Copper Crawler buggy build

[mcutler]

finally getting down to business

finally made enough progress on the LS2 swap to post some things.

as stated earlier, my motor came with vette accessories, which would not fit my engine bay. thereforei switched over to camaro beltline to get my alternator in a better position. first i ordered Bomber Fabrications alt relocation bracket, moving it in front of passenger head, this did not prove fruitful due to retaining my DBW throttle body. sooo, went back to the camaro bracket which i purchased from Alper Motorsports, with dble roller bearing idler and a non-torsion tensioner pulley, and a new Premier Power alternator for my welder. CBM sent my water pump with -16AN pump outlets and installed the heater plugs as well. using my TC pumps from PSC with a spacer and new pulley. Also i purchased the Mast Perf oilpan from Rocky at Wide Open Designs, but upon insertion into chassis it will not clear my crossmember, therefore i will go back to the vette pan which is the shortest dimensions of any.

few other issues upon setting engine, alternator into upper link, passenger head into firewall tubing, as mentioned above- oilpan too tall, still waiting on my ecm from Mast.

I will be using stock camaro manifolds, with flanges cut of and V-band clamps in their place. also installed fuel rail pressure guage, and vette fuel regulator/filter with -an fittings.

now pics;

water pump -an fittings

mast pan; great product; too deep for my app.

3 qt accumulator

advance adapters stock location motor mount plates

bomber fab bracket that won't fit my app; very nice unit!

new alternator bracket, slick as hell

new tensioner pulley; non spring loaded so no belt jump

had to modify some spacers to make the power welder alternator fit this bracket

accessories complete

 

[mcutler]

few pics fron setting motor

had to slam her to get picker over nose

hope she runs as good as she looks!

alternator interference

passenger head intereference

game plan from now; install vette pan, clearance firewall, get motor attached to trans and motor mounts, move link mounts, plumb oil filter relocation because can't remove filter due to crossmember placement, all steering plumbing is a direct fit.

other note; i changed my torque converter stall to 10" 2200 from art carr in hopes of alil more launch than i had with the 1200 stall of the allison converter.

 

[mcutler]

other random pics that i forgot were in my camera

the stickies and racelines

nite lites

more to come on the LS swap soon; i hope- the warranty on the motor has only 2 months left

 

[MetalCraftSolved]

Glad to see you venture into the LS department:Rockon:

 

[Granny]

Matt, I hope to close my build thread one of these days by announcing that she is finished... however, I'm thinking you have a totally different plan.

You do extremely nice work!

 

[y2kcrawler]

I vote this the best build thread on here!! That is just nasty man! I dont even think I can Imagine something that creative! Great job!

 

[89wrangler]

Looking good matt, as we have all come to expect I might add!!

 

[mcutler]

thanks guys, appreciate all the kind words!

 

[mcutler]

some more progress today.

ended up going back to the bomber fab bracket due to the interference on my lower control arm, less work to make the bomber bracket work. only problem with this route is the grinding on the alternator housing probably voided the warranty on the premier welder; oh well...

new goodies from ORI; reservoirs to add more nitrogen to the circuit for better ride at less than half shaft & faster drop out in the whoops.

interference of oilpan and filter that led to crossmember clearancing; goig with a oil filter remote mount to remedy this issue
- also added some triangulation bracing to crossmember to strengthen this area after the clearancing.

firewall tube clearance for passenger side head

engine in and flush with trans surface, just gotta plate all the clearanced areas and build exhaust before permanent placement.

seems to be ample room for exhaust after rerouting my steering hardlines from orbital

getting closer; hope to have all the fabwork done by next week; and have an appt with Billy at Alliance Hose week from saturday to make all the new plumbing.

lines to be made or redone;

-an steam lines to radiator
-an radiator hoses
-an oil filter relocation and accumulator lines
-one small -an fuel line
-3 new stainless hard lines for steering due to exhaust manifold interference

other mods next week-
-3/4 uhmw skid on 3/16 aluminum to replace my 1/4 alum
-clearance the steering stops on the reid knuckles to max steering out of my ctm joints and/or ram

 

[mcutler]

Matt, I hope to close my build thread one of these days by announcing that she is finished... however, I'm thinking you have a totally different plan.
You do extremely nice work!

