.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike, I have/use the same cube angle finder in my projects such as this.

Great job on the son's Jeep, there is nothing wrong with the KISS method!

Agreed Marc. Kept this one very simple and the little cube angle finder works great for tasks such as this.

Thanks for following along Marc.

 

[quadrcr87]

Those coils look much happier now. Do you think the bind they were in was affecting the spring rate at all. Seems like it could have stiffened up the ride some under tension all the time.

 

[zmotorsports]

Those coils look much happier now. Do you think the bind they were in was affecting the spring rate at all. Seems like it could have stiffened up the ride some under tension all the time.

Yes they appear "happier".

I don't know if the arch affected the spring rate per se, but I definitely think the arched coils affected the ride height which in turn affected the ability to properly transfer forces linear from the axle to the chassis.

When off-roading, the arch really didn't seem to negatively affect droop as the coil straightened out until it hit the limiting strap but upon full stuff (compression) I think they were slightly binding on the jounce stop buckets so straightening them should greatly affect the off-road characteristics as well as the pavement manners.

 

[Bighead38]

On the modern diesel engines to achieve today's high pressures at the injectors (approx. 30k PSI) the tolerances are so precise that any debris will kill an injector in short order, and possibly even damage the high pressure pump. All of the manufacturers now advocate to absolutely not fill filters externally for fear of introducing foreign material into the fuel system. The new Davco priming pump we just purchased at work will filter down to 7 microns during the priming process whereas the filters on the Detroit engines are an 8 micron so they even have us filtering finer during he priming process.

Interesting. Thanks for answering.

 

[Graham08]

Yes they appear "happier".

I don't know if the arch affected the spring rate per se, but I definitely think the arched coils affected the ride height which in turn affected the ability to properly transfer forces linear from the axle to the chassis.

When off-roading, the arch really didn't seem to negatively affect droop as the coil straightened out until it hit the limiting strap but upon full stuff (compression) I think they were slightly binding on the jounce stop buckets so straightening them should greatly affect the off-road characteristics as well as the pavement manners.

They look better for sure, and will repay you with much longer life. Bending a spring like that affects rate, much more so when the coils start contacting each other with travel. If run like that for an extended period, they will take a permanent set in that shape.

Nice work on correcting the perch angles! Not everything has to be a masterpiece...which is still something I'm struggling to learn.

 

[zmotorsports]

They look better for sure, and will repay you with much longer life. Bending a spring like that affects rate, much more so when the coils start contacting each other with travel. If run like that for an extended period, they will take a permanent set in that shape.

Nice work on correcting the perch angles! Not everything has to be a masterpiece...which is still something I'm struggling to learn.

Thanks Graham. I agree about the level of finish work. When I was teaching my son years ago as he had a tendency to overdo everything. I would tell him this needs to be a 6 or this can be a 5. He would cut a bolt off and spend half an hour making sure the chamfer was even all the way around and I would get on him and tell him "we're not building piano's or fine watches, that doesn't need to be a 10." It got to the point when I would ask him to do something he would stop and ask me "dad, does this need to be an 8 or a 2?" It's become almost a game now with us after 15+ years of this.

When we dropped the axle and got it on the bench I told him I really wish we had the time to just cut everything off and start over and he told me "dad, this only needs to be a 5, it just needs to work not be a masterpiece."

While like you Graham, I try to do everything to a high level of finish work, but I've found that not everything needs to be done to the same degree in order to function and serve its purpose. At first when I started my business I told myself I would never sacrifice quality and when I didn't do every single item to the highest degree I would feel like I was cutting corners. It took me listening to my mentor who I admired to tell me that when you're in business making money you have to realize that time is money and some things don't have to be perfect. A lesson I have had to learn as well.

My welds are one area that I am simply never satisfied with. I want every ripple to be perfect like those Instagram welds that I drool over. Unfortunately I don't know if I weld enough to ever make that happen. Fortunately however, my welds have improved a hundred fold over the past decade because of my trying.

 

[zmotorsports]

Interesting. Thanks for answering.

You're welcome.

Thanks for following along.

 

[zmotorsports]

I was able to complete the fabrication of my gauge console for the coach last night so I can drop it off to my upholstery guy.

Started with more CAD.






Transferred the pattern to some 16-gauge P&O.


Fed it through my tipping die.


Then to the shrinker.


More test fitting.


Gauges mocked up to determine location and angle.


I wanted it completely closed off and not merely an open panel with exposed wiring. More CAD to the rescue.


That will work.




Transferred to some 18-gauge and cut out.


Used a couple of different diameter stock and tube to confirm the radius on each side.


I then made a couple of passes through the bead roller with my tank roll dies to create a rolled edge or soft edge prior to welding.






After the welds were knocked down and some metal finishing.


