turbo diesel Willys!

[daniel_buck]

Here's a video clip of the jeep, walking around showing various parts of it. I shot a second video mounted to the roll cage as I was driving, but for some reason I can't seem to copy that file off of the camera, maybe the video is to large, I'll try another one later today.

At any rate, it's got some tidying up to do yet, but it's pretty darn close

For some reason this video camera (go pro) doesn't seem to pick up the sound of the turbo hardly at all.


http://youtu.be/A6xKy-D4bRU

[Ol Man]

Sweet!

[inVERt'D]

Sounds serious! I half expect to hear the air brakes venting. Cool setup

[daniel_buck]

Sounds serious! I half expect to hear the air brakes venting. Cool setup

Yea, it kinda sounds like a big truck

[aw12345]

It sounds like a farm tractor ready to do some serious work, great job Daniel

[daniel_buck]

Any thoughts on setting up the intake? I'd kinda like to have the intake take air from outside of the engine bay. Either from under the dash, or possibly behind one of the fender wells. I imagine after a good drive, the engine bay will probably be pretty hot from the turbo, even though I've got a blanket on it.

I was thinking about using one of those tractor intakes, I think it would fit nicely on the back side of the front fenders, wouldn't be affected by rain, and would clean out dust and dirty pretty good I think. However, it might look funky even if it were sprayed OD green, haha





If I went with something under the dash, I would probably just put a regular paper filter on the end of the intake and call it done.

[daniel_buck]

a friend of my took some video of the Willys! Just to prove, it's on the road again Hopefully the next video will be OFF road ;-)

I'm still suprised at how little you can hear the turbo on the video. In person it's actually quite noticeable. At least from the drivers seat anyway.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8_Il...ature=youtu.be

[daniel_buck]

Well well, happy new year everyone :-) Here's some photos!

I got the Atlas springs put in, and the ride is noticeably softer. I still have the cheap super lift shocks in place, I may replace them with something better later.

The front went down a little bit (maybe 1/2 an inch) and the rear went down about 1+ inches. But more importantly, when I stand on the bumpers, and jump up and down, the springs flex a bit, haha!! I like the stance, and the ride. It's no Cadillac, but it's better

Oh, and the springs were supposed to have an offset centering pin on the front to move the axle forward, but apparently they forgot to do this, so the axle is right where it used to be. Oh well, I'm not sure if 1 inch would have made much difference anyway. Would it have? if it would, I'll take them back and have them redo them or give me new ones that move the axle forward.

[6spdYJ]

Leaf springs tend to get their ride characteristics on the shackle end and the axle locating on the bracket end. While it's true that they flex on both ends, moving the pin an inch toward the shackle on an already short spring would likely cause a stiffer ride. Still looks cool!

[USMC 0369]

[COLOR="#800000"]Any thoughts on how you're going to protect the rockers on that awesome Willy's?[/COLOR]

[daniel_buck]

[COLOR="#800000"]Any thoughts on how you're going to protect the rockers on that awesome Willy's?[/COLOR]

That's kind of the next phase, make a skid plate for the oil pan, and rocker sliders for the tub. My original thinking was to use 2x2 angle iron, cut it and bend it to fit the sharp bend behind the fenders. However, I think I may leave it straight, and either replace or reinforce the little "step" on the lower back side of the fenders. That would probably be better as a slider, and would also make that "step" actually usefull as a step. Right now if you step on it, it would probably just break right off, LOL.

I cant find the picture right now, but I saw a photo of a willys that someone else had don the same exact thing, I'm just gonna copy that. It looked simple and effective

[daniel_buck]

Finally, took it off pavement :-)

The jeep did REAL good, it was 120 miles (round trip) of pavement plus about an hour on dirt putting around a bit for a total of about a 4+ hour trip.

It cruises very nicely on the road from 45-50. Doesn't slow down for hills at all. It'll run faster than 50, but when I keep it at 2000-2200 RPM (45-50mph) it seems to be a real nice RPM for cruising. Since it has plenty of power, I'm thinking about swapping out the gears from 5.38 to 4.88, which I think should put my 2000-2200 RPM cruise speed at 50-55mph. Which I think would be perfect

4.56 gears may be an option as well, I think that would be an equally good ratio, however I'm not sure if I could find those gears for the Dana 25 and 41 axles?



I still don't have the temperature gauge hooked up properly for the coolant, but the fan only clicked on after a very steep winding mountain road, about a 3-5 minute climb in 2nd gear at 2000 RPM. (25mph?) It was a very steep road, even on my TJ I have to go at about that speed, 25-30. But after cruising along at a constant 2000-2200RPM in overdrive on flat and hilly highways, the fan wouldn't click on. And I'm happy to say that when the fan DOES click on, you can't really hear it until the engine is turned off. That's good, I didn't want to hear a loud fan. I may wire up a light bulb on the dash to illuminate when the fan is on, just for visual reference though. Fan is set to turn on at 185 degrees I think.

And with the springs, tires, and seats, it's a very tolerable ride. After the entire 4 hour trip, I didn't feel sore at all, I'm quite confident I could take this thing on a road trip that lasts several days or more. I'm really excited about that :-D


And as far as fuel consumption goes, when I left the tank (which holds 15 gallons) read a smidge above 3/4. When I returned, it's right inbetween 1/2 and 3/4. That would indicate maybe 2-3 gallons used? I know the gauges aren't accurate, so I don't think I can say for sure that I only used about 2 gallons for the trip, but I think it's definitely a good sign that it's getting good mileage. I'm going to try and get the speedometer/odometer working again, but for now, I'm going to keep a log of everywhere I drive, then on google maps map it out, and see how many miles it is. See if I can estimate the milage. I'm guessing it's more than 30mpg.

Steering and brakes feel just fine at 50mph, I think I would be comfortable bumping up the cruise speed to 55, maybe even 60. if I can get the right gear ratio to keep the cruise RPM at 2000-2200

[daniel_buck]

and some action shots from my friend Pam:

[jonah]

That is awesome! Congrats on the first offroad test.

[daniel_buck]

Jonah!

It don't flex as well as I'd like in the rear, the tires hit the fender well that was cut and moved back for the seats. But I'm ready for a flat fender run when ever you are! Lets do it :-) I can't hit freeways though, keep that in mind. :-)

I just have to get a photo of a few flatties next to each other on a trail. All these other jokers are throwing coil springs and hydro steering under their rigs ;-)

My daily driver has forearm steering, leafs, and short wheel base :gun: