[DirtDawg]

^^^ OK, here goes my perspectives since the thread OP might still be prepping his own car...

As to B-M's windshield vents, I've left mine open since installed. At any speed from trail crawling to short highway stretches, can't really say I feel the effect of those vent slots. While driving, I can reach forward and do feel air flowing, however not enough to "stir" the air in seated position to offset engine heated air drawn forward from the rear outboard bulkhead openings. I really like B-M's windshield but couldn't deal without more airflow, so installed Can-Am's "Wind Deflectors" on both sides (requires drilling 2 holes per side in cage a-pillars for provided nutserts). Two days ago, we did 40 miles rough terrain trail inspection run, which was my first test of those deflectors. Worked much better for me, although I did rash the passenger side deflector on a narrow trail with intruding tree/brush. Bottom line, I prefer the significantly greater airflow using a half windshield but don't miss the dust nor wind noise picked up by my comm mic.

 

[Darkfire]

^^^ OK, here goes my perspectives since the thread OP might still be prepping his own car...

As to B-M's windshield vents, I've left mine open since installed. At any speed from trail crawling to short highway stretches, can't really say I feel the effect of those vent slots. While driving, I can reach forward and do feel air flowing, however not enough to "stir" the air in seated position to offset engine heated air drawn forward from the rear outboard bulkhead openings. I really like B-M's windshield but couldn't deal without more airflow, so installed Can-Am's "Wind Deflectors" on both sides (requires drilling 2 holes per side in cage a-pillars for provided nutserts). Two days ago, we did 40 miles rough terrain trail inspection run, which was my first test of those deflectors. Worked much better for me, although I did rash the passenger side deflector on a narrow trail with intruding tree/brush. Bottom line, I prefer the significantly greater airflow using a half windshield but don't miss the dust nor wind noise picked up by my comm mic.

Awesome thanks for the info!

 

[StormcrowAz]

Hey guys, thanks for the comments/questions!


First, I checked the official brochure and they call the colors “Chalk Gray and Magma Red”:



I did send Bent Metal the question regarding which would be a better matching color choice for their products and this was their response:

“The colors on your machine would be the Chalk Gray and Can-am Red. Let me know what color you want and ill send you a set of sliders. Have a great weekend!”

Great customer service, and I did offer to send the unused orange ones back in return but haven’t heard back yet.



And regarding the vent air-flow, don’t know yet but I’m taking it out for the first time (with the new windshield) this coming weekend so should have more feedback then.


Again, without actually going anywhere and just sitting in the driver’s seat, the visibility loss doesn’t seem too horrible. Most of it seems up top, acting kind of like a sun visor. The windshield wiper hangs out up there, too. Hopefully something I’ll get used to. Not really blocking anything trail related, unless you’re checking out the tops of trees or bird watching.

 

[StormcrowAz]

DIY Roof


Made some progress on the roof last night. Planning on taking the car out for some rides this weekend so want at least some coverage overhead, even if it’s not 100% completed. Started with measuring and marking the 4x4 piece of sheet aluminum.

A little cutting wheel action, some flap disc love to smooth things out, and it’s knocked down to size.

This weld seam at the rear is really bothering me. I hate to remove the OEM powder coating protection, but think I’m going to knock this down smooth so the roof sits flush and then give it a paint touch-up to keep it from rusting in that spot.

For aesthetics, and to keep from poking eyeballs out, I’m going to round off the corners at the front edge of the roof. This is my highly technical means of figuring out what kind of radius I want.

That cardboard box taped to the underside is what the light bar came in. Using it for a place-holder for fitment. It’s slightly larger than the bar so gives me some wiggle room in planning.

Eventually I will use carriage bolts for the permanent install, I like the nice rounded dome those have for the top. High speed, low drag…should significantly increase performance.

Hopefully tonight I can figure out how to bend the rear section to match the cage profile and bolt in place.

 

[DirtDawg]

Rather than grinding off that weld seam, why not borrow a page from Can-Am's accessory roof playbook and use combo of spacers, brackets and closed cell sponge rubber weather stripping? I had this Dragonfire roof on my former MavT and kept it for the MavS, so bought the replacement roll of thicker sponge. You'll want to use some of that stuff to avoid rattles anyway.

 

[StormcrowAz]

DirtDawg - Good point. I already have some of that weatherstripping and rubber washers to Battle the Rattle, and suppose it couldn't hurt to see how it squishes down before taking the grinder to it. Was hoping to avoid more brackets by bending the rear corners of the roof down to meet those existing holes in the cage. That's the plan anyway, and as the saying goes - it rarely survives contact with the enemy.

