ZMotorsports Shop Projects 2.0

[C2tuck]

Ha ha. No swap just a little LOF and rotated tires. It still had some time remaining on the oil but not much so I took the opportunity to change the oil and give her some lovin'.



I think I will be helping my son install a couple of steering upgrades on his Duramax next then tackling his bumpers on his Jeep. Trying to get everything of his done prior to spring and prior to him getting married this summer.

So how long till the sons Jeep gets a swap?


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[zmotorsports]

So how long till the sons Jeep gets a swap?


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His already has a V8 and he seems to be happy with it. His actually runs out quite well. Although now he can't tease me any more about his having a V8 and mine doesn't.

 

[C2tuck]

His already has a V8 and he seems to be happy with it. His actually runs out quite well. Although now he can't tease me any more about his having a V8 and mine doesn't.

Well he could always throw a V-10 in there...


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[zmotorsports]

Crossed a couple little items off of my list tonight. I’ve been wanting to mount my new CO2 tanks in the back but the engine swap took priority.

I’ve always ran 12-volt air compressors for airing up my tires after off-roading. With all of my previous Jeeps I used portable units that I merely took out of the back and connected to my battery when finishing up the trails. In my current Jeep I have had about every variety of electric air compressors from a full blown closed on-board air system with tank to an open compressor without tank and to be perfectly honest none of them have impressed me all that much. I was going to build me a York engine mounted system several years ago but at the time I was also starting the planning phase of my LS swap and knew there would be no spare space in the engine bay after the engine swap so didn’t waste my time.

The best setup I’ve had thus far has been my dual ARB compressors that I mounted under my passenger’s seat but it is still a bit slower than I would like. I have been contemplating a CO2 System for the past year and trying to decide if I was going to build a DIY system or splurge and just go with the king of CO2 systems, Powertank. My wife and I were trying to come up with something to get our son for Christmas and he wanted a Powertank System so while I was researching I ended up doing some dealing on two full 10 lb. systems with a spare 10 lb. tank.

With as many week long rally’s that my wife and I attend each year I don’t think a single tank will get us through a full week, especially when some days we are airing down and back up more than just once. With my large Mac’s toolbox a 15 lb. tank won’t fit so dual 10-pounders made perfect sense. My ARB compressors are out of the way and not interfering with anything so they will stay put. Besides, you know the old saying, “two is one and one is none”.

I’m relocating my fire extinguisher and mounting my dual 10 lb. tanks on my roll bar rear bars. Here is where they will reside.


Driver’s side aluminum mounting bracket mounted in place. This one will be mounted just a little lower on the rear roll bar because it will have the handle and regulator installed on it.




My passenger’s side tank will be a little higher because it won’t be equipped with handle or regulator but also so I can mount my fire extinguisher just inside the rear gate for easy access, fairly close to where it was mounted on the roll bar previously.


Mocking up a little bracket for the fire extinguisher.


Bracket welded.


Painted with bracket bolted in place.


Bolted in position.




Final shot of the rear storage area.


Lastly after finishing up CO2 tank mounting and fire extinguisher relocation I pulled items out of my toolbox that were specific to the Chrysler 3.8/42RLE combination and replaced with items specific for my new GM LS powertrain. Items like fluids, spare belts and assortment of fasteners specific to my GM powertrain are now being carried in my toolbox. I also changed the battery in my VOM and double checked my assortment of tools in preparation for the upcoming off-road season.

 

[zmotorsports]

Cleaned up and tossed a bunch of used **** before closing up the shop for the night. The shop hadn’t been this clean for a while, just in time to make a mess again helping my son build his bumpers.

 

[LXCam]

As always looking great bud. I got a silly question on that bottle system. Is the hose long enough to reach all four or do you have to remove it to fill your tires?

But more importantly now that she's done when's your first outing, I bet you're excited for that eh?

 

[zmotorsports]

As always looking great bud. I got a silly question on that bottle system. Is the hose long enough to reach all four or do you have to remove it to fill your tires?

But more importantly now that she's done when's your first outing, I bet you're excited for that eh?

Thanks Cam. I have a 30' hose that I should be able to reach from the back but the thing I like about the Powertank system is that it is completely portable. Merely release the band clamp holding the tank to the mounting bracket and carry it anywhere needed.

As for the first outing, our local Jeep club is going on a snow run this Saturday but I don't feel I have enough break in miles on my new setup yet so unfortunately I think I'll miss this one.

 

[bustedcrawler]

With as many week long rally’s that my wife and I attend each year I don’t think a single tank will get us through a full week, especially when some days we are airing down and back up more than just once. With my large Mac’s toolbox a 15 lb. tank won’t fit so dual 10-pounders made perfect sense. My ARB compressors are out of the way and not interfering with anything so they will stay put. Besides, you know the old saying, “two is one and one is none”.

