Willys Tow Rig

Thanks for the compliments guys.

June 18th 2016

Intake side all welded together and tacked to the core. I think it's gonna look pretty cool after I use some scotchbrite to dull the shine.

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What she ended up looking like. Seems to be working good. I can actually notice a big difference on the first pull after start up. The intercooler is just acting like a giant heat sink right now. After the first pull it has hardly any power because now it is heat soaked. Can't wait to get some water running through it to keep it cool.

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I like that idea. You can v-band/hard mount the piping and let it rock with the engine.
 
June 21st 2016

Ok, going through some ideas on mounting this heat exchanger. Just like everywhere else on the truck, I am limited for space under the bed as well. I was hoping that I would be able to fit it where I have it mocked up with the slight tilt towards the rear; but as you can see, I don't have an clearance for adding the bed floor boards in the future. Just looking at it real quick it would appear my only option would be to lay it 100% flat or maybe even tilt it slightly towards the front until I get too close to the driveline. I could also center it up in the bed and push it toward the back more. This would allow me to bring it down on the crossmember a little more while keeping the rearward tilt. Either way I will most likely need to construct some type of exhaust heat shield.

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June 23rd 2016

Well this sucks. I have a cross leak somewhere in my intercooler. I have half of my system plumbed and decided to run some water through it to make sure any aluminum shavings and such were out. On the drive home the intercooler was half full with water sitting in it and the water ports open. When I get on it and hit about 50-60psi of boost, I see a mist of water come out and spray my windshield. I'm not sure how to narrow down the leak point.

June 25th 2016

I do believe I have good news! While I haven't had the time to get the fittings and stuff I need to do a full pressure test for good measure, on the drive to work yesterday I had an intriguing experience. When I initially drove the truck home the other night, it was dark out so I couldn't really see everything that was going on. When I drove to work yesterday I got on the throttle good, about 60psi I got some droplets of water on my windshield, BUT what I wasn't able to see the night before was the steam that was coming out of the intercooler! I wasn't blowing the water out of the open intercooler ports because of a boost leak; I was flash boiling the water that was sitting in it during the drive! Its not all too surprising really after I thought about it. My charge air temps have to be getting over 300 degrees when Im really on the throttle. Cruising at 10psi I probably have the water somewhere around 190 degrees, then once I build more boost it just pushes it over the edge.
 
June 26th 2016

Got everything mounted up except the fan. Need to tidy up the hoses and buy a leather belt to fully secure the Jerry can after I paint it.

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Cant wait to get it to the track to see what Ive really gained. I can definitely tell I have gained some low end power. Before, I would heat soak the stainless charge pipe during a good pull then come to a stop light. I would take off and it just felt gutless. Now it feels just like it does on the first pull when I start her up on a cold morning.

Hoping to have some datalogging results for you guys here in the next few weeks.

Got started on the fan shroud today during lunch.

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July 29th 2016

So. I snapped the input shaft the other day on a locked 2-3 up shift. Maybe about 3/4 throttle on the way to work. Had to spend the 600 bucks on a billet input. So I put it all together and then found out the shaft took the torque converter with it. I just picked up a replacement torque converter while waiting a couple weeks with my torque converter in the shop for rebuild.

The last couple weeks the truck has been tore down waiting to put the transmission back in. I fixed a couple oil leaks. Swapped the 5x.012 injectors for 5x.018. And cleaned up some of the wiring under the hood.

I'm hoping with the addition of 4wd, the bigger injectors, and the intercooler; I should be in the low 12s.

August 19th 2016

Truck is driving again. I still haven't ordered a datalogging setup yet but today before I left for work I attempted to get a little creative. I used the stock charge air temp sensor in the manifold and hooked up a multimeter to the corresponding black/red black/blue wires at the PCM and read resistance. According to a 10k thermister chart, below are my findings.

It was 72* ambient out when I left this morning. Thermistor showed 75* as I sat there and let it idle for warmup. I have the water pump running and the Volvo fan on high speed.
Cruising down the road it sat in the low 90s until my first pull from a stop sign. First pull I hit around 40psi using a little less than half throttle, letting off when I shifted to 3rd. Hit 115 to 120*. Back to cruising and it immediately dropped back to about 95*. A couple more of those pulls through some back roads with a few minutes of 40mph cruising in between. Same results.

Did a decent pull through 3rd gear from a stop sign turning on to the highway. hit about 60psi. Temp got to about 130-135*. Went almost immediately back down to just below 100* as I cruised in 4th, 1400rpm, and 10psi of boost. Got to a decent 1-1/2 mile long grade, shifted to third, powered up the grade hitting about 85mph and 70psi at times. Most of the time I was between 50 and 60psi. Temps at the most got up to 145*. Pretty much coasting down the other side, temps dropped to around 110* immediately and then by the bottom of the grade (about 1 mile or less) got down right below 100*. Back to cruising at 10psi for the remainder of my trip and temps idled around 95-100*.

Needless to say, so far I am extremely happy with the setup. Not ever being able to compare to an air/air; I don't know if my results are anything to brag about, but it is definitely running a lot better than no intercooler at all!
 