 

[StormcrowAz]

My biggest sheet metal brake is only 36”, and didn’t really want to get into another project on building an in-depth DIY version that could handle 48”, so figured I would try some hackery to get it done. Only need to bend it a couple degrees, right? Here’s what I came up with:

My cart wasn’t wide enough to clamp directly to it, so used a length of 5” c-channel clamped to the cart and sandwiched the sheet in between some 2” square tube. Clamped a long section of 2” angle iron to the sheet and put some cheater bars on those wrenches. I stood on one end of the cart while the wife pulled down on the wrenches. Aluminum is a relatively soft metal, evidently physics is much harder as the only thing we bent was the steel angle iron. Needed a better way to clamp the sheet so the only movement is at the area to be bent. Back to the drawing board, or more accurately outside to one of the 4” square steel posts bolted to the concrete and holding up the porch roof.

Sandwiched the sheet in between the post and that same section of c-channel. Clamped the 2” cheater bars to the sheet for leverage and to maintain flatness and to keep it from just bowing in the middle ff we were to just push/pulled at the end. This actually worked. Not the cleanest bend, but it did put a decent enough bend of several degrees across the whole piece. The bad part is I put the bend too far forward.

Didn’t want to just slide it back, as that would throw off the measurements up front for the light bar. Plus I’d have to weld-fill the existing bolt holes and drill new ones. As it sits, it leaves a big gap that I am not happy about.

At this point, being quite tired and frustrated, I would normally close up shop and tackle the project another day when my head is clearer and in a better mood…but we’re on a time-line and want a roof for this weekend. To address the rear attachment I simply bent the rear corners down and ran a bolt through.

The bent corners actually don’t look too bad, probably decent if it wasn’t for that out-of-place bend. I think if I would have just gone this route and forgone the bend entirely it would have been fine. For now this will have to do and when we get back I’ll pick up another sheet of aluminum and try it again.

 

[Sportcan60]

Doesn't look that bad. Are there sharp edges or did you buff it all.

Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

 

[StormcrowAz]

Sportcan60 - All edges rounded and smoothed with the flap disc. I hate sharp edges on metal, been cut one too many times.


EMP Shifter Gate

Took our first trip out this past weekend (posted in Discussions under “Show us where you have been”) and had a great time. After the first day of riding I took the opportunity to install some Enhancement Performing Products. Well…only one thing really, the EMP shift gate (this forum is costing me $$$). Seemed like a good idea and didn’t have time to install it before we left. Plus I got a chance to do a good before/after comparison.


From the looks of it, a pretty easy install. Just need to remove/replace a few torx screws, right? Should be a simple in-camp project.


Removal of the cover and old shift gate.

Here’s where things went a little sideways. I mean, I knew I was working over an open pit to which small parts have a tendency to vanish into…and I’ve already sacrificed two nuts and one lock washer to the car on other projects (probably still on top of the skid plates somewhere), but even being careful I still managed to drop the torx bit into the innards of the shifter. You can see it just peeking out right below the wire loom.

Fortunately the tip on one of the screwdrivers in my tool kit is magnetic so I had a fun time playing Operation trying to retrieve without dropping it even further into the bowels of the car. I barely managed to get it out, fortunately, and continued forward.

The instructions said it, and I’ve also read it here, that the little clips holding the gate on are a tad oversized for the new stainless gate. So I grabbed a pair of pliers and attempted to squish them closed a little bit. First one went fine, but on the second one…that little piece of spring steel squirted out between the pliers with a Ping sound reminiscent of an empty M1 Garand clip ejecting from the rifle. I heard it bounce off the car once and then silence. Fearing the desert had claimed another prize, I searched 360° around the car in a widening pattern and for a change my luck held and I finally found it. I don’t exactly carry spares of those. Whew, that was close. With a death grip on the clip, I crimped the third one without incident.

Re-installation should be a breeze, right? Uh-huh. Put the new gate in place and managed to torque the screws in without dropping the driver bit. Win. Went to put the final cover back in place and somehow the little rear gate clip popped off. Where did it go? You guessed it. Down into the shifter cavity. So evidently whatever the clips are made out of aren’t quite as magnetically attractive as the torx bit, because the screwdriver-Operation trick wouldn’t work. The clip would dangle and drop every time I tried, and I was concerned it would drop further down and possibly all the way through to the skid plate. It was too far for my needle-nose pliers to reach. So what now? In the middle of the desert, bereft of a shop full of tools, what is man to do? Well I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…if Duct Tape isn’t the answer…you’re askin’ the wrong question. Took the longest screwdriver I had and stuck a loop of duct tape to the end and shoved it in there. It worked. Duct tape is awesome.