That 10lb will go a lot longer than you think. Especially if it is kept vertical while using so you can get all of the CO2 you can out of the bottle. But having a spare is nice too, just in case.

Unless you're going from 5 to 55 psi, I bet 1 bottle will cover a week.

The single 10lb bottle I brought with me on UA lasted all week going from 5-10 back to 25 for road days. There was still some left in the bottle. But mine was mounted vertical for that trip as I knew I needed everything I could get.

Looking good and looking forward to seeing it out and about. It's giving me ideas for the next project after I finish the buggy.

 

[zmotorsports]

That 10lb will go a lot longer than you think. Especially if it is kept vertical while using so you can get all of the CO2 you can out of the bottle. But having a spare is nice too, just in case.

Unless you're going from 5 to 55 psi, I bet 1 bottle will cover a week.

The single 10lb bottle I brought with me on UA lasted all week going from 5-10 back to 25 for road days. There was still some left in the bottle. But mine was mounted vertical for that trip as I knew I needed everything I could get.

Looking good and looking forward to seeing it out and about. It's giving me ideas for the next project after I finish the buggy.

Thanks. According to the charts or calculations, filling my 37" tires from my 12 psi trail pressure to 30 psi street pressure that it should last at least 5 or so fill-ups. That may or may not be enough for a week of wheeling but I didn't want to risk it and I have the space to carry a spare tank. Eventually my wife and I want to get where we can hit a couple of rallies at a time which will require much more than one tank will provide anyways.

Thanks for checking out my projects thread.

 

[bustedcrawler]

Thanks. According to the charts or calculations, filling my 37" tires from my 12 psi trail pressure to 30 psi street pressure that it should last at least 5 or so fill-ups. That may or may not be enough for a week of wheeling but I didn't want to risk it and I have the space to carry a spare tank. Eventually my wife and I want to get where we can hit a couple of rallies at a time which will require much more than one tank will provide anyways.

Thanks for checking out my projects thread.

You'd be cutting it close then. That's the nice part with your set-up, it fits 2 tanks nicely, and takes that worry away. Much nicer to just get out and have fun and not worry about things like that.

 

[zmotorsports]

You'd be cutting it close then. That's the nice part with your set-up, it fits 2 tanks nicely, and takes that worry away. Much nicer to just get out and have fun and not worry about things like that.

Exactly my thoughts. One less thing to worry about which lends itself to more time to enjoy it which is why I built it in the first place.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

Where do you guys typically get your Co2 bottles filled? My dad has one that we keep on board (mounted where Mike mounted his), but we typically use a 12v Puma compressor.

 

[zmotorsports]

Where do you guys typically get your Co2 bottles filled? My dad has one that we keep on board (mounted where Mike mounted his), but we typically use a 12v Puma compressor.

I will be taking mine down to Norco welding supply house in Salt Lake City to have mine filled. About 25 miles away is all so not too bad. My local Norco in Ogden (about 4-minutes from my home) used to fill them but wouldn't you know it, they recently quit filling locally and send everything to their SLC branch now.

 

[bustedcrawler]

Where do you guys typically get your Co2 bottles filled? My dad has one that we keep on board (mounted where Mike mounted his), but we typically use a 12v Puma compressor.

I have 2 4x4 shops that will refill the powertank tanks that are on the way home from work.

I went over to an on board compressor as I wasn't airing up enough to justify the refills and went to an air locker which is simpler IMHO to just plumb on air and not CO2. As that is something I don't want to be without.

 

[mh70ss]

Fantastic build Mike. We can't get enough of your details. Are you planning on writing a book or blog or even a spreadsheet that details every part you used with sources and prices? I feel something like that would be great for the entire Jeep crowd, as well as anyone contemplating a similar swap. It may also alleviate a lot of questions down the road. I am sure you have kept detailed notes. Thanks again.

 

[zmotorsports]

Fantastic build Mike. We can't get enough of your details. Are you planning on writing a book or blog or even a spreadsheet that details every part you used with sources and prices? I feel something like that would be great for the entire Jeep crowd, as well as anyone contemplating a similar swap. It may also alleviate a lot of questions down the road. I am sure you have kept detailed notes. Thanks again.

Thank you for the comments.

I don't think I'll post anything that specific as there are already some pretty good builds depicting similar if not exact swaps. Besides, many of the builds that I have seen actually used a lot of aftermarket parts and one-off pieces whereas I chose to use as many OEM parts as possible.

I was reading several builds on some Jeep forums over the past year plus and many had issue after issue upon startup and I really haven't experienced that so not quite sure what the difference was. A few of the guys even commented that after they did the swap, they were pleased with the performance once the bugs got worked out and they wouldn't recommend tackling such a job in their own garage again, they recommended spending the money and taking it to one of the shops that specialized in the LS engine swaps but I just couldn't do that. There were several that were going a year to do the swap because of all of the issues they were experiencing and one where the guy got so frustrated he loaded his up and hauled it half way across the country to Motech so they could complete it and get it running properly. Again, not quite sure what the difference was in why they had so many issues vs. mine that went pretty smooth.

