Project Fordzuki

[predator]

hey loanranger what does FS stand for??

 

[Carlos Murphy]

F.S.

hey loanranger what does FS stand for??

Oh,Oh, me, me, I know, I know.......

FORESTRY SERVICE

 

[predator]

oh...thanks carlos!!

never would have thought of that...gave me something to think about at work though!!!

 

[Loanranger]

Oh,Oh, me, me, I know, I know.......

FORESTRY SERVICE

Exactly..

 

[Tweeder]

gee......i think i've seen this thread somewhere before...

you GOTTA post pix with the new meats on.....stat!

 

[Loanranger]

gee......i think i've seen this thread somewhere before...

you GOTTA post pix with the new meats on.....stat!

hey, you decided to poke your head in over here huh? Well, here's some pics of the new shoes.

The first night I mounted them up, 34x10.50x15 LTBs on 15x8 black rockcrawlers with 2.5 BS

And trying them out down at Tahuya last sunday.

And the old 33x12.50x15 tsls got a new home on my dads ranger, still have to do some "minor fender trimming" to the bedsides.
Stock height, no lift

"Minor fender trimming"

 

[Tweeder]

hell yeah, thats what i'm talkin 'bout!

think i got dad talked into a build very similar to yours except with another 10 or so inches of stretch in the body. since most of our wheelin' is hillclimbs, he'll need the wheelbase.....not to mention, i wanna kick Mouser's ass

i got some plans for a Ranger, myself.....

 

[Loanranger]

Yeah, if I was to do it again (which I probably will) I would stretch both the tub and frame, mostly to get a little more leg room.

 

[Loanranger]

Well, the latest project on Fordzuki was to address the cooling system. It did fine most of the time, running around on the trails up at Evans Creek, but out on the logging roads and at Tahuya, it would get a little warm from time to time. My guess was the Datsun radiator I had in it had a few clogged tubes, so I started looking around for something aluminum, and came up with a good one at the 4x4 swapmeet, a 19x22" Northern aluminum racing radiator for a little less than half price, and still in new condition. When I picked it up, I thought I could do a little more plasma massaging to the front sheetmetal and fit it in there, but to no avail. It was too wide to fit between the framerails, and because of this, stood about 3 inches too tall to get the hood shut. So this made the decision I had been thinking about for awhile now, and that was remote mounting the radiator in the back. This solved two problems, one being keeping the motor cool, and the second being not having a heater. So I basically started by welding in a crossbar between the rollbar for the top mount, and bolting in a crossbar between the rear wheeltubs for the bottom mount. I got the radiator mounted up, and started dreaming up the plumbing for it.
For plumbing, I went down to the parts store, and got 2 ten foot sticks of 1.5" exhaust tubing, 4 random radiator hoses with a bunch of bends in them, 24 hose clamps, and an adapter from 1.5" to 1.25" for the upper hose on the motor. For the smaller degree bends, I used the pipe bender, and for anything over a 15 degree bend, I cut bends out of the radiator hoses, and clamped the pieces together. When all was routed and clamped, I took some 3/16" by 1" steel strap, and cut pieces to both attach the 2 tubes together, and to attach the both tubes to the frame. After double checking all the clamps, I vaccumed the system with my air evacuator, and checked that it held vaccum. It held 25 psi, so I then filled the system, and it took almost 5 gallons of 50/50 mix to fill it up. I mounted my 16" e-fan up as a puller, and wired it back to the original relay I had for the front fan. With the fan not running, the temp gets up to about 165 degrees after running at 2500 rpm for about 15-20 minutes. With the fan running at all times, I can't get the temp guage to register, which it starts out at 100 degrees. So this definately will keep the thing cool during even the hottest summer months, and when I get a little more time, I'm going to wire up a thermostatic switch to control the fan.

 

[mkyhmltn]

gee......i think i've seen this thread somewhere before...

Yeah, me too.
Looking great there loanranger.

 

[mkpecor]

that thing is bad ass, i wish i would have went with you and tottled up to evans, looked like fun, are you going to be up a nachees mamoreal day weekend, i would love to see you play on funny rocks with it.

 

[Loanranger]

gee......i think i've seen this thread somewhere before...

Yeah, me too.
Looking great there loanranger.

Thanks, you must be on the LJ10 board too huh? Whats your screenname there?

that thing is bad ass, i wish i would have went with you and tottled up to evans, looked like fun, are you going to be up a nachees mamoreal day weekend, i would love to see you play on funny rocks with it.

It was me and Rolledranger, I haven't been wheeling with totalled yet. It was alot of fun, despite all the digging. I might have to go to Naches on memorial day weekend, if I can figure out when it is, can't find my calendar at the moment. I've only been up there once, and I was riding along with a buddy. I'd like to get my cage built here soon, as I only have a single bar behind the head right now, then I won't worry so much on the rocks about flopping.

I got my thermostat switch for the fan wired in today, and it seems to work pretty well, though the band seems to be a little wide on it, turning on at 170 and turning off at 130. I might have to play around with it a little more on the first trail test, which should be next weekend, more than likely up at Elbe hills.

 

[dogboy]

That thing is looking awsome!!

I would say we should go wheelin someday, but I think that LJ would kick my Ranger's ass, haha.

 

[viperfangs2]

All I can say is WOW You built that from scratch with your blood, sweat and hard earned money I'm sure. I hope I can build something like that one day.

FordZuki is the SHIT!!!

 

[Loanranger]

That thing is looking awsome!!

I would say we should go wheelin someday, but I think that LJ would kick my Ranger's ass, haha.

Haha, thanks man, we should go wheeling someday though, maybe tahuya or something, there's still plenty I can have fun on out there.

All I can say is WOW You built that from scratch with your blood, sweat and hard earned money I'm sure. I hope I can build something like that one day.

FordZuki is the SHIT!!!

Again, thanks, all I can say is it's been alot of fun and learning, building this thing, and it has been very rewarding so far. The funny thing about it is I've got less into this overall than I do in my Ranger, even by the time I get a winch and full cage. I built it on a budget, and always took the time to find the sweet deals, and make sure it was going to do what I wanted it to.