lol back in the 80s I used to listen to Stryper all the time

Ok, time for an update! With the exception of the new dash, we made very little changes to the car for the 2013 season. Everything performed so well and there was zero significant breakage, so we just drove and drove and drove! The only real significant change was losing the ARB and compressor upfront and going with a Yukon Gear and Axle competition zip locker run off of a C02 tank. I WILL NOT lose my lockers at the Hammers this year!!!

We were fortunate enough to have such a strong car and such a strong team that we were able to win the Dirt Riot Modified Stock class championship again! Yay for back to backs! Back to back in the Southwest series as well. Really exciting year of racing.

After a hard and brutal Dirt Riot season, she was tired and dirty, but holding up well and pretty happy...




In looking at where we wanted to go for 2014, however, (continued Dirt Riot presence, but a much stronger Ultra4 presence and an EMC podium), we made an executive decision and are basically re-doing the car.

* Additional stretch from 105" to 110" wheelbase.
* Back-half the rig for different weight distribution and suspension setup.
* 2.5" Coilovers instead of the 2.0" already on it (with coil weight changes).
* Transmission change from the rock crawling set up 32RH to an AW4 with manual shifter
* Lose the tub and go with a lexan skins to reduce weight (keep the hood and front grill, cowl, etc.. to keep the Jeep look. I love Jeeps.)
* Lower the cage and seats 8 - 10 inches for a lower center of gravity.
* Boatsides instead of sliders.
* Wraps instead of rattle can.


Step one has been completed! Basically, we took off all the armor and cut most of the tub off so that she's pretty much firewalls, frame, and cage right now. I will update pics over the next two weeks as she is reborn a little longer, a little leaner, and a lot faster. ;-)

Deconstruction:




the last of the Troy aluminum is now gone....




Lots of time and emotion in this pile...




Bring on the destruction!




Bye bye tub.










and now she's a nekkid beast off to Andrew's for her spa day(s).

Cant' wait to see it after Andrew is done with it.

Thanks for updating and letting us race along with you to stardom 8)

Out with the old, in with the new. 32RH has been removed and the AW4 installed. Kudos to Jim Rosato.

WoooooHoooooo!

Yeah, man. This also fixed my front drive shaft issue (where it kept hitting the trans fluid pan and I had massive tranny fluid leaks all the time. The AW4 is a little longer and the pan is in a different position, so the drive line angle is better and it fully clears now. WOOT WOOT indeed!

A couple more spy pics from the shop today!

Nice truck :p

I asked for a brute build. Let's see what I get instead... LOL.

Yikes.

WOAH. And what are you running this weekend in?

Skatchkins wrote:WOAH. And what are you running this weekend in?

Believe it or not... THAT! LOL.

I know it looks like it's a "start over", but we're re-using the cage and as you can see, they were very careful to keep the front firewall. Most everything else is being re-used. I had them do this to A.) take out the floor and replace with a lighter aluminum floor that also allows me to put the seats deeper into the cockpit and B.) have a clean slate for boatsiding and dovetailing the back along the lines of the old cage and skins.

Everything was setup for the stock dash, and once I removed that, we are able to drop all the seating and cage 6 - 8 inches, resulting in improved center of gravity. Skins re easy to cut form Lexan, I have a stock Lexan hood on its way, and the rest is just reattaching the cage and moving the fuel cell back over the rear axle. No work was done to the front (besides some tube being added from the front hoop back to the cage for strength) so steering and all the geometry up front hasn't changed and the rear is staying the same. Just cosmetic changes and weight reduction (in addition to the weight distribution and lower COG).

I'm going down tomorrow to sit in the cockpit so they can measure for where the floor braces need to go for height.

Actually, the time consuming stuff (the AW4, new shifters, and new cross member that better aligns my drive line angles) were done last week and were the hard parts. Now it's button up time. I'm sure I'll have a full week of putting stuff in the OCD order I like it, but functionality wise... I'll drive it Saturday no problems. Probably the only "big" project for me will be the new, new dash. With dropping the whole cage, this dash is too low now. They have another one for me (one that 30 pack Matt made) that he cut a hole in the wrong side and it's scrap for him. For me, it's perfect since I have the "Oh CRAP!" handle in that same spot. I'll post a pic of the new dash down below.

It will NOT be wrapped in time for the Ultra4 Nationals (if they still occur), so if they do, you'll see a plasti-dip matte black look with limited HG4x4, LROR, ESAB, and Yukon stickers... plus my race numbers, of course. Once it's time for the wrap, I can peel off the plasti-dib and have a clean surface for the wraps. It will be wrapped by the Dirt Riot race in Texas.

Here is the dash (the top one.. the bottom is his new metal for doing it over...)



Mainly gauges will be on the dash with a lower panel (similar to this) that has the switches, etc... We'll also be re-doing the center console so it is more like this one too, just less right angles and more of a slope... but this gives you the idea of where the 12Volt guy panel could/would go and the shifter deck.

The seat used to be 8" above the floor. Now it's pretty much level:




The bar is now below with the cowl as well. For reference, the bar across the cage used to be about 6" higher than the cowl. Now it's fully below. The weld where the "door" curved up used to meet at the top of the cowl:







Here is a reference shot so you can see how much the cage has dropped.

I talked to someone who saw your Jeep yesterday :)

Awesome to see all the progression shots.

Jeff trying out the midget / booster seat modification so I can see over the dash... LOL.







We were able to re-use the dash after all




Getting ready for the boatsides:




And wrapping up the dovetail and getting the cage re-installed.

In addition to the full Lexan hood (coming this week) and the new skins (still in sheets, uncut), we beefed up the cage and tied the front hoop into the main cage

Saturday was a busy day for the team. Tons of work done (tons still to do to be ready by Saturday), but progress was made! Great work by LetzRoll Offroad and JEFF in particular. Thanks guys!

Rear end is back together (shocks and rear deck). Fuel cell soon.

Jeff gettin' it.













Front hoop is now tied into the main cage (which is 6" lower than it used to be). Love the lower connect tube work.










and my cousin Danny and I spent the day pulling the old wiring, removing anything unnecessary, and re-wiring the buggy since it's town down and easy access.

As if smoking wasn't good enough... I enjoyed trimming the Lexan hood from BRTech Racing.

Hood straight out of the wrap. It's a stock TJ hood that you trim to size.




Slowly trimming down and fitting around the bars and then cutting the hood pin holes for a final fit. The hood will be wrapped, so no "Greased Lightening" hood for the 4511... although I did officially vote for neon colored LED lights that changed colors based on RPM - I lost that vote, however. :-)

Love it! I would have voted for the LED