Somehow managed to put the remaining three screws in place and everything works good.

Really happy with the functionality. Nice to be able to go from Reverse to High in a straightforward motion versus checking to make sure it’s in the right little notch. Didn’t realize how much that actually happens until cruising around the desert and consciously thinking about it while shifting.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Have been acquiring accessories but can’t seem to make more time to actually work on the rig. Got quite a few other more pressing home projects, so this has been getting the back-burner treatment. Did manage to spend some of that precious time in the great outdoors, this time took the family along:

Anyways, back to build stuff. Time to install the All Terrain Trunk Lid.


Pulled the spare tire carrier off

Anyone in the market for the DragonFire spare tire carrier? Low mileage and ran when last parked.

Fairly quick and simple install (benefit of it not being a custom DIY fabrication, I suppose)

So now I need to figure out the spare tire placement and am going the DIY route for this, loosely copying the LinQ Pivoting Rack. There’s several customizations I want to make, plus I don’t want to spend the $428 for a new one. I’m sure it will only cost me a mere $425 in materials, plus 40 or so of my labor hours.

Starting with a little CAD (cardboard aided design) work and made a mock-up spare tire. Figure it’ll be easier to use this for checking functionality over lugging the actual tire up there all the time. Plus I made it a couple inches bigger if I decide to put on 32’s.


Mig wire and a pencil for the circle

Box cutter and duct tape

This should save me some back pains

And that’s as far as I’ve gotten. Thinking about using some PVC to design and test functionality and clearances before cutting up any metal. Going on a trip next month, so my goal is to have the spare tire in place by then.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Made some more progress on the spare tire carrier this weekend.


Got these tube collars for the hinges and stops

Thought it would look a little nicer with a more rounded edge profile, so took it to the belt sander and put a 45° on them.

For the hinges I’m using some DOM tubing and pieces of 3/16” plate.

Tube

Cut on the band saw

Cleaned up

Cut a soda can up and used little pieces of that as shims between the tube sections for clearance. Bolted the tube pieces together and clamped to the table. Tacked every-other one.

Rinse and repeat for the other side and burned it in while clamped in the vise.

Took a little fine tuning with the belt sander and a file to get the action to free up, but now they are pretty smooth.

In order to maintain alignment of both hinges I ran a 7/16” rod between the two and used a level, some shim material, and clamps to place them in the middle of the collar.

Tacked in place

Next up I built a mock-up of the carrier frame out of PVC. Tacked a short section of half inch EMT conduit to the hinges and used a few self-tapping screws to attach the PVC assembly. This worked out great and I was able to cut and re-fit as needed until I came up with a (hopefully) good game plan.

Looking at pictures, it appears that the LinQ set-up has the spare tire sitting a bit further back, just about flush with the rear bumper. I want the tire to be in-board a bit more, closer to being even with the top of the trunk lid. In order to do that I think I’ll have to pitch the tire at a slight angle so it doesn’t hit the back of the trunk lid when lifted. Probably why the factory design has it pushed back out further.

The PVC mock-up was a bit of extra work, but worth it I think. Without being 100% sure of what I’m doing here (seems like a good idea in my head) I figured it would be easier to chop up the PVC versus cutting and welding up sections of metal tubing to get what I want. I’ll probably still have to do some of that on the final product, but at least now I have a better idea on the mechanics of what’s going on.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Some progress this weekend. Started with the main frame

Tacking everything in place

Hoping I can maintain some of this accuracy when doing the final welding. Will pull it off the car for that and worried about warping and fitting it back up.

Added these little slices of DOM to the lower collars. Welded from the inside only.

Capped the pipe ends and drilled corresponding holes to fit over the DOM.

Tight fit

With the rough terrain and abuse these things go through, I’m thinking this will (hopefully) keep any side-to-side movment to a minimum. Not sure if it’s really necessary, but felt like a good idea.

Placed the tire and empty jugs up there for a visual test fit.

Next I cut up some plate, measured, and drilled the lug pattern. Ordered some OEM wheel studs and lug nuts for commonality and spares.

Test fit and everything is good. Also drilled a hole in the middle, this will be for the LED whip mount and wire pass-through.

That’s all for now. Looking forward to the long weekend coming up, hoping to finish this project then.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Made good progress on the spare tire carrier this weekend. Lots of pictures! Is there a limit to how many you can put in one post? (aswer - 20 is the limit)


Welded the studs to the backing plate

Used the PVC mock-up of the frame to get the tube supports in place

Another cool use for this adjustable Fireball tool. Set the angle and clamped it to the belt sander table.

Tubes tacked in place

The assembly set on the frame to verify angle and get it properly centered

Tacked in place

Happy with the placement!

