The chronicle of the VX, a day in the life

[MoonRaker]

Well, I havent been able to post for some time, for reasons uknown I wasnt able to reset my password. Ill reintroduce myself, im now a proude 30 yearold owner of a 2001 proton. Ive owned my VX since 36,000 miles on the OD and its never left me stranded, thank god. It now has 81,000. I noticed it just wasnt running rite at around 45,000 so I used it only when needed till around 60,000. I made a trip from my house in Florida to MD. I got there and checked my oil wich I changed before I left home and thought, OOO Noo, that isnt rite. My oil was almost sludged, not good. Id made the 1000 mile trip often and never this. I checked the fuel preassure just incase I had a leaky injector, nope, dammit. That would have been to easy. Compression check found 1 bad hole, it still made ok psi but was more then 40 psi short of all of the others. #4 if I rember correctly. Well, I was 1000 miles away from home and had a semi dead cylender. Ok, 30wt, some lucas and a light foot home, also to include a change at 500 miles. Once I got home I pulled the motor and found a cracked ring after tear down and that hole 4 was worn way beyond spec. I ended up doing a stock to .2 over bore with a rebuild kit that cost me $850 plus machine costs and ended up close to $1400, I coulda gotten away without new bearings but I had it appart so why not.
Well, after I got the beast back together I turnned the key on and of 3 times and turned it over and it fired like it should and was running like a clock, a really load one, now what. I listened to the noise and I figured it out rite away, the shop who did my head work didnt set the springs to take up my gear lash in the heads. Man, well 4 hours later [ I had trouble with the last allen on the right bank valve cover] Its just purring at start up. Job well done. Since that event ive been up to MD 2 times and made the trip cross country to Glamis CA for newyears 2007/2008. Ill get to that in more detail later.

[Triathlete]

Welcome back and glad to hear you were able to keep the VX up and running!
Glammis? Hmmm! Thats probably about the same drive time as Moab!:cool:
Hope you got some pics to post of the VX throwing some sand roostertails from all 4 wheels!:bgwo:

[MoonRaker]

Na, I have postcards, T shirts and stickers but no pictures, just memorys.

[MoonRaker]

I have to say that the beast held up VERY well. 6 ft jumps were fun, I took the rear seat out and layed a twin in the back. Some crazy guy wanted to ride in the back on the mattress since he blew up his quad. It was great, we were all lit. We were in 4 low in 3rd tacking about 5500 off the steep side of the dunes.He would be airborn, stick to the roof and when we landed he would get catapulted into my mattress, classic, after the first one he opted to put on his helmet, smart move. After dune 6 or 7 he was complaining that he was about to puke, end of that. Plus everything I had with me was all over the back, laundry, computer, tools, you name it.

[Ldub]

Sounds like a fun trip, good to hear your rebuild is running strong.:thumbup:

[MoonRaker]

Yes, between 80 and 90 cross country, threw 1 code and it ended up as bad gas, cleared it and didnt come back. Got a new one, EGR, isnt causing any troubles but ill replace it at a later date. I just noticed my transfer case seals starting to leak so I ordered parts to rebuil that, my cost $1100, new transfer case $2800. The parts include clutch pack, 2 gears, a chain, bearings, and seals. I bought all of the parts so I dont need to order any if they need replacing. I hear the gears are pretty hard and dont usauly need to be replaced but I bought them just incase.

[MoonRaker]

I pulled a H-3 out of the mud over the weekend, so thats the 2nd one, +2 Jeeps, 1 landrover, 2 F-150s a bronco and a F-350.

[MoonRaker]

I just replaced the passenger side set of boots last month, 81,000 miles. Noticed the drivers side open yesterday, note to self, if 1 side goes replace both sides ASAP. I rember inspecting the drivers side and it didnt look dryroted or cracked so its a were issue. Keep in mind if you ever need to replace the whole CV on either side your cost will be between 5 and 600 each, so look at your boots often, im lucky I spotted them in time. Theres a place around here that rebuilds them for around $150 so if anyone needs yours rebuilt they grind your old ones and replace the balls with bigger ones. The place is called Florida Front Wheel Drive 407-845-6872. I purchased my CV boots from them and they do pretty good work.

