
The last two weeks have been spent wiring and fixing things
that I find along the way. A good example of this is the intake air
temperature sensor which no longer had a home since I had made a custom air
intake. I ended up drilling a small hole in the cobra head intake hose,
pressed the sensor in and then sealed it up using some "Right Stuff" RTV.


I positioned one fuse box under the driver seat which will
feed a couple of relays under the center console and all the switches.


Another fuse panel was positioned on the master cylinder
mounting bracket. This panel will feed power to the gauges, 3 fan relays
and the headlight relay. You can also see I mounted the PCM under the dash just
in front of the brake pedal. I originally wanted it under the center
console but I ran out of room.

Just like the last go around I am trying to minimize clutter
by running some of the wires inside of the tubes. This picture shows the
12v lines that run down the chassis to the 3 cooling fans up front.

I have been running one wire at a time and feeding them thru
the open tie wraps I positioned at intervals along the wiring paths. once all
the wires are run I will pull everything tight and make it look nice and neat.


Here you can see the dash panels taking shape. I laid
out the pattern for the bead and had my friend Dennis do the metal forming with
his bead roller. The gauges on the left are water temp, oil pressure and
voltmeter. The tachometer, boost gauge, transmission temperature gauge and
a low oil pressure warning light will be mounted in the other dash panel.


These pictures show the painted dash panels, once I add the
low oil pressure warning light the dash will be complete.



Here's a shot of the center stack. I will have switches
for the rock lights, headlights, ARB compressor, front locker, front line lock,
rear line lock (with indicator LED) and a fan override switch (with indicator
LED). I also made cardboard templates for the panels that will separate the
motor from the interior but I haven't had a chance to make those panels yet.


This is the time where I started to discover parts I forgot
about such as this inline temperature switch to control the transmission cooler
fan. I also had to round up some fittings to route the transmission cooler feed
and return lines.

Another side project was finding places for all of the gauge
sending units. I removed the stock oil pressure sender from the oil filter
housing and mounted the Autometer oil pressure gauge sender and low oil pressure
warning light sender off of that port.

The transmission temperature gauge sender was mounted in a
port on the rear of the transmission. Since the port was not deep enough
for the sender I had to stack a few fittings to get enough depth.


Also visible in the previous picture is my home made twin
stick assembly. I plan on posting a PDF file that details the parts needed
to make one yourself. The shift knobs are from Summit Machine.

Just below the twin stick assembly is the first part of the
two piece front driveshaft. I received the shaft back last week from High Angle
Driveline, they re-welded the assembly so it is concentric now and no longer
wobbles. The only issue I have now is the mount is a little off since I
welded it on when the shaft was not concentric to the bearing. I think
I'll have to cut off the carrier bearing mounting plate and start over. I
currently have some shims stuffed under the carrier bearing but it still doesn't
turn as smooth as I would like it to.

Here's a shot of the heat shield I made that mounts over the
exhaust, behind the passenger seat.

I also ordered some aluminum links from Summit Machine to
replace the steel lower links I had previously. The main reason for the
switch was due to my bending one of the front links and needing as much
clearance as possible for the front driveshaft (I had a 1" tall rib along the
top of my steel links for added strength). My rear links were in good
shape but I decided to replace them and keep the old ones as spares. Out
back I went with 2" solid links and up front I ordered 1.75" diameter 7075
links. Eventually I will replace the upper links with 1.50" diameter
aluminum links for further weight savings. As is I dropped about 40lbs. of
weight by swapping out just the lowers.
While replacing the links I also replaced one loose rod end
from each link. I was pretty hard on the rig last year and most of the wear and
tear appears to be in these components.

I ordered a stainless steel radiator hose kit from E-bay to
take care of the custom shaped hoses I would need. the kit came with 48"
of stainless hose, hose clamps, chromed end covers and a set of reducers to
accommodate 1.37, 1.50 and 1.75" ports. the picture above shows the upper
radiator hose without the chromed end covers.



When I went to install the lower radiator hose I discovered a
serious interference between the steering valve and the radiator hose. My
only option was to move the steering valve up to allow the lower radiator hose
to run underneath it. I made an adapter plate to bolt to the existing
mount so I wouldn't have to do any cutting and grinding. My first attempt put
the steering valve too close to the coilover so I slotted the lower mounting
holes to drop the valve down slightly.

Moving the valve down slightly gives the shock room to move as
the suspension articulates.

Here is a shot of the steering cooler which is mounted on a
cross member under the radiator. I also mounted a pair of LED rock lights
on the same cross member, one pointing forward and the other towards the center
of the buggy.


Two shots showing the completed air bump mounts with the
radiator mounted.

It's starting to look like a buggy again. I am trying a
100/250 spring combo on the front coilovers. with those two springs in
there the front end is level with the rear but I still need to install the
winch.
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