Build The Dirt Squirrel 3.0

[DirtSquirrel]

You've got me thinking now. I've always struggled to get a pedal I'm happy with using manual brakes. Wonder if adding a 3rd caliper to the rear output on the t-case....In addition to normal wheel brakes in the rear would help get good breaks without having to be Popeye to push them.

What size master(s) are you using now? How long is your pedal? What calipers/rotors? It all should be designed together for the best system. If you use a driveline brake for the rear, i dont see the reason to keep the ones on the rear axle, other than converting them to cutting brakes or something.

 

[Blase]

What size master(s) are you using now? How long is your pedal? What calipers/rotors? It all should be designed together for the best system. If you use a driveline brake for the rear, i dont see the reason to keep the ones on the rear axle, other than converting them to cutting brakes or something.

I don't want to derail you're thread. current build doesn't have any brake parts yet and to the best of my budget will get brakes sized to work as you stated. Old buggy had dual 3/4 willwoods with a single 7:1 pedal. 1/2 single piston chevy calipers F&R. Auto with stock stall and 5.13's...... it stopped but I had to push harder than I'd like at times. new owner switched to hydroboost.

 

[DirtSquirrel]

I don't want to derail you're thread. current build doesn't have any brake parts yet and to the best of my budget will get brakes sized to work as you stated. Old buggy had dual 3/4 willwoods with a single 7:1 pedal. 1/2 single piston chevy calipers F&R. Auto with stock stall and 5.13's...... it stopped but I had to push harder than I'd like at times. new owner switched to hydroboost.

No worries man. Maybe the information can help others. a proper torque converter with the right stall can help tremendously when pushing through brakes in low. Previous buggy was 3/4 chevy stuff and 3/4" masters with the wilwood pedal and stock 4l60e TC. They sucked hard. Swapped in wilwood dynalites and some expensive pads and they still sucked.

Im using a TCI breakway TC for my 700r4 with a longer pedal and it works much much better so far. A pedal in the 9:1 range can help increase the pressure. Larger rotors, hydroboost, also help, but i didnt feel comfortable running f/r steer and hydroboost off of one PS pump.

 

[Ghetto Fab]

Yessir. No rear brakes at the axle. Just the one on the t-case. Seemed to work very well.

You running a spool in the rear?

I'm thinking of running the electric booster on a new build. I was actually thinking of sticking the whole thing under the floor.

 

[DirtSquirrel]

You running a spool in the rear?

I'm thinking of running the electric booster on a new build. I was actually thinking of sticking the whole thing under the floor.

Yep. Spools front and rear

 

[DirtSquirrel]

Finished a few things the last couple nights. Swapped out the PWM alternator with a Gen 3 LS alternator from an LQ4 with a 1-wire connection. charges at a constant 14.7 volts now at idle and will hopefully fix my wire melting issues.

I also drained the atlas and removed and resealed the bolts holding on the rear brake. All 3 bolts holding it on were loose. Hopefully this isnt an ongoing issue.

I also moved the air intake from sitting right on top of the drivers exhaust manifold sucking in all that hot air to outside the doghouse on the passenger side. Hopefully this will lower my IATs from ~140ish to close to 100 degrees.

I have a date with the tuner on Tuesday to put it on the dyno and get the tune worked out.

 

[DirtSquirrel]

New rubber for the dyno.

 

[woody]

unfortunately, that air intake is now in a cricital visibility spot. Are you running panels on either side of the motor in that area? I have panels JUST far enough forward to protect my feets, but kept each side of the engine bay fully open for air flow.

Of course, you may find minimal difference in the IAT too....curious to what those readings drop to.

 

[DirtSquirrel]

unfortunately, that air intake is now in a cricital visibility spot. Are you running panels on either side of the motor in that area? I have panels JUST far enough forward to protect my feets, but kept each side of the engine bay fully open for air flow.

Of course, you may find minimal difference in the IAT too....curious to what those readings drop to.

If the IATs arent that much different i can move it back. Hopefully getting it tuned will fix all of the high ambient heat issues i had during the shakedown.

I have panels on both sides of the engine about 1ft forward and from the floor to the top of the tubes. It protects my feet and the passengers feet from the manifolds that are right there. Sitting in the drivers seat, i really cant see the intake as the panel blocks it. I can lean to the right and see if needed. I do plan on putting toyota fenders and a hood on the front end so it will all be pretty much covered anyways.