[MoonRaker]

Ow, almost forgot, I made the mistake of towing a large trailer (boat) and it blew a seal in the rear. I replaced the bearing and seal. I happened at around 50,000 miles. NOTE, dont tow large stuff.

[MoonRaker]

Ok, noticed coolent temps rising a few days ago, especialy when I had the AC on. I figured out it was the fan clutch that went bad. I replaced the clutched system with a nice electric fan kit from murrys speed and custom. It cost $300 but it has all the hardware and an isolated system with a thermal prob. Imediatly when I started the VX I noticed it was running smoother. The *** dyno feels a little more TQ also. Mostly I notice the AC is alot colder to. It also dosnt make all the fan woosh noise, that was annoying. I recommend you do this mod wether your fan clutch is bad or not. If you have ever put your VX under water id check out you fan buy seeing if you can stop your fan with the AC full tilt completly warmed up. Watch you fingers.

[MoonRaker]

Well, at 91,000 I just replaced the power steering pump, its been whinning for a year now and the AC clutch needed replacing so I had that done as well. I would have done the work myself but I was freezing my ***** off in MD. Had a good time a few weekends ago. Showed the FJ guys what was up with a VX, I made it over the hill 2 or 3 times before getting framed out. Keep in mind the first FJ that tried got stuck, then got stuck again, then the next one got stuck also, even a jeep came along and got stuck trying to make it back over, good times.

http://www.fjbruisers.org/forum/index.php?topic=2193.0

[tom4bren]

"I just noticed my transfer case seals starting to leak"

"6 ft jumps were fun"

Hmmm - imagine that:)

[MoonRaker]

"I just noticed my transfer case seals starting to leak"

"6 ft jumps were fun"

Hmmm - imagine that:)

Yeh they are leaking a little but id say mudding and driving through sandy water would be the cause of the leaks, it would make more sense since the bearings arnt bad. I top off the fluid every 5,000 or so miles till I can get around to rebuilding the case, its easy to do, takes 5 minutes, only takes a few ounces of fluid and the fluid inside isnt contaminated.

[Chopper]

This is the most work I've heard of, going into a VX

[MoonRaker]

This is the most work I've heard of, going into a VX

Yeh well, I take good care of it but I dont baby it. I plan on keeping it a long time. :)

[MoonRaker]

Incase I didnt mention I have a wildlife refuge across the street from my house, I spend alot of time in the sand there, I try to stay out of the mud but now and then I run across a stranded motorist (stuck in the mud).

[MoonRaker]

Well, got another wild hair, I finaly said im tired of the proton yellow and started painting my VX camo. Its half painted sofar flat green and it looks hot. I think the camo part is working since 2 people have already run into it at night, hey its dark, lol.

[MoonRaker]

Ow? Has anyone run into the problem of the panal on the hood cracking??? Mines been cracked since I bought it but I finished the job. Im in the prosses of fixing the crack and im gona cover over it with carbon fiber vinyl. Ow, you might here from all the hummer guys in the near future, I peeled all the isuzu and VX badges off, im putting HUMMER H5-VX special edition on the back, I like seeing people scratching there heads. In my free time I might just go to the hummer dealer and screw with them for S&G. Cant wait to see the faces of the guys at the gate at the next base I go to also.

[iamironman]

...Ow, you might here from all the hummer guys in the near future, I peeled all the isuzu and VX badges off, im putting HUMMER H5-VX special edition on the back, I like seeing people scratching there heads. In my free time I might just go to the hummer dealer and screw with them for S&G. Cant wait to see the faces of the guys at the gate at the next base I go to also.


My VX Started crying when I told her you where doing this... she's so ashamed... :mad::mad::mad:

She wants to know where you are... she said: "Pistols at dawn!!"

[MoonRaker]

Mine isnt crying, its lovin it, its gona look like no other and im trying to work somthing out with the R&D guys that work on them the hummers and have a play day, maybe find a sand box somewere.

[VX crazy]

Are you for real? :eek:

And are you off your meds?

[iamironman]

I was just gonna say............ huh?:confused::eek:

But you said it wayyy better VXC...:gring:


oh yeah.... OW!

