crash

Thanks guys, I am happy with how its coming along, well, so far,lol....

crash

Well, its coming right along, and made a trip up to S&N for more parts, and here is the spud shaft tom cut for me for the toy dual case to the dana 300... If anybody is interested in one to build there own adapter, PM me...

crash

Well, the time had finally come, time to drag one of my new toys (well, bought it like 7 months ago,lol) and see what kind of mess I can make. Yup, time to build the fuel cell. Now, the last time I ever did anything with aluminum was like 18 years ago in high school (crap, now I really feel old). So, this is a HUGE learning curve for me. So, I cut a few chunks, and fired it off, and WOW, this is flippin cool, well, except my welds, they look UGLY,lol...

I will have to say, aluminum is way more sensitive to heat and wire speed than steel is, and even more so once the material is hot and you go for another pass, but none the less, WAY cool...

Ok, one thing I wanted to make sure, I knew how much gas was in it...

Here is an insert I made for the stock sending unit...



Due to the baffling, and the throw of the sender, I was unable to get it to swing to full, but was able to make it so I knew when I was getting on empty, which IMO is way more important. Another thing, I wanted more fuel, and was shooting for around 21 gallons....

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Here is how I did the baffels, sweet and simple..

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And here is the "close" to finished product. I havent found a filler neck I want to use yet (looking for one thats about 2" tall). I both pressure tested it and water tested it, and only had 3 small pinholes when I first welded it up. As you can see, I ground the welds down because they LOOKED like crap,lol, plus, you can't get that TIG look out of a gun, at least I don't think so. I guess I will have to work with the gun some more...

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And as you can see, it fits nicely in the back of the rig...

ravencr

Did you use a spool gun on a mig welder for the aluminum?

Chris

crash

Yuppers...

KING

Excellent pictures and progress.

crash

Thanks king

crash

The last few days have been slow going, as I have had to figure out what is going where,lol.

Here is the battery tray for the dual optima's that sit directly behind the fuel cell.



I figured since the ass is turning out kinda light, I had decided to stick them at the rear, as aposed to where I origionally wanted them, near the middle of the rig down under the belly...

Here is how they look in the rig. Another thing I wanted was to have them easily accessable so if they had to be removed for welding purpos's on the trail. Right behind it is where the recovery gear is going to go

kyle_22r

mig aluminum doesn't usually look too nice unless your settings are dead on PERFECT. the easiest way is to use one that can do pulsed mig, lays a nice stack of dimes bead with aluminum

crash

Ok, here is where things had to change from my origional idea's.



I had basically 2 issues that I ran into, more support for the upper mounts for the coilovers on the rear upper hoop, and the fuel cell, as in being able to remove it if the time ever arose..

So I added a crossbar about middle of the rear upper hoop with 2 down bars from the upper cross piece to the lower hoop. This wil help give more support to the rear upper hoop from the stress of the coilovers

And here was the other change in plans.



I had origionally wanted the rear down bars to go to the tail, but, there would be NO way of removing the rear tank due to how narrow the bars would be. So, I had to run them to the new cross bar, I think it still looks really good, and still has full protection of the rear passenger. And the fuel cell has 1/8" of clearance to be removed (should see how I have to turn it this way, and that, funny as hell)

crash

Working on the mounts for the new skins. The only part that was time consuming, was making the tabs, but if anybody has seen my flatbed, I was well trained in doing them

crash

Here is the new tail, for ever in a day I have wanted led tail lights



And here is how the back of the rig will look. I still have a couple of tabs to do the front deck lid, its a little tricky because where the tabs need to be, the tank needs that room to get in/out..

crash

Here is the base of the fuel cell. I had thought about running a x-support across the middle of the tank, but with how those tabs are, there is alot of surface area for the tank to sit againt, plus, the base of the tank is 3/16" and will be well protected by the links..



And now it was time to start the actually part that holds the tank in the rig I oriionally thought about making tabs on the tank to hold it against the frame, but decided against it. So, I decided to use straps to do the job (3 400lb ratchet straps)



And here are the rear/side taps for the straps. (2 front to rear and 1 side to side). Hopefully that should do the trick...

ravencr

Wow, that is one bada$$ looking rig! I'm very impressed!

Chris

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Thanks man, I just hope the end result is what I am looking for

crash

Well, the filler neck finally arived, so i welded it into position, and finished of the last couple of mounts for the straps to hold it into place.



Unfortunatly I mis-measured the mounts for the side strap, and as you can see, it is up against the filler neck, so, those will get lopped off and moved forward.

So the end result was 2 fronts front to rear, and one side to side, that should hopefully keep the tank where it belongs in a hard roll over



Here is how it looks with a hole cut in the deck lid.

crash

Here is where I put the master battery switch.



I got the upper mounts for the rear coil overs tacked into place since I pretty much figured out where I want the rear housing to sit..



The rear seat seatbelt mounts are done...