Building our Allison Daytona Dune Buggy

[herkster]

Hi There,

I was told by the builder, outfront, that we should get 190 from it and that with some tuning we should see 200. The 190 is based upon that its a 178 HP motor direct out of the forester and that they did a tune prior to sending to me for 190.

It'll be scary no matter what I'm sure.

I would call outfront and ask. I am running a stinger CPU.

Herk

[herkster]

Got a bit more done....Its been slow but we are progressing.

Body is now on the chassis and roll cage is placed. It is not yet bolted in. Got the brake reservoir in and brakes are bled. Brake emergency cables are hooked up. Covered the middle perpendicular brace with indoor/ outdoor carpet under the rear seat. Rear seat was fitted and looks great!

Fitted grommets and Radiator hoses. That looked really clean.

Started to put in the wire loom. Had to build a stand off for the fuse box. Also have the large battery cables in and getting ready to drill and grommet the hole for those. Will be mounting the battery for the final time as well as cleaning up as much of the wiring runs as possible.

With any luck we will be motoring by or before Christmas.

[Iguana]

[Lo Cash John]

Any chance of making it to BugJam in 2 weeks???
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[73SpeedBuggy]

[Iguana]

[herkster]

John if I just had the time to get it done that would be great!

The wiring and some final fit is taking time. I spent most of my time late last night on the wiring in the rear of the car. I'm just trying to make it look good. Funny part is most folks won't see that part. Also got the computer mounted, relays mounted, battery in, main battery cables in, alternator charging wire routed and mounted, plus sat there and stared at it a bit contemplating my next moves.

Then we have to do some proving runs to make it happy (as well as me) in the cooling department....plus any other "bugs"

Just not in the cards this year. I hope to have it at the Miami Show on Sunset that I think is in February. That was a nice show when we went one year to check it out.

I know that there is a show and shine in Ft. Lauderdale too in March. That one was a monsoon last year.

Have a good time at the Bug Jam for me!

[herkster]

Hi all,

As far as the motor there is a few reasons besides horsepower we are here and chose this option. If its 200HP or less at the crank that's good with me. Remember its only a 1500LB car and its gonna scoot enough to scare most of us. We also didn't want the heat from the turbo nor the possible headache.

The NA 2.5L engine is a turn key solution as long as you are willing to create an exhaust and cooling solution. That's the trick there and we still haven't totally proven ours yet. The theory is right but the proof is yet to be seen.

We also wanted fuel injection and reliability without having to constantly mess with it as you would a dual carb high HP VW build (based on my past experience with a 2180). Sure we could have spent even more money to build a High and potent VW engine with FI but we wanted to be able to drive it and have some longevity plus this option was available. I think we are going to be happy.

Overall, we changed a bunch of things with this car and we are far from stock. Four wheel disc brakes, Rancho transaxle with type two stubs and axles, brake proportioning valve, atomwerk plates, narrowed and dropped front beam, complete and new "cage", instrumentation and push button start, you name it. To us its a family heirloom and with any luck its not going anywhere for a long time so why not build it to what we wanted (or at least perceived).

We'll see!

[herkster]

More on the Allison from last night...

Grounding block in and direct connection to battery and chassis. I didn't want any silly phantom grounds. The rebel harness setup is really choice.

The Stinger computer is mounted along with the relays for the rest of the setup. Started to run all the other wiring for the fans, tach, and such. the speaker wires run through and need to be cleaned up.

[herkster]

Been busy with lots of things and haven't spent a bunch of time on the Allison BUT got a few things done this weekend. I was able to finally torque the body bolts all the way around. I need to get longer ones for the rear. That's a quick fix after a run to Home Depot or the hardware store. The roll cage bolts are all torqued up too. I must say the final 10% of the build is a long final 50% of the build! I will be moving on to fitting the gas tank for the final time and getting that hooked up. Had to leak test it and wash out any impurities. Then I will be starting on wiring the hood/ cowl.

I did also get all the speakers in. They go in a tunnel that gives the Allison a very rigid structure to the car and a clean look to the speaker install too!

Got the wiring run to the taillights and all new / good grounds to that area of the car too.

[herkster]

With my able assistant last night I was able to final fit and torque the rear bolts that are under the rear seat that hold the body to chassis.

The rub is that the body sat atop a swing axle car originally. The body now sits on an IRS car. Good BUT different. This requires a few changes to the body to fit right. Overall we are almost there. All the front half of the car wiring and fitting of the steering column is yet to come. That also includes the redo of the windshield seals and attaching the wipers.

We need to drop in the radiator in the rear of the car. For now its much easier to work around the rear of the car with the radiator out. We also need to affix the front and rear bumpers. I was able to hide the wire for the license plate in the rear tubing and it looks good.

Small steps...

