Chenowth Light Strike Vehicle

[baja5]

Damn, Denny... you rolled it already??!!!

Yep, rolled it right off the trailer into the backyard. Actually, it should roll a bit easier with some new tires. These are shot.

[jt1967]

Denny load those pictures right side up im getting a head ache

[baja5]

Had some time yesterday so pulled the wheels off and dismounted the tires. They had tubes in them. Not sure why other than to be able to do a quick field repair if necessary. Unfortunately there is some rust around the valve stem hole. I think they will seal if I carefully file that area down flat. I sent them out to be powder coated and tires will be here on Friday. I need it to roll so tires that hold air are a must. Doing some driving on Thursday with the wife so plan to stop by Kartek and see what’s available in rebuild kits for the brake components. The brakes actually hold pressure but not the clutch. I would still feel better if I can rebuild all of it. Unfortunately they are all CNC except the rear calipers which are Wilwood. And since it is up on stands we will be pulling the front end apart for a inspection of the link pins and bushings. Also plan to matching the brake rotors to knock the rust off and repack the wheel bearings. We had planned to completely tear it down to the frame for paint but after some clean up it isn’t too bad. I think we will just end up tearing down what needs attention and doing touch up on the rest. Mike Adams talked to Kenny Majors(local race engine builder). Apparently he built a bunch of the engines for these cars back in the day. He said that they were a 2332 and that the 091 transmissions were done by Mendeola. And since this one does shift I’m hoping it is full of goodies and just needs a light refresher. Time will tell.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

One of the reasons for tubes in tires might be the potential of odd or sharp loads sideways on the tires which could cause the beads to separate from the rim's beads allowing the tires to deflate. This was a problem when radial tires came into the states in quantity. The first ones were not steel belted by nylon or anther material (I forget which). Radials first came out in 1948 in Europe and the shift here in the states was around '74 (https://www.bing.com/search?q=when+did+ ... 9ccc539d20).

My first work mounting tubeless tires was in the mif-60's.

Lee

[baja5]

That may be it Lee, not too sure. The wheels seem to be pretty rare. They are steel, DOT approved and real beadlocks so I wanted to keep and use them. If they don’t seal with the new tires I will use tubes but that will be a last resort.

[baja5]

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Had some time today. Still working on tear down. Took the front shocks off and replaced the zircs in the front beam and spindles. They all cycle nicely so not much else to do. Looks to have right at 13.5 inches of front travel. I’m meeting a guy tomorrow to pick it a pair of Fox coilovers. We took the rack off and are in the process of cleaning and painting the tie rods and steering shaft. They are pretty rusty and don’t look like they were ever painted. I also took the shifter and shift rod apart. It’s a custom set up using Heims. It will be reused just for the cool factor but paint and some new Heims are a must. The wheels are at the powdercoater. Didn’t have the rings done though, junior wants to match the body in color so those will get spray paint for now. Hoping to have them back this week. Tires will be here tomorrow so it will be nice to have it a roller again. Took the fuel tanks out. They have foam in them so that will need replacing as well as all the hoses and lines. Guessing there are fuel filters in the tanks as well. Those will get changes when we clean the tanks. Also came across a really rare fossil attached to the skid plate. Not sure the species but something in the 30 cal family I’m guessing

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[Ol'fogasaurus]

That bullet does look interesting but how, other than dirt, is it held in place .

The rear torsion bars join is an interesting thing in itself. I see that is where the long travel limitation is controlled; the coil over shocks will do all the suspension work it looks like.

The more I see the more I think I understand why tubes to double things up were used.

Lee

[baja5]

No coilovers in the rear Lee. Plan on keeping the torsions. It does have a very unique set up though. It has a SAW adjustable center torsion. It also as a separate torsion on each side that looks to act as a sway control as well as a hydraulic bump stop. As the torsion plate moves up it hits the override control which is attached to a small shock absorber. Pretty cool actually. The bullet casings are just caked in dirt, lots and lots of dirt.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

There is more than one way to do anything... careful... don't close any doors. I think I see more than just two options myself.

