RADO's Off Road Rig- Build Thread

[VX crazy]

Thanks Jon, I am looking at Avery as well, how much did you buy to do the vx, dimensions? Last question I promise lol!

[dietz99vcross]

Not the last question, because I need to know more! That looks great. I wouldn't have considered it until you through that price out there.

[VXorado]

Thanks Jon, I am looking at Avery as well, how much did you buy to do the vx, dimensions? Last question I promise lol!

No worries on the questions Lisa, I can help you out with more specifics if you decide to wrap. All the vinyl is sold in 60" wide rolls and you just need to specify length. I used 25ft this time, which is just enough for the exterior and door jams (minus the back door ). The first time I used 30 ft, which gives you a bit extra for mistakes/touchups.

Not the last question, because I need to know more! That looks great. I wouldn't have considered it until you through that price out there.

Cheaper than a rattle can paint job!!

[dietz99vcross]

So at 60" wide, do you have a seam when you do the main body (roof and both rear quarters)? I can see the doors, front fenders, hood and hatch all being done with no seam. Or are seams no big deal?

[VXorado]

So at 60" wide, do you have a seam when you do the main body (roof and both rear quarters)? I can see the doors, front fenders, hood and hatch all being done with no seam. Or are seams no big deal?

No seams on the quarters, you just use the 60" to cover the height and pull about 6 ft of vinyl off the roll to cover the horizontal length. Seams on the roof are fine but otherwise, fairly noticable.

[VXorado]

I wanted to share my latest project with everyone on the Planet and VX.info! Story goes...

Bart/IsuzuGeek, owned this RS for a while and decided to sell it after he found another RS in much better shape. That story can be found at IsuzuGeek. The short of it... the RS had a few issues.



Bart ended selling the RS to a friend of mine and fellow VXer, Jerry/Arcobarco. Jerry wanted the 4.77s from the RS for his VX and would likely sell/scrap the rest of it off. I caught glimpse of the RS last Spring when my wife and I were on a roadtrip and stopped by Jerry's house. Needless to say, I planted a bug in Jerry's ear about possibly wanting the RS, however it was more of a "possible suggestion" than an actual idea. I live in Denver and was NOT going to drive 8 hrs to SL,UT for an old beat up RS.


Moving on, Jerry pulled the 4.77s from the RS and swapped in 4.30 gearing. We worked out a deal for VX parts and cash to make the poor old bastard RS mine.

Lastly, Jerry drove the RS to Moab for the annual ZUZOO meet and the exchange was official! ...And now I had realized the reality of my decision.

I found out almost immediately that I could barely fit in the RS. Being 6'6" tall, my legs could barley operate the clutch. The clutch was so worn out that the release on the pedal was almost all the way to the top and this created a problem when trying to release the clutch with long legs. So I went for a test drive around Moab and came back to the Stoop with the smell of ruined clutch plate. Additionally, there was so much oil leaking that it had formed a layer on the back window thick enough to write "wash me" on. Other problems included non functioning gas gauge, oil gauge, & temp gauge. The radio worked but wouldn't eject CDs unless you pounded on the bottom of it. The HVAC system constantly blew heat onto you even when the fan was "off". And there was a little problem with rust previously in the gas tank that may have ruined the fuel pump, this was suggested by Jerry after he had some bogging down on the way to Moab. Anyways, I was pretty freaked out for the 6 hr drive home. :shock:

First mod made on the Stoop in Moab! I could now fit in the RS.


Now I was ready for the drive home, well physically but not mentally. After the test drive in Moab and seeing all of the issues, I honestly thought this Isuzu was better fit for the junkyard. I had my wife drive the VX behind me in the RS. We jumped on the interstate and to my surprise we drove 70 MPH all the way to Fruita, Colorado. I filled up the gas tank and was pleasantly surprised to only need 4 gallons of gas (27.2 MPG). I was a little less happy about seeing the amount of oil splattered on the front grill of the VX (from following).

For the next two hrs and was feeling good, confident in my little bastard RS. That all ended when I was driving out of the Glenwood Canyon going about 50 MPH and went to pass a semi truck. I had elected my Wife to drive in front (avoid the oil trail) and she took off up to 75 MPH passing the semi. My turn, speeding up 50-55-60-65-68-67-65 (3 semi trucks now on right, 1 semi behind me to pass), 63-62-60 (downshift to 3rd), 55-52-48 (Semi now tail gating me), 45-41-38-38-38-38, (holding 38 MPH the semi passes me on right and I can now get over). I'm now driving 38 MPH in a 75 MPH limit and my wife is gone. Nothing I do will let the engine go above 2000 RPMs. Takes me forever to catch the VX and we pull off at a gas station. I turn the RS off, now more freaked out than ever! I Considered, it would be cheaper for me to abandon the RS at this gas station than tow it home. I check the engine (seems fine), try to turn over the engine and it sputters out. CRAP. again, Sputter sputter die. COME ON RS! again, sputter sputter, choke, bump, start, running. YES! Its running great and I jump on interstate back up to 65 MPH. Looking back, all I can assume was the fuel pump had a moment or it sucked some rust through the fuel system and bogged it down.

