IdaSHO
IDACAMPER
lol, right?! 🤣
Fortunately its a small rig. This is quite the project and I dont know if Id have it in me for a bigger vehicle!
The Heap. A Gen 2 Tracker/Vitara Build
- Thread starter IdaSHO
- Start date
lol, right?! 🤣
Fortunately its a small rig. This is quite the project and I dont know if Id have it in me for a bigger vehicle!
IdaSHO
IDACAMPER
A few shots of todays Monstaliner treatment.
Interior, entire front clip & firewall, and all 4 wheel wells received 2 heavy coats.
The interior will be sparse. Door panels will go back in, and flush panels in the rear, and likely some good floor mats, but no carpet to speak of. So the heavy coating will (hopefully) provide some needed sound deadening...
Interior, entire front clip & firewall, and all 4 wheel wells received 2 heavy coats.
The interior will be sparse. Door panels will go back in, and flush panels in the rear, and likely some good floor mats, but no carpet to speak of. So the heavy coating will (hopefully) provide some needed sound deadening...
utherjorge
Observer
I love Monstaliner and it's one of my favorite things. It does a great job and holds up well, and I never saw any fade with colors, though YMMV. Going to be doing it on my Ranger shortly after we finish some oxide mitigation on the rocker.
This is beyond impressive and has been fun to watch.
This is beyond impressive and has been fun to watch.
IdaSHO
IDACAMPER
It is great stuff. I applied it to our camper 4 years ago.
It never sees the inside of a shop or garage, and zero fading or any issues of any kind.
As for the tracker, I ran across this on FB a while back, and figured Id use it for inspiration.
Figured something similar, a camo of some sort using the same tri-tone of the camper would be pretty slick and match the camper well.
It never sees the inside of a shop or garage, and zero fading or any issues of any kind.
As for the tracker, I ran across this on FB a while back, and figured Id use it for inspiration.
Figured something similar, a camo of some sort using the same tri-tone of the camper would be pretty slick and match the camper well.
IdaSHO
IDACAMPER
Chassis back in the shop.
Fluids and dry-crank day
Gear fluids for front and rear diffs, transfer case, and transmission. Some conventional castrol for first start/run for the engine.
Then hook up oil pressure gauge, battery, and crank it over. If all goes well, engine cranks fine and it builds proper oil pressure then the body goes back on the chassis.
Fluids and dry-crank day
Gear fluids for front and rear diffs, transfer case, and transmission. Some conventional castrol for first start/run for the engine.
Then hook up oil pressure gauge, battery, and crank it over. If all goes well, engine cranks fine and it builds proper oil pressure then the body goes back on the chassis.
IdaSHO
IDACAMPER
All fluids in, and first crank went well.
10 seconds of lifter rattle, then after another 30 seconds or so gauge showed 45# of oil pressure during cranking, on a marginal battery.
Good enough to move on! Plugs gapped and dropped in, a bit more harness tied up, then the body went back on.
Looking the part now.
10 seconds of lifter rattle, then after another 30 seconds or so gauge showed 45# of oil pressure during cranking, on a marginal battery.
Good enough to move on! Plugs gapped and dropped in, a bit more harness tied up, then the body went back on.
Looking the part now.
IdaSHO
IDACAMPER
Busy work mostly now....
Fresh radiator in, and since the PO ditched all of the mechanical fan hardware, and I prefer electric anyhow...
Proper 16" Flex-A-Lite with a simple custom aluminum shroud. Will be controlled by a 200/185 degree coolant switch.
The Superduty takes a Group65 battery, so figured why not upgrade the tracker battery to the same?
Drops right in, just needs some fresh cables as the terminals are switched left-right.
Fresh radiator in, and since the PO ditched all of the mechanical fan hardware, and I prefer electric anyhow...
Proper 16" Flex-A-Lite with a simple custom aluminum shroud. Will be controlled by a 200/185 degree coolant switch.
The Superduty takes a Group65 battery, so figured why not upgrade the tracker battery to the same?
Drops right in, just needs some fresh cables as the terminals are switched left-right.
IdaSHO
IDACAMPER
Also a bit of exhaust work this morning.
At some point the cats were punched out at some point, and wasnt interested in any of the no-name aftermarket "direct fit" units.
So I opted for a proper Magnaflow universal. With some work, it fit great. Fit well enough that one of the factory heat shield was used on the non-shielded side.
At some point the cats were punched out at some point, and wasnt interested in any of the no-name aftermarket "direct fit" units.
So I opted for a proper Magnaflow universal. With some work, it fit great. Fit well enough that one of the factory heat shield was used on the non-shielded side.
IdaSHO
IDACAMPER
Havnt updated in a while, mostly busy work lately.
But its officially driving. All lamps work, brakes, clutch, gauges, etc.
Took it on a 2 mile test run today. Running, turning, and braking very well....
More to come....
And to put things into perspective....
Parked behind the truck shows just how small this thing is
But its officially driving. All lamps work, brakes, clutch, gauges, etc.
Took it on a 2 mile test run today. Running, turning, and braking very well....
More to come....
And to put things into perspective....
Parked behind the truck shows just how small this thing is
Well damn...in addition to my RV rebuild, and a Samurai crawler in need of an engine swap...I just had to look at this thread and remember one of my other Zuk needs some project time too.
2002 Grand Vitara Limited 4x4, 2.5L V6 and 5 speed manual (which Zuk fan is gonna catch the odd part here?) Was supposed to be a daily/trail scout vehicle for the Samurai as the Sammy is a full tilt trailer queen build...then life happened, and I haven't done anything but daily it for a couple years now..
