Congrats. That looks like it would be a lot fun.
Congrats. That looks like it would be a lot fun.
Time for the first significant repair :(
as I was loading up for last week's St Lucie rallyx, I noticed a tear in one of the cv boots and some grease slung around. I cleaned it up and made a patch with some ultra black rtv. It got me through the event, but the patch wasn't holding. I've got a Gambler HooptieX this weekend, so tearing it down before the new axle arrives tomorrow. I boogerd up a tie rod end a bit in the process, so that'll likely get replaced soon too. Should be good by Saturday!
So how is that thing to work on? Closer to wrenching on a car or more motorcycle?
In reply to Mezzanine :
So far, very car-like. Pretty good space to access most stuff so far, except for a throttle cable spacer (near the pedal) I installed the other day. That was pretty miserable!
CV boots suck. Toyota Birfield joints seem like they would be more resilient in an off road application. Is there anything better than either of those options? U joints have that speed fluctuation problem at significant steering angles. What do trophy trucks use?
In reply to Petrolburner :
Interesting. I was not familiar with birfield joints and had to look it up. I'm not sure what 4wd trophy trucks use in the front, I always assumed it was a CV setup. I don't intend to try and re-engineer anything on mine But I did order a pair of boots so I can re-boot the torn axle and have a spare on hand.
Lof8 - Andy said:In reply to Petrolburner :
Interesting. I was not familiar with birfield joints and had to look it up. I'm not sure what 4wd trophy trucks use in the front, I always assumed it was a CV setup. I don't intend to try and re-engineer anything on mine But I did order a pair of boots so I can re-boot the torn axle and have a spare on hand.
a single trophy truck axle likely cost more than your sxs. so they have decent high quality and durability cv's usually Porsche 934 cv's at $500-1200/joint.
"GamblerX" = awesome!
I need some tear-offs!
Some action shots from the last couple weekends.
That. Looks. Awesome!
In reply to Petrolburner :
So much fun! If I could only keep 1 toy, it would be this one.
I'm pretty pumped about the upcoming weekend! My wife and I took the day off Friday. We're pulling the hauler/camper over to Port St Lucie area, where I've used some hotel rewards points, from work travels, for a free night in a Holiday Inn Express (ballin!) We've packed our bicycles and will spend Friday riding around the beach.
We'll get a nice sleep and shower and head over to the Saturday SCCA rallyx. A fellow SXSer, Vlad, who I met at the last Firm event, is supposed to be joining the competition. He won the Firm event, so should be a tall task to try and beat him.
For Saturday afternoon and night, we've got a slip reserved at the Fort Pierce KOA, where we can do some more bicycle exploring. I've got the enclosed trailer rigged up for electrical connection and a 12000 BTU window a/c unit. I added some ceiling insulation as well. At-home test runs show significant improvement over the original 5000 BTU rendition.
Then on Sunday, we're going to meet up with Vlad at an area called "The Compound" outside of Palm Bay. This is a an area where roads were built many years ago for a large housing project, but the houses never got built. It's become an area of lawlessness for off-roaders, drifters and the like. I've seen lots of YouTube videos shot in the area, but never been there myself. Vlad is a regular to the area and wants to show us some cool tracks and trails. Should be pretty kick-ass if everything goes as planned!
That lawless place looks amazingly fun! I'd still be nervous of the law myself, but if it was close to me I'd still be checking it out for sure! Good luck!
The weekend was a blast and things went pretty much to plan. We spent Friday cruising around on our bikes at Vero Beach, and enjoying some sun and salt water and a couple of frozen drinks. Saturday was the SCCA Rallyx at Port St Lucie. Vlad didn't show up, so I took the UTV class win - big surprise! (I was the only one.) I was battling for the overall, but, unfortunately, I was not in the same run group with the mod AWD guys. The safety officials had to adjust the course layout due to ruts and the fast guys in the 2nd group had the advantage of a significantly straightened slalom portion of the course. Two of the awd cars got me by a couple of seconds as a result.
Saturday night, we hauled the rig to the Ft Pierce KOA and put the trailer into "camper mode" for a quiet night at the campsite and a nice dinner at the marina restaurant down the street.
Sunday, we met up with Vlad at the Compound. It was pretty awesome! There were lots of other off-roaders out there playing around. We rode trails and several different practice tracks for several hours - even caught some air over some doubles on one of the tracks! Unfortunately, the stock front-mount radiator got a bit caked with mud and was causing the machine to get a bit warm. We loaded up and headed home before causing any damage. But I've got a nice rear-mount radiator kit on the way now. Back to the Monday grind :(
Edit: I forgot to add that Vlad took me for a ride in his RZR1000 turbo. Holy Christ! That thing is on another level! Its got about 220hp. When he puts down the throttle, your field of vision gets all wiggly and blurred like you're in some kind of a video game "warp zone!" You don't have time to react to the imperfections of the ground - bumps, ruts, or whatever - but you don't even need to react to them. The suspension soaks up everything! I thought the YXZ was amazing (and it is) but that turbo RZR is just something else. I don't think I'll ever be able to beat him in any kind of head-to-head matchup. Wow!
Wow. I really wish I knew about the Compound while I was down there. Looks like a blast.
You totally got screwed on FTD by the run groups. The first group had a muddy, curvy course. 2nd group turned into a runway style course due to the ruts with two straights and a turnaround: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u32Iu8_lYmo. I guess that is rallycross for you.
I've got a (non SCCA) rallyx on Saturday that I'm hoping involves camping on Friday night. The needed parts all showed up today - all delayed significantly "due to Covid". Very limited time to get her put back together!
Looks like good fun.
I like that work table - restaurant surplus?
In reply to TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) :
Lol. Yes it is. I'm a project manager with a commercial kitchen company. This table came back from a job after it had sat in our warehouse for a long time and the protective plastic would not peel off completely. I asked my boss if I could buy it and he said, "just get it out of here". Works pretty good for welding stuff.
Found the PO had the air box attached poorly. Been sucking dirt. Oil consumption was significant and power output was dropping. No bueno. :( sending the engine to Wisconsin for a build. Upgrades depend on the problems he finds. Kinda bummed about it.
positives: the engine only weighs about 100 lbs and comes out pretty easily.
berkeley
Looks fiiiiiiiiiiine, don't know what you're worried about.
That's a good amount of junk. Atleast you cought it before motor got a window.
Bummer deal. Turbo time? :D
Pics from my engine guy aren't too pretty.
but he's got 1050cc bored blocks on hand. (Quicker turnaround time). Beefier rods, cams, new pistons and a new tune will put me up about 30 hp over stock. So that's where this is going.
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