[MoonRaker]

O, im for real. I dont take meds. I play with stuff in my garage for fun, wana see my latest project. Look through the scetches, at the end of the thread is what I have sitting in my garage, I play with this stuff for fun.


http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?t=159517&highlight=project+street

[don moore]

i was thinking of getting some gmc logos and making DMC logos for fun..just remove the g and ad a c to the front fliped over. it would kinda look like a DMC logo

[LittleBeast]

Dude that is pretty sweet, I am "Decat" over on the RX8club forum, didn't know you were a member over there. Can't wait to see how that trike turns out. So, where are the pics of the VX? You can only see it in the background of one of those pics from what I could tell. Are you going to produce any more of those trikes? Are you going to sell any of them? Price?

http://www.rx8club.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=129831&d=1228355355

[MoonRaker]

Nice someone that can post pics, lol. Im getting alot of intrest in what im doing with the trike, if you look in the begining of that thread you will see some scetches a buddy of mine is working on. If everything goes as planned your looking at $35,000+/- for the base model stage 2 will have a twin screw blower.

[MoonRaker]

What do you think, some floresant green strobe lights for the top of the VX, really bright ones, kinda make the other guy think hes getting abducted buy aliens or somthing, lol.

[iamironman]

...getting abducted buy aliens or somthing, lol.


Wow (http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=2z6td2g&s=4)



I really do like your design... but with the economy, make one that costs like 12-15k...
Or an electric one... yeah

[MoonRaker]

Wow (http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=2z6td2g&s=4)



I really do like your design... but with the economy, make one that costs like 12-15k...
Or an electric one... yeah

How about a daily driver that gets 45 to 60 , maybe even 70 MPG.

[LittleBeast]

What do you think, some floresant green strobe lights for the top of the VX, really bright ones, kinda make the other guy think hes getting abducted buy aliens or somthing, lol.

Ok, that is cool as long as you lift it with the 912s and put some 1-2" spacers on top of the springs, crank the torsion bars drop the diff and slap some 20" green rims with some 33x12.5 tires under there, then you will be ready for the martian travels.

[Ldub]

How about a daily driver that gets 45 to 60 , maybe even 70 MPG.

It's called a "Vespa"...:smilewink

[MoonRaker]

Wow (http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=2z6td2g&s=4)



I really do like your design... but with the economy, make one that costs like 12-15k...
Or an electric one... yeah

Cant do it for that cheap unless I send it to china, its Made in America, that way I creat jobs and the way those smart cars are being sold id say id rather roll in this bad *** trike then a smart car POS. Im sure many would think the same way.If I go ahead with the project im aiming at a limited production but if it hits off like I hope your gona see alot of them around.

[MoonRaker]

Ok, that is cool as long as you lift it with the 912s and put some 1-2" spacers on top of the springs, crank the torsion bars drop the diff and slap some 20" green rims with some 33x12.5 tires under there, then you will be ready for the martian travels.

Well, im thinking of going a different route with the suspension. I want to replace the torshions with coilovers in the front. Rancho makes a sick new setup that allows you to adjust the suspension on the fly. I can get a good deal with them and for under 1200 bucks and I do some fab work I can have near troughy truck style setup. It takes a few to load up so be patiant.

http://www.gorancho.com/home.php

Plus I live less then 20 miles from Morrosso and there opening a rally track :)

[MoonRaker]

a few pics, keep inmind im a little comp illit.

[MoonRaker]

nice, not bad, thought you guys might get a laugh out of the last one

[MoonRaker]

Fun with suspension

[MoonRaker]

Its funny, I still have the one side yellow, it really screws with people.

[MoonRaker]

More fun with suspension.

[MoonRaker]

Ended up painting the hood insert today. It started as black, after I put a foot print in it, ouch, it ended up tan because I ran out of black. I think it happened for a reason, it looks better then if it was black. So now im stuck. I cant decide if I should paint the rest of it camo. It already has alot of green, since I left the plastic black it already has that color and with the insert being tan it might not look good.

[MoonRaker]

How does a badge
VX
HUMMONTHIS

for the back were the ISUZU used to be sound???? :eek:

[pbkid]

just hope they dont get angry and have a hummer mentality.....(im bigger than you)....

and rear end you.... one good hit on the tail of a VX and its gonna be added to the graveyard...

[MoonRaker]

just hope they dont get angry and have a hummer mentality.....(im bigger than you)....

and rear end you.... one good hit on the tail of a VX and its gonna be added to the graveyard...

