A Custom UJOR-Sportsmobile Build

[Toolman]

I have the clifford alarm with tons of features. I can control my fantastic, rock lights, stereo on/off, remote start from key fob or smart phone, I can track the vehicle via GPS, set boundaries, hot spots, speed limits, and the one I like the most lock down. if my van moves without me knowing I am alerted with a text with GPS coords, heading and speed. Pretty neat stuff, I'm working on it now to crack the widows, open the roof vent and start the cooling when it exceeds unsafe temps. Great system, little pricey but worth every penny. When we're at the campfire and Lisa needs another cold one, I can turn on the rock lights so that she can see the where the van is and also if any unwanted critters are searching for a warm place to sleep.

BTW I left my fan on for 5 days straight, batteries were at 11.5 volts, not bad. So I'm not too concerned about leaving it running when we have the dog with us and we need to run in somewhere.

 

[CodyY]

Our 6.0 Diesel puts out a lot of heat at both fast and slow idle. So much heat that I only idle it for a few minutes now, after repairs: (oil leak, new water-pump, new turbo)
What's a turbo timer?

My 7.3 runs "colder" at idle. Even on 100+ degrees days, a couple mins of idle and the coolant temp drops two or three needle widths. I was working outta mine as a roofing contractor for the last year, silver roof but dark blue paint doesn't exactly help in the TX sun. If I'm gonna be somewhere 20mins or less I'll leave it running (if i can see it), or at a gas station to run in for a slurpee. No dogs inside but it's fawking hot here and shutting it off for even five mins without the air running raises the interior temp 10 or 20 degrees.

My frame and motor are fine at 120k miles but it's from Missouri and there's no way I'm dumping all that money for these alarms and shiz until i get a nice body swapped on. So for now Ive insulated and paneled the interior and I have a used rooftop AC that needs a little work I'm gonna hack on top for the time being. Man, I really need to start my own thread.

Like above, a turbo timer allows a hard-run engine to idle after you pull the key and walk away so the turbo shaft can cool. Oil cooks in the bearings if the compressor shaft is still spinning after the oil supply is stopped, this causes gunk in the drain hose and premature bearing/seal failures.

Always popular with the "import" scene. They're proven to work. Check out HKS, GReddy, and A'pexi brands for well-known parts

 

[notmiller]

My 7.3 runs "colder" at idle. Even on 100+ degrees days, a couple mins of idle and the coolant temp drops two or three needle widths. I was working outta mine as a roofing contractor for the last year, silver roof but dark blue paint doesn't exactly help in the TX sun. If I'm gonna be somewhere 20mins or less I'll leave it running (if i can see it), or at a gas station to run in for a slurpee. No dogs inside but it's fawking hot here and shutting it off for even five mins without the air running raises the interior temp 10 or 20 degrees.

My frame and motor are fine at 120k miles but it's from Missouri and there's no way I'm dumping all that money for these alarms and shiz until i get a nice body swapped on. So for now Ive insulated and paneled the interior and I have a used rooftop AC that needs a little work I'm gonna hack on top for the time being. Man, I really need to start my own thread.

Like above, a turbo timer allows a hard-run engine to idle after you pull the key and walk away so the turbo shaft can cool. Oil cooks in the bearings if the compressor shaft is still spinning after the oil supply is stopped, this causes gunk in the drain hose and premature bearing/seal failures.

Always popular with the "import" scene. They're proven to work. Check out HKS, GReddy, and A'pexi brands for well-known parts

Forgive my ignorance when it comes to turbo system anatomy, but don't the vans come without an intercooler, so running for just a few minutes after a hard drive wouldn't really cool them much? Or is the oiling system is on a different loop?

 

[CodyY]

Forgive my ignorance when it comes to turbo system anatomy, but don't the vans come without an intercooler, so running for just a few minutes after a hard drive wouldn't really cool them much? Or is the oiling system is on a different loop?

