Zuk on 38's

Here is some info on the rear 3” extension:

Thought this needed to be added first. It takes quite a while to save money and build your new project as you all know. With the economy being so bad and merchants closing down this is what happened to me.

I was buying parts as a group front end first which included some 4.5 Lift Rear Rubicon YJ’s for the front. I got the front suspension in and was going to order parts for the rear. To my surprise Rubicon was under restructure and no one new if or when they were going to be offering parts again.

That really knocked the wind out of the build until I could get a rear set of springs. After looking at what the aftermarket had to offer the decision was to have a custom set made. They did a good job and got them to me on time. The order was for a pair of 4.5 Lift Springs center pinned. When I went to in stall them they were not the same amount of lift as the fronts. (Just another snag that I will use it as a positive) It will be less stiff in the back know.

It all worked out in the end I just had to make some adjustments in the length of the new rear shackle mounts and some added ¼ plate for structure support.

The pics are marked in detail.

Rear Front Mount Marked




Back Side Rear Front Mount






Inside View Rear Mount






Back View Rear Mount






Outside View Rear Mount

 

why did you choose to put a filter for each individual piston?

 

The carbs are single side draft for each cylinder. It is better to have the individual cone filters for this app. This also is suppose to create some HP.

 

how does a 1.8L engine push a rig like this?

 

Just a 1.3L. There are a few others here with this type of lift and larger tires using a stock motor.

This one has been extremely modded so there shouldn't be any issues. It also has a lot to do with the gearing.

 

gearing has to be over 6

 

It has a 6.5 transfer case gears and 529 RP. This is more than enough to do what the Rig was intended for with the motor.

If the motor isn't up for the task for some reason it will go in the DD. There is a backup plan for another motor build that I've been thinking about.

 

big block?

 

Some progress. The blending of welds takes a long time. I prefer that look because the parts look like a stamped piece.

Reminder Before Panhard Mount




Panhard Mount welded up and sleeves were added for strength. The welds were smoothed out still have to pop a 3/4 hole for the Heim Joint. There will also be a Bumpstops mount added to the bottom. Bumpstops on order should get them this week.

The parts were also painted with welder’s primer before tacking together..








Here is the HS Extension clearanced for full steering. Still needs to be welded on. Making triple sure that everything is working before this is done.

 

Here is a very rough idea of what I have in mind. I agree with the Bumpstop pressure with the angle as I need it. I have several triangulated basketry and a stabilizer DOM bar. The bar is another thing in the making it needs to function around the steering arm and not bump into the tire at full lock.

This is probably why I never came across this setup when researching the subject. There is a lot going in 1 place.

I will be adding the brace to the other side as we discussed earlier. It will need to have some Heim joints so I can remove it. I want to put the engine and trans in from the bottom because of the height issue. This bar will be tied in to a much beefier bumpstop mount on the passenger side.


To be honest I have tried to get the spring to go down 3" using my engine hoist and some ratchet straps and I haven't got there yet. Don't know how often they will actually come in contact.

 

Doing a little flexing to get the proper setting for the DS suspension components. The front shackle is at 46* and the DS leaf is getting close to a flat position. This is where I will set the bumpstop contact point.

The shocks still have 2” of up travel to go. The clearance between the Panhard Mount and the (shock forward movement is 1.5”).

To be honest I was more concerned of the shock hitting the mount at full flex because the shock moves forward and the mount is stationary. Worked out and even have enough room for the head of a ¾ bolt to fit.

Loaded the weight of the motor back in the engine bay also. This brought my steering rod angles in at 3* . Shouldn’t see any bumpsteer with those angles.

The suspension parts have been made for a while now. They are now going through the altering stage for better clearances or better ideas as more of the parts are added and watching the suspension cycle.

I have decided to remove the Heim joint from the PS Panhard Bar. This will be replaced with a sleeve to accept a pair of leaf spring bushings welded to the Panhard Bar.

The reason for the change:

The Panhard Bar has a 5* bend in it and it tends to want to flop back and forth this will eliminate this issue. Really didn’t want to hear that noise when I was driving either. This will also make what movement there is with suspension cycling not as rigid.

This means I will have to modify the PS Panhard Bar Mount for the larger sleeve bushing and offset the front portion for new alignment.

These types of changes add a lot of time probably why it seems like there isn’t much progress made. There are a lot of factors to take into consideration especially when you start cycling the suspension. Better to catch the issues now then be non flexible with your design and have to do it all over again later.

