Project TREC Racer

[JohnnyJ]

Thanks for the kind words djongeward. We are definitely pouring over the rules looking for where we can save weight.

Tonight I went back out after the kids went to bed and had some more good progress. I hit a big milestone in the project: I was able to set a seat in place and make vroom vroom noises.

The last two panels will stay cleco'd in until after the b-hoop of the cage is in. That should allow a bit easier access to the frame for tying it in. After that I can finish up the small stuff including fixing the b-piller.



Here you can see the flange I made into the panel to tie into the b-pillar.

[JohnnyJ]

We started on the roll cage before I went on vacation for a week with the family. I'll try and grab some pics after we get the cage a bit further this week.

[gvillejeeper]

trec racer

looks good keep it up. just one dumb question. what is trec?

[JohnnyJ]

gvillejeeper - check the link in the 1st post. It's basically a 2 hour offroad endurance race.

I spent some time making patch panels for holes left behind on the firewall for stuff we're not going to use (heater, a/c, stock fuse block, etc) over the weekend. It was a good get back into it project.

Tonight my buddy stopped by and we worked on the cage some more. This takes forever trying to figure out how to do it. We've got the driver's side a-pillar in place and the bends for the pass side done but it needs final fitting.

We tucked it up as much as we could to try and give us max headroom. Hopefully I'll get some time this weekend to finish up the pass side and get everything tacked in place and start running the crosspieces which should be quick since it'll all be straight pieces.

[davids78bronco]

What's with the bicycle brake lever?

Looking thru this thread is giving me flashbacks to my current Scout project, and upcoming FSJ project

[j20brett]

Hood release lever

[thechier86]

i know it's another month or so away, but you should post up videos of shakedown runs, and the actual race! i really wanna see her move! it's like a fat chick in the 100 yard dash, that might just surprise ya.

[JohnnyJ]

We kicked some butt on the cage last night. Everything hanging on the cage is fully welded and the 4 points are welded to the frame. I'm going to open up the floor above the rear axle and tie the rear points to the frame there and box in that frame section. Also need to weld in the driver's side floor and cut the final piece for the pass side and weld that in.



My friend and I are trying to figure out how to mount the seats as low as possible to give max headroom around the cage. We think we will do the drivetrain first, and then see if we can fit a tube through the trans tunnel.

So if you have ideas or have done something similar, provide links, post pics, and help me brainstorm.

[j20brett]

Cage looks good. Why not bend the tube close to the tunnel?

[rustywagoneers_com]

I tied the tube into the tunnel.

Not ideal, but better than just having seats bolted to the floor.

[JohnnyJ]

I am actually amazed at how small a Wag is. Now that we are trying to shoehorn a cage in and keep some headroom to stay within rules (and more importantly, to keep splitting our head open) it seems real estate is tight. Mostly in the width and height departments. With how far back we pushed the B-pillar, we should have no leg room issues.

Last night I sat in my 75 Wag that has 79 Wag buckets installed and I forgot how close my head is to the headliner. I'm 6'1" and my frizzy hair just touches the slightly saggy liner. My co-driver is about the same height. Vertebrae removal is not an option at this point.

The stock bucket seats pretty much sit on the trans hump on the inside. If we try to dodge the trans hump, we push ourselves up against the door. I don't think it possible, and minimally not comfortable.

If we run a tube across tunnel above it, then we raise the seat mount likely 2". 1.5 or 1.75 tube plus some space so it doesn't rub. Because the trans tunnel rises as it moves towards the front of the vehicle, moving the tube in front of the seat makes the tube even higher.

So, anything is open, but we are struggling to find the right compromise. Seats are older Recaro suspension seats.

[802Hoop]

You may just need to run them front to back instead of side to side, ie. right side rail and left side rail.

[JohnnyJ]

Rear kickers were added to the cage and tied to the frame. Today we attempted a multitude of swaps.

We needed to remove the Engine/Trans/T-case and axles from this Wag. We needed to put the Engine/Trans/T-case and axles from my 75 Wag into this Wag, and we needed to put the axles from an 80 Wag into the 75 Wag so it could get rolled back to the barn.



We got pretty far. Both Engine/Trans/T-case combos were removed and the axles from the 75 Wag were removed and the 80 Wag axles swapped. The 75 is resting in the barn until I figure out what to do with it.





The front axle from the 75 is now in the 88, but we didn't get the rear axle or the Engine/Trans/T-case swapped in.

Can anyone tell what's wrong with this pic?

[stumpjumper3]

axle in backwards

[JohnnyJ]

yep! since it's just a roller and we hadn't thought about the centered rear diff hitting the gas tank until we rolled it under the jeep, we had to come up with a plan. We figured out that spinning it around and putting in backwards gave us just enough clearance to roll it back in the barn.