My chenowth 4lwd upgrades *Now Honda swap*

Offroad VW based vehicles have problems/insights all their own. Not to mention the knowledge gained in VW durability.
fordfreak
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Re: My chenowth 4lwd upgrades

Post by fordfreak »

It uses a spacer on one side.
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CentralWAbaja
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Re: My chenowth 4lwd upgrades

Post by CentralWAbaja »

Good man...funny thing about pictures...doesn't look like there could be enough room there.
It is not Mickey Moused.....It's Desert Engineered!
fordfreak
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Re: My chenowth 4lwd upgrades

Post by fordfreak »

I redesigned my towers. I wanted more of a verticle on the tower tubes, since they will be pulling straight up from the beam.

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Here's your photo Darren! :)

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Here you can see the oval hole...

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Sorry about the multi task posts. I get bored and have a problem jumping back and forth between things. I do a little bit of fab on the front then switch to the rear, etc... lol
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CentralWAbaja
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Re: My chenowth 4lwd upgrades

Post by CentralWAbaja »

Nice welding shoes :D Those must help let the sparks out and not get caught inside? Good thinking :wink:


Nice work also!
It is not Mickey Moused.....It's Desert Engineered!
JUSSUMGUY
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Re: My chenowth 4lwd upgrades

Post by JUSSUMGUY »

Very nice! It's motivating me to add coilovers on the front of mine. Are your shock towers 1 1/4 or 1 inch tube?
fordfreak
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Re: My chenowth 4lwd upgrades

Post by fordfreak »

Do it!! :D

I can work in sandals cause theres no sparks with tig! Ha I go straight to the shop after work so I I usually have sandals on. I need to start bringing a change of shoes to work. Ive had some close calls lol
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Devastator
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Re: My chenowth 4lwd upgrades

Post by Devastator »

Are you going to add some sort of locking device to those pivot bolts?
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fordfreak
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Re: My chenowth 4lwd upgrades

Post by fordfreak »

Ya im gonna make little hex inserts that fit into the head and bolt to the bushing housing.

Something like this but nicer

http://www.pacificcustoms.com/mm5/merch ... iling-arms
. I will be welding the nut on the other side
fordfreak
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Re: My chenowth 4lwd upgrades

Post by fordfreak »

JUSSUMGUY wrote:Very nice! It's motivating me to add coilovers on the front of mine. Are your shock towers 1 1/4 or 1 inch tube?
1 x .120 dom
fordfreak
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Re: My chenowth 4lwd upgrades

Post by fordfreak »

So, I concluded I had about 11" of front travel with 4" arms and 10" shocks. I had major tie rod to frame clearance issues especially on lock to lock.
I decided I am going to notch the bottom tube a little bit and cut out the top tube where the tie rod cycles. I will add a tube almost 2" higher and bring it to the inside about 1". This will give me 15" of travel in the front. This ghetto remedy is gonna bother me the entire time I have the car, but my hood will cover the madness and I'm eventually building a new frame later on anyways. :?

Here's a little paint brush description of what I mean...

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I made these flanged nuts for my trailing arm pivot bolts. I am going to weld them to the bushing housing.

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Oh and I picked up my new hood on Friday! Ordered through Stewart Raceworks in Santee, CA. They acquired most of the Chenowth original fiberglass molds. *Still trying to locate the side panel molds.
This thing is really nice quality and super light!

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**One problem though. My rack hits the hood. The hood sits about .750" too high in the front. I'm going to notch out the hood and if it looks like crap I will just put a little glass hump over it.

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Getrdone
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Re: My chenowth 4lwd upgrades

Post by Getrdone »

Sweet! I thought I was the only ridiculous early riser! In shop by 4!
fordfreak
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Re: My chenowth 4lwd upgrades

Post by fordfreak »

Here's some photos of my trans move. At full droop and 26 deg cv angle I needed the trans moved back 4" for the flanges to be inline.
This was a pain to center the trans and keep it square with the torsion housing. I really should have made some sort of floor fixture that would hold and "float" the trans in the frame and be moved around.
I made some 4" spacers to bolt on the front mount to hold the trans in the general location. I left the bolts loose so I could maneuver the trans a little left to right. I will remake the front mount too. I ended up installing the trans at 5 degrees.

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Ill be replacing these sagging tubes obviously...

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I had to re notch the trans mount for the difference in tube width, that wasn't a suprise. What surprised me is that the notches are offset in relation to the center line of the trans. Does anyone know why that is?

This is the style I have and it's offset to one side (depending with way you mount it).
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Here's the one that's on center...
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fordfreak
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Re: My chenowth 4lwd upgrades

Post by fordfreak »

Getrdone wrote:Sweet! I thought I was the only ridiculous early riser! In shop by 4!
lol negative. I'm up cause I work graveyard shift! The fab shop is just hobby stuff. I go in about 9am on my days off. ha
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Getrdone
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Re: My chenowth 4lwd upgrades

Post by Getrdone »

The engine sits about a half inch from centerline on a bus trans in relation to drive flange center. So, you can offset the trans to have a centered engine. Or center the drive flanges and have a 1/2" offset engine. I prefer equal axles and nobody notices a 1/2" on the engine.
fordfreak
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Re: My chenowth 4lwd upgrades

Post by fordfreak »

Sweet, thank you for clearing that up. I thought something like that.
I centered by flanges between the stub axles. The distance cup to cup is 21 3/8". Should I take off 1/4" or 1/2"? I keep reading different things. This is gonna be funky axle length.
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