Sirius Black- Sidekick/IFS project

R

ROUGHcrawl

Guest
So I used to have a Sidekick that I beat the crap out of and then foolishly got rid of. Here is a pic from Lavant.


So naturally I upsized and bought a truck, then a bigger truck, then a bigger diesel...
Please login to view full content. Log in or register now.
 
R

ROUGHcrawl

Guest
So you can see that the rockers were totally rotten and the lower part of the fenders were also effected by the rot. So I pick up some 5"x 2" rectangular tube and started cutting and welding.
Tacked in new rocker

Then new lower fenders

Here are some passenger side (done) vs drivers side (untouched). Notice the bolts on the front fenders to allow them to still be removable.



Then the wife painted it all up for me!
 
R

ROUGHcrawl

Guest
Once the body work was done it was time to address the lack of an exhaust. The muffler was torn of on a trail and never replaced. So I made a cat back exhaust.

Now you may be wondering what the hell that elliptical thing is, well that's the muffler I made. It's an idea I had to kill unwanted noise and not kill performance, because these little kicks need help in that department. It looks like this inside.

The inlet side has 1/2" holes drilled in a staggered pattern and the outlet is 3/4", then the center is stuffed with stainless steel wool. It works really good, steady rpm and idle are very quiet and when blasting it "sounds like a cherry bomb, with less drone" says my buddy. Yes the exhaust is a bunch of welded elbows but hell it works!
 
R

ROUGHcrawl

Guest
Then we did a rear U-Joint and swapped out the tires to my 235/75/r15 Dura Tracs.

Forgot how tiny these joints are.

We had to make a U-Joint clamp, it got heavy holding this up but it worked.

Then BAM it was ready to rip.


MORE TO COME!!
 
Last edited:
R

ROUGHcrawl

Guest
Well during the safety they found a cracked signal light housing, which I had to replace. But after searching wreckers and forums for a few days I had nothing, then I tried Benson's and was told they were discontinued. Luckily I found one online from the states, $67 to my door. Complete headlight housing would have been in the $200 range, don't ever want to do that, so I figured it was time for a bumper. So I pulled the stock plastic/foam/metal junk off. I was disappointed in the four 6mm bolts that held the bumper on so I made some extra bolt positions by welding 3/8" plate into the open frame ends.

They were then drilled and tapped for two 7/16" bolts each side.

Then I started on the tube work, by the end of day one I had the lower half of the bumper done.

Upper brackets bolted into the factory locations and were made from 1/8" plate and gusseted.

Day two I started the upper tube work.

Once I had it tacked in and like the look of it the pulled the bumper off to finish weld and paint and add some aluminum panels.



Check out the improved approach angle!!!


MORE TO COME!!
 

aweber

This thread is :rainbow:
Staff member
Club Member
I like your inventiveness with the muffler and the front bumper looks kick-ass! :smokin
 
R

ROUGHcrawl

Guest
Thanks Adrian means a lot coming from a fellow builder. The muffler really works awesome!
 
R

ROUGHcrawl

Guest
Thanks all! The kick helps me be creative, there are a number of things that I refuse to change or alter, so I get to really focus on the things I'm willing to change. That being said, maybe I should tell you all the plan or goal for this project. First and foremost it will be a DD/ family camping rig, so reliability and capability have to go fairly hand in hand. Not like that's a new concept LMAO.

So here we go, list of things I am hoping to leave untouched.
Body panels, I want to retain as much of the stock body as I can with the exception of my rockers lol
Interior, it is very clean and the option of 4 seats and space for the pup is great. Carpet and cardboard panels will both be removed but otherwise it stays stock.
Engine, tranny, and tcase all stock. Possible clutch upgrades or t-case gears in the distant future but all kick.
Frame rails will go untouched, other then adding hoops and brackets etc.
235/75/r15 is as big as I am willing to go, it's a DD after all.
ABSOLUTELY NO BODY LIFT! lol

Now the list of whats changing.
Bumpers front and rear.
Rear suspension, want more travel longer links, and more droop. Likely 3 link/panhard.
Overall lift of 3-4" all suspension.

But most importantly

Macpherson strut IFS is GONE!! But it's not an SAS. There is a lot work going into the front end of this project, new fabricated steel diff housing(narrowed), full cradle for diff and long arm IFS system, the addition of upper arms, and everything else that goes with it. Gain travel, strength, reliability, stability, tunability among other things.

