General Tech The Mango Bastard - A Rockwell Buggy story

[YROC FAB.]

 

[bryson]

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What is this?

 

[RockChucker]

What is this?

looks like a fancy-fied Gen III LS valley cover. The holes are for knock sensors that are in the dumbest place ever.

 

[YROC FAB.]

What is this?

Austin new valley pan on his 6oh that I jeweled for him last night.

 

[_Auzzy_]

Aight update for yall.

Got a parts pile

Exhaust stuff, new link, intake stuff, etc.



Finally got my 6hoe in the shop and got it stripped!!! Now for the fancy stuff




The fanciness





It's really nothing fancy, just resealed it, new timing chain, meiling oil pump, car pan and pick up tube, intake, and a shiiiiiiiit ton of cleaning. Plus a few fancy trinkets from ict billet like the rear flow barbell, front passage plug, pick up tube hold down girdle, steam lines and coil pack brackets. Cory's bling job on the valley pan looks sweet underneath the intake. Was gonna just paint it orange but Cory wanted to try this. We didn't have the correct pads for this and the metal could have been more polished before hand but all n all I think it turned out cool

Next up, trans!

So before this I was having some slight issues like 2nd to 3rd slipped a bit, it got hot easy in those gears and the pump was making some bad noise. Got it out and over to our transmission guru. Upon removal I also noted that the bolts on the housing had come loose except for one. Anywho got it to him and this is what we found.

The clutches were burnt but not bad, still alot of life left in them, also all the other internals were perfectly fine. Thus we've come to the conclusion the fragments and noise etc is coming from the not cheap torque convertor



Also with the bolts being loose I think we found our culprit. Looks like the last owner of this trans did some cool guy cardboard mixed weldering on on of the guide pilot holes. This would explain why the bolts became loose and why it was making the noises It was.



Thankfully our guru found me another case, reassembled it all, and found me a lower pan and pick up tube for clearance! Only.bad part about this was is that the right upper bolt hole had broken off. Thankfully Cory was able to tig it up and weld a new one in



And lastly we finally dug into the atlas a few days back and got all the glitter out and the synchros fixed up, shifts smooth, got some brass coming for shifter knobs



Aight now for some yard sale stuff! Bunch of 6.0 junk licking around now if anyone needs something

 

[_Auzzy_]

Also, after much wait and little patience. I finally received my wheels minus a gasket! Now to just get the rock rings here and get them burned and painted

 

[_Auzzy_]

Lil update.

Picked up some BBK Headers for a camaro off the ol Facebook. Think they're gonna be exactly what I need to do this setup how I'm wanting.







Also got some more goodies for the exhaust like a resonator I'm gonna shove in the tail pipe and some flex joints to help take some stress off the Headers unlike my.old solid system. Also shot of the new shiny magnalfow

 

[_Auzzy_]

Also started fixing some little things on the ol girl while I'm at for time to swap the motors. Today I gutted the rear half of the fuel cell, radiator, transmission coolers, and all the mounts.









Then I started on the rear suspension. Main issue being the bent lower right link




Shiny new links and heims



So been a concern I've had but has amazingly held well is the lack of thread engagement on the lower heims. There was only a total of 1" of threads in the link! Remedy is Barnes extended shanks bottomed out after cutting 1" off. But while trying to switch out the heims I had one give me one hell of a fit. The misalignments won't come out! Tried heat, anger, cuss words, holy water, Virginia sacrifice, nothing worked. So Cory made me a beefy set out of some bar we had kicking around . Might replace them, might not, they're beef and will do the job just fine.

 

[_Auzzy_]

Small update, finally got the bronco out of the shop and my pig rolled in.



Course the obvious first noticeable thing is the stickies are on!! Here's some pics showing the difference between them and the pitties

First height is damn near exact, sx2s have them by a hair.



Next is the big factor, weight! Nearly 40lbs lighter!



And on of course



Then while I was at it I switched out my Old limiting straps for some new wide open design straps 👌 one was tearing and the other was ripping so f it, all new.

 

[_Auzzy_]

 

[_Auzzy_]

Oh and I made a neat Lil fan shroud for my trans cooler. Buggered it trying to tig weld the diamond pieces in, thanks fully Cory was able to fix it back up. Dual 7 inch fans that move a good amount of air should help alot. Cooler dimensions are 7.5 tall, 23.5 wide, and 1.5 thick 👌

 

[_Auzzy_]

Holy crap it happened yall, she's in the shop.



Took some finesse and a portable battery pack but we got it in



Anyways, after about 40 minutes of slow wrenching and stuff, motor was out



Now from there I dove into the old wiring b.s.

Cleaned out tons of old unneeded wires and the old harness, made tons of room and a simpler system.










Thats all till later today folks!

 

[_Auzzy_]

So over due update/pic dump. Here we go

Motor is in, mounts burned in, transe and tcase in bunch of old wiring gone, engine wiring getting done, etc.










Cory started knocking out yet another amazing fuel cell for me. It's going to the passenger side since this rebuild is not only for the drivetrain but also the balance and function as well. Getting rid of dual batteries for one and a badass alternator, no more rear steer electric pump, radiator mounted back and lower and everything else is getting moved to the center. Idea is just center the weight and hopefully help with her body control.









New rear steer valve mounted in the belly pan too

 

[_Auzzy_]

Cory's fuel cell building. It's done, I need to get a pic or 2 of the finished product but here's the build process from card board templates to Easter egg.

 

[_Auzzy_]

Got the rear brake line/hyrdros/electrical scooted to the side since the winch is mounted more inward now the line will feed up to the rear. Also fixed a bad pressure switch, reflared my lines and new tabs








Then i started to do my exhaust system but had to stop cause I realized I forgot to order two more v band clamps and flanges.









For a muffler im.using a magnaflow resonator and a large magnaflow muffler that is fibe repacked and Z's inside to catch the noise and such. Same series as that on my mint bastard and I loved that so hopefully it works well and has a good tone and low idle noise.

 

[_Auzzy_]

Also got rid of the pitties. Have a full set of 16.5 double beadlocks in need of tires! If anyone has a lead on some, preferably some 44 boggers or 46 claws or 47ltbs

 

[_Auzzy_]

And here's the new fuel cell, 16 gallons completely filled to the brim so say 15.5 usable gallons on the safe side. Waaay more than needed, the old tank only held 14.5ish and I never used its full amount. Also the trans cooler got homed.

 

[_Auzzy_]

Got the exhaust wrapped up. These bbk headers sucked lol super close together tubes. Between the headers and tubes and mufflers I used 100ft of wrap. Also found me a belt and an oil filter finally. Sadly with how my exhaust is the oil filter can only be removed if the passenger side tube isn't on. Thankfully this only gets changed twice a year





Just to help myself with numbers later on

 

[1969honda]

Wrap job looks good, can you got a remote oil filter kit for better access?

 

[_Auzzy_]

Wrap job looks good, can you got a remote oil filter kit for better access?

Definitely could but don't wanna deal with running hoses around to clear all the hot crud and risk one of them leaking and leaving me stranded.