Boardbysled's Budget Buggy Build

[boardbysled]

Slow progress, mocked up the passenger upper link. Barely clears the starter and will have to be clearance'd for the PS pump. Checking where the shocks/bumpstops will end up. Shocks are 2.5"x14" FOA coilovers with reservoirs and bumpstops are 2"x2" FOA bumps.

Long tube headers won't fit stock, gonna have to cut them down to mid-length.

Got the lower links in. Also got the orbital mocked up. For what it is worth, the steering column adapter for the orbital meant for toyota pickups fits the Nissan splines. Orbital is a little close to the header, will wrap the header and build a simple heat shield.

Tack'd the driveside mounts in. Pretty happy with how everything is shaping up. Looks like I will end up with a 22" belly with 5" of uptravel in the front.

 

[boardbysled]

Got the winch mount built as well as the front bumper today.

 

[boardbysled]

Got the transfer case mount mocked up. Had the D300 mounting plate cut locally. Plan on making a plate over the front output cover plate to stiffen it up.

 

[boardbysled]

A little tech on the Nissan WD21 H233b rear axle third members. (Gasp! I know, Nissan tech!) There are two bolt patterns for the third member studs/bolts. The early H233b's use 8mm? bolts and the later pattern use 10mm studs. The patterns are not interchangeable.

I started with a older style third member and a later style housing. My third member had the correct gearing and a locker and I am better at fabbing then diff work so here is what I did.

First you have to remove 4 studs shown. None of them line up with the diff pattern.

Then weld up the holes for these studs. The holes are very close to overlapping with the holes you will need to drill, so you will have to weld them up. Go slow and don't add a ton of heat to the housing and you will be fine. Try not to build the weld up too much because you will just have to grind it flat.

Drill the holes on the third member out to 10mm. Install the third member and mark the missing hole locations. I used a tight fitting center punch. Remove third member and drill & tap holes. Studs are 10mmx1.25 pitch. You need an 8.5mm drill bit for this size tap. Studs appear to be tapered, but the main method of alignment is the third member to flange.

Then install studs and rock out! Short side of stud goes in the housing. Don't forget locktight! I am replacing the bottom stud with a bolt because I deleted the drain plug from my housing.

Hope that helps someone. Really wasn't that bad of a task.

 

[boardbysled]

Got the my 22 gallon RCI fuel cell mounted and a Summit Racing fender fill kit with a sweet Motobilt bracket. Also got my Grififin transmission cooler mounted, pretty well built unit.

Also got all the rear link stuff pretty well buttoned up as well as the 2.5"x16" FOA coilovers. The 2.5"x2" bumpstops are tacked on but will need moved a little bit before they are finally burned in.

Great to finally make some visible progress. Of course, all this will have to come off once more for the final weld up.

 

[boardbysled]

Got my fuel pump and fuel filter mounted. Fuel pump is your standard E2000 with a couple fancy mounts I found on Amazon. Fuel filter is a Jeep YJ filter.

Decided to use the filter I bought for my steering as an auxiliary transmission filter. Will get another one for the steering. They are $12 for the mount and filter from Surplus Center. Also mounted a wye off it that has the temp sender for the Trans fan. May change that still, I will need a second sender for my temp gauge.

Also got my rear lightbar mounted that I got from RuffStuff. Pretty slick unit and fits perfect.

 

[CHOP SHOP]

Looking good!

 

[deerlick]

looks good but you might as well get rid of the stock frame and firewall at this point. they are really bringing down the rest

 

[boardbysled]

looks good but you might as well get rid of the stock frame and firewall at this point. they are really bringing down the rest

I will with the next one. Too far along with it now to make a drastic change, it kinda snowballed from what I originally intended.

 

[boardbysled]

Looking good!

Thanks!