The Dirt Squirrel v. 2.0 -- Even Dirtier

[sleepsontoilet]

I hope mine weighs enough to pull this piggy back over when we roll them. :****:

 

[the_white_shadow]

I hope mine weighs enough to pull this piggy back over when we roll them. :****:

Everything is a piggy compared to the cone dodger you are building. laughing1

 

[the_white_shadow]

I did however get the cab back on yesterday. Makes this thing look so much lower at full bump than without it on there. Now the fun starts with the interior. Its going to be a mix of welded up 14ga steel, some bolted in aluminum panels, and maybe some expanded metal in the footwells so I can see in front of me while wheeling. Not sure if ill leave them open or not. Still up in the air on that one.






Also ordered some AR400 plate (3/16") for my skids and some aluminum sheet for interior panels/floor from ALRO.

 

[LightBnDr]

I have small openings at the bottoms of my front foot areas. Ya know offset obviously so my feet aren't dangling. Lol

They are about as big as a basketball. I thought the same thing you thought that visibility would be stellar. It's good for seeing when you grenade a u-joint, a stub, a knuckle and sometimes that edge of a boulder that the inside sidewall is trying to grab.

Point being, if I did it over again I would still leave them open but I wouldn't dedicate a cover to the hole. I've never been in danger of eating gravel or dirt

 

[the_white_shadow]

Kept at it over the weekend.
1. Hacked up the original dash to fit around the tube work and narrowed it some. Still need to notch the dash cover and make an aluminum cover to cover some of the hacking i did.
2. Installed the factory steering wheel and modified the column to use the factory 3/4" borgeson style joint and the 3/4" u-joint from the firewall. Shortened it some and connected it all to the orbital.


3. Orbital mount. Everything clears but its stupid tight.


4. Pic of the Jimmy's Wilwood pedal that i modified to the left for more foot room and for a sport for the gas pedal.


5. A shot of the drivers side floor pan welded in. Im leaving the front open for visibility for now. Not a fan of mud so if it gets too messy, ill enclose it. Engine will get an aluminum doghouse.


6. Modified the way i mounted the radiator. Still need to remove the tabs in the center of the crossbar.



7. Mounted the power steering cooler in front of the radiator. May try to squeeze the trans cooler in front of the radiator as well, but will probably just mount it in the rear next to the fuel cell on its own fan. Power steering cooler is offset to the drivers side so I can fit the winch control box in there somewhere.



Power steering resi will get mounted near the firewall on the drivers side. Lots of work left to do but its starting to take shape. 4 weeks left until the maiden voyage...i hope.

 

[mcutler]

Re:

Knocking **** of the list...hammer down

Matt

 

[LightBnDr]

My floor openings are identical. Unless you are a skinny pedal guy, you'll never take a face full of mud there.

Looking great man

 

[dwa2469]

By far one of my favorite builds. Can't wait to see it done. It's gonna be badass

 

[the_white_shadow]

My floor openings are identical. Unless you are a skinny pedal guy, you'll never take a face full of mud there.

Looking great man

I do love me some skinny pedal.

 

[sleepsontoilet]

I do love me some skinny pedal.

Really?

 

[the_white_shadow]

Really?

Really, really. When in doubt, throttle out.

 

[the_white_shadow]

Found the best spot for power steering reservoir. Gives the feed line a pretty direct shot to the pump.

 

[the_white_shadow]

Work continued.

Thanks to Ron for letting me use his bender last week to bend a couple 1.5" tubes for the center console.




The patchwork quit floor boards are welded in. You can also see the shifter mounted up and the down tube i added to the door bar.




Charged and mounted up the coilovers. Sitting a little high (3" front and 4" rear) according to the amount of shock shaft showing (~10"/12"). I still need to add the fuel cell, battery, cooler, etc to the rear end so it should come down some. The front only needs fluids added and some misc stuff. Not sure how much it will come down.





Full droop up front


My aluminum sheet for the doghouse still hasnt come in. Apparently, and i quote, "We forgot to load it on the truck. It will have to come on Monday". DaFuq? Going to start on the electrical this week to hopefully get it started by this weekend. Im hoping once i add the weight to the rig, it will settle some. Right now, its just up there too high IMO.

 

[clemsonjeep]

Full droop up front

HAHAHA...the good ol stack of 6x6's. Been there and done that a few times.

 

[the_white_shadow]

haha yeah. I use blocks of wood for everything. They come in handy.

 

[the_white_shadow]

Started the fun part of any build, the wiring. I stripped out all the wiring from the old truck and moved it over to a piece of aluminum that i will bolt between the seats. I removed some of the **** im not going to use this time around (wipers/HIDs) and added a couple other circuits (trans fan). Mostly just did some general cleanup. My headlights will now be a set of Baja Designs Light pods i won in a raffle last year and ill also have a light bar up front. Since im not running a windshield, im thinking about installing a big single row up top along the top cross bar, but under the top of the cab.

The start of the wiring.


My aluminum is coming in today so I can start on the doghouse and see where things are going to lay out.

 

[LightBnDr]

Well let's hope they didn't forget to put it on the truck ya know. Lol

Lookin good man

 

[the_white_shadow]

Well let's hope they didn't forget to put it on the truck ya know. Lol

Lookin good man

Well, they havent called me yet to schedule delivery for this afternoon, so anything is possible. YRC freight is full of morons.

 

[ftoy516]

Started the fun part of any build, the wiring. I stripped out all the wiring from the old truck and moved it over to a piece of aluminum that i will bolt between the seats. I removed some of the **** im not going to use this time around (wipers/HIDs) and added a couple other circuits (trans fan). Mostly just did some general cleanup. My headlights will now be a set of Baja Designs Light pods i won in a raffle last year and ill also have a light bar up front. Since im not running a windshield, im thinking about installing a big single row up top along the top cross bar, but under the top of the cab.

The start of the wiring.


My aluminum is coming in today so I can start on the doghouse and see where things are going to lay out.

What kind of adapter/mount are you running on your trans in this picture? I have been looking for ideas like this to hang the drivetrain from the top instead of the bottom....images of this are few and far between.

 

[the_white_shadow]

I made my own mount to hang the transmission. I flipped the trans to Atlas adapter from AA over 180 and used the bolt holes. I also added some tabs to capture two of the studs on the atlas. I learned the hard way that the 6-bolt pattern on the atlas is not symmetrical when flipped 180. I had to drill out a couple of the holes in the adapter to get them to line up with the studs on the atlas.

The jims garage buggies use a similar mount but dont flip the adapter. Im not sure if its something he sells separately or something he just uses on his builds.