Mounting up my aluminum radiator. It is a 24x19 2-row about 3" thick. I elected to mount it an an angle to make room for the intake and a winch. To compensate it is very tall and sits below frame level, it is also almost as wide as the frame rails.

I spent a lot of time thinking up ways to mount the rad. Go back to a stock setup where the rad is secured only to the body or mount it to the frame like a CJ Jeep. I was only really positive I couldn't mount it to both.

The big issue with body mounting was the extent of fabrication would be required, plus my front clip is all cut out, along with the body mounts. I would have to rebuild the front section with enough strength to hold the big rad plus somehow integrate new bodymounts.

The issue with frame mounting was how to support the bracketry on the top of the rad plus how to anchor the right side of the rad near the steering box hardware.

It got alot simpler when I just broke it down to parts, one was build something that by itself would hold the rad, teh second was build a mount for that bracket. It made it alot simpler by breaking into two stages.

Here is the mount. It is all 1/8 angle. 1" on sides, 1/2" on top and 3/4" on bottom.



It is very tight to the tanks and the bottom piece is just long enough to hold the core from sliding.



I wanted to make the brackets so that when removed, you could literally slide the rad up and out. Welded studs make it easier also. This top bracket I ground to make a wedge on one side so the tighter you wrench it the closer the core is pulled into the bracket.



Here's the side brackets. Again minimal tools required and easy to break down. The little outrigger things I added later because the tightening of the bracket forced the bracket to rotate and pinch the tanks. The cap screw is welded to a piece of square tubing.




Now that the "holder" is done I could concentrate on the mounting. I did not take any pics of the million little jigs I built to make everythign square, it was not pretty. But the end result is all square. The bracket is welded to the left rail and a little piece of 1/8 joins the bracket to the right rail. There is still room to put my fingers behind the bracket to reach the steering box nuts.



I was originally thinking of bracing the top with tube running to the shock mounts but I was thinking that would be cumbersome. I had this 1/16 wall 1x1 I used as a gusset. Also some .75"x.125 wall tubing on teh bottom. This thing is not moving...





Making clearance for my intake elbow.



The end result gives me some room to mount a cinderblock in the future. Or a winch. Yes the grill still fits perfectly.
[img]http://www.pup4x4.com/projectpup/31/11.JPG[/img]


In this pic you can see my next thing I have to figure out re-building body mounts. I am thinking of some small rubber mounts on top of the frame rail at the corners so they don't get in the way of the tires turning. Don't these trucks have issues with narrow SAS axles and big tires?

[img]http://www.pup4x4.com/projectpup/31/12.JPG[/img]

Really happy with the way this turned out. now with so much weight taken off the body I don't have to spend a ton of engineering on rebuilding the body and it shouldn't rattle around as much.

The other plus about this setup is that If I ever decide later to narrow the front or put in some tube my rad is already taken care of.. Who knew you could learn anything from a Jeep?



To make intake clearance I cut my throttle body in half. The front housed the MAF sensor which will not be needed in my setup.
[img]http://www.pup4x4.com/projectpup/31/13.JPG[/img]

I used a dremel to create a mounting lip and I'm in the process of dremel, jb weld, repeat. The problem is the outer lip is oval shaped and its creating a problem with the intake elbow. 3.3" wide, 3.1" tall. I was thinking of making a sleeve about 3.3" ID and 3.5" OD to slide over the TB and fill the void with epoxy. I think it would make this a lot easier.

The problem is trying to build up the area with JB it sags so much before it dries I can see it taking forever to build it up.
[img]http://www.pup4x4.com/projectpup/31/14.JPG[/img]

Also, anyone have experience mounting a TB on a lathe? Could I just pile on some epoxy, and turn a perfect round lip on the edge?

Maybe I'm anal, but solid mounting the radiator like that gives me the willies. Isn't the metal frame work going to wear the aluminum tanks? And what will happen when the frame twists from flex?

How much room do you have between the radiator and the air intake now?

You do EXCELLENT work, CPOM, I'd hate to see you have problems down the road that could have been avoided while in the construction phase or I'd just keep my kibitzing yap closed.

Building a whole vehicle from the ground up is real easy while sitting on one's behind like I am at the moment, but doing the work like you are is a whole lot harder.

No matter what the frame rails do, since the mount is mostly connected to the front crossmember no amount of twisting is going to translate into damage I think. I think you'd have to mount the rad in teh middle of the frame and use it as a crossmember to have the frame twising cause damage.

My plan is to throw some garage door rubber weatherstripping behind the "clamping" part of the bracket and assume that with so much surface area, the rest, (square thing) won't damage the rad at all. Had I built a traditional bracket setup where there is basic c-shaped clamps and no means to apply tension I would have used rubber pads or something, but since I can clamp everything down tightly I don't think much is necesary.

After all that the elbow fits now, and I talked to a guy with a 3800SC and the thermo housing would work. I might not need it but it is good to know it is there.

The radiator mount looks good,you shouldn't see any flex induced problems.Just make sure to isolate the radiator from vibrations,that would be the killer,the rubber mounts should be ok,make sure to set the radiator into rubber as well as wrapping the upper mounts.

As for the front mounts theres not much wght there(depends on where you mount the battery)so maybe some simple brackets off of the outer corners of the "stock"radiator support to the inside of the frame,maybe use some poly spring bushings in a tube attached to the inside frame rails w/2 tabs??Just an idea.