Final challenge, the rocky mountains! Would the RS clutch finally burn up over the passes? Or would the fuel system get clogged up again at 12,000 ft? NOPE! I drove it all the way through the mountains no problem and got to the house by 7PM.

Now the mechanical work began. I'll keep it short but in the end it got 9 new oil seals, new fuel pump, new timing belt , new Exedy clutch, new lower ball joint and all new fluids.

Here's all of the oil that was covering the trans... it took forever to clean up!



Next I moved onto the body work. The RS had been in at least one wreak before and the roof & doors really showed it. Furthermore, the clearcoat was peeling and the paint was faded.

The front grill was pushed in on the driver's side and the front grill was hanging on by zipties. I thought it was pretty clever to use the VX winch to pull out the grill.


Next I sanded down the imperfections and got to work on the dents.

[VXorado]

Moving forward... Vinyl wrap was an easy decision. My wife wanted the color to match the VX, so I wrapped the RS in Midnight Matte Sand Metallic.

I'm happy the RS still had the snowflakes but the finish was pretty messed up. I decided to plastidip the rims for now and I can easily revert them if I want.










Still have a little dent on the door. :?








Overall it's been an interesting project so far. I haven't decided on my future plans for the RS as it still needs a lot of detail work. It would be fun to lift it but might be too much for the bastard. We'll see but overall I'm pretty impressed. It drives great considering the neglect. I've been driving it daily for the last couple weeks and it's pretty fun little rig around town.

Also, want to thank Jerry for all the effort he put in to getting the RS to Moab. Thanks Buddy!

The whole point of buying another vehicle was to begin work on the VX. PROJECT REBUILD 2014 is about to commence.

[Hades]

Pretty awesome looking, wouldn't mind one as well. Maybe you can modify some rails to move the seat farther back? But that might lead to a new issue with the seat belt. Better play it safe and just get race bucket seats with a roll cage for a 5 point harness system. Oh if money grew on trees.

[ZEUS]

Wow, nice work! It is a different rig altogether.. Which was tougher to get out, the dent on the roof or the one on the driver door?

[JoFotoz]

Looking

Jo

[VXorado]

Pretty awesome looking, wouldn't mind one as well. Maybe you can modify some rails to move the seat farther back? But that might lead to a new issue with the seat belt. Better play it safe and just get race bucket seats with a roll cage for a 5 point harness system. Oh if money grew on trees.

I'm definitely looking to replace the seats with something a little better for my size. When I do replace the seats, I'll figure out a cleaner way to modify the seat brackets. I do have one VX recaro spare and would only need one more to make an RS set...

Wow, nice work! It is a different rig altogether.. Which was tougher to get out, the dent on the roof or the one on the driver door?

Yeah Justin, the roof was absolutely awful to work on. The major rood dent was right above the windshield which had a metal frame underneath. Since I couldn't hammer any of it out, I resorted to body fill. Everything was covered with bondo dust for weeks... I think i still have some in my hair.

Looking

Jo

Thank you sir, PM inbound.

[VXCanada]

Thinking of wrapping my VX too... I like the slightly lighter than your green on the Khaki Matte color.

Yours looks great though! Nice job!

T.

[VXorado]

Time to catch up this thread for the official announcement of...

Project REBUILD 2014

Why? ...well why not?

Phase 1: Purchase daily driver to take place of VX. Completed August 22nd- RS licensed

Phase 2: Remove 3" bodylift: this includes cutting off rock sliders, pulling air compressor & removing winch plate. Completed August 24th

Phase 3: Install front rock bumper (acquired from Jo). Completed August 26th

Phase 4: Remove IFS and all front drive-train components from VX. Completed September 4th

Phase 5: Install Dana 44 solid axle under VX under the following configuration Completed December 5th

• Jeep Wagoneer Dana 44
• 12" Coilover suspension
• TnT Y-link control arms

Phase 6: Increase rear axle spring height to match front, build adjustable rear control arms

Phase 7: Install 5.38 axle gearing Completed November 7th

Phase 8: Purchase custom front drive shaft, finish front bumper, install rock sliders & air compressor. Completed May 9th 2015 (sigh, day before Moab of course

Future phase: Enlarge wheel wells, increase tire size to 37" tires installed in April 2015, wheel wells fitted properly August 13th



There it is.

[VXorado]

Phase 2

Body lift is.... OUT OF HERE!!!

These pics show how the body lift did really help with fitment of the 35s and allowed full suspension travel of the IFS. The first pic shows full up travel of the tire with the body lift- notice there is still a gap between the tire/fender. With the body lift removed, the tire is pushed into the fender and actually holding the VX up.

With the SAS, the suspension lift will have to be increased and I don't want the VX to sit really high. The body lift was an unnecessary 3" that needed to go.

[VXorado]

Phase 3

I picked up this rock bumper from Jo on my road trip last spring. Definitely an impulse buy! I wanted to fit it before Moab but I knew the body lift would need to be removed for proper fitment.

It's mounted now, but purposely left unfinished until I get the axle fitted. I will also need to buy/build a headlight bar so the bumper blends more the body.

I mounted the fog lights to get an idea of fitment but will probably scrap the dim Hellas and get something brighter.






I'll weld the bumper wings once I figure out clearance.