The Grackle

meisanerd

Need Bigger Tires
How will this set up work when the emergency flashers are on and the vehicle is stationary during a hot summer day?

You are right, clearly there is a flaw with the system. @General_Tarfun clearly needs to abandon air cooling, and go to a full liquid-cooled solution. Solar panels to recharge li-ion batteries to power the pumps and radiator fans, redundant reservoirs, the whole bit...
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
10-4 on an "over-engineered solution". :) That said, this is great stuff for wimps like me who like to hang back from the bleeding edge of rapidly evolving technology.

How will this set up work when the emergency flashers are on and the vehicle is stationary during a hot summer day?

Haha I love a good project. That's the exact scenario I had in mind after this past summer, the heat was brutal.

I'm thinking this setup will basically take the heat from the load resisters and disperse it via the heat sink. All of the fins on it give an increased surface area relative to its size for the heat to be absorbed and then cooled by the surrounding air. The aluminum brackets are about 2" long and will hold it somewhere in the front of the engine bay, still need to decide to where but I'm hoping there's room near the radiator/grille area since that spot gets good airflow already.
 

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
Over engineered is right! Haha. I have the VLEDs load resistors and they're pretty damn big with large heatsinks on them.

Yeah those look solid, I saw a Morimoto version that looks pretty good too. Sadly I found both after I'd already received the gold ones haha otherwise I probably would have ordered a set of those and called it a day.
 

westslope

Wheeling
......The aluminum brackets are about 2" long and will hold it somewhere in the front of the engine bay, still need to decide to where but I'm hoping there's room near the radiator/grille area since that spot gets good airflow already.

If the engine is idling or turned off when it is hot, then the cooling fan will move air. But if the engine is off and cool, the thermostat-controlled cooling fan will not move air.

Over the years, I have had a number of fanless video cards installed in PC workstations but the aft and fore ventilation fans were always working. The last PC workstation ordered for the house has 2 fans on the video card. This PC has 3 case ventilation fans. These machines are for professional use; we do not game so there no requirement for liquid cooling.

I have overclocked CPUs in the past, and quite successfully, but never bothered with liquid cooling with a quality aftermarket CPU fan doing most of the heavy lifting. (Yet another example of aftermarket parts outperforming stock, OEM parts.)

The air cooled solution for your X might work if you open the engine hood while parked with emergency lights flashing.

meisanerd's suggestion to go full liquid cooling is not a bad one. As long as it is robust to off-road bouncing around. Would be cool if it made a bit of sloshing noise. ;)

On the other hand, a low-voltage small, ventilation fan blowing across the heatsink could be more than sufficient. Toss in some small LED lights behind the cooling fans that constantly change colour and you will definitely have the coolest X on the trail.





Note to Prime: This site lacks a Munching on Popcorn icon.
 

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
If the engine is idling or turned off when it is hot, then the cooling fan will move air. But if the engine is off and cool, the thermostat-controlled cooling fan will not move air.

Over the years, I have had a number of fanless video cards installed in PC workstations but the aft and fore ventilation fans were always working. The last PC workstation ordered for the house has 2 fans on the video card. This PC has 3 case ventilation fans. These machines are for professional use; we do not game so there no requirement for liquid cooling.

I have overclocked CPUs in the past, and quite successfully, but never bothered with liquid cooling with a quality aftermarket CPU fan doing most of the heavy lifting. (Yet another example of aftermarket parts outperforming stock, OEM parts.)

The air cooled solution for your X might work if you open the engine hood while parked with emergency lights flashing.

meisanerd's suggestion to go full liquid cooling is not a bad one. As long as it is robust to off-road bouncing around. Would be cool if it made a bit of sloshing noise. ;)

On the other hand, a low-voltage small, ventilation fan blowing across the heatsink could be more than sufficient. Toss in some small LED lights behind the cooling fans that constantly change colour and you will definitely have the coolest X on the trail.

Note to Prime: This site lacks a Munching on Popcorn icon.

That's funny you mention fans because I actually have a dual fan unit pulled from an old pre-2013 mac pro I considered using at one point. The battery draw is so minimal it would be ideal for this. That said, for now at least I don't think they're needed. The benefit of mounting it up front is exposure to open air along with no plastics or wiring nearby that can be melted.

