Project Phoenix Buggy: The Beast from the East
Some of you might remember a couple of years ago when I decided to revive my rusty Jeep into a nice and capable vehicle, with the goal of making it to Grand Slam West 2004.
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There was a massive thread on NAGCA: http://www.nagca.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12581
It’s contents have been copied to MallCrawlin as well (hella faster server), more or less as an archive: http://www.mallcrawlin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3992
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I also put together a video of that years crazy trip, which can be downloaded (or $5 for the DVD.)
RIGHT CLICK, SAVE AS!
High Resolution – (320 MB) http://www.bigassjeep.com/video/phoenix2004webhigh.wmv
Low Resolution – (96 MB) http://www.bigassjeep.com/video/phoenix2004weblow.wmv
And the last video is the most recent video of us beginning the buggy build. It’ll probably be the last video for awhile until the project is done, and tested. Then will come the best video yet!
Anyway, RIGHT CLICK, SAVE AS! (35 MB) http://www.bigassjeep.com/video/phoenixteaserweb.wmv
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So That should bring you up to speed. The Jeep really did better than I imagined and I abused it as it was meant to be abused. I took it to Moab for GSW in 2004 and 2005, as well as a few weeks of other wheeling out west both years. Of course it was amused back east too. I kept breaking it and fixing it.
After abusing it that much, and flexing it (not to mention jumping it) so many times without a cage, it took its toll on the unibody. When it got to the point where I could no longer really open or close the doors without effort, as well as blowing up 2 more ball joints and yet another locker in the front HP30, I decided that enough is enough. I’ve grown accustomed to the type of wheeling which a full bodied ZJ can only survive so many times. My Jeep was well past that “so many times” mark. I felt like I had 3 options: sell it for next to nothing, part it out and get the already destroyed frame hauled off and crushed, or build it into a BUGGY. Being obsessed with offroading, and being rather attached to my ZJ, I chose to buggy it, and build it big to the point where I shouldn’t really have to worry about breaking things so much.
So here’s the plan:
-gut it
-cut it up almost down to the frame rails
-Build a full roll cage (you’ll see details on plans for that later)
-ditch the weak driveline to go with
-14 bolt rear w/ Detroit locker and disc brakes (4.56)
-HP60 front from a 79F350 with 35 inners, outers, lockouts, detroit (4.56)
-Hydro assist steering
-e350 master cylinder
-Atlas II transfer case to make up with the relatively high gearing in the axles
-PRP suspension seats
-Waterproof sound system
-41.5” Iroks or TSL’s (still up for debate.)
-Either driveline brake, or line lock (more likely skid steer) on the rear brake line
-Radiator and tranny cooler moved to rear / upper cage
I’m sure some of the plan will change throughout the project, but that’s the starting point anyway. I have some talented help, mainly Steve (blackbox renegade) who’s a certified welder and all round likes working on crap as much as I do; and Dave (DMG) who’s a REAL mechanic and good with gears and driveline while I just like to pretend.
First, a few pictures or how it looked in Moab just a few months earlier.
And the darn thing even got a few shots in an issue of 4 Wheel Drive and Sport Utility Magazine. Here’s a link to one of the pics: http://4wdandsportutility.com/freest...ab_02_1280.jpg
So let’s get to it. Day 1: begin parting it out and cutting it. There was a whole lot of shock factor. There’s a video of this day here: (right click save as) http://www.bigassjeep.com/video/phoenixteaserweb.wmv
I consider this thread “chapter 2” of Project Phoenix. It’s the same vehicle (well, kind of) – just the next phase!
I’ll keep updating as things happen.