Off-Road Ranger I
And here's every step of how I made the pump combo finally fit without fouling against the injection pump:
Off-Road Ranger I
Finished my new custom lower water pipe & mounted it over the water-pump inlet port in the block. Complete with the heater-core return bung & ready to plumb to the lower radiator tube:
Made a bracket that links from the block to the lower bolt hole on my Rover alternator, which luckily fit the stock Cummins upper bracket.
Now that the alternator's securely mounted & ready to pump out some angry pixies I need to find a quality belt to fit my custom application:
Made a bracket that links from the block to the lower bolt hole on my Rover alternator, which luckily fit the stock Cummins upper bracket.
Now that the alternator's securely mounted & ready to pump out some angry pixies I need to find a quality belt to fit my custom application:
Off-Road Ranger I
I decided to bail on the stubby oil-dipstick since it was just too tight to my custom starter than I was liking... not to mention a bit buried down there on that busy side of the engine bay. Ran down to my local Cummins shop & picked up the parts to mount it up on the rear lift-bracket with a simple p-clip. Much more accessible this way:
After 4 failed attempts I finally nailed the proper serpentine belt length for my setup that puts the tensioner right in the middle of it's travel. Glad to have the whole belt drive & front of the engine sorted:
Next on the list is building battery boxes to hold the new pair of Northstar's behind each headlight. The passenger fender-well was a total MESS thanks to the old battery puking it's guts out. I pushed it's limits more than a handful of times as I traveled last year, no fault of the old Bosch battery really. Neutralized any left over acid with baking soda, ran taps thru the 4 captive nuts I need for the box I'm building, & scrubbed it clean of all the corrosion so I could get a fresh coat of satin white laid down. There we go! Much better:
I wasn't really paying attention to my consumables & steels when I started on the boxes, so of course when I cranked up the music & put my nose to the grindstone I ran out of all kinds of things: Angle iron, flat stock, weld wire, sand discs etc... oops! Did get a good start on the pile of parts I need to get these boxes welded up though:
After 4 failed attempts I finally nailed the proper serpentine belt length for my setup that puts the tensioner right in the middle of it's travel. Glad to have the whole belt drive & front of the engine sorted:
Next on the list is building battery boxes to hold the new pair of Northstar's behind each headlight. The passenger fender-well was a total MESS thanks to the old battery puking it's guts out. I pushed it's limits more than a handful of times as I traveled last year, no fault of the old Bosch battery really. Neutralized any left over acid with baking soda, ran taps thru the 4 captive nuts I need for the box I'm building, & scrubbed it clean of all the corrosion so I could get a fresh coat of satin white laid down. There we go! Much better:
I wasn't really paying attention to my consumables & steels when I started on the boxes, so of course when I cranked up the music & put my nose to the grindstone I ran out of all kinds of things: Angle iron, flat stock, weld wire, sand discs etc... oops! Did get a good start on the pile of parts I need to get these boxes welded up though:
Off-Road Ranger I
The driver's side fender (thankfully) isn't as much a mess as the passenger side was. Corrosion was minimal on this side, even so I cleaned it up to prep for welding & painting:
This side doesn't have any threaded holes to take advantage of for bolting down the battery, like the other side does, so I drilled 4 holes & welded in flanged nuts on the bottom side. Also had to bash an odd hump in the fender-well flat, otherwise the battery would sit high enough to interfere with the charge cooler piping. Bottom received a fresh layer of undercoating & the top more of the satin white which I hope I won't regret later down the road... lighter colors can get nasty looking easy!