 

[DirtSquirrel]

Some dyno results. Had to swap wheels and tires again to a set the tuner had lying around as the 17s and wheel spacers were too wide to fit on the dyno.

Best pull of the day was 175Hp and 209Tq. Stock HP for these engines is 285. So i pretty happy with the results even though i could care less what the numbers were. I just wanted it to run better. The timing tables were all out of whack from the initial base tune and now she idles and pulls hard. No more crazy ambient heat from the engine bay or reversion back into the intake. IATs were close to 100 degrees with the new intake position outside of the doghouse. Cant wait to see how well it does on the trail next week. The final pull saw ~80mph on the dyno which i was expecting the offset driveshaft to shit the bed, but everything held together and nothing exploded.

Nice smooth curve. AFR was worked on a little as well and was made less fat, but still conservative. We then worked the tune a little for each gear in low range to make sure everything was kosher. The buggy should be a beast now, if i ever need to use it.

And of course a baby burnout video. I didnt want to ruin a set of tires that werent mine.

New video by Alex Matula​

 

[DirtSquirrel]

Added a little water to the front tires. About at the halfway point.

 

[DirtSquirrel]

Rugged Mountain Ranch Trip No. 2 report.

We made the 7hr rive back to RMR over the weekend for 3 days of wheeling. It was nice having someone show us around. If anyone wants to wheel in southern oklahoma, this place is a lot of fun. Huge rocks in the mountains.

The tune worked great. No more running hot or dying at part throttle. Buggy had no real issues. Only thing i need to do is work on the air shocks. Still not enough pressure (at least for that place) and now one of them is leaking at the lower seal. I wont change them until after i get back from Rocktoberfest at K2.

Some pics from the weekend.

Draggin by sack all over these rocks

Pizza got delivered

Paul's new to him buggy did great for his first time in the seat.

Got the buggy washed off and left it on the trailer. Leaving Thursday for mason, TX and beautiful Katemcy Rocks.

 

[whiterhino]

Glad the run went well. Been there once before and we have a group of 4 headed there the weekend before Thanksgiving. Maprika no longer supports Iphone so I'm hoping my buddy's Android will lead us around.

 

[DirtSquirrel]

Did some wheeling last weekend at the beautiful Katemcy Rocks in Mason, Texas. Had a blast until the pump in the transmission left the chat.

My buggy next to my bud's new whip. The top on his is getting a 3" chop here pretty soon.

Thomas' S10

Tow rope of shame

 

[DirtSquirrel]

As i mentioned in the last post, my transmission took a shit on me while i was staring at the sky attempting a hard line on a trail luckily that was close to camp. It made no noise, but suddenly quit pulling in any gear. I had 6 neutrals and park. Turns out the pump broke in about 4 places. I guess the cast stock pump didnt like the constant pressure valve body. I wish i knew their was a billet option for the pump when i had it rebuilt and i would have spent the extra ~$300 on one. Lesson Learned.

Anyway i pulled the trans out the bottom on the buggy, which actually went pretty well.

The pump broke in 4-5 places it looks like.

I dropped the trans off on Saturday at the rebuilder and he already got it back together. Im picking it up today at lunch and have the next 2 days to get it back together for the Top Gun Shootout for $10k thats going on this weekend at K2 in Mason. If youre in the area, its always a good show. The best of the best crawlers from all over the country come to Mason, Texas to compete on a virgin piece of pink granite.

 

[woody]

Oh dang! Nice carnage!

Super bummed I can't make TTGS...love wheeling down there and had a blast last year. Looking forward to the videos

 

[DirtSquirrel]

Oh dang! Nice carnage!

Super bummed I can't make TTGS...love wheeling down there and had a blast last year. Looking forward to the videos

Dang. I thought you were going to make it.

 

[Blitz]

Can’t wait to wheel K2 with ya.

 

[DirtSquirrel]

Texas Top Gun Shootout did not disappoint. I got to the park on Wednesday to get a prime camping spot before the crowd showed up. Rained most of the day Thursday. Wheeled Friday and checked out the courses. Saturday watched and ran the qualifying course and DQ'd right at the end. Sunday was the big show and watched some amazing driving on some tough courses. These rocks were virgin. No one has ever attempted any of the courses that were setup. No one made it all the through on Course 1. It was slick as shit and most timed out at the bottom. Everyone then moved to Course 2. 3 out of 11 rigs made it to the finish line with several breaking and getting stuck hard in a crack called Texas Liberal Tears. Out of the three who went to the final Course, only one made it all the way up in the 10-min time limit without rolling. Some pics. Lots of vids posted on my IG.