I've had the IFS itch for years, I've designed 15-20 different setups and have put them into functioning cad models with success, bout time I build one. Updates coming, and input is welcome.
 
Last edited:
R

ROUGHcrawl

Guest
I'm waiting on tube for my rear bumper so I figured I'd dive into my IFS. First thing I did was rig up my Jig-Trailer, yes Jig-Trailer, gotta be able to wheel it around and out of the way because this is gonna be a slow project. I had an old dump bed trailer frame my dad made when I was a kid. Comes in handy, really glad I saved it from the scrap run. Should allow me to build the whole set and allows me to weld everything once its all in there and tacked.



Then I started the new cradle/ lower arm mounting area. It includes a cross member and yes is lower then the factory but I need to make it that way to give room for my new diff. Once installed the new lower cradle position should level out the nose dive of the kick with lower arms level, once the rear suspension is done the front will get adjusted to match. The factory A-arms have 3-4 degrees of castor I'm aiming for 6 degrees at the lower arm pivot plain for bump eating goodness the upper will be adjustable to allow wheel castor from 5-7 degrees. I have done my best to keep the front of the arm in the same vertical plain as the factory set up just to insure good fitment. Yes the factory junk will all be cut out once the whole system is done.



New front diff will be using a rear Sidekick third. It is much stronger, has bigger R&P, and full spider gears. More on this in the weeks to come. But just a sample shot.


Then I made and A-arm jig. One jig for both lower arms. Its pretty simple.


The bushing sleeves get pounded on a piece of tube, which is there to keep them true to one another.


Then installed and clamped and tacked to the jig.


Here is a look at the changes to the width and wheel base. Keep in mind my lower arms mount 1.5" more in board then stock.


Then I started the first arm. Ran out of welding gas and had to call it a day, but so far so good. Once the arm is done it will get untacked and the sleeve pounded out and the next arm will be built on the other side of the jig. :)


Then we did some of this


More to come!!
 
Last edited:
R

ROUGHcrawl

Guest
Thanks Richard, hope to get out to some runs this summer as well as tonnes of camping. Gotta make sure to test the kick lots first though, need to know where I can make it go. Having runs rated by tire size makes it tough to know which ones to jump on. But once this thing is all done tire size won't mean much. hahaha
 

Kunker

Administrator
Club Member
Definitely looking forward to how this turns out, and your plans for narrowing the diff.
 
R

ROUGHcrawl

Guest
Thanks Kunker, I'll be getting into the diff sooner then I planned so stay tuned over the weekend!!
 
R

ROUGHcrawl

Guest
UPDATE.
Dropped the rear carrier parts of to my machinist today, soon I'll be able to fit shafts and build a housing.

This weekend is all about arms, and packaging!!
 
R

ROUGHcrawl

Guest
Would that be Chris? Wondering if he works on full size stuff too.

Yes sir that is definitely Chris. He has done lots of work on my 1:1 stuff over the years, machining custom parts, and in this case modifying stock.
 
R

ROUGHcrawl

Guest
Happy Monday all
Little Sunday goofing off. Lots of work done Sunday also, Saturday was a total write off.


So I got lower arm all buzzed up minus a gusset or 2, also buzzed up an upper arm. Then started on the upper arm mounts. Everything is very much a rough start so please don't blast me about single sheer etc LMAO



From above you can see the space allowed for steering and the space for the coilover to mount to the lower arm. Bump stop will work on the upper arm where the tubes are nearly touching.


From the front you can see the nearly parrallel arms, they are closer to parallel then my phones camera shows lol. Ignore the upper ball joint mount those are actually templates tacked up for these pics, the real thing will be beefy.


From the side you can see the 7* castor created from the lower pivot plain. Also notice the upper arm pivot plain sits another 5* more leaned back, this will fight brake dive.


Then check out this full droop to full bump chamber change. This is maxing out ball joint travel 20" not the actual 10-12" travel I want to use. The bubble adjusted to level for this shot at full droop.


Then full bump, without adjusting the bubble.



Then some more


I also got these from 2Greys, normally I would make this stuff from scratch, but I don't want the rear end to eat up as much time as the front has.


More to come.
 
Top