Finished welding up the battery boxes! It's a bunch of angle + bar stuck together with the shop's hot glue gun & using tool-less hardware to attach the top strap. The orange square under there is some special high-temp closed-cell foam that will be the cushion for not just the batteries but also the radiator & charge cooler perches on the frame:
The little legs reach down from under the box's frame to bolt them solidly to the fender-wells. They are tucked up as tight as I could manage into the front corners to keep them out of the way of the piping from the charge cooler. Just need to give them a coating of POR15 (acid resistant!) & I can start running cable:
I scribbled a basic electrical plan for the engine compartment, to prepare for putting together my custom 2/0 cables:
(Alternator, Battery, Charge relay, Distribution block, Engine, Starter, Winch)
This side doesn't have any threaded holes to take advantage of for bolting down the battery, like the other side does, so I drilled 4 holes & welded in flanged nuts on the bottom side. Also had to bash an odd hump in the fender-well flat, otherwise the battery would sit high enough to interfere with the charge cooler piping. Bottom received a fresh layer of undercoating & the top more of the satin white which I hope I won't regret later down the road... lighter colors can get nasty looking easy!
Finished welding up the battery boxes! It's a bunch of angle + bar stuck together with the shop's hot glue gun & using tool-less hardware to attach the top strap. The orange square under there is some special high-temp closed-cell foam that will be the cushion for not just the batteries but also the radiator & charge cooler perches on the frame:
The little legs reach down from under the box's frame to bolt them solidly to the fender-wells. They are tucked up as tight as I could manage into the front corners to keep them out of the way of the piping from the charge cooler. Just need to give them a coating of POR15 (acid resistant!) & I can start running cable:
I scribbled a basic electrical plan for the engine compartment, to prepare for putting together my custom 2/0 cables:
(Alternator, Battery, Charge relay, Distribution block, Engine, Starter, Winch)
Off-Road Ranger I
The tough (+ acid resistant!) POR15 coating I brushed on is cured & everything's ready to go together:
I gave the batteries just enough padding to keep vibration from coaxing the metal boxes into wearing thru the plastic case anywhere, but locked down solid enough that when I gave it the 200 pound gorilla test (aka grabbing hold & shaking the hell out of it) it didn't budge & the whole truck shook along with it:
Thankfully the plan worked well to fit the batteries in those tight front corners, while also not interfering with the charge cooler. I'd still have to pop the elbows off the cooler to get them out, but that's no worry:
And here are all the details of the swap from the original Cummins alternator to the bigger Rover unit:
I gave the batteries just enough padding to keep vibration from coaxing the metal boxes into wearing thru the plastic case anywhere, but locked down solid enough that when I gave it the 200 pound gorilla test (aka grabbing hold & shaking the hell out of it) it didn't budge & the whole truck shook along with it:
Thankfully the plan worked well to fit the batteries in those tight front corners, while also not interfering with the charge cooler. I'd still have to pop the elbows off the cooler to get them out, but that's no worry:
And here are all the details of the swap from the original Cummins alternator to the bigger Rover unit:
Nice job.. Having the batteries at both corners distributes the weight evenly, as apposed to it all on one side.The tough (+ acid resistant!) POR15 coating I brushed on is cured & everything's ready to go together:
I gave the batteries just enough padding to keep vibration from coaxing the metal boxes into wearing thru the plastic case anywhere, but locked down solid enough that when I gave it the 200 pound gorilla test (aka grabbing hold & shaking the hell out of it) it didn't budge & the whole truck shook along with it:
Thankfully the plan worked well to fit the batteries in those tight front corners, while also not interfering with the charge cooler. I'd still have to pop the elbows off the cooler to get them out, but that's no worry:
And here are all the details of the swap from the original Cummins alternator to the bigger Rover unit:
Thumbs up.
Off-Road Ranger I
Thanks! I've been trying hard to keep in mind the balance of all the weight changes from these wildly non-OEM components. So far the balance from side to side AND front to rear has worked out really well between this new powertrain & my "camper" interior.
I'm looking forward to getting it on a scale, but really I'm hoping to get the use of a 4-corner race car scale setup. Not sure if the scales we use in rally racing are up to the total weight of this rig though...
Nice.
