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SAS r50 :)


johann_peralta
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Hello, My name is Johann and here is what I've been up to lately (SAS). 

 

I've been collecting parts for the swap for close to two years now. Mostly waiting on good deals on parts and tools. Recently I was gifted a motor picker, and that was one of the last tools I needed to start the swap. So about 4 days ago, it began. 

 

A few months ago I bought a 97 pathfinder for 300$US. It had shot wheel bearings up front, and as expected, very worn down suspension components up front. The ad had no pictures so I had no idea what i was going to go look at... As soon as I saw that is had a steel bumper, I knew I was buying it. Its a manual, and runs fine, other than suspension issues up front, which made it the perfect candidate for the SAS I've wanted to do for years. 

 

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So soon after i acquired a hilux snorkel for free and mounted it to the r50

 

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A few days ago I moved the big pathy (my green one) out of the shed, laid down some wood, and backed up the white one to be stripped down. 

 

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It took about 5 hours, but I got the car way up on jacks (the jacks are welded to the rims and tires are flat) and removed the entire subframe. That subframe is WAY heavier than I thought!

 

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So the subframe is what holds the motor up, so to remove the subframe, I put a thick strap around the motor, and a jack under it (to hold it in place). Next I got the motor mounts I made and temporarily installed them to make sure they fit. 

 

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I then decided that the frame was going to get reinforced anywhere that something was getting added. so I added a piece of steel behind it. 

 

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These motor mounts were then welded in. 

 

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I then did the same exact thing on the other side Once they were welded in, the motor was now being held up with no subframe! This was the hardest part so far because there was barely any space under the car with the jack in the way. Now with the jack out from under the car and with more space, I started cutting and removing all the old steering stuff. everything from the firewall up was removed. there are two little brackets holding the original steering bend box (90*, not sure the specific name for it). I cut those out with a reciprocating saw. 

once all the old was out of the way, I ground the "frame" down to raw metal (where the new jeep steering box would go)

 

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when I went to mom up the steering box, it wouldn't fit because the wheel well was blocking the back end from sitting on the rail, so I eyeballed it and cut a slot into the well to allow the box to sit. Once up, I mocked up some steel reinforcement plates to the frame, drilled them & the frame, and temporarily bolted up the box to make sure everything fit. 

 

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Tomorrow the box will come back out so I can trim the reinforcement plates up to size better. Once they are trimmed up, the box will be mounted, plates tacked in, box removed and the rest of the plate will be welded in. 

 

I started tinkering with the shaft connecting the wheel to the steering box and am debating on how I am going to splice them together. Probably will cut to length, weld, sleeve, then weld the sleeve to both ends. Any better ideas?

 

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the left one is the jeep one, the right is the stock one. I need to connect the top piece from the left one (goes onto the steering box) with the bottom of the right one (goes into end of steering on r50)

 

Edited by johann_peralta
i hit enter by accident and didnt finish adding content.
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So today I did a little more work on the r50.

 

I started off by making the steering link to go from the steering wheel to the Jeep steering box. I sleeved it with some SUPER thick tube, and drilled holes in the tube so I could weld in the holes. Once all welded I Painted it black and installed it. 

 

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Next I welded up the steering box reinforcement plates

 

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I had a custom power steering line made at the "local" hydraulic shop. Runs from the r50 power steering pump to the Jeep steering box. The return line I just used hose clamps for, as that is what the original used on the jeep. I have to make a little retainer bracket to hold the "loop end" of the hose, so its not swinging around or rubbing onto anything. Ill bolt it onto one of the oil pan bolts. 

 

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I rolled the axle underneath the car for the first time! as it sits, i'm content with how well things are lined up. 

 

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I make a cardboard template for the trackbar bracket, but forgot to take a picture. More than likely ill get that all welded up and installed tomorrow. 

 

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Things left to do: cut out the trackbar bracket and weld it on, make/buy longer trackbar, weld on 4 link brackets, weld up 4 links,  make coil buckets & frame reinforcements in that area, install custom brake lines & purge system. probably missing some stuff here and there, but its been a long week lol

 

ALSO sorry that these pictures have been coming up sideways and upside down.... I haven't any idea how to fix that. Ill try a different website next time to get picture into a URL form. Pictures are too large to use the "drag files here to attach , or choose file" option. Sorry! 

 

 

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translator incorrectly translated my question))))))))))))))

 

1. this axis is from what model of car? axle from a jeep cherokee?

2. what's her gear ratio?

 

Edited by DIMAZ
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So here is the trackbar bracket and crossmember. Its two sheets welded onto a frame reinforcement. I will show later on how ill finish the crossmember. debating on welding a top and bottom onto it, or just put bars in between. not sure yet... It sits higher than the oil pan and radiator/condenser, so i'm not too worried about it catching on anything. 

 

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I then decided that anything that was welded to the frame was also gonna have a bolt or two running through it as a back up. Just incase. So the engine mounts, and all the frame reinforcements got a bolt or two through the frame. 

