VGs SXS - YXZ1000R

[rusty360]

It doesnt fark around does it!

[jessemk2]

I go riding in the dunes with a few of these things

They tend to nose dive when jumped so try and keep accelerator consistent off the lip of the jump and in the air don't just button off

[Vintage Grumble]

So I found out there's more restriction in the muffler apart from the spark arrestor. I removed the muffler, cut out this plate,

And bam, catalyst honeycomb stuff, that looks more restrictive than an Amish teenagers mum,

I spent fucking ages hacking that shit out, and it now has a nice clear run out the bung hole. I then cut out the 32mm outlet, and replaced it with a 51mm, which happens to be exactly the right size for the chrome cover. Got that shit lined up reeeaaaal nice. I also had to replace all the captive nuts, as they had broken bolts in them, and were half ripped out.

I had to pull the headers off to get the muffler out, so welded an oxy sensor bung in there.

Now that I'd gutted the muffler, and given it a bigger bungis, it can apparently free up ~10hp, but it can also cause a lean condition, so I purchased a second hand re-flashed ECU, which has a generic tune for exhaust and intake. It also removes the speed limit of 125kmh, so should now be good for 150+. So then I had to do the intake to suit the tune. A major tuning place for these in the US reckons the OEM air boxes and trumpets are really good, and the best power gains they got was by simply spacing the air box lid away from the trumpet mouths, so I got an AliExpress knock off of their spacer plate, this also can add up to 10hp on the dyno. That combined with the tune and muffler should add up to roughly 20-25 extra HP, and it sounds like the throttle response is out the gate with these mods.

Yesterday I knocked up a bumper, as the OG one was missing, and I want to protect the plastics/lights, just need some paint on it,

I've also started making a harness bar, and purchased some new nearly out of date 4 point harnesses. I also have pipe to beef up the roll cage, so will chip away at that as time allows.

I hope to check the tunes ok this week, as Sunday is my first legit outting at a motocross/SXS track, much excitement.

Regards, VG.

[HighLUX]

So when we gunna go do Thompsons track on it?

[Vintage Grumble]

14 hours ago, HighLUX said:

So when we gunna go do Thompsons track on it?

Lols, it would be fun to try, but I don't think the little 27's would handle the trenches dug by safaris on 40's. 

[Vintage Grumble]

Well I haven't been up there, but I've heard it's pretty gnarly.

[HighLUX]

1 set of wheels in a rut and left by safs and the others on the terrace in the middle then full nang

[Vintage Grumble]

So I was getting a weird fault with the re-flashed ECU. I'd start it up, and then it would go straight into a transmission fault, and wouldn't select forward or reverse. Thought the ECU was bung, so had a bit of back n forth with the seller, and ended up calling the tuner (Carl Ruiterman) and he had a LOL and knew what was wrong straight away. Their early re-flashes had a weird quirk where you have to give the engine a tiny blip on the throttle at start up, to keep the transmission ECU happy (it doesn't like the little start up rev flare with no wheel speed or throttle input) so with that sorted we put the wide band on it, and it's turbo rich. The unit it came from had a race intake and exhaust, and obviously flowed better, so more gas. We put the std ECU back in, and it's spot on, so that's what I'll run for now, but good to know the std injectors and pump can flow way more.

After the last ride being cancelled due to rain, today was my first official blast. The track was very, very muddy, which added greatly to the excitement/terror. After shitting my dacks near constantly on the first run, I headed out on a second run, but half way around the 17km track I noticed the over heat light was on. I knew it was a blocked radiator, as I had read that's an issue in very muddy conditions, so I had a couple of cool down stops and limped home. Luckily the fucking baller chap next to me in the pits, had a water blaster and huge ass water tank built into his trailer (wot!?!?) and blasted the radiator clean for me. But sadly half way around the next lap it started over heating again, so I called it a day. These pics don't do the lever of filth justice, it was insane how much mud was in/on it.

You can see why the radiator blocking is an issue, not a great place for it,

So because of this issue, from 2019 onwards they have the radiators in the back, so I'm about to start the process of relocating the radiator. I didn't really want to do this, but I can see it being a pain in the ass/fun ruiner, so I may as well do it now.

Regards, VG.

[Mop Head]

In my short stint at Bayride, we had 2 of these come in quite cooked. Both had been due to an air intake full of dirt/mud as well as the radiator. I remember designs were changed at some point as ya mention and things got better. But always worth checking that after every ride if you can/if it's the model thats susceptible to that.

[Vintage Grumble]

1 hour ago, Mop Head said:

In my short stint at Bayride, we had 2 of these come in quite cooked. Both had been due to an air intake full of dirt/mud as well as the radiator. I remember designs were changed at some point as ya mention and things got better. But always worth checking that after every ride if you can/if it's the model thats susceptible to that.

Oh true, I've not heard of the intake problem. The air intake is between the seats, at about boob height, so in a good place to avoid mud, but I think people not checking/cleaning the pre-filter is a thing, cam imagine they block up fairly easily.

And while I'm here, this is the 2019 radiator set up (there is a plastic cover over the top to box it in)

And this is one example of a relocation kit. I want to do something similar but with closed in sides and more of an intake to push air through, more like the OEM set up above,

Regards, VG.