I've seen on a ton of forums that most people just stick them on behind the rear brake light housing which definitely works fine for regular driving, but it's an enclosed space with no airflow which would eventually be a problem. That'll be a hard pass on the color changing leds lol. After I get everything in I want to pick up a laser thermometer, run the hazards for a few hours and check the temps every 30 minutes or so just to see how well it all works.
 

meisanerd

Need Bigger Tires
Yah, I'd be curious to see some temperature numbers off these.

This whole thing might be over-thinking it, though. I mean, there are a decent number of completely passive CPUs in computers that run just fine, and depending on how big of a heat-sink the resistors are designed to be used for, going with a larger one might have enough surface area that ambient temperature and airflow will keep it cool enough to keep operating. Or, just strap the thing to the frame or some other metal piece of the vehicle, and turn that into a giant heatsink...
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
Yeah it's hard to say without the temp readings, I wish I had a way of simulating a 12v turn signal circuit since it'd be much easier to see how warm it gets on a bench. Or even just run it at 12v without the pulse.
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
I finished this up today and everything worked perfectly the first time which was nice. LED's are working front/rear with no issues.

The only thing that popped up when installing was that I forgot to get mounting screws when I was at the hardware store so I zip tied it so I could go pick those up. I found a nice mounting location on the front bumper behind the fender liner to put it, out of the way with plenty of airflow.

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General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
Ordered a set of the Delrin steering rack bushings from PRG yesterday. I've been running an OE replica set for a few months now because the poly bushings I had before fell apart. From what I've read the Delrin should hold up a lot better.

Also have some 80mm Noico sound deadening mat on the way + a few cans of rubberized undercoating. After installing that heatsink last weekend I'm thinking maybe a few layers of the mat on top of the rearward fender liner might reduce some tire noise or at least the sound of gravel hitting it.

After that's in I'm adding a Pioneer TS-A300TW tweeters for the rear doors since they only have 2 way speakers right now.
 
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General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
Well that was interesting. I pulled both fender liners, sprayed rubberized undercoating on the exterior side and put a layer of dampening mat on the inner sections that were at least 10" from anything hot. Also did the exposed frame rails at the same time. I used Permatex Rubberized Undercoating 81833, no clogging and the two cans were completely used but man does that stuff come out with some pressure. Makes it hard to do light coats but the adhesion seemed to be great.

While I had them off a ton of the firewall was exposed so I put some mat on there too and then sprayed the rubberized stuff over that. As soon as I did that I hit my head on the metal fender and realized that sounded pretty hollow too (the fender not my head lol) so I put some mat up there on the inner side of the fender. Now if you tap on the fender it sounds solid like an old chevy truck instead of a civic. The drivers side upper fender space is huge, there's a lot of open space right there which probably acts as an echo chamber for road noise. It's probably that way for the intake so I wouldn't want to do anything like foam but I laid some mat all along the inner fender area and along the firewall. Road test does seem quieter, nothing life changing but for how easy it was to do I'd say worth it.

After that I did a power steering fluid flush with some Nissan PS fluid I picked up on Amazon and swapped in a new set of the 80/100 watt headlight bulbs to finally break the cycle of always replacing my bulbs in the spring when I need them the least.

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General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
Installed Delrin steering rack bushings from PRG this morning, I should have gone with these the first two times.

Originally I cheaped out on some fleabay 'polyurethane' bushings that decomposed after a year, the second time I used Febest OE-replica rubber bushings that would have been fine for a non-lifted truck but flexed too much with my lift. Took only about 30 minutes using my cordless impact wrench to get them installed.

Driving update: They've mostly fixed what was bothering me which was on smaller road imperfections the steering would want to pull left/right each time I hit a bump/crevice/reflector/whatever. Now I can go over those and the bumps are still felt in the suspension but it doesn't need any steering corrections to keep going straight.
 
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TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
Installed Delrin steering rack bushings from PRG this morning, I should have gone with these the first two times.

Originally I cheaped out on some fleabay 'polyurethane' bushings that decomposed after a year, the second time I used Febest OE-replica rubber bushings that would have been fine for a non-lifted truck but flexed too much with my lift. Took only about 30 minutes using my cordless impact wrench to get them installed.
I have the SuperPros from ORG and they've worked out pretty well too. Much better than the OE rubber.
 