Talking scales, I know the ones we used years ago (20+) for asphalt circle track would not hold up to the weight of it. I don’t remember if they were made by Longacre or what. But damn if we didn’t take care of ‘em. Pricy then.... gotta be even pricer now.
Good luck with it.
Off-Road Ranger I
With what I've heard they cost... I very much would want to be estimating it's overall weight well high before rolling on & possibly squishing several months pay out of a set.
Off-Road Ranger I
The step by step of building the battery boxes from scratch:
Off-Road Ranger I
Most all the parts I've been after for the next steps have arrived now so I can begin to plan their routing.
First arriving was the marine grade 2/0 cable, 3/8" lugs, military style post clamps, & a charging relay / isolation switch:
Next arrival was a pile of quality silicone joints & stainless t-bolt clamps for connecting my engine coolant to the 1.75" & 2" ports on the radiator, then the air filter housing to the 4" turbo inlet, & all the 2.5" charge piping:
The connections on the passenger's side are a bit of a spiderweb... after a lot of head scratching I came up with a plan to fit them all without rubbing or becoming a nightmare to service later down the road. I'm welding up all my own steel tubes between the silicone joints, just not sure if I'll MIG weld them or maaaybe take extra time to get a lesson in TIG welding for the tubes. I've not received the "cobra head" elbow for the filter side, but here's my plan so far:
First arriving was the marine grade 2/0 cable, 3/8" lugs, military style post clamps, & a charging relay / isolation switch:
Next arrival was a pile of quality silicone joints & stainless t-bolt clamps for connecting my engine coolant to the 1.75" & 2" ports on the radiator, then the air filter housing to the 4" turbo inlet, & all the 2.5" charge piping:
The connections on the passenger's side are a bit of a spiderweb... after a lot of head scratching I came up with a plan to fit them all without rubbing or becoming a nightmare to service later down the road. I'm welding up all my own steel tubes between the silicone joints, just not sure if I'll MIG weld them or maaaybe take extra time to get a lesson in TIG welding for the tubes. I've not received the "cobra head" elbow for the filter side, but here's my plan so far:
Off-Road Ranger I
I'm slacking on updates! Kinda all over the place between repairing storm damage to my house & helping race prep a rally car for the next big event. But enough with the excuses & on with the progress!
I had to take a moment, just before I started mounting all the new coolers, to redo the turbo oil lines because it was driving me bonkers looking at the issues with them all the time. Old kit above & the newly assembled below:
The smaller -6AN turbo oil supply had a 90-degree fitting up top, where it feeds the turbo's center housing, that was a bit too high above the compressor for my liking. Sadly Aeroquip doesn't offer 120-degree fittings in the particular line of plumbing (Steel Racing Teflon) I've been using so far, requiring me to switch over to their lightweight style fittings (Aluminum AQP Rubber) to get the ideal setup on there:
The larger -10AN turbo oil drain is now a better length to clear the oil filter & future exhaust routing. Also I switched to a hose with an outer-layer better suited to dealing with the intense nearby heat of the turbine & manifold:
Much better now! Oil supply fitting only just barely (~1/8") peeks above the compressor housing, which is the high-point on the passenger's side:
On a random side note: The rally car's looking pretty great after a TON of work on the driver's part getting this thing damn near rebuilt from the ground up. Got involved a bit later than I should have on the race prep, but we're confident & excited to head up to the Upper Peninsula for the next race & rip thru the woods!
Next up is finishing the fabrication of my new lower brackets for the radiator, charge cooler, & power steering cooler. Then reattaching the center core-support (that I chopped out to clear the engine going in & out a couple dozen times) which also will serve as the upper tie-in point for all those coolers. And lastly welding up my custom tubes between all those silicone joiners so that I can peel off the top 3 items of my systems checklist there on the windscreen!