Friday Wheeling:
BJ and Thomas

Qualifying Course: The drop at the beginning was a lot of fun. I hate going down shit, but it went well. It didnt go so well for some.

A buddy rolled right before the exit

The TTGS on Sunday
The eventual winner Maverick on Course 1. The is at the bottom where it was the wettest. The exit gate is up top between those two flag banners. No one made it up there out of the 11 competitors.

Course 2 was a huge crack that everyone have to navigate up and over. Most ended up falling in which caused for some gnarly recoveries.
Marvin getting a little off the line and called it.

a view of the drop

The drivers were staring at nothing but the ground. Had to feel like shit.

A recovery of Dana in his Sasquatch car. He was the final competitor on course three and had to complete the course in less than 7.5 minutes to beat Maverick. He sent it like he always does, but ended up on his lid. He put on a show.

Overall it was a kickass event put on by some great folks. Cant wait to try these new trails when i get back to the park for their next open date. Next trip for me will be Hot Springs ORV for our annual thanks giving trip.

 

[Broski]

Texas Top Gun Shootout did not disappoint. I got to the park on Wednesday to get a prime camping spot before the crowd showed up. Rained most of the day Thursday. Wheeled Friday and checked out the courses. Saturday watched and ran the qualifying course and DQ'd right at the end. Sunday was the big show and watched some amazing driving on some tough courses. These rocks were virgin. No one has ever attempted any of the courses that were setup. No one made it all the through on Course 1. It was slick as shit and most timed out at the bottom. Everyone then moved to Course 2. 3 out of 11 rigs made it to the finish line with several breaking and getting stuck hard in a crack called Texas Liberal Tears. Out of the three who went to the final Course, only one made it all the way up in the 10-min time limit without rolling. Some pics. Lots of vids posted on my IG.

Friday Wheeling:
BJ and Thomas

Qualifying Course: The drop at the beginning was a lot of fun. I hate going down shit, but it went well. It didnt go so well for some.

A buddy rolled right before the exit

The TTGS on Sunday
The eventual winner Maverick on Course 1. The is at the bottom where it was the wettest. The exit gate is up top between those two flag banners. No one made it up there out of the 11 competitors.

Course 2 was a huge crack that everyone have to navigate up and over. Most ended up falling in which caused for some gnarly recoveries.
Marvin getting a little off the line and called it.

a view of the drop

The drivers were staring at nothing but the ground. Had to feel like shit.

A recovery of Dana in his Sasquatch car. He was the final competitor on course three and had to complete the course in less than 7.5 minutes to beat Maverick. He sent it like he always does, but ended up on his lid. He put on a show.

Overall it was a kickass event put on by some great folks. Cant wait to try these new trails when i get back to the park for their next open date. Next trip for me will be Hot Springs ORV for our annual thanks giving trip.

Living the Dream !!
Looks like a lot of fun !! Keep posting !

 

[woody]

Looked like another great TTGS weekend, super bummed we weren't there. Did watch a bit of the live feed, I'm glad they made the qualifier a rock crawl and not a rock race like last year

 

[DirtSquirrel]

Did an oil change on the shocks before the next trip. I removed the shocks and changed out the 4.5wt (i think) oil with 10wt Honda Fork oil. These 16" Radflos call for 700ml of fluid and i added about 25 extra to help with bottoming out. Im glad i changed the oil as one of my rear upper shock bolts was bent already.

This is my first time taking apart an air shock. After watching some youtube videos on disassembling a king shock, i was expecting a snap wring to hold the shaft in, but these Radflos are only held in with the ~2" of threads holding the lower cap on. They came apart and went back together easily. 2/4 shocks had 700ml and one had 650, and the other 675. Now they are all 725.

Hopefully the uptravel will remain at ~4.5" this time and not settle to 2" or so after a day of wheeling. A quick trip around the yard feels better by the seat of the pants, but time will tell on the trail.

