The Tuki Suzuki - Toyota drivetrain, Samurai body

[DeadlyPeace]

That is one hell of a sweet looking chassis. Got any pics of the front end too?

[THK Matt]

i think i just myself! WOW RICK

[COToy91]

Where is it even possible to snake the exhaust out the back?

[4RnrRick]

Got any pics of the front end too?

Theres some on previous pages, but I didn't take any new ones.

Where is it even possible to snake the exhaust out the back?

Yeap, theres room for exhaust. Muffler on the left, air tank on the right -just above and infront of rear axle.

[TheCookieMonster]

i think i just myself! WOW RICK

X2 ... lookin great

[4RnrRick]

Got a good start on the Tranny Skid Plate and figured out a cool way to "solid" mount it to lower link mounts and to "soft" mount it to the oil pan skid using some old toyota body mounts.

[COToy91]

this is the epitome of a flat belly

[4RnrRick]

Thats the idea!

Basically I'm just trying to build the chassis simliar to comp rigs. Lots of armor that is flat and smooth with no rock anchors, drivelines above the links, Low CG, good link geometery.

[TIMS89CRAWLER]

your doing a great job of accomplishing just that 

[twistedtoy92]

your doing a great job of accomplishing just that 

HELL YEAH!

[4RnrRick]

Almost done with the skidplates.........

[mayberry]

  you are an insperation to us all

[Phazertwo]

you are an insperation to us all

X10!!

[MiniSimp]

Optical illusion or does the transmission plate sit lower than the oil pan plate where they meet?

[Stinky]

Rick, thats the end of it, your getting divorced, and we're getting married, end of story....

kidding, but ive been following this build since the beginning, and every time i scroll through/read it, it makes me horny..aaand jealous...its changed my outlook on/plans of leaves, n got me pumped to link/coil my new toy....buuuuuuuut, i was just curious as to when you did any welding on your axles(link mounts, truss, plating) if you put them under a load in a press or anything, cuz i know these sheet metal housing axles looove warping when you add a little bit of hot-metal-glue to em.... just curious...

but keep up the amazing fab work/ingenuity/intricate-ivity and im going to keep reading.....

[854RUN]

Skid plats look darn good  . So how the ride on the 2x4 spring up front 

[4RnrRick]

Optical illusion or does the transmission plate sit lower than the oil pan plate where they meet?

The oil pan skid and tranny skid is at the same height. What your seeing is the result of not having the tranny skid bolted to the oil pan skid because I still need to drill and counter sink two holes to hold it together - so thats why you see a lip there. Once its bolted up, that transition will be smooth.

So how the ride on the 2x4 spring up front

I had to do that to photograph it. Otherwise it was so low to the ground, I couldn't get everything I wanted in the pic. Thats also why the picture is crooked because I just shimed up the front axle.

[MiniSimp]

The oil pan skid and tranny skid is at the same height. What your seeing is the result of not having the tranny skid bolted to the oil pan skid because I still need to drill and counter sink two holes to hold it together - so thats why you see a lip there. Once its bolted up, that transition will be smooth.

[4RnrRick]

Rick, thats the end of it, your getting divorced, and we're getting married, end of story....

Sorry dude - your not my type.............

i was just curious as to when you did any welding on your axles(link mounts, truss, plating) if you put them under a load in a press or anything,

I just take my time at it and try to control how much heat and were I put the heat to minimize the warpage. doing that seems to work for me.

[TheCookieMonster]

  Tuki Suzuki   

[solar86yota]

Awesome Job on the Zukyota!!!!!

[crawlerdan]

i was down in your neckofthewoods today rick. wish i coulda seen this. im very impressed!

[4RnrRick]

Finished up the skidplates tonight and got them painted.

Heres the weight on them:

12 lbs oil pan skid
14 lbs for tranny skid
37 lbs for flat belly skid
____________________
63 lbs total for all 3 - thats less than I thought.


Keith helped me set the tub on the frame tonight and we did a little flex test to mock up placement and length of my rear coilovers.... Well its offical - I'm not going to be able to get 2" coilovers to fit back there like I want - but I can get some 2" airshocks to fit, but even those are going to require my 1.5" wheel spacers. Good thing I only bought my front coilovers so far.....

[KDXSR5]

link suspensions are amazing.

[Steve_925]

that is some bad   work.! im in aw that you can do that good and consistant of welds with the little 110v lincoln. do you use .023 for everything and what are your dials set at for say 1/8 to 3/16 material. just wondering cuz i have the same welder

[4RnrRick]

.023 wire and 84/16 steel mix gas on EVERYTHING! "7.5 D" is what I usually run. for sheetmetal I turn it down to "4-B".

[Steve_925]

good to know thanx. i currently have .023 in my welder from when i did my half doors I'm gonna have to try it on some structural steel.

[twistedtoy92]

that thing is sweet!!!! cant wait to see the suspension done on that zuki!! NICE WORK!!

[TIMS89CRAWLER]

  hell ya that suspensions gonna work damn good I see... as I figured it would with Rick building it.... 

[4RnrRick]

Started working on the exhaust again. found a pretty clean path to the back of the rig up and high out of harms way.



Here is what my plan WAS for the rear. Fuel cell on one side and rear seat on the other. But from my flex test - I really need to put the top of the coilovers/airshocks right where the red circle is (just inside the current rear wheel well) - which unfortionately puts it right into the side of the fuel cell on the driver side. hence that means I either need to run smaller dia coilovers (aka - airshocks) or run a wide wheel spacer.



But here is my other option. Fuel cell in the back and teh seat centered it knocks my daughters foot room WAY down. But it looks like it doable for atleast a couple years unless my daughters feet double in size. Plus it puts her in the middle so she can actually see whats going on infront of teh vehicle instead of looking at teh back of teh passenger seat. anyways - you can see that this will let me inset the coilovers inot teh rear wheel wells and with a frame notch, it should work out pretty good. so this is my current plan.

I figure if I still have this rig in a couple years and my daughter starts complaining about space - I can always design a custom fuel cell to move the seat back some.