I had to take a moment, just before I started mounting all the new coolers, to redo the turbo oil lines because it was driving me bonkers looking at the issues with them all the time. Old kit above & the newly assembled below:
The smaller -6AN turbo oil supply had a 90-degree fitting up top, where it feeds the turbo's center housing, that was a bit too high above the compressor for my liking. Sadly Aeroquip doesn't offer 120-degree fittings in the particular line of plumbing (Steel Racing Teflon) I've been using so far, requiring me to switch over to their lightweight style fittings (Aluminum AQP Rubber) to get the ideal setup on there:
The larger -10AN turbo oil drain is now a better length to clear the oil filter & future exhaust routing. Also I switched to a hose with an outer-layer better suited to dealing with the intense nearby heat of the turbine & manifold:
Much better now! Oil supply fitting only just barely (~1/8") peeks above the compressor housing, which is the high-point on the passenger's side:
On a random side note: The rally car's looking pretty great after a TON of work on the driver's part getting this thing damn near rebuilt from the ground up. Got involved a bit later than I should have on the race prep, but we're confident & excited to head up to the Upper Peninsula for the next race & rip thru the woods!
Next up is finishing the fabrication of my new lower brackets for the radiator, charge cooler, & power steering cooler. Then reattaching the center core-support (that I chopped out to clear the engine going in & out a couple dozen times) which also will serve as the upper tie-in point for all those coolers. And lastly welding up my custom tubes between all those silicone joiners so that I can peel off the top 3 items of my systems checklist there on the windscreen!
A few things....
1. I keep forgetting to mention the the front windshield with the big “C” and the turbo drawn in.
2. The driver that can been seen as well.
3. The light pods on the hood of the rally car make me think of the aftermarket lite pod setup for the Rover.
And #4..... Hell of a job, Man!
1. I keep forgetting to mention the the front windshield with the big “C” and the turbo drawn in.
2. The driver that can been seen as well.
3. The light pods on the hood of the rally car make me think of the aftermarket lite pod setup for the Rover.
And #4..... Hell of a job, Man!
Off-Road Ranger I
Truck's been in there so long that those drawings on the glass might classify as petroglyphs here soon 
I put that mask in there to mess with a friend a while back & got so used to it that I forget it's in there sometimes haha!
Could even be a similar manufacturer of the pods, they are a euro setup if I remember correctly.
Thanks!
I put that mask in there to mess with a friend a while back & got so used to it that I forget it's in there sometimes haha!
Could even be a similar manufacturer of the pods, they are a euro setup if I remember correctly.
Thanks!
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Off-Road Ranger I
Working on last minute checks before I weld stuff solid that my 3 coolers (water, air, steer) will all play nice with the pair of fans I want to fit in the space left over between the engine & the radiator. Not a ton of space in there, & I could ditch the old fan pulley to gain a bit more if need be. All that being said, I think the pair of slim fans cranking out 2000+ CFM may very well be overkill anyway:
I think building the 2 big cooler's mounts integrated into 1, on both top & bottom, would make more sense than fighting with several individual mounts. I'll weld the lower "perches" right to the frame, and the upper "straps" will be bolted to the upper core support... of course isolated with some more of that high-temp silicone rubber foam that smells like fish:
I think building the 2 big cooler's mounts integrated into 1, on both top & bottom, would make more sense than fighting with several individual mounts. I'll weld the lower "perches" right to the frame, and the upper "straps" will be bolted to the upper core support... of course isolated with some more of that high-temp silicone rubber foam that smells like fish:
Off-Road Ranger I
Man did that rallycar build turn into a time-suck & mad dash right to the finish! And sadly some work on the swap that I had scheduled to be done while I was away up north completely fell apart due to shipping errors. Paying more for shipping than the items themselves AND they don't show up anywhere near on time is a bit of a kick in the pants... thanks FedEx!
