Dallas, is there a time frame for this build? or you just flying by the seat of your pants?

Looks like you're making some good progress, or maybe just aren't as lazy as I am!

-Rob

There is a very rough time frame, its gotta be done before EJS next year. Leaves a lot of time. I've got another project that needs to get finished before I can start building though, as it occupies the same shop space. A bronco owned by lttlbddy, with a few non-stock additions. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Once its done I'll start building the new chassis. That should go pretty quickly, as I have a really good idea of how I want everything to work. I'm hoping to get started around crawloween.

Dallas

Lots of work goin on today. Finally got everything disconnected, and pulled the drivetrain out. Pulled the T-cases first, turns out they are both 23 spline, not the weaker and more common 21 spline version. The motor came out pretty easy, though the motor mounts were so wasted I probably could have lifted the engine out without even unbolting them. They both fell off as soon as the motor came out. And for the first time ever I actually pulled the motor out without having a single wire, cable, or hose still connected to the vehicle. The first time I pulled the motor outta my amigo I forgot to disconnect the throttle cable. Who'd have guessed you can almost pick up an isuzu by its throttle cable. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />










Dallas

After I got the motor out the other day I carefully pulled the wiring harness off and labeled everything. For the most part the harness was in pretty good shape but I didn't wanna just leave it alone. Wiring is something I take a fair amount of pride in so I wasn't about to just trust someone elses work, and that turned out to be a good thing. One section at a time I stripped off the casing and inspected all the wiring underneath. A fair amount of the casing was damaged and needed replacement, also there were a number of places where the wires had been spliced together that needed attention. Seems the original builder was a firm believer in the twist and tape method of splicing. Thats just not gonna fly for me, so the solder and heat shrink came out. The harness is all done now, and its by far the simplest harness I've done yet. I'm really happy about that because it should make the buggy really clean and simple without a bunch of wiring hanging everywhere. If any of you saw either waynes buggy or Robbies Toyota powered sami in moab you'll understand why I like simple wiring.

Here it is.


Yesterday I also took the motor/tranny outside and pressure washed all the grease and grime off of it. You can actually see the intake now. I also separated the tranny from the motor and mounted the motor on a stand to make the rest of the engine work easy. I dont have a whole lot of work planned for the engine, but I do plan on going through and checking over most of the easy stuff, pulling the valve covers and pan, and just generally cleaning everything up so its ready for its new home.

Dallas

Well I thought I'd give a little update on the project. I haven't been doing a lot of work on it as I've got some other things that take priority, but I have been slowly collecting parts and getting everything ready. Hopefully I'll be bending the first pieces of tube shortly after new years.


I cleaned up the drivetrain a bit and did a little detail work on the motor. Unlike the original stinkbug I want the motor to actually look decent on this one.


Brian at Twisted Customs found me a complete Waggy D44 front end and I pulled the ARB'd Isuzu 12 bolt from the trooper. Also picked up some nice Dynatrac High Steer arms.



Yesterday was a little early christmas for me. John at JB Conversions sent out a set of LoMax 4:1 gears for my D300 t-case and one of their bling 3/4" thick adapter plates and clocking ring. This is probably the nicest 700r4-D300 adapter I've seen yet, and is 1.25" shorter than all the rest as well. It includes a beautifully machined brand new output shaft for the tranny as well, which is good because my tranny has the wrong output in it already.



Seeing as the output shaft needed to be swapped, and all the shops around me wanted more $$$ to do it than I had, I decided to be brave and do it myself. I ordered the rebuild manual off of ebay to keep me safe and made my first venture inside an auto tranny. All seems to have gone well, and it was actually easier than I thought it would be. We'll see if I screwed anything up when the rig is done.



I wanna know who designs this stuff


So many parts <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />


All clean and shiny. Ready for action.


My T-Case should be comin down from Vegas on friday, and it'll be gettin cleaned, rebuilt, and regeared soon.

Dallas

1991 4.3 engine control wiring diagram
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/admahrou/86616139.jpg
EXCELLENT jpg turned into a link because of its huge size -- Randii

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

looks like a cool build! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

I know most people spend Christmas at home with family (those that celibrate it anyways) but instead I spent it in the shop. My uncle and I decided to tear into my new (to me) Dana 300 T-case and install the new JB Conversions Clocking Ring and LoMax 4:1 Gears. The T-case is actually far from new and had been living in a friends back yard for a few years so the first step was to hit it with the pressure washer.

Heres a shot once it was somewhat cleaned up.


Next the instructions say to pull the output yokes and the inspection cover. The old oil was....um....kinda nasty, though showed no signs of abnormal wear so at least that's good.


Next you're supposed to push out the shaft supporting the idler gear and remove it, just beware all these needle bearings WILL fall out so be sure to catch em. The stock idler is sitting at the top of the picture.


Next you remove the input retainer, input shaft and gear. Normally you would simply change out the gear on this shaft, but since I'm using the JB Conversions Clocking Ring and ultra short D300-700R4 adapter kit the entire retainer, input shaft and gear are all replaced. The only thing that gets re-used is the bearing.


Next you move to the rear of the case, remove the rear ouput housing and input retaining plate.


After that you have to press the output shafts out of the gears and remove the rest of the pieces. Now the case is entirely empty and you have a ton of parts scattered all over the place. In the lower right you can also see the clocking ring already assembled with the new input shaft and LoMax gear.


Here are all the parts I'll be getting rid of. The LoMax gearset replaces every gear inside the t-case with MUCH beefier ones, that also just happen to have a much lower gear ratio.


Here's a pic of my uncle installing the new shift rail into the front output housing (also the shifter mount).


While he was doing that I started cleaning the case and scrubbed it down with a wire wheel and a 4" grinder. Came out pretty nice.


Still needed a little paint though...












C'mon, did you really think I was gonna paint it some "normal" color? Thats where we left off for the night, I'll probably finish it up tomorrow.

Dallas

When I got home there was another christmas surprise waiting for me.... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/nana.gif" alt="" />



I know this doesn't seem 4x4 related, but I do tend to drink a lot of the stuff in the shop. Keeps me workin on the rigs. Team RedBull has also had a pretty significant effect on my 4wheeling and fabricating career this year, so it applies, at least for me.

Dallas

Lookin' good Dallas