The tire will act as a rubber bump-stop against the upper cage

Plenty of clearance to access the trunk

Next up is to attach these Destaco clamps. Should keep it from bouncing around while on the trail.

The little hooks have a pretty small footprint for welding in the position I needed them to be in, so I added a 3/16” tab behind it and welded that to the collar fully before tacking the hook to it. I feel much better about the retention of that set-up. I welded another piece of 3/16” stock to the back of the clamp to keep in plane with the hook, and then tacked that to the frame-work.

On the other side, I also added these tabs

Can throw a padlock on there real quick, to keep the honest folk honest

That way if we want to get out of the car to do some hiking/exploring, we can stash the helmets in the trunk and they should be there when we get back. The trunk itself doesn’t come with any way to lock it, so by limiting the up-travel of the carrier, you can’t get the trunk open more than an inch or so.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Next up is the water and gas can mounts. I chose these Rotopax containers as they seem pretty robust and just the right size for this rig.

1” square tube for supports and cut out some circles from 1/8” sheet

Welded a stud through the middle of the circle (the nut holding the can on is the same size as the lug-nuts, so no need for another tool just for this) and then welded some tubing to the disc as well. The thought here is that the cans will be squished between the two discs, but the tubing will be sized length-wise as a limiting stop, to prevent over-tightening and possibly cracking of the plastic containers. They also limit the amount of rotation the cans have on the mount, keeping them oriented.

Both sides done

Everything looking good, it’s time to pull it off and weld it up.

Oh, I also added a whip mount to the top of the tire carrier. Capped off a piece of remnant tubing, drilled a hole, and welded in place.

Managed to weld the entire assembly and then ran out of energy. Plan is to hand-finish the welds and re-assemble and hopefully I didn’t warp anything too badly. I also ordered some gas struts to help in lifting the tire. Will have to hold off painting until I can situate those accordingly.

 

[RYEDOGG RACING]

Ok how much to make me one.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Ok how much to make me one.

Have you seen the cost of steel lately?

Seriously though, my problem right now is time. I've still got a stack of accessories sitting in a box (so sad) that need to be installed on the car, too. I am of the belief that everyone on this planet is a prostitute and the only difference between most folks is their price, everyone has one, but at this point in time in order for me to provide a quality product in a reasonable amount of time...my price would probably border on crazy-person talk. I mean, this isn't something from Caroll Shelby or Chip Foose that might justify a hefty price tag. I'm just a dude who has fun playing with metal in his garage. Whether you were serious or not - I certainly appreciate the interest shown and taking the time to read through my stuff! Thank you!

 

[RYEDOGG RACING]

Your welcome! Great work. Keep it up!

 

[StormcrowAz]

Well, there was a slight warp. Happened to notice the assembly was rocking back and forth on my work table, just a bit. I think between putting multiple passes on the vertical tube attached to the main frame, and the frame being relatively long it was just enough to pull the ends up slightly. Maybe .125” per side. Not very visible, and fortunately it did not impede the ability to re-assemble it to the car.


After bolting it back up and making minor adjustments to collar placement, everything still works as intended. Next step is to add some gas struts to aid in lifting. I got these 15”, 67lb each, struts off of Amazon.

Pretty much disregarded all instructions provided, I doubt this is a typical installation. Tried using the brackets provided (you can see I cut one up to test) but they just wouldn’t work for what I needed. Used a small section of 1” angle iron for the bottom bracket and tacked to the collar.

Made custom little platform for the upper bracket, and after some trial and error found the sweet spot

This is the strut fully extended and is now the limiting factor for how far it opens.

With both cans full of fluid plus the spare tire, opening/closing is an easy one-handed operation and it stays in the upright position. Even with shortening the up-travel by an inch or so, there’s still plenty of room to access the trunk.

Tonight I plan on pulling the assembly back off, burning in those new strut brackets, cleaning it up and prepping for paint.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Time for paint

Primed

Painted

Let it cure over the weekend, bolted it up last night, and things went about as smooth as I think they can be.

For the hinge pins, I’m using 7/16” grade 8 bolts that had a very long shoulder. Cut off the threads, rounded off the end, and drilled a hole for a cotter pin.

All loaded up and ready to ride. Even threw the whip on there and ran a temporary power cord to it.

And last, but not least, this little safety item tucks away nicely underneath the tire. I got a quick-release mount off Amazon that hose-clamps to the frame.

That should do it for now. I might take it around the block tonight and hit some speed bumps at speed to make sure nothing falls off.

 

[RYEDOGG RACING]

looks awesome!!!! Sweet set up!!!