 

 

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Here's how I ran a bolt through the new crossmember as another reinforcement. The bolt on the left is off center because i wanted it to go through the frame reinforcement also. If I would've planned this better, I would have extended the reinforcement to the left further and then centered the bolt. It'll do though. I did the same on the other side and in the back. These angle bar were 3/8" thick and took 2 cut off wheels just to make each piece... super annoying to cut with an angle grinder! PS, everything is being cut with an angle grinder, so lines won't be perfect..

 

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I cleaned up both sides of the frame on the outside, and drilled the reinforcements to fit the existing holes (I ended up removing the abs bracket and cleaning further up into that corner but didn't get a picture). Ill weld them in tomorrow most likely and mount the coil buckets to these. 

 

 

 

 

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On 12/28/2018 at 6:26 AM, johann_peralta said:

Its from an 00-01 grand cherokee v8, Im gonna regear to match the rear. 4.56 is the closest to 4.63 that i can find.

interesting project! I wish you success

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I finished up the 4 link brackets today. They are bolted in and then the reinforcements are welded in with a few passes. Ive never done anything like this before so i'm more than willing to take in come ideas from y'all. Thanks! 

 

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32 minutes ago, system_f said:

4.56 and 4.63 will work fine, I had that setup but 4.88 and 4.9 works much better.  Get a rear chunk from an 03-04 Xterra for your 4.9 gears on the cheap.  

Thanks for the tip! I'll have to do some research on that. 

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welded up a tube inside the coils so that the top end cant wiggle around or fall out for that matter. The spring's rubber pad thing (I forget what the part is called) slides over the tube snug as a bug in a rug. 

 

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Also made some brackets for the bumper since the old ones were total junk (can see how the old welds burnt through the metal right above the eye's hook). Luckily I had a piece of 1/4" sheet metal laying around. 

 

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Got the airbag/intake back in and re installed the bumper. It's a TJM bumper that came with it when I bought it. No others markings on it other than the sticker on the top right, so not too sure what it was for originally. Im gonna flap the front middle piece of the bumper and paint it over. Once I get the winch mounting plate ill install the 12k winch I have in the trunk. 

 

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got the rollers on today. Used the 5 to 6 lug adapters to get the r50 pattern to work. Figured if i'm going to use spacers they will be done right. Loktite and torque wrench. 

 

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Upper links all set up, and then got rid of the jacks! Finally on its own weight! 

 

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Tomorrow i'll finish the bottom links and the trackbar bracket hopefully. Drilling the knuckle and pitman arm to run heim steering also. 

Those are 235/65/15 incase you are wondering.

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Well here she sits "done". I need to go back to trim & adjust some little things, paint the links and some brackets, double check everything is tight, etc... 

 

I broke the radiator while cutting the brackets for the steering box off the rail, so once I get a new rad in, it'll be hitting the backyard for a test drive!

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got the car out and back into the shed so I can get working on the rear end. Really would like to extend the current 4 link with sleeves, but another part of me says heim joints all the way around... IDK yet! Here are a few pics I took while moving it around. 

 

Also, if you have any ideas/suggestions for the front or rear end, id love to hear them. Constructive criticism is great. I want to do a pinion brake setup.. but we'll see

 

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17 hours ago, deltaR50 said:

thats a nice tjm steel bumper that it came with 

 

I saw some numbers/letters on the inside of the corner extension piece the other day. Ill try to get a picture of them as they might help find out what this bumper came off of originally. 

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I put the jack stands under the car (right on the rail, in front of the lower trailing arm bracket). the back wheels are barely off the ground... So i'm either gonna have to put a foot of wood under the jack stands, or get ones that are a foot taller. Either way, its pretty annoying. 

 

Rear currently has 2" lift coils. The goal is to see if I cant get ahold of longer springs that fit this. That or longer springs and weld on a spacer. 

 

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It would make sense to do a similar drop down bracket to match your front suspension. You could even do a 4 link or 3 link too given that that height due to the amount of lift required.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

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3 hours ago, Cuong Nguyen said:

It would make sense to do a similar drop down bracket to match your front suspension. You could even do a 4 link or 3 link too given that that height due to the amount of lift required.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk
 

I really would like to use the stock brackets in the rear. A lot less work involved for me. 

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Maybe I’m just not seeing your vision, but I don’t see how you can get the rear ride height even remotely close to the front without biting the bullet and doing the necessary fabrication to drop everything down. Just by eyeballing it, it looks like you’ve got in the neighborhood of 20 inches or so of lift in the front compared to stock? Trying to get the rear down to that level without fabrication just doesn’t seem feasible to me. And If you want it to ride and track safely I really think you’re going to need to move the mounting points for all the rear links down to keep them reasonably in line with the rear axle. If you drop the axle that far and keep the existing mounting points for the rear trailing arms, you’re going to have them at some very extreme angles that could compromise performance and safety. Same thing for the rear driveshaft. I don’t know if will even extend that far stock, but if it does it will be at an extreme angle. I’m not trying to discourage you in any way. I think this project is awesome and really want to see a well put together SAS R50 hit the trails! I just think it is worth taking the extra time and really thinking this out and doing it right now that you’ve gotten this far. 

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