Victory Lap

Tonight I took my victory lap around the block in the jeep.

See the video at:
http://jonathansjeep.blogspot.com



Here is me making some final preparations:


Notice I put the radiator protector in:


Here is my to-do list. I am knockin them down.


I received the LEDs for the dash


Here are some shots of the cockpit. No, the paper gauges do not work.






Look at that beautiful tire track!


In order to drive I had to bleed the brakes (new lines were installed, but never bled) and get the driveshaft hooked up. I also had some transmission bugs to fix, but was able to work all of that out today. Speed bleeders are AMAZING! Not only do they made bleeding brakes a snap, they also keep you from getting in trouble with the old lady for making her pump up the brakes and such.

The jeep felt very solid on the road and was just generally very intense to drive. Loud as hell with only headers on it too. I drove it around with no hood on for added respect and style points from my neighbors. I also had the girlfriend sitting in the passenger side of the tub.

Other news:
The horn in the jeep is busted and I have this one on the way:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380158631689

I am also looking for a good beep beep backup alarm. I had a TAIL-GATOR forktruck one slip through my hands on ebay for $3.50, lucky guy.

So in short, the major things left to do are:
Wire up the dash and components
Paint the rollcage, fuel rack, bumpers, crash bars, do touchups to chassis paint, etc
Muffler Shop
Title Inspection/Emissions/Registration

Good times.

O||||||O

Racin' Ain't 'bout Idlin'

Today I worked on getting the jeep to run. I first struggled with it not idling, but then I remembered that when I was rebuilding the carburetor that I figured that I would adjust the curb idle when it came time to fire the engine. So finally another 3/4 turn later the coolantless engine was purrring like a kitten. Which leads me to my next point, I have yet to hook up the coolant lines/radiator, which means that I have not ran the engine for more than 30 seconds within an hour's time. I also worked on the fuel lines a bit more and got the fuel tank venting and rollover cutoff valves installed. I cleaned up my vacuum system (My first hunch at the idle was not enough fuel flow or a vacuum problem).

I got the lights working so that when I get the jeep running during an all-nighter i can take it for a spin.




I installed the air cleaner, I have yet to paint up the air cleaner and all that jazz, but that is in the works.


I plan on getting the radiator in this week, taking care of the brakes, taking care of the transmission, installing the seats and then taking it for a spin around the block.

Visit here to see a movie of the jeep running:

http://jonathansjeep.blogspot.com/

All I have to say is racin' ain't 'bout idlin'.

Down to the Wire

I have been getting a start on the jeep's wiring. Here is what I have done so far.

Here is the wiring for the radio door circuit. It works like a charm, but pulls too much current for the hobby battery.

Here is the jeep wired up:

The engine is wired and turns over with the key.

Here is the in-dash wiring.

I sealed the steering wheel hole with an old dirtbike tube and some silicone.

The rear lights are installed.

I had a mechanic come test out my steering wheel installation, things seemed to check out alright.

Here is my current to do list. There are way too many small things for my to remember, so I am just going to start writing them down here. I imagine that new items will come up faster than i can cross them off.

Currently the jeep is filled with all kinds of junk.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a video of the thing running. I will definitely have it running by the weekend.

Electric Slide

I am making a way cool component in the dash. Basically it will be an electrically operated door that covers the radio door to prevent theft. The logic is: when the radio is on, the door will open and stay open. When the radio is off the door will close and stay closed.

I have also gathered the components:

1 Solenoid: to lock the door

1 300rpm reversible motor: to move the rack and pinion back and forth

1 rack and corresponding spur gear: this is the core component here, converts rotational motion to linear motion, a rack is like an unrolled gear

2 micro roller switches: for shutting off the circuit

3 SPDT relays: for motor directional changes and ignition switching

1 SPDT relay: for solenoid that locks door

2 Drawer sliders: for the door to slide on

1 Fuse block: for when my crappy wiring shorts out so the jeep doesn't burn down

4 colors of auto wire: for making nests

Tons of connectors and wiring harness connectors.

I drew up a schematic of the electronics required to do this:

Here are some of the goodies:

Micro roller switches. These shut down the circuit when the door has traversed its extents. The circuit will then wait for an interrupt from the opposite signal.

These are the ball bearing sliders the door will operate on.

Here is a prototype of the motor/switching circuit.

I am testing the video capabilities here. Once the circuit and everything is completed, I'll put a demo video up of its operation.

d a s h | DESIGN

So am am designing the dash. I think my design is complete, I just have to make final measurements regarding the sizes of some of the switches that i plan on using. Click on the picture to really see what is going on!

I am missing the bolt hole positions and I may want to play with the grab bar a bit more. This is what it will approximately look like though.

The black rectangle to the right of the gauge cluster is the stereo door. The stereo will have a door that automatically opens when the radio is on and closes when the jeep is off. It is kind of a big deal.

Kick Some Assembly

So you can see in these pictures that progress is being made. There are still a lot of loose ends to be fixed, but the main things in the pipeline are:

Wiring the whole jeep, running fuel lines, brake lines, etc.

