I saw Ldubs at Moab, looks sweet, but I was not impressed by the power difference. I talked to some of the gear heads at work, our engine just isn't made to handle too much boost, so I imagine a SC might get you an extra littl bit of uuumph, but for crawlin and playin in mud, I don't think it matters. For those with SC, no offense, but it just doesn't seem worth it at all.
Update**I messed around with the sheet metal a bit, after laying 3 pallets of sod, and building a skid plate for a VX member!!! Anyway, I learned a valuable lesson, I hate working with sheet metal. It is very artsy, and I am not artsy at all. Here is what I have so far. I think its gonna look sweet, there is gonna be a gap under the headlights, but eh....for a no experience metal worker, I consider this top notch. Still need to get square tubing and a bender, but I can wait on that. I drew in the driving lights, and I sticky taped my turn signal on one side to see how it looks. As far as I am concerned.............BAD ***!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The sheet metal is 22gauge, and I will weld in some 1/4" plate brackets to help keep its shape. I will put sheet metal over the top of the hitch as well to bridge the gap. It is pretty sturdy though. I would say by next weekend or so I will be done with that, minus the tubing.
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I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson
interesting...
you gonna fill in all that open space??
"Do Not Seek Praise. Seek Criticism."
"If You Can't Solve A Problem, It's Because You're Playing By The Rules."
"The Perosn Who Doesn't Make Mistakes Is Unlikely To Make Anything."
-Paul Arden
That is looking sweet! Give us a shot from the side when you get a chance.
Peace.
Tom
"Through Great Sacrifice..... Great Rewards Will Be Achieved"
Thanks for the confidence Tom.
Jack, I do not know what I am doing with that space, here is what I envision, of course it will be all welded together and square, and painted flat black when I am done.
I wish I could get it to look like this, but the VX frame is a lot lower than the rodeo. This setup is similar to mine, only I used a square tube frame vice 3/16 plating. His weighs a ton, and is not as strong structurally. But it looks nice.
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lookin good chris...
is it going to be strong enough to stand on, and to jack the VX off of....
I do not intend to ever jack off my VX....couldn't help it
As far as the sheet metal goes, it does not go under the frame, so the square tubing will still be available. As far as standing on it...Maybe I can run some angle iron under the sheets? Hadn't thought of that, but I never stood on my bumper before? What exactly would you be reaching? Hmmm...gotta think about that, thanks Jack.
I love the brain-storming going on with this project...ps and this site(family) in general!!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Chi Dog...Dog is my Co-pilot
Onward thru the fog
Leave it BETTER than you found it!
Not to get away from the bumper but since you stopped a little on the power issue I will post another piece I was told.
If your keeping it naturally aspirated we have seen substantial gains from the basic mods of a free flowing exhaust system. We recommened a 2.5 inch mandrel bent system with Pacemaker brand headers/extractors. If your race class allows it I would not use any mufflers at all or if you have to then obviously use 2.5 inch straight through items.
On the intake side of things over here in Australia the factory airbox was very very restrictive to keep noise down for emissions. Remove the whole box if possible on your model and use a K and N pod filter.
Lastly, we would suggest the use of an aftermarket ecu such as our own WOLF V500. With the above bolt on mods and then some ecu remapping you will be very surprised at how the car transforms. In our experience the 6VD1/6VE1 engines were heavily restricted from factory so theres a lot of power to be had just by releasing the restrictions imposed by Isuzu.
Other things engineered by isuzu such as the ignition system seem to be very well done. We have seen well over 500kw at the wheels using the factory ignition with no type of amplification. The stock crank also showed no signs of cracking or any twisting at this power level also, but it was obviously balanced and prepped beforehand.
On the forced induction side of things then it first comes down to whether you want to supercharge or turbocharge. We have done both and had great power results but from our experience turbo charging is more beneficial. From a reliability, engineering and power potential point of view.
After that its just of matter of how much power you want to make. Theres still head work, pistons, rods etc for those people just wanting to make big numbers.
For your type of application a mildly powered responsive package is what you need. If forced induction is allowed in your race class then the most suited system would be a small turbocharged setup. This would give lightning response combined with decent top end power and no sign of lag. A small turbocharged 6VE1 drives like its a naturally aspirated 5 litre.
For the wolf V500 ecu, there are dealers already in USA who are familiar with the product.
No offense taken. Us S/C'd urban mall crawlers don't have all the offroad gear and are turning smaller meat, so the S/C is quite noticeable.
I am confused about something though. It is almost as though you see the S/C as being "too weak" for offroad activities, yet you are adding extra weight (ala this monster bumper) on top of your stock 3.5L? I would assume that, even offroad, the S/C would pitch in to help push/pull that weight, on top of what the stock 3.6L is already doing. *shrug*
Gary Noonan
'01 S/C VX / '18 Forester XT
My reference point is Ldubs SC VX. We played in the sand at Moab, I would expect the SC VX to throw up some sand, and I am on just under 33s stock gearing as well. I kept up with him just fine with my NA Injen intake with K&N cone filter. I don't know what a S/C costs for the VX, but I would guess >$1K. Just doesn't seem worth it to me, but that is my opinion, I would much rather have lockers if I was gonna spend that much money. But once again, to each their own, hence my barbaric looking bumperHopefully some new pics should be up this weekend, if I can get a hydraulic press with my cladding money, I can bend some tubing, and play with that project.
More to come...
Thanks for all the info, keep it coming.
chris..another thing...
make sure you give some bracing backwards off of your 'stinger' to make sure if it gets some pressure from rocks or the rear end of a yukonthat it doesnt bend in and ruin the front end of your VX...