All the welds look like they have good penetration to me,
my experience with light gauge welding is to flow a puddle, stop, let the glow fade off and just before it dissapears but you can still see it through the welding hood, burn another one and so on etc. Good luck, Looks Great.

Scott (Sonnys Dad) <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Looks nice... What's the hard line material?

--Dan

aluminum tubing from summit racing

I still had to finish the fuel system and I kept thinking about how to run new lines into the tank. I read up on brazing and realized it is quite a specialized skill and I was looking for a quick solution. I thought of many different scenarios, brazing steel lines bent and run through the cover, building a new 1/8" thick cover and using thick steel pipe so I could weld it, and finally using bulkhead fittings. I searched for options and could not find anything cheap in a 90 degree in 5/16 as that is my return size. I ended up using 3/8 (-6AN) for both send and return in the tank.

I cut off everything from the stock tank cover plate and drilled holes for bulkhead fittings. Well the pic explains it\...




The red/blue fittings are -6AN to tubing fittings.

on top I drilled the holes in the tank top out and tapped them to use stainless allen head bolts with lock/star washers. I drilled out 3/8"ID nylon washers to seal the bulkhead fitting. I did not use a washer on top not sure if one washer is sufficient. Instead of more fittings I just ran the top side of the bulkhead through the bench grinder and stripped all the threads to make a hose connection. It was a tight fit but it will hold. If I did it again I would have just used low heat and welded steel brakeline through the cover plate.




I realized I could weld the steel brakeline afterwards when I welded a piece for the vent hose. The JB weld is just because I am only 99% sure it is gas-tight. We'll see. Not sure if the JB is even rated for fuel. ... maybe I will buy another bulkhead fitting....

The far right hose is the Evap vent.

The middle hose is "supply". Could not find a universal tank pickup screen that would mount securely to a piece of tubing. I thought about using teh holley multipoint pickup since it has an integrated screen but it was too much money and you have to use at least two. I settled on an inline filter (brassthing) from mcmaster that flows 32cfm (gas) and filters to 90 microns. So it is a very very low resistance "prefilter" for the pump. It is safe for solvents and it was only $4.

The left hose is my return line with a 3/8 to 5/16 reducer made of some long acronym also from mcmaster.



This is my beefed up gas tank skid. I welded pieces of 1/2" angle to the bottom after reading an article at 4crawler.com. Not the prettiest welding because I was lazy with the prep.



Welding up the isuzu 12 bolt diff. I wish I took a pic of my setup since it worked out well. I used an old plastic tray I found in the trash it came from a fridge crisper drawer. I notched the sides of the bin so you could drop the carrier in with the two axleshafts holding it up and you could fill the bin with cold water to absorb the heat.

The shafts were not only helpful to suspend the carrier while I welded it but it was more metal around the sidegears to help dissipate the heat.

The last good reason I found to weld the carrier with the shafts in, was that is kept the welded plates from blocking the axleshafts when you put them back in. I read other people had to cut down the shafts 1/16" or so because the shafts hit the plate when they were inserted.





[img]http://www.berisford.net/uploads/cpom/projectpup/16/11.jpg[/img]

Been prepping my Toy 8" front axle and my friend reccommended to beef up the steering stops to prevent grenaded birfs. I used 1/8" wall 1"x2" rect tube. I cut half the "V" off the stop then welded in the tube so it is boxed on all sides.
[img]http://www.berisford.net/uploads/cpom/projectpup/16/12.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.berisford.net/uploads/cpom/projectpup/16/13.jpg[/img]

Below is the toy 8" front axle hub. To remove the races you will need toyota factory tool pictured, Race Remover-Front Axle, Hub. It resembles a piece of notched 3/8" flat bar but trust me this is a precision instrument. I couldn't find a brass drift anywhere so i used this and it worked well. The fat end is for the smaller race of the two. The other race is hit on each side alternating with the skinny side. a space age material which seems to closely resemble duct tape is wrapped around the skinny end to prevent damaging the hub.
[img]http://www.berisford.net/uploads/cpom/projectpup/16/14.jpg[/img]

I solved my release bearing problem by swapping to a dakota input bearing retainer as suggested by Greg S. I can now use all dakota clutch release gear. I got it at www.mantrans.com... not a porn site I promise. They sell new and used manual trans parts. This was $25 shipped...