Thanks again for following along and commenting, I appreciate it.

 

[dchance]

Mike good to see the great results. I may be completely wrong but I would suspect that using OEM had a lot to do with the lack of bugs along with good planning

Dwight

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike good to see the great results. I may be completely wrong but I would suspect that using OEM had a lot to do with the lack of bugs along with good planning

Dwight

Thanks Dwight. I appreciate the comments and for stopping by. I hope long term reliability will also prove to be a result of using quality components. Last thing ya want is worrying if your going to make it back to pavement every time ya head off-road.

 

[zmotorsports]

So last night my cousin came by the shop to check out my Jeep and drop off another Model A flywheel for me to turn. It appears that he bought another car and is rebuilding another engine.

He commented about how clean my floor is in the shop after all of the work I've done over the past year and I kind of scratched my head because I think my floor has kind of taken a beating with all of the spills and stains. It really hasn't bothered me too awfully bad because I built it to be a working shop and as long as the floor is not cluttered and swept up I realized I was going to have some stains and marks in it but to hear him say how clean it was kind of shocked me.

Anyways, I have another Model A flywheel to turn this weekend in between a couple of other tasks. I told him to bring it by and I would use it as filler if he wasn't in a hurry for it. I think my son wants to get going on bumpers on his WJ next week.

Personally, I'm getting a bit burned out and want to go play on the weekends but doesn't look like that's going to happen for a while.

 

[sanddan]

Personally, I'm getting a bit burned out and want to go play on the weekends but doesn't look like that's going to happen for a while.

Sounds like life when you have such a nice shop and the skills to use it.

 

[Ohmthis]

Mike I appreciate you documenting your projects and posting them as well as taking time to answer any and all questions. I know it’s very hard to do, with you being a doer, take a short break. It doesn’t have to be this week, weekend, or month. But do something, go somewhere, and enjoy free time. My wife and I call them time that’s good for the soul. I usually find that when I have these moments I’m ready to jump back in and enjoy my projects.

 

[zmotorsports]

Sounds like life when you have such a nice shop and the skills to use it.

Thanks Dan. I would just like to get caught up and play a little more on the weekends and get some trips planned for the upcoming RV season. Sometimes just having trips planned is enough to help. My wife doesn't get it but she's been off on weekends to plays, birthday parties for nieces and nephews and doing things on the weekends where I feel all I've been doing is working.

Don't get me wrong, I love my shop and love working in it but I'm just getting burned out and want to go do things on the weekends. Maybe it's cabin fever, hell I'd be happy to be able to mow my lawn. Yesterday when I got home I went out and walked around my back yard where the snow has melted and just thought about how much I'd like to trim and mow it.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike I appreciate you documenting your projects and posting them as well as taking time to answer any and all questions. I know it’s very hard to do, with you being a doer, take a short break. It doesn’t have to be this week, weekend, or month. But do something, go somewhere, and enjoy free time. My wife and I call them time that’s good for the soul. I usually find that when I have these moments I’m ready to jump back in and enjoy my projects.

I completely agree. My wife and I were talking about taking a weekend getaway just the two of us but she has things going on for the next couple of weekends so that leaves either myself to go do something alone (which I hate doing anything without my wife) or stay home and do something productive in the shop which is usually what I end up doing so I don't feel like I wasted a weekend.

I appreciate you following along and commenting as well as put up with my whining.

 

[zmotorsports]

Quick little machining project in the shop tonight.

We have an electric griddle or skillet (not quite sure what to call it) that we got nearly 30 years ago as a wedding gift and the wife broke the handle on the glass lid a couple of weeks ago. She was sick about it and asked if I could repair it because it still works great and she didn’t want to get rid of it.

Tonight I grabbed a small drop of 6061 that I had in my stash. This will become that, less the broken piece.


Machining the step as well as drilling and tapping for the 6mm x 1.0 screw.


Machined the small step so the spacer will fit inside and the step will be flush.




Ran some polish over the underside before flipping it around in the chuck.


Machined and polished the top. I cut a slight angle to mimic the original.




Completed and ready for installation.


Done. Hopefully it’ll go another 30 years.


Thanks for looking.

 

[Arclitgold]

Wow, that was a walk in the park for you!


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[protegeV]

"From motor swaps to cookware repair, we've got you covered."

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

I'm going to bust the knob off the crockpot tonight so I can convince my wife to let me put a lathe in the garage.......

 

[zmotorsports]

Wow, that was a walk in the park for you!


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"From motor swaps to cookware repair, we've got you covered."