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/turbo.htm

Do some reading

 

[notmiller]

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/turbo.htm

Do some reading

Oops, been awhile since I've read about them. That definitely refreshed my memory! So how is the oil in the fluid bearing cooled in the vans?

And how did we get on the subject of turbos anyway??

 

[ujoint]

I don't think its as critical when you have ~15qts of oil in the engine, but I'm not educated too much on how how the import turbos get.

Back to the van build now

 

[CodyY]

I don't think its as critical when you have ~15qts of oil in the engine, but I'm not educated too much on how how the import turbos get.

Back to the van build now

Sorry for the hijack, but oil temp/volume is not the issue, it's turbo shaft temp and speed. If the turbo has been spun up the shaft rpm can near 100,000rpm. Kill the oil flow before the turbo spins down and the bearings and seals get HOT. Which is bad, kiddies, causing metal fatigue and seal failure. The residual oil on the bearings cooks and causes sludge and deposits on the smooth surfaces, along with carbon deposits that will close up the turbo drain hose or allow chunks of trash into the oil pan.

Long story short, let it idle for a minute or two before you shut it off, i always idle through the parking lot when I get where I'm going. You will save yourself a lot of headaches in the long run.

-CodyY
ASE master
Lexus Master Technician
Cadillac Senior Technician
SCCA Indy IHRA NHRA ALMS


/hijack

 

[notmiller]

I don't think its as critical when you have ~15qts of oil in the engine, but I'm not educated too much on how how the import turbos get.

Back to the van build now

Okay, so it's not a separate oil loop from the engine. Hopefully, it's before the HPOP...

Back to the van, I dropped it off at Deaver yesterday for the spring adjustments. He will also play with the pinion angle with some shims to try to fix the driveline vibration. He said even though my angles are correct, he's seen some where it just needs a little more inclination for whatever reason. Hopefully, that solves the problem and scratches another item off my list. I should have it back by this weekend and will spend the holiday weekend working on said list.

 

[notmiller]

It's been awhile since I've updated, but after almost 3 more months of modifications here and there, I finally got her out in the dirt to stretch her legs and test things out!







We spent Thanksgiving weekend out in Searles/Panamint Valley and got some good rockcrawling in up Isham Canyon and went up Goler Wash to Butte Valley one day, none of these with the van, though. The van we puttered around some random roads and flexed her out to see what hit, grinded, etc. All the bump stops are still the stock ones, so I figured out where I need to place them. I also found I get just a little tire rub on the front bumper and inner wheel well. The bumper is going to be replaced with a custom one, so that's not an issue, and the inner wheel well may be fixed by new bump stops.



Other points of contact are the sway bar hanger (fixed with bump stops) and the tie rod on the passenger side hits the leaf pack at full droop. I already made a spacer for the steering arm at ride height because of this issue, now it looks like I may just need to make a custom steering arm.





Overall, most of the issues will be fixed with bump stops, so that's good. I'll try to post soon about all the random mods I've done in the past couple of months.

 

[notmiller]

Oh and a diesel newbie question: I got a fuel leak while I was parked in that position checking things out. It was coming from the top of the tank, and I'm thinking from the rear vent. The tank was topped off at the time. Do these diesel tanks normally leak like that? I know they're supposed to have an atmospheric vent, but shouldn't they have a little floater ball to prevent leaks like this?

 

[bknudtsen]

Looks good!

 

[bob652]

Really gooooooooood!!!!!

 

[pratty85]

:iagree:

 

[bknudtsen]

Looking at your pics again, I am amazed at how much flex there is in the frame. Do you have one of UJOR's front frame crossmembers behind your front bumper? My guess is that you do not judging by the deflection in your front bumper. I know that you have plans to build your own bumper, is this something that you will address in the design, or is it not as big of a deal in real life? Pics can be deceiving...

I guess my main concern would be cracking at the motor mounts from an overly flexy frame with that much weight behind it.

 

[ujoint]

Looks good, great travel! Those Deavers are flexy!

The tank leak may come from a damaged o-ring, or its not seated all the way. Those vents can be a pain.