Nuke VX build thread

[sleveritt]

They had a hell of a time removing all the mounting brackets/braces/gussets for the axle mounts. John said it was the most reinforced front end he ever seen. Give him a break as he normally works on Jeeps. Once the frame was cleaned up for the motor/axle mounts:



Then nestled the 5.3L in the engine bay:



Then the Scout Dana 44 solid axles got new internals and upgraded alloy shafts/rotors/brakes to handle larger tires:






As you can tell, the tires barely fit!


Even with that kind of lift, the oil pan was too close to the front axle and needed to be shortened a bit:



Then the locking hubs were installed (for streetability - wife still wants to drive it)!


Got the gauges installed:



Continued in next post

Sam

[sleveritt]

Since it was running, I brought it home and began putting various parts back onto/into it:


Even driving it around the neighborhood led to MASSIVE RUBBING in forward, reverse and turning. So some trimming was in order. I started with the front and trimmed the cladding:


Then moved to the rear of the front tire and selected some metal to remove:




Then I moved to the rear axle for WAY MORE fun and excitement!






Then reinstalled the rear and side cladding:



As you may noticed the cladding had a refinish and restore session:



Finally, those headlight restoration kits seemed to work quite well. I was very pleased with my results!


Here is a reference photo of when I picked up the VX tires compared to the tires on my 3/4 ton diesel pickup.


Sadly, the VX is back at the builders. I uncovered a few areas where they did not double check their work. I am somewhat understanding since he was getting married that weekend and needed my vehicle out of the way since the reception was being held at his shop. First thing, the pin the connects the tranfer case lever to the shaft fell out literally in my drive way. Second, the transmission was way overfilled and was shifting erractically not to mention dripping everywhere. Third, the fuel gauge was wired backwards. I found that one out when I was driving a measured 2 mile route to calibrate the speedometer. The gauge read FULL but was actually EMPTY. There were other minor things that needed touching up, but the main reason had to do with the HORRIBLE steering. Truly, I could barely keep it in my lane up to ~40mph, above that, I needed some extra room to allow for lane wandering. I couldn't find any play in the system, so probably extreme bump steer.

So, it is licensed and technically driveable, but not safe. Probably going to go with hydraulic steering (still not sure). Also, only the driver's seat is mounted. Most of the dash is still removed and a few more things need attention. I still have to get it to an AC shop to get a compressor mounted, connected to my system, and get the HVAC wiring figured out. Hey, Moab get hot!!! I've already got the polyurathane coating containers in the garage (red for interior floor and black for undercarriage insulation.

There it is as of now. Like I said, more work planned. Let me know if anyone has any questions or suggestions. Take care!