Yeah, nothing too difficult. It's almost comical to post something like that after what I've done over the past 7 months.

My wife got home and noticed it in the pantry right away and went on and on all night about it. I kept thinking it wasn't that big of a deal but I guess to her it was.

I'll have to let her know, in our shop we can do anything from motor swaps to repairing cookware. That's a good slogan.

Thanks guys.

 

[zmotorsports]

I'm going to bust the knob off the crockpot tonight so I can convince my wife to let me put a lathe in the garage.......

Hey, whatever will work. When my wife broke her Chapstic lid a few years ago and I machined her a new one I told her it was sure a good thing we had all of that expensive machining equipment to knock out a $.79 cent lid.

 

[JasonJ]

I have my power tank mounted in the same position, the only problem that I have found so far is running around in the jeep without a tank in the bracket, that strap just bounces around and annoys me to death. I finally found what is basically a dodge ball that I use as a dummy bottle and just strap the ball into the bracket.

That power tank is also what I will be using to air my Handy lift once I get it.

 

[zmotorsports]

I have my power tank mounted in the same position, the only problem that I have found so far is running around in the jeep without a tank in the bracket, that strap just bounces around and annoys me to death. I finally found what is basically a dodge ball that I use as a dummy bottle and just strap the ball into the bracket.

That power tank is also what I will be using to air my Handy lift once I get it.

Thanks. I wondered about having to put something in the bracket when I drop off the tanks to be filled. You just gave me an idea, thank you.

 

[zmotorsports]

The wife and I went for a nice long drive over the weekend so I could put some more miles on and put her through its paces.

I wanted to go up and over a mountain pass or two and get a couple thousand feet of elevation change on a single ignition cycle so I could monitor temps and Fuel Trim numbers.

I think I can call this minor upgrade a major success.













What a pleasure to drive. Definitely upped the “fun factor” to driving my Jeep, and I thought it was fun before.

 

[LXCam]

I'm starting to think dirt is afraid of attaching itself to your ride mike. You're the only guy I know that can wheel thru snow n mud and there's not one spec of evidence

 

[zmotorsports]

I'm starting to think dirt is afraid of attaching itself to your ride mike. You're the only guy I know that can wheel thru snow n mud and there's not one spec of evidence

Oh don't go thinking that Cam, it's filthy as of right now. With temps here in the high 30's to low 40's yesterday there was a lot of melted snow running across the roads so the Jeep has a pretty good amount of road spray on her now.

 

[polexican23]

not that it matters since it is rolling filing cabinet, but how is the new MPG looking?

 

[zmotorsports]

not that it matters since it is rolling filing cabinet, but how is the new MPG looking?

I'll now more once I fill up this tank. I don't have any good data at this point. I will be happy with at least what it was getting before. I'm not expecting much better because it takes a certain amount of energy to move the weight. If ones drives it rationally I think it will get descent economy numbers, for a brick anyways.

 

[sanddan]

Thanks Dan. I would just like to get caught up and play a little more on the weekends and get some trips planned for the upcoming RV season. Sometimes just having trips planned is enough to help. My wife doesn't get it but she's been off on weekends to plays, birthday parties for nieces and nephews and doing things on the weekends where I feel all I've been doing is working.

Don't get me wrong, I love my shop and love working in it but I'm just getting burned out and want to go do things on the weekends. Maybe it's cabin fever, hell I'd be happy to be able to mow my lawn. Yesterday when I got home I went out and walked around my back yard where the snow has melted and just thought about how much I'd like to trim and mow it.

I hear you Mike, this time of year isn't as fun for me either. It's too cold and rainy here to be outside much. We have a 3 week trip planned for Feb, heading south for some sun and warmer temps. I still hope to see your part of the country sometime soon, the wife will be retiring later this year so that will free up more travel time. Idaho and Utah are high on my list of places I'd like to explore. I hope you get a chance to get the coach out sometime soon to.

 

[zmotorsports]

I hear you Mike, this time of year isn't as fun for me either. It's too cold and rainy here to be outside much. We have a 3 week trip planned for Feb, heading south for some sun and warmer temps. I still hope to see your part of the country sometime soon, the wife will be retiring later this year so that will free up more travel time. Idaho and Utah are high on my list of places I'd like to explore. I hope you get a chance to get the coach out sometime soon to.

Awesome Dan. Congrats to your wife on her retirement and I hope you are able to get out and use that gorgeous coach of yours.

If you are ever in our neck of the woods I would hope you would look me up.

 

[zmotorsports]

Turned another Model A flywheel tonight and removed 13 pounds.



Set it up in my 8” 4-jaw chuck.


Completed and ready for the guy to pick it up.


Tomorrow night will be clean up duties. I hate closing up the shop without cleaning up but I’m beat tonight.


Thanks for looking.

 

[protegeV]

Pros/cons with a light flywheel on a model A? That a common mod?