Not exactly to Robert’s level (MP&C) but I’m happy with it.












And it doesn’t even interfere with my cup holder. [emoji12]

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Great execution Mike, once covered you won't even know it's not supposed to be there!

 

[zmotorsports]

Great execution Mike, once covered you won't even know it's not supposed to be there!

Thanks Marc. I have some ultraleather left over from my pilot/co-pilot seats when I had them upholstered so it should blend nicely with the cockpit area.

I appreciate the comment.

 

[gearhead1960]

Mike,

Your OCD won't be bothered by the fact your new gauges have a black background and the RV gauges have a white background?

 

[bigdave_185]

Who do you use up this way for Upholstry? Iv used Mingos but I’m not sure if they are open still


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[zmotorsports]

Mike,

Your OCD won't be bothered by the fact your new gauges have a black background and the RV gauges have a white background?

Ha ha Mark.

No, I think I'll be fine. I actually browsed through Auto Meter's website to try and find some with a gold ring that matched closer but couldn't find exactly what I wanted so I figured the good ole' standard Z-Series in black should match the black dash panel and side panel and tie everything together.

A guy on irv2.com added a fuel pressure gauge to his dash and he contacted a gauge manufacturer and they matched his perfectly but he had space in his dash for another gauge and was only using a single gauge. I didn't even try to reach out for something custom made as these will work perfectly.

I thought about mounting them up on my A-pillar but didn't want to create a blind spot as my A-pillar is already about 5" wide. Plus I worried about sun glare whereas this is right next to my switch panel and a quick glance to my side and they are easily viewed.

 

[zmotorsports]

Who do you use up this way for Upholstry? Iv used Mingos but I’m not sure if they are open still


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I use Mike Gallagher @ Fabric Magic Upholstery in Kaysville. He's been doing all of my upholstery work for the past 25+ years now. Street rods, Harley's, snowmobiles and sand drag quads all were done by him.

Here are a few pictures of the sandrail that I built that he did for me. I guess I went overboard and continued the street rod theme through to the sand toys.

 

[bigdave_185]

Because you did tweed? Why do you at your carries the theme? Looks great to me

Did you run with a Gary Mc... lives up in north ogden ?


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[zmotorsports]

Because you did tweed? Why do you at your carries the theme? Looks great to me

Did you run with a Gary Mc... lives up in north ogden ?


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Thanks. It was tricky to keep clean but I liked the full interior theme carried throughout. On the driver's side inside panel he even did a small net pocket for holding a couple of small items in. I had a towel that I would throw down on the floorboard when getting in/out and then tuck it down between the seat and interior panel when driving. In the trailer I kept a small wall mounted cordless/rechargeable dust buster style vacuum that once we got back to camp I'd vacuum out any sand as soon as possible. It looked just as nice the day I sold the car as when I built it but having full interior wasn't easy in a sand car.

Mike @ Fabric Magic did our first motorhome back in mid-90's and then all of our toys and client's projects up until current. I think I ruined him though because when I asked him to redo the couches and the pilot/co-pilot seats in our current coach two years ago he agreed but when I picked them up he told me to never ask him to do another motorhome as those were the most difficult pieces he had ever recovered.


As for Gary, that name doesn't sound familiar.

 

[bigdave_185]

Yeah that sounds like a lot of work to keep clean for sure, love the colors either way, grey and that purple was good lookin for sure.

I’m in need of seats in my LBZ redone maybe I’ll give them a visit


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[Mr.zippy]

Nice work Mike! You know, when you get ready to sell that rig, someone is going to have a really nice setup!

 

[zmotorsports]

Yeah that sounds like a lot of work to keep clean for sure, love the colors either way, grey and that purple was good lookin for sure.

I’m in need of seats in my LBZ redone maybe I’ll give them a visit


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Yeah, I just talked to him and dropped off my small gauge panel and he mentioned it was a bit slow this year. Usually he's busy as hell the first quarter of the year because everyone's getting their street rods ready for the show season but he mentioned this year's been different so far.

Tell him I recommended you and he'll take care of you. Don't let the clutter and size of his shop fool you though, he does amazing work.

Here is my red 1940 Chev Coupe and a yellow 1936 Ford Coupe that I built for a client about 20 years ago and Mike did the interior of the '36 Ford.


The owner wanted real leather, and that is what Mike delivered on. It turned out fantastic and the owner was ecstatic.

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice work Mike! You know, when you get ready to sell that rig, someone is going to have a really nice setup!

Thank you.

I mentioned to the wife the other day that I sure hope the next owner of our coach appreciates what he's getting.

 

[Bodj Built]

Great work on the axle and gauge pod! That axle jig sure is nice. It's incredible how nice, easy, and quick the right tools makes a job.

How is the gauge pod attached? I see a couple of holes in the side, but how do you get to them?