Lol, are they ever really done Don? Thank you for the compliments; btw GrannyII is looking terrific.

and there will be some larger mods in the next year, directly related to the fact Angel and I have recently learned that we have a baby on the way!! so the two seater is not gonna cut it with 3 children between us.. Therefore after some modifications to the house sometime after first of the year, there will be the addition of at least one more seat or possibly a rear bench. as stated earlier, never, NEVER done!

 

[loose cannon]

congrat's on the crawler and the baby I hope it look's more like her

 

[mcutler]

Lmao, me too. Thanks Brian.

Sent from my PB99400 using Tapatalk

 

[jaybird1ton]

Congrats on the new baby Matt!! You gonna make a fine papa. When's the due date? Keep us posted.

 

[snappy]

Congrats... No need to rework the copper buggy, it time for the Platinum Buggy!!!

 

[upnover]

Dang Matt! I'm thinking you left out some important news when we spoke yesterday!
Congrats my friend! Oh and I happen to have a three seater that could be traded for your lil ol two seater!

 

[levellinebrad]

Congrats dude. Time for a 4 dr jk. I would trade but you gotta come up with some boot.

 

[mcutler]

Yall some funny mofos wont b any trading I don't think. Lol. Due date sometime in May.

Sent from my PB99400 using Tapatalk

 

[jeepn-jason]

done yet???? oh on my way bro!

 

[mcutler]

got my crossmember restructuring complete and super rigid.

the 1 3/4 tunbe was split in half and i then split a piece of 2" .25 wall and mounted adjacent to the old member and attached to the link tabs and proceeded to cover with 1/4" plate. on the back side i added another 1 3/4 .120 wall member with two 6" spreaders. also a triangulated vertical plane tube on drivers side. i can now put the whole weight of the rig on a floor jack. and have allowed 3/4" clearance between oil pan and crossmember.

also capped the dash support tube to clearance for the passenger head.

 

[mcutler]

exhaust almost done.

was able to use most of the crossover tube from the lt-1, and retained the exhaust after the crossover. all left to do here is wrap it and the motor then goes in for the final time; and saturday off to alliance hose to see my friend billy for some new engine plumbing! hopefully vroom-vroom by sat night!!!

used v-band clamps instead of collector gaskets

egr stuff blocked off

even with the mast pan fitting locations, it's still a tight fit for accumulator fittings

 

[02tj]

badass build man. i love it

 

[jeepn-jason]

update....waiting on computer....plumbing on saturday.....and seatsliders on sunday. Hopefully this lil guy can reach the pedals! lmao!

 

[upnover]

gonna throw in a heater? gettin cooler!

 

[mcutler]

nope just heated seats chip. already there on the drivers, my passenger needs get his wired or he'll have cold buns.

got all the plumbing, wiring, and exhaust finished. Billy at Alliance hose is da man.

engine covers trimmed and on; oughta keep some dirst of all the goodies

accumulator mounted and ORI resi's on

 

[mcutler]

billy used some heavy duty industrial on my plumbing.

and he is the man on the bent stainless tubing

big props to billy.

items we plumbed yesterday;

-radiator lines- braided teflon an/jic 1"
-accumulator line-braided teflon 10an
-powersteering from orbital to flex- stainless 3/8 tube custom bent
-steamlines on heads- alper motorsports -4an ports to teflon lines to rad
-ORI resi line which was bad upon recieving from factory- figured since i was there be a hella lot quicker than waiting on ORI, also made a spare for trail mishaps.
-fuel line from corvette filter to manifold- -6an flex and 180* full flow turn made of stainless tube.

also thanks to firetoy for tig welding my -16an ports and -4an port to radiator.