2002 Grand Vitara Limited 4x4, 2.5L V6 and 5 speed manual (which Zuk fan is gonna catch the odd part here?
) Was supposed to be a daily/trail scout vehicle for the Samurai as the Sammy is a full tilt trailer queen build...then life happened, and I haven't done anything but daily it for a couple years now..
IdaSHO
IDACAMPER
A few small projects tackled.
Dash back together, and modified to accept a few things. AuxBeam light switch/controller, VDO oil PSI gauge, and since I converted to an E-fan, manual E-fan controls took the place of the ash-tray.
Its wired as such to allow manual ON and OFF. Winch was also wired up, and changed over to synthetic. Though I still have some work here, as I need to sort out a way to mount a front plate.
Dash back together, and modified to accept a few things. AuxBeam light switch/controller, VDO oil PSI gauge, and since I converted to an E-fan, manual E-fan controls took the place of the ash-tray.
Its wired as such to allow manual ON and OFF. Winch was also wired up, and changed over to synthetic. Though I still have some work here, as I need to sort out a way to mount a front plate.
IdaSHO
IDACAMPER
So a while back I went down the rabbit hole with regards to supplemental braking systems.
Looking at various options, they all seemed similar, and I thought I had it sorted.
Until I realized that essentially none of them were progressive. Instead, ON-OFF, with calibration for max braking effort,
triggered by either surge or brake lamp (electrical) signal, or both.
The ONLY one I could find that is truly progressive is the one I went with. The Brakemaster 9060 by roadmaster.
In short.... the system integrates into the hydraulic brake system (or air if air braked) of the tow vehicle, and via an air compressor applies progressive braking to the TOAD.
Slowly apply the brakes on the truck, TOAD does the same, hard brake application on the truck, TOAD does the same.
All is based up brake line pressure on the truck.
So today I installed the hardware needed in the tracker. This includes a breakaway assembly using a are chamber and breakaway switch.
Air cylinder that mounts in the cab attaches right to the brake pedal. I also fabricated a simple assembly for the seat side attachment.
Looking at various options, they all seemed similar, and I thought I had it sorted.
Until I realized that essentially none of them were progressive. Instead, ON-OFF, with calibration for max braking effort,
triggered by either surge or brake lamp (electrical) signal, or both.
The ONLY one I could find that is truly progressive is the one I went with. The Brakemaster 9060 by roadmaster.
In short.... the system integrates into the hydraulic brake system (or air if air braked) of the tow vehicle, and via an air compressor applies progressive braking to the TOAD.
Slowly apply the brakes on the truck, TOAD does the same, hard brake application on the truck, TOAD does the same.
All is based up brake line pressure on the truck.
So today I installed the hardware needed in the tracker. This includes a breakaway assembly using a are chamber and breakaway switch.
Air cylinder that mounts in the cab attaches right to the brake pedal. I also fabricated a simple assembly for the seat side attachment.
Maybe it was covered earlier in the thread, and I just didn't catch it..and I'm NOT knocking this, rather genuinely curious here...why not just put this thing on a small trailer? (If I missed it earlier, just tell me I'm a blind idiot and I'll take another run through the thread )
This seems like an awful lot of complexity, cost, and added points of failure both on the coach and toad for sub par brakes on the toad.
I'm NOT implying you're wrong with this choice, and just going through my thought process here - I kind of get why people don't go trailer when they're pulling a piggy Heep, full size truck, etc due to loaded trailer weight behind coaches not equipped to handle that weight, but these Suzukis are feather weights. A full blown 8K car hauler trailer isn't really needed here.
Plus with something that's going to go off-road, chances of parts breakage grow quite a bit higher (though as an owner of 5 Suzukis, I know they are quite a bit sturdier out of the box than a Jeep).
)This seems like an awful lot of complexity, cost, and added points of failure both on the coach and toad for sub par brakes on the toad.
I'm NOT implying you're wrong with this choice, and just going through my thought process here - I kind of get why people don't go trailer when they're pulling a piggy Heep, full size truck, etc due to loaded trailer weight behind coaches not equipped to handle that weight, but these Suzukis are feather weights. A full blown 8K car hauler trailer isn't really needed here.
Plus with something that's going to go off-road, chances of parts breakage grow quite a bit higher (though as an owner of 5 Suzukis, I know they are quite a bit sturdier out of the box than a Jeep).
IdaSHO
IDACAMPER
Believe me, I went back and forth with that for quite some time. And to be truthful, I still consider it.
But at the end of the day, flat towing is less complex in many ways than worrying about another item like a trailer.
And flat towing puts exactly zero tongue weight on the hitch of an already heavy truck/camper.
I'm not terribly worried about breakage. We wont be beating on this thing.
Still, the chance of any breakage that would prevent it from being flat towed is terribly low.
Not sure what you mean about subpar brakes? The brakes on the tracker are perfectly fine for what it is.
Adding the braking system was a safety item as well as maintaining legality.
Still, the jury is still out if we will stick with flat towing. But to get things rolling, it will be flat towed.
Currently putting together a parts list to sort out tail/turn/brake lighting when in tow.
But at the end of the day, flat towing is less complex in many ways than worrying about another item like a trailer.
And flat towing puts exactly zero tongue weight on the hitch of an already heavy truck/camper.
I'm not terribly worried about breakage. We wont be beating on this thing.
Still, the chance of any breakage that would prevent it from being flat towed is terribly low.
Not sure what you mean about subpar brakes? The brakes on the tracker are perfectly fine for what it is.
Adding the braking system was a safety item as well as maintaining legality.
Still, the jury is still out if we will stick with flat towing. But to get things rolling, it will be flat towed.
Currently putting together a parts list to sort out tail/turn/brake lighting when in tow.