 

[woody]

725 "might" be too much, I'm at 710 with mine. Either way, a definite improvement.

What were your front/rear pressures before/after?

 

[DirtSquirrel]

725 "might" be too much, I'm at 710 with mine. Either way, a definite improvement.

What were your front/rear pressures before/after?

I went back to the pressures i ended up with on the lighter weight oil to start with. 85psi front and 60 psi rear. This is about 4.5" shaft all the way around. Ill wheel it this week to see if they settle some. Id like to be in the 3.5-4" range.

 

[DirtSquirrel]

Welp, broke a second pump inside the transmission (i think). This time it was a billet one in the 700r4. It took out the snout of the torque converter while it was at it. Now im trying to figure out why. Is it the TCI constant pressure reverse manual valve body? Is it a bad TCI out of balance converter? Bad flexplate? Improper spacing ie too far into the transmission? Im at a loss here. I did but a new flexplate that is predrilled for this 10" converter and its bolt pattern to replace the stock LV3 flexplate that i had to egg out the holes. Maybe i got them wrong to make the converter out of round. I am using a spacer for the snout, but maybe i dont need one? Im at a loss here. It only seems to work for like 12 hours of run time, then the pump goes boom.

Anyone have any thoughts? Should i ditch the TCI VB and run a forward manual one? Whichever one i use, i will need to keep the TV cable deleted.

here is a pic of the TC after i pulled the transmission yesterday. It was basically bound up in the pump and i had to pry it out.

 

[woody]

I know a few guys locally who have had TCI issues in recent years, both building themselves or with regional builders using their components. They finally gave up and went with Monster Transmission and have had no issues.

I'd be concerned that the broken pumps have created permanent additional issues internally.

I had a TCI MVB on the shelf for a long time (like, 10+ years), sold it a couple years back...likely should have held onto it.

 

[DirtSquirrel]

I know a few guys locally who have had TCI issues in recent years, both building themselves or with regional builders using their components. They finally gave up and went with Monster Transmission and have had no issues.

I'd be concerned that the broken pumps have created permanent additional issues internally.

I had a TCI MVB on the shelf for a long time (like, 10+ years), sold it a couple years back...likely should have held onto it.

I hope the pump failure didnt trickle down to other parts of the transmission. I am having a buddy tear it down and do an inspection on it. We will see.

Ive heard mixed results about TCI and Monster lately. All QC issues it seems. I really dont want to spend another $5-6k on a transmission.

 

[whiterhino]

No comment on the TCI but re the spacer on the snout, I've found not all torque converters are the same. I use a Hughes on my TH350 and it seems some require a bushing and others don't, even though I'm ordering the same application. Are you sure you are getting the TC fully on? (with the TH350 it requires 3 clicks)

 

[DirtSquirrel]

I think i found the culprit. I dropped the converter off at a converter repair place to check runout and as soon as he threw it on the lathe you could immediately see the problems. Yes problems as in plural. First, the the two converter case halves were welded on severely out of tolerance. This caused TCI to use a huge weight to balance it out. 2nd was the input of the converter also had severe runout. Both of these is what probably led to the pump failures. On top of that, he cut open the converter to check the internals and immediately noticed the vein halves were spaced out incorrectly which he said is causing loss of power at idle. He is going to fix everything and add some length to the front converter snout so i can get rid of the spacer into the crank. Moral of the story is **** TCI's quality control and if you use their converters, have them spun on a lathe to check runout and concentricity before installation. It would have saved me two pumps, a pump housing, ~$1k in new parts, 20 hours of my time and several lost days of wheeling.

Here you can see the damage the billet pump did. it took out both sides of the pump housing. Also the input surface is marred from the runout issue. Its completely worn out. Hard to see it in the housing on the left.

 

[DirtSquirrel]

No comment on the TCI but re the spacer on the snout, I've found not all torque converters are the same. I use a Hughes on my TH350 and it seems some require a bushing and others don't, even though I'm ordering the same application. Are you sure you are getting the TC fully on? (with the TH350 it requires 3 clicks)

The 700r4 also has the 3 clicks. Im sure its fully seated when installed in the trans. The converter repair place is going to lengthen the snout so i dont need the bushing/spacer. I can trim it as needed to fit my custom application. I also ordered a new LT specific swap flexplate that has the proper bolt holes for this converter. (Even though the flexplate isnt the problem).