This particular area of the build has taken me 6 month to engineer and make the parts. It's finally time to start burning in parts.

 

Burned in the Panhard/Bumpstop mount in at 12*

Burned in the Modified Ford Shock Tower at 8*

The lower portion of the Bumpstop mount was boxed in. This was to conceal the nuts holding the Heim Joint and the Bumpstop in place. This will also give it more strength and add an additional place for a support bracket for the 1.25 DOM Front Brace Tube.

Working on the bracket that is on the shock side of the mount. This has many compound angles and will be a full box. I will also try and add some holes with support tubes.

 

Panhard Mount Bracket being made. This is the 1st of 3 brackets.

This is the lager bracket and will be partially concealed with the shock. This will make it not as noticeable.

Steps:

Starting pieces needed to be tacked in place because of their irregular shape.
Matting box pieces will be fitted and welded in place.
Bracket will then be removed to weld the inside
Holes will be popped in and support tubes added while it is out.
Final Bracket burn in

Note: Rear side plate still needs to be made to complete the full boxed bracket..

 

This has been an interesting bracket to make. There were no parallel surfaces on any of the pieces and there were a few compound angles. The shapes looked more like a kite then a bracket.

The first 2 steps are done.

Steps:

Starting pieces needed to be tacked in place because of their irregular shape.
Mating box pieces will be fitted and welded in place.
Bracket will then be removed to weld the inside
Holes will be popped in and support tubes added while it is out.
Final Bracket burn in



The pieces will be welded together while it is still on the frame. The tacks will then be cut off the frame to make it easier to work on bracket for the holes, installing the support tubes and weld the inside for strength.

 

Im at a loss for words..... sweet build

 

This will be a slight distraction and a bit off topic to the build. So, hope you don’t mind.

Remember this pic and the Hotrod peeking through to the right. Thought that you may have been interested in seeing it.



This is another one of my ridiculous, impractical Bucket List Builds.

Stats:

1933 Willys Fiberglass body and I built the frame.Yes, Willys actually make cars for awhile.



671 Littlefield setup for 1 to 1 ratio, 383 Chevy STROKER all the high dollar internals, 4L60E auto manual valve body beefed up to hold 1000 hp. 8 3/4 456 gears with a 4 bar suspension, Mustang II front, It has 800HP and is a beast.

Now for the Beast

 

Kept this one separate. It is called a Watts link. It works great for this type of application because it keeps the rearend centered at all times. There is only 2 inches between the frame rails and the back tires. If I used a panhard bar it would have been way too short and would have been pushing the rearend from side to side during the suspension cycling.

It took me a while to get all the info to make this up. It is a few different ideas put into 1. I also have Mustang II front inner and outer wheel bearings and seal in it and a cap for the top to keep the dirt out and to adjust and grease.

As I said this was a bunch of different ideas put into 1 and sealing everything off was mine to add. They don't make anything like this. It is a real chore to get it all set up correctly. I works great.

 

Here is a rendering that was made before the build was started. This was done to give me a real time look at what the mods would look like. So, there wasn’t wasted time on something that looked bad.

This rendering has a pie chopped top and the dog house part of the front clip has been removed.

 

Here is a look at the large Panhard bracket which is a perfect example of a 3D trapezoid.

It took a little longer to complete after collaborating with Jethrobodean on the best structural strength of the bracket location. He had pointed out with the bracket blending in at the end of the fishplate. This would cause extra stress on this area. The better option would be to keep it 1 to 1.5” away from the end of the fishplate.

The choice was the shorter route to correct the problem because the plates were made already. The new position just happened to be my original thought. The strong need to make it more visually pleasing with everything blending at one place just took over.

Jethrobodean also mentioned to add a fishplate to the backside of the bracket where it is being welded to the frame. This will be done as a precaution to eliminate the possibility of excess stress on this area. There was also mention to tie the top of the Panhard mount to the Ford Shock Tower for additional strength. All these were very good suggestions and will be performed as well.


Very Big Thanks to Jethrobodean for taking the time to point out something that I had contemplated on or over looked. It is always good to have an extra set of eyes looking at a complex design to accomplish the best out come.


Again it is better to be flexible ask for some input and make corrections on your design. This may require reworking or scrapping something that took a long time to make to address an issue.

You may be wondering why the tube bushing. It has been about 9 months or so since the original brackets were removed. Good thing I had remembered that the steel brake line had to have away to get to the brake line bracket. The tube seemed to be a good solution and give some more strength to the bracket.