Well, if my tags aren't enough to discourage road rage like that (ARMY VET} vehicular assault gives me the right to defend myself in any means necessary. No one screws with me around here, no one has the balls.

[pbkid]

well thats good :)

out here where the rednecks run rampid you have to be careful what type of statements you put on your car..

[MoonRaker]

Yeh, I now what you mean. Im in the country myself, well, as close as you can come to it in West Palm Beach. All the guys around here think im nuts anyway.

[MoonRaker]

I just found this, they were testing all these at morrosso. I just parked infront of them for SG

[MoonRaker]

I got it, new badge for the VX, been working on it for a while.

HUMMONTHIS
VX
Mercy is for the
JEEP

[Moondog]

Well, ive had it with Florida, time to move. Guys n gals im opening a shop near Ellicott city MD. I grew up in the area but id like to say if you need help keeping you VX alive im open for buisness in the area starting say the 12th of May. Just VXs and RX-8s. Also one of my projects that I might be doing is a STI engine swap to the VX. It was a little conjested under the hood anyway and ive put alot of thought into it, theres only so much you can do with the stock engine and thought what would be a good reliable swap out plus STI parts are a dime a dozen. I just wounder if they have any kind of of auto tiptronick settups to replace the tranny?? Im going to see what it will involve. Also on the list, im pulling the body off to expose the rolling chassis, entirely. Beef up time baby. Plus I want to rework the wiring harness, other then on the body everything else just runs down the frame rail. Ive been planning a major overhaul since I dont plan getting rid of it anytime soon. Its time to build it to go 200K with out any major problems. Dont get me wrong, shes never left me stranded and its done her job very well but I cant wait to rework it and tighten the whole package up. Gotta get it done buy next winter.

[Ldub]

Well, ive had it with Florida, time to move. Guys n gals im opening a shop near Ellicott city MD. I grew up in the area but id like to say if you need help keeping you VX alive im open for buisness in the area starting say the 12th of May. Just VXs and RX-8s. Also one of my projects that I might be doing is a STI engine swap to the VX. It was a little conjested under the hood anyway and ive put alot of thought into it, theres only so much you can do with the stock engine and thought what would be a good reliable swap out plus STI parts are a dime a dozen. I just wounder if they have any kind of of auto tiptronick settups to replace the tranny?? Im going to see what it will involve. Also on the list, im pulling the body off to expose the rolling chassis, entirely. Beef up time baby. Plus I want to rework the wiring harness, other then on the body everything else just runs down the frame rail. Ive been planning a major overhaul since I dont plan getting rid of it anytime soon. Its time to build it to go 200K with out any major problems. Dont get me wrong, shes never left me stranded and its done her job very well but I cant wait to rework it and tighten the whole package up. Gotta get it done buy next winter.

So...moondog is the new moonraker?...:_confused

[pbkid]

i would KILL to put an STI motor in my VX...

[Moondog]

Yeh, I forgot my logon code. Guess it works.

[Moondog]

i would KILL to put an STI motor in my VX...

Im thinking its the rite thing to do, you figure you can get 500 ponys out of it without much money plus thats reliable HP, you can buy 2 sti short blocks for the cost of a VX motor, not that mine is bad but it got hot when my fan clutch went bad and thats not good for an aluminium block. After it near over heated it started doing the oil consumption bit and im sure It needs a new valve seals, (it smokes sometimes after startup). Also think about it, there easy to get, they dont cost all that much to fix and build, getting the ecus to mate up is the big concern but after I have them both sitting together I can figure out the best way to sync the sti ECU to the VX tranny and most of that is a different system so figure a few days for that and alot of hair pulling. The fit, hmm the fit, well the sti motor is wider but has less stuff on the side, im sure it being so compact its gona clear everything and leave room for what ever like a scoop through the hood for the I/C. If I go the route of retaining the VX tranny ill trace out the motor plate cause im sure alot of other people will want to do this, I might make a kit available if all goes good, or even maybe ugrade to a subie tranny, havent looked into that yet but id have to figure out what it takes to mate that to the TOD. So what do you think would be the best plan of action??? Im waiting till I get to MD to start on this but I can still figure out a plan of execution. I have many sources for motors but I need to settup shop first.

