OVERHEATING PROBLEM RESOLVED?

I've been struggling with an overheating issue since the weather started getting a bit warmer.

Zuk would idle all day long, but as soon as it was traveling over 60km/h the temperature would climb and not stop.

So as a test I switched out the 'desirable' steel topped rad with the plastic one out of the Yellow Zuk. That radiator was an inch taller, so it should have helped....but no, same problem.

Thinking the winch was blocking air flow, I removed it, and it did help a little.

A buddy suggested an aluminum Honda Civic radiator that the tuners use in their 1992- 2000 Civics. 

 Aluminum should cool better, and Amazon had a 2 row aluminum radiator for sale at half the price of a standard Samurai radiator....so it was a done deal!

The Civic radiator is almost the same dimensions as the Suzuki radiator, but to make it work I had to made some mounts for the bottom, and a bracket for the top to tie it into the original radiator mounts.

I re-used the Kia Spectra fan as it's very slim, and made two aluminum straps to mount fan to the rad mounts....no more zip ties LOL

I also had to extend the top hose as the inlet was further away.

I added a slot under the winch to allow some air flow to enter at the bottom of the radiator.

Re-installed the winch and went for a test drive ...it ran perfectly...but the air is cold out there today, so the true test will come when it warms up again.

Oh, and I nearly launched my welder...friggin wire feed problems. Seems I need the wand at a specific radius otherwise the wire gets jammed up.

 

BIG JONES CLUB RUN MAY 2017

Big Jones trail was a blast today, with only 1 casualty; Kelvin blew a radiator fan in his 2017 Jeep not too far into the trail and had to hightail it out of there.

No ticks to report but plenty of black flies...I think I swallowed a few !

Met up with Jeff and his super bad-ass SAS'd Tracker on Yota axles :)

ENGINE SWAP #3

Replaced the old smokey 1.6 8v engine out as it uses ALL in 1 day !, and I have a low KMs 1.6 8v motor to go in, so it's time!

Seems the 'new' motor has a larger flywheel and clutch plate, presumably because it had a Tracker transmission. So I had to swap them out so it would fit the Samurai transmission. Also modified the alternator housing to accept bigger bolts to help with it moving on it's extended extended adjuster.

Of course I had to shear a pressure plate bolt and a spark plug too LOL.

After getting it all back together, I noticed a killer vibration when it was running. Initially I panicked thinking I'd goofed up the flywheel or clutch, but after some investigation I noticed the exhaust down pipe was hard pressed against the frame ....phew!! Nothing a grinder can't sort out ;)

NEW DAILY DRIVER

OK, not strictly off-road related, but it will help....

Picked up a dirt cheap, nothing to write home about, 2007 Toyota Matrix with supposedly 320K KM - I say supposedly because the ODO on these and other Toyotas only go to a max of 299,999.

This thing drives so well and is in incredible shape considering it's age and kms - it's has had regular oil changes and undercoating since new. It's got a minor poorly executed rust repair on the roof. But it will serve as a good run around for me and my boy, who is learning to drive. Eventually he'll probably use it the most.

The bonus for having the Toyota is that I can work on the Zuk without any time pressure to get the Zuk back on the road.

Weirdly it has made me ultra lazy with the Zuk's motor swap and spring over axle change that I've got planned.

BUMP & GRIND TRAIL

Took a tour with the Pirate Off-Road Nation on the Bump & Grind trail. A few of us managed to reach the end of the trail - and a first time for me.

Buddy was out in my old SAS'd Xterra too :-)