Lee

[baja5]

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I hope you all had a great Christmas. A little update. We really wanted to keep the wheels so they were powder coated. We opted to not do the rings because we weren’t sure of color so those were cleaned and spray painted hammer grey for now. New hardware and some new tires and it’s starting to look pretty good. We are running 30s up front and 31s on the rear. Also spent a bunch of time on the steering arms and shaft to get all the u joints cleaned and freed up. Tomorrow we will disassembled the fuel tanks for cleaning and new foam. There are 2 tanks that use a switch valve. Each tank has 5 different threaded bungs and I’m wondering if I can just run a couple of braided lines between the tanks so they will equalize. Otherwise I think I will need to add a second switch valve for the return line from the fuel pressure regulator. I thought about just splitting the return between the 2 tanks but I’m afraid that if 1 tank is full and gets return flow it might overflow. Any thoughts? Anyway, more to do. I think we are going to touch up the paint before we roll it into the garage for the engine mounting stuff. Satin black Krylon should make it look real nice.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

As I have said many times I am not a fan of braided (steel braided) fuel lines. Hard lines are best especially when connecting two tanks together just-in-case one or both breaks loose.

If you are going to run them simultaneously then at least one should have a fuel level sensor. Since the tanks have been run already you might have to flush the tank well then fill it with water to just short of where the mount will be welded into place. If you want I can take a pix of the tank (new and never used so I was able to get it welded w/o a lot of "you got to be kidding" I had done.

I decided to go out an take a pix:

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Remember to ground... very securely both tanks both for safety and, if you use a fuel gauge, (if I remember correctly) they send a ground signal to the gauge for the fuel level not a positive signal.

Lee

I forgot to add that the sender and the gauge need to operate in the same gauge range or the gauge may not read correctly.

[baja5]

Thanks Lee, the tanks seem to have been empty for many years so if I add the sender I don’t think it will be an issue. I recently changed the sender in the Thing and had to open the hole up a bit, not a big deal. Right now both tanks have external tube sight gauges. I don’t mind this method just need to decide on the return line deal. These cars weren’t built with fuel injection in mind so some changes will need to be made.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Thanks Lee, the tanks seem to have been empty for many years so if I add the sender I don’t think it will be an issue. I recently changed the sender in the Thing and had to open the hole up a bit, not a big deal. Right now both tanks have external tube sight gauges. I don’t mind this method just need to decide on the return line deal. These cars weren’t built with fuel injection in mind so some changes will need to be made.

"Sight glasses" (https://www.bing.com/search?q=sight+gla ... 8ab649aa5c) for fuel are very old technology and the last time I heard of them being still used that way was for things like "hit and miss engines" and other engines such as farm equipment which don't get bounced around that much. Also the sight tube has to have the ability to breathe so there isn't a vacuum to stop movement up and down to give a accurate reading. When I got into off-road and sand back in the very early 90's I did see some use of them but that stopped quite quickly when "things" (and I don't remember all of the problems) became apparent.

"One tank will get you there and the other tank will get you back"... an old saw ("old saw". A proverb or maxim, as in Mom's always repeating the old saw, "Haste makes waste.". This term uses saw in the sense of "saying," and old in the sense of "wise" rather than old-fashioned. https://www.bing.com/search?q=term+old+ ... 276d627ef8)

If you still want to use the old tanks I still would suggest that you have them either pressure washed or steam cleaned to get any possible "left overs" or rust in the tanks. An old hot rod and restorers trick.

Lee

[baja5]

Junior spent some time on the tanks today. Inside they look great. They are aluminum. We pulled the foam out and pitched it,new is on order. Surprised that there are no filters in the pick up tubes. I will be installing inline filters anyway. Next is to clean up and paint the filler plates, they are steel and reassemble. But before that we will clean up the rest of the chassis and hit it with some paint. Good thing I have another 4 day weekend coming up.

[CentralWAbaja]

Looking good Denny

Wheels cleaned up real nice.