Sept 6th

Picked up some rough sawn Black Walnut today. Hoping it will look good for the bed.

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Sept 7th

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Got them planned down mostly true so they are easier to work with. Pictures don't do this wood justice.

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Thanks. I still need to finish it up. The boards actually tuck under the lip on the back and sides of the bed. So you wont be able to see the end grain. That's why the runners are short. I need to order some clear epoxy and varnish. Its starting to sprinkle off and on and the wood isn't protected at all.
 
Took the truck to the track saturday night. Changes since the last time she ran a 13.7 was 4wd, swapped the 37" KM2s for 35" Cooper ATs, air to water intercooler, and swapped the 5x12 injectors for 5x18.

Best 1/4 mile of the night was a 12.74 seconds at 106.25mph with a 1.758 60ft.

So in four wheel drive I was able to keep traction no problem with a 15psi boosted launch. Brought me from a 2.20 60ft to a 1.75. Next race night I might try a 20psi boosted launch or so, hoping to get in the 1.6 60ft range. That should knock another .25 seconds off my quarter.

I kept getting a hang up on my 1-2 shift. I would max out RPM, it would sit a little bit, then shift. I tried to tighten up the second gear band a little but that didn't make a difference. Fixing that should be good for another .25 seconds off my quarter.

Once I o-ring the head Ill add a little more fuel on my top end. I am cleaning up real nice as I am limiting my fueling to keep my boost under 80psi. At some point I need to invest in an external wastegate.
 
I ordered a rering kit for the truck. It will be here tomorrow. My goals are to hone the block, oring the block, install new rings and valve seals, lap the valves, and reassemble. I wasn't sure if I should put new main and rod bearings on an old crank? It has 310,000 miles on it. Then I made the mistake of looking into other stuff I could do while the head is off. Maybe port the bowls and unshroud the valves? Maybe back cut the valves. I'm going to put in 12mm socket head cap screws but for a moment there I thought about converting to 14mm bolts...
 
This truck is very cool! I bet people in the stands were not expecting your truck to lay a 12 second pass down.
 
I ordered a rering kit for the truck. It will be here tomorrow. My goals are to hone the block, oring the block, install new rings and valve seals, lap the valves, and reassemble. I wasn't sure if I should put new main and rod bearings on an old crank? It has 310,000 miles on it. Then I made the mistake of looking into other stuff I could do while the head is off. Maybe port the bowls and unshroud the valves? Maybe back cut the valves. I'm going to put in 12mm socket head cap screws but for a moment there I thought about converting to 14mm bolts...

Honestly, the SHCS's are right on par with stock head bolts. Some will overtorque the stock head bolts to 125, 130, or 135ftlbs if you're lucky, but that'll usually take a few sets of bolts to get the 'best ones'. Those style bolts stretch under less pressure.
If you want to do it right, as I'm sure you know, grab some ARP head studs. Either 2000's (which might be okay with your o-ring setup), or 625's which will certainly be okay with your setup.

For the transmission, when I go, I start in a manual 1st with OD off, manually shift to second and immediately hit TC lockup (since it takes a second on 47re's), then shift to third, and finally click the OD button. I don't have a stock VB (Redline Diesel), but it's still an auto VB (for daily driving) and it never misses a beat and shifts very firmly. Of course, there's something nice about having a repeatable run with it in drive.
 
Honestly, the SHCS's are right on par with stock head bolts. Some will overtorque the stock head bolts to 125, 130, or 135ftlbs if you're lucky, but that'll usually take a few sets of bolts to get the 'best ones'. Those style bolts stretch under less pressure.
If you want to do it right, as I'm sure you know, grab some ARP head studs. Either 2000's (which might be okay with your o-ring setup), or 625's which will certainly be okay with your setup.

For the transmission, when I go, I start in a manual 1st with OD off, manually shift to second and immediately hit TC lockup (since it takes a second on 47re's), then shift to third, and finally click the OD button. I don't have a stock VB (Redline Diesel), but it's still an auto VB (for daily driving) and it never misses a beat and shifts very firmly. Of course, there's something nice about having a repeatable run with it in drive.

I've overtorqued mine to 140ftlbs. Stock gasket. Holding 80psi so far.

I honestly can't afford to spend 700-1000 on bolts right now. That's why am contemplating either 12mm SHCS or 14mm SHCS. I have a nice straight Mag drill I could use to ream out the block and then tap it. I've been trying to find more info on going to 14mm; everything I read just says you need to drill and tap the block, ream the dowel hole and get a bigger dowel, and then ream the head. Seems like that's doable. 50 bucks in bolts and 2 hours of my time max... I thought about 1/2" SHCS but the nominal diameter is 27/64" (.4218) and 12mm comes out to .4724. That's quite a bit of thread engagement to lose.

Yea, I'm running "D" with the TCC locked from the start. 15psi launch and as soon as the green comes I throttle down the whole way.
 
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Would you be better to launch in 1st on the shifter? Something about not launching off the sprag(i believe I heard lavon say once)
 
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