[glen]

All the racing ones have been allowed rear mounted radiator for a while now because of overheating. Also plz look at upgrading the roll cage. 

[Vintage Grumble]

50 minutes ago, glen said:

All the racing ones have been allowed rear mounted radiator for a while now because of overheating. Also plz look at upgrading the roll cage. 

Yes I already have tube for roll cage upgrades, trying to avoid getting squashed. 

[Vintage Grumble]

It's only taken me THREE FUCKING MONTHS, but I've kinda finished the radiator relocation. Step one was to remove the radiator from the front, and all associated piping. I had to cut the piping out, as it must go on the frame early in the assembly process,

Then I visualized the future set up for some time, and started making mounts,

Then I cut a few holes in things to run the pipes through, and spent fucking ages making the pipes. The factory pipes & hoses are all 7/8, which seemingly no one in NZ stocked stainless 90s and 45s in, so I did all the piping in 1", and reduced it down at the ends to 7/8. I also had to make my own hose tails, because yuck hose size.

 I then ran the fan wiring to the back, relocated the overflow bottle, and found some new 90 deg hoses. Then painted the mounts and slapped it all together. The piping is only physically mounted to the frame in one spot, in the hope that it doesn't flex and crack it. 

I still want to make some sides for the radiator, to sort of force air through it, and also add some sort of guard to cover the hoses and radiator cap, to protect the occupants from being sprayed in boiling water if something fails. But I should probably test it all works fine first. 

Regards, VG.

[Nominal]

Nice work on the pipe fabrication, those look great.

[johnnyfive]

Yeah, A+. Can you source those pipe/hose holder clamp thingos?

[Vintage Grumble]

9 minutes ago, johnnyfive said:

Yeah, A+. Can you source those pipe/hose holder clamp thingos?

Yeap, those are Stauff branded ones, can get pretty blue ones from Swagelok too, but they probably cost more, because Swagelok.

[Vintage Grumble]

Looks like @glen was correct about the old off-roader being a mini sprint. My bro in law just sent me this, front part of the chassis is identical,

https://www.trademe.co.nz/4210373987

[glen]

I'm like a savant with off road cars 

[Vintage Grumble]

So work is slow, and I haven't bored the tits off you in a while, so rubbish update time. I think I've done three day long outings in the YXZ with no real issues, which sort of amazes me, because fuck it gets a hell of a hard time. At one track the rear sway bar nuts kept coming loose, so I removed the flat washers under the nuts, and that somehow seemed to solve that issue. Also the hinge bolts on the drivers door came loose, so did those up. The only maintenance I've had to do is change a CV boot and a ball joint boot that were ripped. The ball joint boot was nearly as expensive as a whole ball joint, so I go t a whole unit. I'll get an aftermarket boot at some point so I have a spare ball joint.  

 

I also got around to fitting the harnesses (a guy died at one of the rides I was at, so sort of prompted some action). It wasn't too big of a job, just had to remove a few captive nuts so the mountey bit would fit where it needed to go (on the nut side of the mount). These certainly hold you in a LOT better, and have nearly eradicated me having badly bruised shoulder after a hoon.

 

I've also got stuck into trying to finish my trailer. I have finally got the mesh all welded down, which was a cunt of a job. I ground off the galv as best I could on all the welding surfaces (its second hand galv walkway mesh), but it was still a splatter party quite often. Glad I never bothered painting my shed floor, because it would be fucked now.

So I built this trailer pretty light, as the original off-roader was probably sub 500kg, but the SXS is 700kg, so I was a bit worried it may not be strong/heavy enough. I bolted it together and put the SXS on it, and using a string line, I checked if it was bending under the weight. It didn't seem to be bending/deflecting under the weight, but I'm still thinking about beefing it up a tad just to be sure. The next problem, was I set up the axle position for the old unit, so I wasn't sure if there was enough tongue weight with the SXS full forward. I didn't have a scale, so decided to grease up the bearings and do up all the nuts & bolts and take it for a spin to see how it towed. No WOF, no REG, No lights, no plate, no worries. I then proceeded to tow it past two highway cops, twice each, but neither noticed/cared. It also towed beautifully, which was both a surprise and a relief. Its also way lighter to tow than the tandem car trailer I normally use, so that's nice. I was a bit worried about the lack of brakes, but it seems to be fine.

 

I have decided I will galvanize it (I originally intended to paint it, hence all the open ends being sealed off) so I need to drill lots of holes, and try think of all the things it may need before I send it away to get stripped N dipped.  

It will be fucking excellent to finish this thing, seeing as I started building it at the start of the first covid lockdown. 

Regards, VG.

[mjrstar]

Awesome project wouldn't mind myself..

 

As far as the trailer build I have a similar designed trailer for my Honda which has been great except it continued to crack the risers for the top rail on the sides from the points from the axle forward to the front.. the issue is these are limiting the bending moment and there is no triangulation.. I ended up shortening the cross bar along the front so the sides dip down to almost triangulate the sides similar to how your back section is and then I added a diagonal in just the first section.

 

Sorry if my explanation is garbage, but it might save you a repair job after its galv or painted.