Dash: This is part of wiring,but also involves a lot of fabrication.

Paint: I have to paint the rollcage, fuel rack, bumpers, fuel cans, dash, etc.

The pedals are installed, I painted all the hardware gloss black.

Seat risers. Oh I sold the nasty bucket seats these came with for $25.

The steering wheel got more of a satin black treatment, as that was closer to the original color.

Here is what the jeep is looking like these days.

Engine shots, it needs a good rinse from all the crazy sanding dust.

Oh, I finally have the steering wheel installed!

Steering knuckle.

Engrave Danger

So I found a company that makes switch panels. Check this out, you go on their website, download their software and get to designing.

Here is my design screen:

There is a little "$" button in the software you can click at any time and get this:

############################################################
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Pricing for the file:
C:\Documents and Settings\xxxxxxx\My Documents\My_Stuff\jeeeeep\dash\dashRoughDraft.fpd

Based on price list of: Front Panel Express, LLC
Price list date: December 1st, 2007

Type | Position | Remarks | Price
-------------+---------------+--------------------------------------+-----------
Other | ------------- | Preparing/finishing | $14.38
Drill hole | 167.64/113.03 | Diameter: 3.3750" | $3.69
Drill hole | 245.11/104.14 | Diameter: 2.0625" | $2.30
Drill hole | 310.99/101.44 | Diameter: 2.0625" | $2.30
Drill hole | 216.85/49.21 | Diameter: 2.0625" | $2.30
Drill hole | 277.65/49.05 | Diameter: 2.0625" | $2.30
Drill hole | 339.72/48.89 | Diameter: 2.0625" | $2.30
Drill hole | 79.85/87.47 | Diameter: 0.5000" | $0.64
Drill hole | 48.10/53.18 | Diameter: 0.5000" | $0.64
Drill hole | 119.22/143.35 | Diameter: 0.5000" | $0.64
Drill hole | 214.47/144.62 | Diameter: 0.5000" | $0.64
Drill hole | 79.85/53.18 | Diameter: 0.5000" | $0.64
Drill hole | 46.83/87.47 | Diameter: 0.5000" | $0.64
Drill hole | 8.89/8.89 | Diameter: 0.2500" | $0.37
Drill hole | 8.73/168.75 | Diameter: 0.2500" | $0.37
Drill hole | 8.89/91.44 | Diameter: 0.2500" | $0.37
Drill hole | 130.81/170.18 | Diameter: 0.2500" | $0.37
Drill hole | 252.57/167.48 | Diameter: 0.2500" | $0.37
Drill hole | 382.11/168.75 | Diameter: 0.2500" | $0.37
Drill hole | 384.33/87.15 | Diameter: 0.2500" | $0.37
Drill hole | 381.79/8.41 | Diameter: 0.2500" | $0.37
Drill hole | 253.52/5.87 | Diameter: 0.2500" | $0.37
Drill hole | 132.87/7.14 | Diameter: 0.2500" | $0.37
Engraving | 71.12/76.20 | Winch | $1.20
Engraving | 30.48/76.20 | Sol Brake | $1.92
Engraving | 30.48/41.91 | Int Lights | $1.73
Engraving | 69.85/40.64 | Stereo | $1.44
Engr. rect. | 62.23/63.50 | 3.0000" x 3.5000" Width: 0.0236" | $2.02
Engr. rect. | 194.31/88.90 | 13.9000" x 5.8000" Width: 0.0236" | $5.70
Other | ------------- | Engraving in-filling | $17.57
Other | ------------- | Multi-color supplement (2 colors) | $4.03
Other | ------------- | 2 Tool change(s) | $2.56
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total: $75.28

Amount | 5-9 pieces | 10-19 pieces | 20-29 pieces | from 30 pieces
---------+------------+--------------+--------------+---------------
Discount | 5.0% | 10.0% | 15.0% |
Price | $71.52 | $67.75 | $63.99 | on request

The price is without sales tax and shipping charges.

In our constant effort to improve our products and services we reserve
the right to change specifications and prices without notice.
############################################################
############################################################

That's right! The price of the very thing you just designed! Then you click order panel and the software submits the order to them and then you check out, pay your price for the panel, pay the shipping and then you get an awesome panel.

Here is their website:
http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/

Here are some shots of their work:
http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/en/showcase/front-panels.html

Anyways, I am very glad I found these guys, they have lots of colors to choose from for a base metal and then lots of epoxy fill in colors for the etching.

Here is what the dash will look like with my proposed panel (one of several):

Oh, did I mention that I cut the dash out with a circular saw? 1/8" diamond plate. I then cleaned it up with a wire wheel, some dawn, wire brushes and stuff. Next I'll hit it with a rust killer, then do some cutting on it, then do some big holes then some final grinding.

Diamondplate texture:

I also got the gauges in the mail! Steering column "cluster"

Speedometer cluster, goes in panel.

Beautiful