ugh, not again already

[cbeck]

Took it out for another ride since I reindexed the torsions. About another 2 miles. It sits about where I want to end up at. I am going to get larger bars in the rear, pretty sure these are too soft now. Still the stock, long irs 22mm bars. The pic shows how far the shocks have moved via the o rings on the shaft. And this was with just a spirited ride around the block. How can I figure out what bars to to replace with? Racing, no. Air time,maybe a little. 99% street. The scale by me just closed.

Started on the engine cage. The front follows the angle of the trans mount. I had trimmed the frame horns to follow the same angle. The fly in the ointment is the deep sump. The trip around the block includes corners that can suck the block dry with the old engine. This is my attempt to remedy that problem. Looks like the solid motor mount will now be a little harder to replace now. I intend to add some 1" to it later when I break it back down and make some triangles and fab skid plate and mounts.

[GoMopar440]

Would it be possible to lower that forward angle on your new lower bars? That looks like it's going to be a very strong impromptu E-brake if you hit the front of that area with something solid. A flatter angle would still hit it as well, but would be more likely to slide over the obstacle then get stopped fast by it.

I've got to address this issue with mine as well since I'm thinking about getting a sump as well. I'd like to find the shallowest one I can to minimize the drop I'll have to add to the bars going under it.

[cbeck]

The only thing I know for sure is that the engine cage is not going to attach to the solid motor mount only like the last one that caused the mount to wrap around the frame horns. The cope on the end of that 1.5" tube right now is 2.25" long. If I was to put a bend and angle it up under the tranny I would end up with about a 4+" cope. I would think there there is a formula to determine the max length on a cope like that? Dusty?

[dustymojave]

I disapprove of those deep sumps.There ARE internal windage trays available. I grew up around road racing before I got into offroad. So don't infer that I'm looking at it just from an offroad perspective. In all of my on and offroad experience, I've not experienced such oil starvation that a deep sump was a necessity on a VW T1. Cracking cases, pulled head studs, spun bearings, popped oil galley plugs, an oil pump gear shaft pushing out of the pump body into the end of the cam gear, etc. ... but never oil starvation.

As for the "max length of a cope"? In my opinion, there is NO "max". I would make the bar straight from the torsion housing area with a slight bend near the motor mount. LONG tapered cop. Harder to cut properly, but not that hard.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I have run into the oil starvation problem on a couple of engines (the first engine timed out because of that) and used the 1 1/2 qt sump to fix the problem but this was on the sand on slopes so steep that if you tried to stop and get out of your toy when running across the face of the slope you had to get out of your rig on the up-hill side of it or you would tumble or slide down the hill. I doubt that on the street or most light to moderate off-roading a person is going to run into the oil starvation problem like that. But to be honest, others get away with stock oil setup in the same area so go figure.

Others use a dry sump system and praise it... for what it is worth.

Lee

[cbeck]

Nothing new to report. Need to start on the engine cage in the next week or two. I did find some old pics of my still favorite acvw. It was also rear ended. Took out the bumper, right side exhaust and studs, and the right side pushrods and tubes. It had a lifted beam and would go every where my buddies jeep would go and never cost more than 100$ to fix. Pic is from around 87.

[Leatherneck]

Thanks for the old but Fav pic. You haven't heard it lately so here ya go, GET BUSY!

[cbeck]

Spare tire mount, yes or no. I have 4 of those wheel/tire.

[dustymojave]

If driving it on the highway, it's always good to have a spare tire along.

Off road as well.

You could put a used tire on that wheel which will be closer to the diameter of your other tires. Some places don't allow sale of used tires, but Cali does, as long as it's not legally bald. Hit up wrecking yards or tire shops for cheap used spare tires.

I was just thinking about your unfortunate tendency to wind up driving in the cross hairs of crappy drivers. With that in mind, it might be good to suggest a little defense to your rear bumper. Since offroad racers make passes on narrow 2-track trails between desert rocks and cactus, and sometimes it's hard to hear a horn beeping at you inside a pumper helmet with the noise of the sheet aluminum panels and gravel hitting stuff and a race exhaust, they sometimes don't get out of the way of other racers when the guy in back wants. So they use bumpers to get the idea across. Some racers sometimes get a little over-excited and bump a little harder than is entirely justified. For this reason, lots of racers (including me) add some metal to the faces of the bumper tubes for defensive purposes.

Angle iron with the 2 legs welded to the tube like: <o
or flat bar stock (3/16" x1") on edge like: -o

This works pretty well to reinforce your rear bumper, while encouraging the other car's front bumper to kink and fold. If you do this to your front bumper, it's considered an offensive weapon.

[Leatherneck]

On the spare location, possible to have two locations, with load have it up top, while not on the road with gear then put it in the bed area.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Silly thought !

Since the spare up high moves the CG up higher so why not go 30s and mount them fairly low and use them kind of as doors and side protection. Too bad they are so large in dia.

[Piledriver]

Hardly silly, I agree, the rear of the tree bars would be a great place for the spares, and out of the way.
Might even make a great armrest.

[cbeck]

An offensive weapon, sounds strangely appealing.... I was thinking around town I would carry some plugs, can o fix a flat, and a cell phone. I still am thinking about adding a 1"tube on the side above and following the nerf bars. Maybe I will find a place there I can live with. The angle welded to the bumpers is something I had not thought of. I will persue that idea, thanks.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Carrying a cell phone is always a good idea, except in the still few dead areas around. Around town the tire plugs and a tire pump are a yes. Off-road the fix a flat might be OK and tire plugs might be OK but off-road, if you damage a tire to where a boot is needed to get you home you would need both the boot patch kit and probably tire irons in your kit. Where I ride and at tire pressures we run (5#s to 7#s in the rear) popping the 30" X 15"+ wide tires away from the bead isn't that un-common for some people (hard off-camber landings); I am not too sure it isn't so in other off-road riding places especially if there is a lot of sliding around.

The "wide tires" that I mentioned was based on what I run but the narrower but taller (31"+) tires are more common in other off-road venues. I was very tired last night when I wrote the question but "Piles" reply got me thinking that if there is room then it might not be that silly... at second throught.

[Leatherneck]

An offensive weapon, sounds strangely appealing.... I was thinking around town I would carry some plugs, can o fix a flat, and a cell phone. I still am thinking about adding a 1"tube on the side above and following the nerf bars. Maybe I will find a place there I can live with. The angle welded to the bumpers is something I had not thought of. I will persue that idea, thanks.

I have my tires filled, well not filled but a lot of Tire sealant (not Slime), Got the same stuff we use on our equipment, does a very good job.

Use your picture and do some drawings of the tubing, see what floats your boat.