[img]http://www.berisford.net/uploads/cpom/projectpup/16/15.jpg[/img]

Last two problems to solve before I mess with adjusting this lnkage and get this thing clutchin is pilot bushing and slave cylinder. I heard you can get oil impregnated bronze un cut from mcmaster might try that and drill my own on a drill press. For the slave I thought my problems were over when I read a page about using an aircylinder as a DIY slave cylinder. Adavantage is you can buy them based on what spec you need versus trying to go to autozone and asking for a slave with a 7/8" bore and 2" stroke!!!! The one I ordered is pictured below although I am afraid a .250" rod is not going to be strong enough. Plus the piston nose (threads) doesn't have enough beef to make a mounting plate thick enough. It would be nice to use 1/4" for the bracket at least...

How many pounds do you think a slave cylinder has to press against?
[img]http://www.berisford.net/uploads/cpom/projectpup/16/17.jpg[/img]

I started looking around and the stock isuzu slave might work if I drill out a little adapter out of 1" steel for the top bolt, or drill and tap the bellhsouing for another mounting stud....
[img]http://www.berisford.net/uploads/cpom/projectpup/16/16.jpg[/img]

more stuff to figure out

Bulkhead fittings aren't cheap but should work well. Good creativity - if they fit tightly and don't rock, they should seal well. Will you be attaching a high-flow sock-type prefilter to keep the big chunks at bay... or just use the inline brass filter?

Your JB Weld should work fine as long as the tubes don't rack or move. Nail them suckers down well.... or for higher confidence, just do another bulkhead fitting.

Using the Dakota input retainer should simplify the number of parts you need to put everything together. Be sure to mock this up where you can see how all the parts move inside the bellhousing (range of motion, alignment, etc.).

Do you have the link for "using an aircylinder as a DIY slave cylinder?" It wasn't that tought to run down master and slave cylinders that met my needs, as long as I was willing to get them both. A bugger if you're just gonna buy one, tho!

Randii

air cylinder slave

The cylinder pictured in this post seems to be about the same dimensions as mine. Maybe what I have will work.

http://www.universityofjeep.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=6785

I emailed the guy a few questions, it seems he works in the pneumatic cylinder industry.

These are all spring-return which is unlike most slaves which are spring-extend. The difference is you adjust your rod at-rest length by adding hardware to the end of the rod.


here's the writeup I initially saw (same guy). This cylinder is obviously a lot stronger. I would like to get something like this.

http://www.universityofjeep.ca/Tech/Clutch/Clutch_Slave_Repair.htm

"Will you be attaching a high-flow sock-type prefilter to keep the big chunks at bay... or just use the inline brass filter?"

I couldn't find a sock that would attach to a tube, they only sold the types that attach to the bottom of pumps. The inside of my tank was sparkling clean and the stock sock was not that dirty. I don't think this brass filter is going to get clogged up anytime soon. If so I can just replace it easily enough. 90 microns will easily filter out grains of sand. What I might do is join the ends of the fuel line near the rail, fill up the gas tank, and just let the pump run overnight to clean the inside of the lines an let any aluminum splinters get filtered out so they dont clog any of the injectors.

"Your JB Weld should work fine as long as the tubes don't rack or move. "


This is actually welded steel brakeline to the tank, but I threw the JB weld on top as extra insurance. it is not a JB welded pipe. My welder on the first power setting had no problem with the brake line but actually brurned through the tank a few times so I added the JB.


So randii about that bellhousing, So there's no major problems with cutting a 1" peep hole in the top to look in? It won't compromise the strength of the bell too much?

Interesting link on the air cylinder. Let us know how it works!

FWIW, I'm using a 3" peep hole on the bottom of my bell. My bell is 1/4" thick at its smallest thickness and is hydroformed steel, so YMMV. I think you'll be fine cutting a view hole (or two) as long as you bore between stiffening ribs. See what you can see through the stock openings for the clutch fork or perhaps the front dust shield, the drill as necessary, if necessary.

Randii

That looks like it could be a real pain to change your fuel filter once the body is on the frame. Also mud and dirt will likely collect pretty bad on that tray.

yeah I spent way too much time figuring this stuff out but I think I have the best possible scenario. I would have liked to mount the fuel pump parallel with the frame rail in that spot but it was just too long. I tried to make it easier to remove the filter by using a GM quick disconnect fitting and welded bolts instead of loose hardware. The only other option with fuel filter mounting was somewhere inside the framerail in the middle of the truck and I thought it would be prone to damage there. It would also require going from pump>hose>tube>hose>filter>hose>tube and would be too many fittings and connections. The way I did it atleast it's all condensed as possible. It has to go after the fuel pump so stock location is out.

Mud and dirt are definetly going to collect on the tray, maybe drilling holes is in order. I sacrifice all that for it being bulletproof, should be able to land on that area hard and not harm anything. We'll see...