Project Fordzuki

[RacinNdrummin]

I must say, I drove by while on the orting Hwy, and seeing Fordzuki up on stands half apart is quite the bummer...Hopefully youll get around to getting it back together...

 

[hvacowboy]

Bump..... Signs of life?

 

[kris97ranger]

i reaaaaally hope so. this thing was a mix of my 2 favourite trucks


just think when you put it together after parting it out its an opprotunity for upgrades

 

[RacinNdrummin]

I got a feeling he's probably having too much fun with that sami, probably hangin out on some sami forum...

 

[Loanranger]

Geez, I haven't been over here in awhile...

Updates:
The rear axle is put back together with an experimental "lets see if we can blow this up" rear thirdmember that I aquired in a lot of parts last summer. It wasn't good enough to resell, but it'll get me going till I come up with something better.
I've been back to work since November, and have been going at it 70+ hours a week trying to play catchup on bills, and have managed to save a little out of each check to throw into the fordzuki fund.

List of things needed to put it back together:
T-case gears- probably go back to 6.5:1s, though I noticed tonight 8:1 gearsets are back...
Front axles- double toughs again, or I might try out trailgears this time for comparison...
Front Locker- I am toying with the idea of using the dd sami's rear third with lockright in the front of the LJ, and getting another rear third for the sami, and installing a spool.
Tires- I'm looking at tires in the 36-38" range this time, I know it's pushing the limits of the sami axles, but it's only a matter of time before I go yota's with it, so I might as well "use up" the sami's.
Alternator-still...yep.
Fuel pump- a new fuel cell might happen too, but for the purposes of getting it going again, the one in it will work.
Battery- another yellow top, the old one is in the sami after it's 3 year battery stamped nov '01 recently died.
That's it. Short list, right? With any luck I'll have it back together for some snow wheeling.

And, because everybody likes pics.

 

[Heavyfire14]

AwSoMe!!!

 

[kris97ranger]

yay!!!! i always loved this thing im in the process of finishing swapping a landcruiser axle up front in mine a the 90's toyota rear and stepping up to 38.5"s. but i wont have anywhere near the flex this thing had.

 

[escort_gts]

Wow! I forgot about this build. It's been so long since an update.

 

[RacinNdrummin]

Hey, I was driving down the Orting Hwy saturday, and I saw you out working on this thing, getting close? Looked like it from the road at least.

 

[Loanranger]

Yup. I've been working on it every chance I get.

I started by putting the front axle back together.
It got trailgears chromo shafts this time, with a slightly lower price and a onetime replacement warranty, I figured I'd give them a shot. I also installed the lockrighted rear third from the dd sami.

With axles now under it again, I was able to roll it into the shop to get started.

With the axles, I also ordered trailtoughs efi fuelpump and got to work on a better mount for it.

The next thing to do was get the engine back over where it needed to be... When I went from the pinto 2.3 to the mazda 2.3, there were some differences in the p/s pump bracket, which made the pressure line interfere with my shock mounts. My original solution to this was to shift the motor over enough to clear. But this ended up leading to a vibration between the trans and t-case, so I needed to make new shock mounts to be able to shift the motor back into alignment.
Old ones cut out.

 

[Loanranger]

I had my buddy Mike bend me up some u's out of 1.5" .120 wall dom, then I added legs and gussets to get them tucked in good with the motor.

Then cut out some frame plates for reinforcement.

I then needed some new fender supports.

 

[Loanranger]

I also wanted to address the huge, leaky fuel cell I was running, so I bought this from some guys on E-bay. (BDracing)

It's a five gallon "knock-off" of Jaz's 5gal aluminum cell, with the exception of it not having the worthless mounting ears on it.

So I came up with a clamshell design for the mount. It holds the cell securely, and also adds a layer of protection beings I'll be storing all my recovery gear next to it.

I also picked up all new fittings to plumb it in. Vent and unused..

Pressure and return (the big hose over the fuelpump is the diff breather...

 

[Loanranger]

I also picked up some 36x12.50 TSL SXs from a fellow member of a different board.

I then promptly (maybe 5 minutes of messing around in the backyard) proceeded to snap the pitman arm in half. )):
34s=life is good. 36s=pitman crying like a bi$^%.
So the temporary solution was bigger welder and gussets. The long term solution will be an aftermarket toy arm and swap the tre at the top of the draglink to match. (btw, don't know if I updated, but I am running calmini full high steer now.)

I also needed taller bumpstops in the rear to clear the 36s. From the old poly 1/2" ones to TJ stock rears.

They work pretty good.

 

[Loanranger]

For the t-case, I am using a 4.16:1 case for now. I had bought it for the dd sami after swapping the 6.5 in. I liked the super low of 6.5 and 26" tires offroad, but it was a little too low on road. The 4.16 and 26s was about the perfect ratio. (for me)
So since I sold off the 6.5 t-case last year, I decided to just run the 4.16 in the lj and go back to stock in the sami untill I can afford another 6.5 gearset, then the 4.16 will go back in the sami.

Just having some fun trying it out. The 4.16 has 2lo, which I never did the mod on the 6.5 case. Me Likey.
Click pic for vid.

This is 2high, first gear, spinning from a roll. 8)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=pch9VVsgaBo

 

[doorgunner]

No wonder.....you been too busy to post pics of all the work....purdy welds & brackets!