Joel's 1972 Land Cruiser Project

[Cobranut]

15 or more years ago I bought a Northern Tool electric pressure washer.
It's a commercial model, 3HP 240V motor and a CAT triplex pump, rated at 2,600PSI and I think about 2.3 GPM.
Initially I added a pressure switch and time-delay relay to have it shut off a few seconds after releasing the wand, but eventually tiny leaks would let the pressure bleed off and it would start cycling on its own.
I changed that to a wireless remote control, with a key fob that I drop in my pocket when using it.
I highly recommend this mod on any unit, as the pressure switches always seem to give trouble eventually.

I've also had to replace the unloader twice.  Last year I upgraded it to a flow-controlled unloader, which relieves pressure in the hose whenever the wand is released, and it builds up gradually when you open the wand, so no more kickback. 

I've put God knows how many hours on this thing, and other than the aforementioned repairs, it's been very reliable.

Also, I made one of those undercarriage washers out of a water broom.  Basically I flipped it over and remounted the wheels on the ends, so that it rides very close to the ground with the nozzles facing up.  Works great for washing winter salt out from under my cars in the spring.
The one you linked looks too tall to fit under many cars.

A couple years ago I ran up on a great deal on a Northern Hot Box.  Got it for $500 and it looked brand new.
Nothing beats HOT water under high pressure for cleaning engines and other greasy stuff.  Just be careful, it will eat paint if you get carried away.   Also, it'll burn the crap out of you if you get sprayed.    LOL

[gc3]

agreed, thanks for the research. I'm actually surprised electric is the way to go for you, I never even looked at electric because i assumed they were less output than a gas one

[frijolee]

agreed, thanks for the research. I'm actually surprised electric is the way to go for you, I never even looked at electric because i assumed they were less output than a gas one

That's still true but it's not to say electric can't get the job done.  I might have been a bunch more tempted by gas if I had a place to put the damn thing.  Right now, mine is small enough I have it parked on top of a mini fridge in the garage.  The economics of gas vs electric work out to about 2x the bang for 5x the cost though.  Gas also comes with a great deal more maintenance of the tool itself. 

For cleaning (up to and including stonework) I'm plenty happy with what I have...  If you need to strip paint off a fence or something nutty I'm not sure it would be up to it.

[frijolee]

I’ve been building stuff for the Cruiser (I promise), so time to get back to that.

I’m trying to lock down my big interfaces such that I can fit things around them. One of the ones I left as work in progress when moving was the fuel tank/rear seat interface.  As a reminder, in the search for capacity I went a little crazy on making my tank use every iota of space available.



There’s also a secondary skid plate that’s intended to support the rear of the tank.




Up front was a bit of a problem since I can’t strap across the tank easily given where the links need to reside.  For purposes of shipping everything over to the island, I c-clamped some wood to the frame rails. 




That actually worked pretty well so I set about making something more permanent.  The vertical walls shown are to support rubber and ensuring it can’t run away.  Triangular cross section because I like triangles and they are strong in bending.  I’ll both seal any unwelded seams and be sure it has water drain paths before I’m done.




Planning rubber pucks and using some of my mountain of bulb seal edge trim.  I’m started by trying good old fashioned rubber cement to see if it’s enough to hold them down.




Final configuration (with the side mounts burned in):




I’m trying to seal all the way around the tank so that it doesn’t have a path in for rocks/mud from above.  Someone made the point prior that if I get gravel in between my tank and the skid, a shot to the skid could still try to poke the tank…  Having gotten a flavor for how dirty Hawaiian wheeling can be I’m doing the best I can.  I did get to weld a couple extensions on the tank to be sure I had good engagement of the bulb seal.




Kinda hard to see but the tank feels really solid in there when squeezed down among the trim and rubber bits.  It’s GOOD.




I’m planning to clamp this down from the topside partly using the floorboards/firewall (TBD) with some heavier straps built in. 

Anyone have thoughts on firewalls above a tank?  NHRA general specs for firewalls are 0.024" Steel or Ti or 0.030" aluminum (at least that runs up through most of the normal classes).  Still, those guys have safety peeps that can be on scene momentarily.  I'm planning on this bolting down my firewall from above with stiffener ribs and maybe some bead rolling.  I already have some 0.060" aluminum laying around so I'm thinking that might be appropriate.

Next up final fitment and more mods to the rear seat (while leaving sufficient clearance for the floorboards)
-Joel

[Cobranut]

agreed, thanks for the research. I'm actually surprised electric is the way to go for you, I never even looked at electric because i assumed they were less output than a gas one

That may be true for the small 120v models, but once you get into 240v units, the output is just as good as the gas units.

Here's the link to the current version of mine.
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200347872_200347872
The biggest difference is it looks like the unloader is now built into the pump.
Not sure that's a good thing, other than for cost savings for the manufacturer.
The best mod I did to mine was the flow-controlled unloader.
I also added a stainless glycerin filled gauge to properly adjust the unloader.

[digitalsolo]

Progress is looking good Joel!

[Cobranut]

Sorry for taking this off-topic.

Great work Joel.  This thing is going to be BADASS!!! 

[frijolee]

Sorry for taking this off-topic.

Not needed!  For all I shared a bit of newbie research, you obviously know way way more about these things than I do.  If you have easy 240V access, what you posted looks pretty damn bad ass.  I couldn't tell you about what it takes to modify uploaders and change pressure switches...  That said, now if someone wants to take to the next level they have some great ticklers on what to look into (or who to reach out to.)   

[frijolee]

Realized I skipped something so excuse the out of order pics.  I burned in my seat side brackets a while back.  I had them mocked up here:




I went back and forth a few times about whether I needed the weight but I did like the fact that the full length version also serves to reinforce my frame notch for the shocks.