[Moondog]

Ok, forester tranny seems a possible angle, gotta do some more research, I have it on good standings that one dynoed at 320 at japtrix, the if part, is the gear ratio correct going into the TOD, could use some impute on this, im a pro at making engines fit to trannys, im sure it wont be hard to settup the tranny to the TOD. The question is wether to bother with the tranny swap as well. Im not sure but I think the power button changes the what would you say, the way the tranny shifts under power. I can also put a control in for the TOD if I have to, its nice to slide if you want to without grabbing the E brake. And I wouldnt recommend playing with the TOD control on the street but offroad im sure the clutches can handle a good beating, I have the clutch pack in my hand and its beefier then any front wheel drive clutch ive ever seen, im talking multiple clutch disks wet sump. I say not to mess with the TOD on the street because my TOD was shorting out when I first got the truck and giving me full time all out 4WD, and made it handle like scary crap on the street.

[Moondog]

Ok, had some time to get down on checking if the engine was blown or not. Well, I started to do a compression test and when I pulled the coils I noticed oil was seeping past the spark plug bucket seals causing them to fill and idle to be rough because of missfiring. I found that in 3 of the 6 holes. After digging further I notice the valve covers were seeping oil onto the exaust manifold (fire hazerd) and aftermarket gaskets had to go. It was so slow that it was almost un-noticable but that would explain the oil consumpion issue or issues I was having. It seems I also had a small oil leak out of the valvecover gasket into a pinhole in the exaust manifold gasket. It seemed it seeping oil and was getting in there. Guess thats why it was smoking a little cause it aint doin it no more. I replaced all 6 bucket seals and both valve cover seals. When I did the compresion test I had 180 on every hole give or take a few PSI. The driverside valve cover is a bitch to get off, just bite the bullet and pull the master. Take it easy on the allens, they like to round out and cost $12 each. I completed the job from teardown to reinstalation in 1.5 hours for the driver side. At this time im nolonger burning oil. My VX is happy again.

[Gussie2000]

I pulled a H-3 out of the mud over the weekend, so thats the 2nd one, +2 Jeeps, 1 landrover, 2 F-150s a bronco and a F-350.


Wonder who holds the record as the VX with most towed vehicules :o

[Moondog]

Well, the good thing is its never needed to be towed to the shop. It has never left me stranded.

[JAMAS]

Well, the good thing is its never needed to be towed to the shop. It has never left me stranded.

.....you better go knock on some wood.

[Moondog]

.....you better go knock on some wood.

Every day.

[MoonRaker]

Ok, been a while since i posted. The VX is a 110k strong and still running great. I was in the prosses of replacing the brake pads, rotors and painting the calipers today and noticed the passenger side rear axel seal leaking, this is the secound time im gona need to do this. Its due to 1 of 2 things unlike the first time (towing a 35ft boat). 90+ crosscountry steady for 3 days at a time towing my Quad :grino: or I got sand in the seal some how maybe at Glamis or in the swamps of florida. Im not happy about it but what are ya gona do, well fix the f!!!!! thing. Im sourcing parts for the fix. Ive also reworked the PCV system. Im haveing better results keeping the oil clean for longer periods using a catch tank with a VAC on it. It keeps oil from being sucked into the intake like with the stock settup. Theres also no oil in the catch tank every time ive checked it. Ill post a pic when I get to it.

[MoonRaker]

Ive also niticed the rear bumpstops need to be replaced, nuthing to do. As for the snow here in MD this year was AWSOME. Its great cause I didnt get stuck. I did use chains for a night and dam they were great. It was fun being the only truck out on the roads and still trucking along. I kicked it into 3rd and kept my foot to the floor for over 2 miles 1 time. I was trying to spin it out and must have had it at 4:00 slinging to 8:00 over and over at over 60MPH tracking strait down the highway. I love this truck. :yesy:

[MoonRaker]

115,000 miles of abuse and still kickin and gettin air every other day.

[MoonRaker]

127,000 TOD issues.

[MoonRaker]

Cost of parts from isuzu are $501 ×2 for speed sensors. Contemplating another route. Wiring up the tod for manual control and not just an on off switch. One that controls the clutch presure like the control modual would. Also got a few more options for a motor swap. Audi, Mercedes and vw all have nice deisel v6s. Each with about 400ftlb of tq. Been looking into purchasing one that's been totaled out and they seem to be in the $2000 to $2500 range. Any thoughts on that as well?