[E-smoke]

Herkster,
Eagerly awaiting your ever post as it seems so many of these suby conversions fade away about this point, as someone following the same path I appreciate you sharing the process and hope the end result is worth the effort!

[herkster]

Thanks E Smoke! We are getting it done...albeit slowly but its going to happen. I have been preoccupied with the thing that finances this mess.....work....but I hope to be back in the groove very soon.

Its exciting and I can't wait to have it mostly done too...I say mostly done as I know there will be adjustments as we get the car finished.

[herkster]

Well another slow down this week. We discovered that we just don't have enough head pressure to the fuel pump. it will flow upwards of 300 liters per hour through the system.

SO......we have ordered a fuel swirl bottle. Its also known as a fuel surge tank. Typically this is for cars that have been converted from carbs to FI and the pump is not in the tank....(IE our build) . Once it arrives I need to pull the fuel tank to work though the (hopefully) simple engineering of getting the tank in the right place and hooked up. I don't wish to burn up a fuel injection pump and that's what we were primed to do.

Like I said the last 10% of the build is the last 50% to get done!

[herkster]

Got the Surge tank mocked up in the car. Its in the right front passenger foot well. Looks good and the fire extinguisher fits in too. I dread the day to change the fuel filters in front in the foot well underneath the fuel tank. New Ground block had to be moved.

Still more small stuff to do as we assemble.

[herkster]

More done tonight. Ended up caulking some areas of the car, also found the placement of the seat bolts and inserted the bolts through the carpet.

I was able to get the new lift pump running and its doing what it should for the surge tank. It pumps quite a bit. I had to make some changes to the fuel hose hookups to get the pump's hoses right with no kinks. Its really about 12 pounds in a 6 pound bag.

I made a plate for the attachment of the body to the pan on the passenger side in the front that I had a concern about. Its made of 16 gauge steel so I don't have any issue with it for sure. Unless you are under the car you will never see it. I will need to do one on the driver side now too. That will hopefully happen tomorrow.

With any luck I will get to close the front of the car this week by mounting the hood and start all the wiring in the front. I still need to drop in the radiator in but the only thing holding that up is some finish work on the radiator assembly and a hose for the overflow.

Progress is progress!

[herkster]

Got the nose fitted and adjusted on the car tonight. No bolts through yet but the gas cap location drives that. All Stainless bolts are reserved for this.

This is a major step as we can start wiring the instrument panel, radio, and headlights.

Hoping to get more done tomorrow and though the remainder of the week. We might even make noise by the end of the week. We'll see.

Still much to do. The rear and front bumper attachment, tail light wiring, seat belt install, all new gaskets need to be fitted to the windshield and fitted, but we are making progress!

[herkster]

Panel in and almost done. It still needs to be fastened down in this pic. I need to trace down an issue with the alternator light. Looks really good though. Tomorrow I'll get the turn signals and headlights hooked up. The keyless start ran great aside from a small issue that was found and fixed quickly.

Radio went in and went really easy. Need to run an additional wire to back up the radio with a "constant". Not a big problem just something else to do. It sounds really good! The two wires you see in the pic are spares from the loom that I need to tidy up.

Taillights in and operational. Brake lights work and when I get the turn signal and headlight switch hooked up the rest will work. The tape is to protect the area when the bumper gets mounted tomorrow.

Radiator as an assembly is ready to go. I wanted to add a rubber edge on each side as a finish to the raw sheet metal edge. It should look good. I need to wire the fans in bu t the wires are in and ready. Also need to add the hose for the overflow.

More tomorrow. I hope to add on the bumpers tomorrow too. One of them has the license plate light I need to hook up and that will take a little fabrication. It is coming along nicely and could be on the street by the end of the weekend. I'm still working out the bugs.

[herkster]

Another big day with the Allison.

Still much to do with headlights and wiring but hopefully we can get that done tomorrow. Taillights are in and wired. Had to finalize the steering column fit as the angle changed when the car was final assembled. A bit of trimming and it lined up. The turn signal assembly needs to be wired in too. along with the windshield fit and final. Lastly we have a couple of small gremlins to chase.

We ran it in the driveway and let it heat up for the first time. It came to 210 degrees on straight water then the fans cycled. It dropped to 180 right away and the efficiency of the radiator is quite amazing. I was standing near the rear of the car when they kicked on and the heat was pretty good that they pulled off the radiator.

After the pictures were taken the rear bumper was installed. More tomorrow...

[herkster]

Well..Chased the electrical gremlins with much success today. Mounted front bumper, front turn signals and headlights with wiring completed today too. All working as they should. Still to do... Mount front seats, turn signal assembly wiring at steering wheel, rebuild and mount windshield, mount new headlight switch (mine is faulty, dunno why), clutch switch relay and interlock, mount taillight lenses, and finally the new steering wheel with horn wiring. I just got tired and couldn't get it done but can get it done with one more weekend.

There's no rush anyways.