Got them heavily tacked in only to discover that one side had pulled over by a 3/32” or so.  I was tempted to let it go but dammit, I’d know and it would bug me, so I fixed it.  If I ever sell this damn thing, I want the buyer to know I made it as perfect as I could.
 





Like working in a jungle gym…




The seat interface is a welded flange nut I sunk into the face and welded upside down to be sure I’d have plenty of threads.

Fast forward past welding these fully (and primer) and I was ready to weld in the interfaces to the seat frame. 

Except I wasn’t.

Turns out my rubber isolation for the fuel tank is driving the tank up every so slightly higher than intended.  That was making it a bitch to try to get the rear of the seat to land since the seat back risers are almost rubbing on the rear shock diagonals.  I’d already trimmed these to fit as you may recall.



The only way to go up on the seat frame was also to shift forward, but I’d already locked in this interfaces as well.  Simplest solution was to both raise the fronts and slide the seat frame forward.  I made some Nike “swooshes” to get ‘er done.




Since I was making that mod, I realized I could kill two birds with one stone.  I still had a problem that I needed a middle support point for harness lap belts.  The outboard side is planned to tie to the side supports I welded in prior.  While I could go back to the center upright on the tailgate that meant I’d have seat belt webbing running from far aft and not quite at the correct angles.

It would sure be convenient if I could attach to the seat frame itself in the middle but the cross bar isn’t up to it.  I debated sleeving the bar more tube cut in half, but it’d be a ton of work and ends up with all kinds of stress risers and what not…




The bar also wasn’t especially straight.




Eventually I just said “screw it” and decided to replace the whole damn bar with some upsized DOM (it really is nice having your own mini metal mart, I recommend it).




-Joel

[frijolee]

Having already cut out the middle of the bar, I got a little creative with a new tubing notcher (Baileigh TN-250, I like it a lot!).




Well that was easy...




And burned in all the support bits that I cut off the old tube with a spot weld cutter.




Good news!  The side support vs shock diagonal tube clearance is bang on! 








Side note:  Why do I look at the above and in my head some British voice is saying “make the noise”?  Anyways, the  cardboard under the bar is to account for the eventual floorboards/firewall so I think I’m in good shape.

I was planning on two bungs for lap bar support points so I turned some bar I had lying around (making sure it was low alloy steel this time, having learned that lesson the hard way on my jeep at one point).







Note to self, I should have also used the lathe to at least start the tap.  Tapping deep holes by hand meant that the threads are a touch lopsided on the back side.  I thought it would track the hole better but maybe now.  I used the better of the two bungs and decided on a single point interface that I’ll stack the lap belt connectors on.

[frijolee]

The rearward seat interface went mostly as planned.  Notch cross bars and weld to fit, albeit I did also add a few short risers to get clearance to the tank.  Younger daughter helping me work the lathe.




And burned in.




I wasn’t in love with the cantilevered load path so I made up a couple corner gussets (after checking bolt clearance)




And here it is all together.  It’s stout!




Last step was to reassemble the foam and seat skin.  I picked up some hog ring pliars on Amazon that seem to do the trick.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N2IJ64A/




Given the larger diameter tube I did get to get a bit creative and stack a few hog rings to be sure I could tie back to all the factory internal bits.   There was some hand sewing to widen the notch in vinyl for my seat belt bung too.




And finally back together.




Anyone have hot tips on reconditioning vinyl?  The brown spots in the back corner are from a hot piece of weld slag that dropped on the seat then danced all over the place as we tried and failed to brush it off.  It didn’t burn a hole but if some shoe polish would minimize the appearance I’d try it.

Still looking for commentary on fuel tank firewalls as well.

[digitalsolo]

SEM vinyl dyes are really good.   Might be with a shot.    Work looks great Joel!

What kind of space are you dealing with for the firewall?   Can you do an alloy plate with dzus clips or similar?

[frijolee]

SEM vinyl dyes are really good.   Might be with a shot.    Work looks great Joel!

What kind of space are you dealing with for the firewall?   Can you do an alloy plate with dzus clips or similar?

Thanks.  Apparently you can spray paint vinyl (with the right product) too, but I like the dye idea for maintaining integral color.

I have maybe an 1/8" clearance under the rear seat cross bar, albeit that is likely to grow a bit as the tank is clamped downward.  That means I need some stair stepping bends to follow the contour of the tank, then some sort of a power bulge/access panel where all the fittings go an in out on the topside of the tank.  Thickness is the key question, but I may just use my 0.060" 5052 since I have it and it exceeds the NHRA spec.

At the moment I'm thinking m6s screws and riv nuts plus RTV to seal the edges.  Still removable but doesn't have to come easily. 

[frijolee]

Another area I'm rolling around in the head trying to figure out is a small fix needed in regards to my carbon fiber tailgate and dash.

I had a couple parts cut before bailing on CA in aerospace scrap from my buddy who works for Scaled Composites.  It's intended to be both dash and tailgate area.






Issue is that even with very decent pre-preg, the carbon delaminated slightly around various holes while being cut on the water jet.




You can see it around most of the holes in the tailgate...  I was match drilling the support structure in this pic.




In many cases it's only at the hole and I'll probably be able to get away with it via some fender washers when I bolt this down.  The challenge is that a few areas of delamination are bigger (2" is about the max) and break out of the edges.  I'm trying to figure out whether I can use syringes or some such to force some epoxy in there and clamp it back closed.

Apparently guys do something similar things on a much larger scale with RVs and the like.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BhqlS4UlDgvXTJ5bWTt7yyYImgXkbZS1c2RTLWqr9CA/pub


Thoughts?

[digitalsolo]

I say give it a shot with the syringe.