It's looking good so far.

Bansil

Spent some time thinking about where to mount my PS cooler. Didn't want to take up any space I might use for a winch later down the road so I built a bracket for behind the grill. It sits about 1" away from the front of the rad and I can remove the rad without disturbing it.

Round rod is 3/16". A #8 screw goes through a washer, then the frame (which is has two larger washers welded to the round rod) then through another washer, a nut which sinches it down, through the cooler body I had drilled out then an outer nut. If you unscrew the outer nut you can pull the cooler off the mount and the middle nut keeps the hardware in place. I got stainless hardware from lowes. I am on this kick now of trying to use the least amount of metal possible for the job. Thr round rod is cool too because it doesn't block air from going through the radiator like a piece of flat would. Ok this is getting ridiculous I know....

Then the whole assembly is welded to the outside of the radiator mount. Had to trim the grill to fit.





Clucth slave bracket finsihed and installed. used the "gentle hammer" to make some room.





toy FJ40 rotor, IFS truck caliper on 84 axle. I love import stuff-- this brake setup is so god awful overkill for a tiny 4cyl truck it came off of... 4 piston calipers... need to put on some wheel spacers to make the wheels go on.



Kind of makes the rear setup look wimpy. (stock Isuzu 12 bolt) But atleast I don't have to do a "rear disc conversion" haha.




Skyy leaf spring hangers. Designed for under frame but I wanted to minimize lift so they went like this. This looks kind of scary but it is very strong. The hanger is welded to the outside and topside of the frame. The lower part of the rectangle I notched and hammered up. Same thing with the inside. Then I used 3" 1/8" bar and did a wraparound with it. I like this technique not sure what else to call it. Its when you take thin metal and weld one side then weld 1/2" at a time stopping only to hammer it into shape, around bends, etc. The welding heats the metal so no heat is required.

Top gusset is 1x2 .125 wall rect tube.





Now for some garage flex shots!!!





Got the back left tire 30" off the ground before lifting the other side. not bad. rear doesn't flex though. Maybe I need to cut down the leaves more. front does all the work.
[img]http://www.pup4x4.com/projectpup/33/11.JPG[/img]
[img]http://www.pup4x4.com/projectpup/33/12.JPG[/img]
[img]http://www.pup4x4.com/projectpup/33/13.JPG[/img]

Everything flexes out well. Front shackles work well, no binding and they let the leaf flatten out. Only problem is below. I have to limit flex on this side as the draglink hits the frame.

[img]http://www.pup4x4.com/projectpup/33/14.JPG[/img]

next is shocks & bumpstops

Wow. You do excellent work. All of this fab and stuff makes mine look really kinda pathetic. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shiner.gif" alt="" /> Awsome job and keep up the good work. Can't wait to see this thing out on the trails. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Mounted up the rear shocks and bumps today. I spent a lot of time thinking how I wanted to mount them. Hoops or crossbars or what. I wanted them horizontal for the best dampening.

Finally it dawned on me that very little support is needed for shocks in any other direction besides vertical. I was imagining some type of removeable crossbar or bolted crossmember so I could remove the bed if I later wanted. Since the shock is mounted at both ends and able to swivel, it can't exert any forces on the mounting brackets except for vertical. It would be like trying to push a cardboard box with a broomstick but you could only push against it with the palm of your hand. Gussets and crossmebers for the mounting system are not necessary. So I just made a very simple mounting system. This might be very obvious to some people, yet I see a lot of people building very elaborate mounting systems for rear shocks...

I did not want to wait until I was done with the pinion angle/spring perches to do the lower shock mounts So I just made some tabs for the u-bolt plate. What's also nice about this is that I can change pinion angle or add more leaves and not have to change mount/bumpstop locations.




The bumpstops are stock Isuzu ones found on first gens. Nice alternative to a $40 polyurethane one...

Shock mount tower is 1x2 1/8 wall, tabs are 1/8". The bumpstop bracket is angled to match the ubolt plate. That was very tedious as the underside of the frame is curved. Not wanting to spend another 2 hours trying to match the angle of the cut to keep everything in line I just mounted the tower flush with the top for the frame. The tabs are tilted to put the shock bolts parallel. Looks kind of dumb but it should work allright. The tower has a piece of 1/8 bar welded to it at the bottom to line it up.





I set the bumpstop height at where the springs will go flat to keep them inverting. Once mounted I found the distance the ubolt plate will travel until it hits then added the width of the bumpstop, bracket and frame. Add an inch to that for a margin of safety. Then I took the total shock travel and subtracted the number from earlier I got 9.75" which is how high the top bolt is from the frame.








In this pic the front tire is jacked up by the hoist and the passenger side rear has about .75" before it hits the bumpstop. The drivers rear is all the way extended.

Good deal, you're making progress. :-) Hey, the mounts may not look super hi tech but as long as they work, who really cares??? I think when you're done that you're going to have a very nice rig.

Looking excellent, chris. Very very nice.

What are the plans for the body work, especially the bed? Are you gonna bob it?

Keep up the great work!
-J <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Hey, this is my thousandth post! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/mrt.gif" alt="" />

Thanks. The bed's staying as-is just to get the thing done and driving. I'll eventually bob it or do a flatbed.