Unfortunate that it set me back by 2 weeks, although I'm glad that I was patient & had the work done right... because the modifications I had made to the coolers will make a big difference in the routing of hoses/pipes. Won't need a wacky looking Z-shaped pipe now to link the upper coolant connections:
The upper radiator port now with a 90-degree angle welded at roughly a 25-degree incline towards the 4BT's water output:
A friend looked over my coolers while they were mocked up in the truck & had some wise advice on simplifying my hose/pipe setup by changing the angle of not just the upper radiator port, but also both the charge cooler ports. Now with new 90-degree aluminum elbows welded on facing towards the engine, rather than pointed right over top of the batteries, allows the charge piping & hump-hoses to snake right between the batteries & radiator to meet the engine:
All this not only shortens the length of the fluid paths significantly, but also removes the need for silicone elbows in favor of simple & easily replaced straight silicone joiners:
Unfortunate that it set me back by 2 weeks, although I'm glad that I was patient & had the work done right... because the modifications I had made to the coolers will make a big difference in the routing of hoses/pipes. Won't need a wacky looking Z-shaped pipe now to link the upper coolant connections:
The upper radiator port now with a 90-degree angle welded at roughly a 25-degree incline towards the 4BT's water output:
A friend looked over my coolers while they were mocked up in the truck & had some wise advice on simplifying my hose/pipe setup by changing the angle of not just the upper radiator port, but also both the charge cooler ports. Now with new 90-degree aluminum elbows welded on facing towards the engine, rather than pointed right over top of the batteries, allows the charge piping & hump-hoses to snake right between the batteries & radiator to meet the engine:
All this not only shortens the length of the fluid paths significantly, but also removes the need for silicone elbows in favor of simple & easily replaced straight silicone joiners:
Off-Road Ranger I
Much better!
The orange hoses are just placeholders, soon to be replaced with Vibrant's CAC triple-hump hoses to soak up the possible flex the 4BT can require:
So now... the turbo intake hard pipe I need to fabricate just requires a single bend, hot side charge pipe a single bend, cold side charge pipe 2 bends, hot side only a short single bend, & cold side coolant pipe 2 bends. Pretty simple now with the mods to the coolers I have 4 less bends to make!
The orange hoses are just placeholders, soon to be replaced with Vibrant's CAC triple-hump hoses to soak up the possible flex the 4BT can require:
So now... the turbo intake hard pipe I need to fabricate just requires a single bend, hot side charge pipe a single bend, cold side charge pipe 2 bends, hot side only a short single bend, & cold side coolant pipe 2 bends. Pretty simple now with the mods to the coolers I have 4 less bends to make!
Off-Road Ranger I
Piecing together the puzzle that is the lower cooler mounts I have in mind:
I'm welding these right onto the frame rails, to support the bottom of the radiator & intercooler together. And I think moving thing's all around to check different ways they could fit has landed me with a great way to fit the steering cooler in there too. They look kind of odd but will make more sense soon:
I'm welding these right onto the frame rails, to support the bottom of the radiator & intercooler together. And I think moving thing's all around to check different ways they could fit has landed me with a great way to fit the steering cooler in there too. They look kind of odd but will make more sense soon:
Off-Road Ranger I
Lower cooler mounts are done now with all the little plates welded together to keep them where I want them:
Both are lined up straight, level, & near enough to the opening in the front sheet metal to fill the space better than I had expected:
Both the radiator & charge cooler sit close enough together in their mount's that I'll be able to easily seal the air between them & the sheet metal:
Little cuts of tough silicone foam will be the padding between the steel & aluminum. Next up is fashioning the upper straps.
Both are lined up straight, level, & near enough to the opening in the front sheet metal to fill the space better than I had expected:
Both the radiator & charge cooler sit close enough together in their mount's that I'll be able to easily seal the air between them & the sheet metal:
Little cuts of tough silicone foam will be the padding between the steel & aluminum. Next up is fashioning the upper straps.
Off-Road Ranger I
Video of fabricating my lower radiator mounts, lower charge cooler mounts, & engine coolant inlet pipe + heater return. All from scratch, well... I mean I didn't extract the minerals & cast the alloys... but anyway, here are the moving pictures:
