Mr. Green's Surgery

[RAT]

Mike, the recent work looks really nice. It's great when you can re-purpose old parts in a new build isn't it? Save some money and some time. The brake lines are spot on.

[aw12345]

A line lock just holds the pressure that is in the line when you turn it on. I have had on two buggys and the brakes worked OK. I say OK, rather than fabulous, because both of my buggies have had very low gearing.

Line locks make a very good parking brake.

In the past I have used someone in the vehicle to bleed the brakes, a vacuum pump to bleed the brake, but a couple of years ago I bought a Motive bleeder and they seem to work the best:

https://www.motiveproducts.com/colle...c-bleeder-kits

I think that my cutting brakes on the present buggy worked better after using this....but can't say for sure, because I don't use them very often.

Oh, and I put a very loud buzzer into the circuit between the line lock and the ignition so the alarm sounds. On my FToy I had the line locks on (front and rear energized with one switch), started and moved forward......this split my transfer case. I guess that is the definitive answer as to line locks working.

Seems you use the electric line lock where you stomp on the brakes and flip the switch to hold the brakes. Only reasonable way to wire a buzzer in the circuit or so it seems

[Ol Man]

Seems you use the electric line lock where you stomp on the brakes and flip the switch to hold the brakes. Only reasonable way to wire a buzzer in the circuit or so it seems

Yes it is.

[aw12345]

Thought so, those work very well, a bit pricey and they need power too them wen engaged, good for trail use, not so good for long term parking use. They made a manual lever style, never been able to find one of those. But is a solid setup if you can find one.

[Mike]

I've been knocking a variety of bits off the list as I can. One thing that I finished up was the remaining "under-hood" item: adding hood pins. I made them and decided to paint them to match even though the stainless steel plate will get scratched up over time. I like that it makes them a little bit less obvious:





I've been working on a variety of other things but they were not really photo worthy. The next big project is the exhaust. I found out the hard way that I can't bend the exhaust tube with my pipe bender. So I have been buying individual bends from Speedway Muffler in RC. They are great folks and have good prices.

I had to rebuild my collector for the headers to get it to fit into the new space. The welds are a bit rough because I am learning to use my new welder. It is a learning curve, but I am improving:



I still have a lot more to go on the exhaust. I'm trying to reuse what I can from the original system. We'll see how it goes....

[Mike]

Latest update: Still chipping away when I can....

Since the last update, I have completed the exhaust system. I've decided that I am just not good at exhaust systems. It took way longer than it should have, but I kept forgetting details that required me to rework the path or supports. Regardless, the guy at the muffler shop told me that I could paint it with engine paint except for the catalytic converter, so I did:






I added a parking brake shut-off valve for the rear brakes. It is a shut-off valve for racers to be able to keep the front right brake from working when desired. It has a 2000 lb PSI pressure rating, so it should work for a parking brake:








The hydroboost and master cylinder that I got from the junkyard was missing the pushrod when I pulled it apart. That was annoying and I had to go pull one off another vehicle at pick-a-part.

I added all the fluids back that had been removed (except for the AC) and temporarily wired everything in for the fan. I added an LED warning light for the fan that I didn't wire properly and kept popping fuses. With RAT's help we found the issue and got the system wired properly.

The best part is I finally CRANKED the damn thing!

(I have video of it, but PhotoBucket absolutely refuses to upload it for some reason.)


After cranking it is when I found that the paint on the header collector smokes when the engine heats up. Nice huh? The stuff stinks very badly. Since then it has mostly stopped smoking, so I am hoping that the worst is over.

I found a leak in the radiator hoses and at the parking brake valve and fixed those.

I have had a devil of a time with the bleeding of the brakes. I thought that I had problems with the Hydroboost and Master cylinder that I got from the junkyard so I used them as cores and bought new ones. Even so, I am still having issues with the pedal going to the floor. I've bench bled the master cylinder twice, I guess I will have to do it again.

I fought with it for quite a while and decided that I needed to work on something else. I'll tackle it again this weekend.


Meanwhile, I put my energy into things that seemed to cooperate more:

• I cleaned up the interior and retouched the paint where needed.
• I cleaned the original carpets and seats.
• Cut the carpets to fit the new shape of the tub and used the spare bits to fill in gaps caused by raising the drivetrain.
• I reinstalled all the interior switches and bits that had to be removed and permanently mounted the kill switch and warning light for the electric fan.
• Greased all joints and fittings.
• Fit the rear shocks and borrowed springs into place.

My driver's seat had a big tear and the padding had disintegrated on one side, so I had it repaired.



While waiting for the upholstery shop to do the work, I redesigned the console and made new mounts. I have a lot more room in the console now and I was able to keep the original look somewhat.

The repair guy could not match the green cloth exactly, but I told him that I was fine with it. He matched the tan perfectly. With the seats and console back in the Jeep, it is very subtle that the inside has been altered:




I'm pretty happy with the results!



The diff covers got repainted and put in place. After filling them with fluid I found out that I have an axle seal leak on the D60. :poop:!!

I am pretty sure that I replaced those when I set the gears, but maybe I damaged one of them somehow. Anyway, it has to be fixed and that will be another project for this weekend.

[Mike]

I got the brakes fixed. It turned out that the way that I had the rear disc calipers mounted didn't let all the air out when bleeding. I disconnected the caliper from the mount and bled them with the bleeder valve straight up and got the last of the air out finally.

I also changed out the D60 axle seals. It turns out that I didn't change them out like I had thought. Oh well, lesson learned...

I did some final adjustments to the rear differential pinion angle so that it lines up with the driveshaft angle better at ride height. Based on those measurements, I ordered the rear drive shaft from Tom Woods today. They say that I should have it next Thursday.

Hopefully, I will get the rest of the armor and skids in place in the next couple of weeks so that I can set the ride height and take the Jeep for a spin!

[aw12345]

sweet!!!!

[Mike]

Well Mr. Green has finally left the garage!!! Well at least for the moment.

Thanks to Chuck and Ryan, I have some springs to use for testing. I have ordered the new ones. King Shocks said that I should start with 200/200 in the front and 150/200 in the rear.

Thanks to Fred (Flatout) I have the shocks and bump stops charged. So Mr. Green is able to leave the garage!

He'll be back on jack stands tomorrow so that I can get measurements for limiting straps and to be ready for when the new springs arrive.

But it was soooooo good to drive the jeep again for a bit. It handled very well in the neighborhood, so I took it out on the freeway for a few miles. The tires are perfect, not need for balancing.

The muffler guy was wrong about being able to paint the exhaust pipes. That started burning off immediately. Most of it is gone now thank goodness.

[sarah]

Mr. Green's Surgery

Looking awesome!!

[daniel_buck]

That looks like it's gonna be fun

[Mike]

Funny how things come around to haunt you. I was Soooooo ready to do a shakedown run this last weekend, but before I realized it, I found several problems that need to be fixed before Mr. Green hits the trails again.

When I was playing with the extreme ends of the articulation as I was putting on the King recommended springs, I discovered that the springs were hitting the air bump stop mounts before they reached the end of their travel on the passenger front.

I thought that this would be an easy fix, so I set the ride height on the new springs first and then tackled the refit of the bump stop can.

This led to a series of other issues that I discovered:

• I welded this bump stop in so well that a meteor strike wouldn't have broken it.
• After cutting up the can to get it out, I would need to fab a new can to hold the air bump.
• Moving the front axle through it's extreme ranges made me realize that my quick addition of limiting straps were in all the wrong places to allow either side of the axle to fully articulate.
• This made me check the rear axle and I found that I got lucky on the ends of the axle, but that I was too aggressive on the tension for the rear diff strap. I will need to move the mount or add a longer strap at that point.

Clearly, I am not ready for a shakedown yet.

I cut out the original passenger front bump stop can and fabricated a new one:


But the first couple of tries for a new fit still had the same problem:


I finally found a position that worked and finalized the new bump stop mount:


I cut off the limiting strap mounts so that I can find new mounting points for the front axle. This week, I will get the mounting points sorted out and welded into place.

As for the rear diff strap, I will probably just buy a longer strap to meet the needs but I am not sure yet.

[dr.dirty]

Looking good Mike. So close. Dave is home now so let us know when you want to do a shake down run!

[daniel_buck]

I think you need new bump stops, and you should give me your old ones.

[TipsE-Z]

Man, I'm looking forward to seeing this thing in action in a couple years when I make my way back out west again.