Prime

Shut up Baby, I know it!
Admin
Location
Denver Adjacent
Installed Delrin steering rack bushings from PRG this morning, I should have gone with these the first two times.

Originally I cheaped out on some fleabay 'polyurethane' bushings that decomposed after a year, the second time I used Febest OE-replica rubber bushings that would have been fine for a non-lifted truck but flexed too much with my lift. Took only about 30 minutes using my cordless impact wrench to get them installed.
Sigh..... Adding it to the list
 

PhullD

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
It's pretty crazy how much of a difference upgrading those bushings makes considering even with the rubber bushings any rack movement is probably only a mm or two.

The factory bushings on the steering rack are a joke. They are so flimsy they can't even hold their shape. I replaced mine with SuperPros and it's been really nice. I bet all the premature failures of the steering rack were because of all that play from the OEM bushings.
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
Some pics of my current trip out to Texas visiting family:

My overnight stop in Arkansas
t957Z8m.jpg

8jLs1JE.jpg


And a crazy day down on the beach on Padre Island National Seashore today
dpVrnla.jpg

JlRC9yY.png

Followed by this:
yQv9vkF.jpg

yvbBrwx.jpg

Followed by the towline getting some slack, the hook coming off the towhook and swiping the bottom edge of the bumper cover. Yanked the entire thing off in one pull, luckily there's nothing that can't be temporarily reattached with some zip ties. Also ended the day with a check engine light and I think the oil pressure sensor went bad because it pegged at 0 and the oil light is on. No leaks and plenty of oil though.
 
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SledheadX

Wheeling
Supporting Member
Location
Rochester, NY
Some pics of my current trip out to Texas visiting family:

My overnight stop in Arkansas

[Pics omitted to save space]

Followed by the towline getting some slack, the hook coming off the towhook and swiping the bottom edge of the bumper cover. Yanked the entire thing off in one pull, luckily there's nothing that can't be temporarily reattached with some zip ties. Also ended the day with a check engine light and I think the oil pressure sensor went bad because it pegged at 0 and the oil light is on. No leaks and plenty of oil though.

That's awesome and love the pics! I'm flying into Little Rock today!!! Staying with friends in Jacksonville. I'll have to map those areas out for when I drive down again for the next visit. They wanna see just what the rig can do. (and teach the young one there how to drive stick).
 

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
Some pics of my current trip out to Texas visiting family:

My overnight stop in Arkansas
t957Z8m.jpg

8jLs1JE.jpg


And a crazy day down on the beach on Padre Island National Seashore today
dpVrnla.jpg

JlRC9yY.png

Followed by this:
yQv9vkF.jpg

yvbBrwx.jpg

Followed by the towline getting some slack, the hook coming off the towhook and swiping the bottom edge of the bumper cover. Yanked the entire thing off in one pull, luckily there's nothing that can't be temporarily reattached with some zip ties. Also ended the day with a check engine light and I think the oil pressure sensor went bad because it pegged at 0 and the oil light is on. No leaks and plenty of oil though.

Looks like a good time till the art the end.

You need to invest in tow straps without hooks. Those are very dangerous offroad. An ARB snatch strap or something like a Bubba Rope would probably be good too if you're going to spend much time in sand or mud.
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
Looks like a good time till the art the end.

You need to invest in tow straps without hooks. Those are very dangerous offroad. An ARB snatch strap or something like a Bubba Rope would probably be good too if you're going to spend much time in sand or mud.


Agreed. It's one of those things I always meant to buy but kept forgetting because I rarely use it, as soon as it removed the bumper my brother looked in his truck and found a couple hookless straps thankfully. Overall the day was a lot of fun even with that ending lol. That was the closest driving I've ever done that was high speed desert style. The X handles that terrain ridiculously well.
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
Some more pics from my trip and repairs lol. Turnedo out the only damage from this chaos was I lost a small section of fender liner that caught the tire and an oil pressure sensor.

Going with OE on the sensor this time because nothing is scarier than being 60 miles down a beach and the oil light pops on.

I bought some vinyl sheet made for stair steps to screw in and concert the gap. While I had the bumper off to reattach the bumper I went ahead and moved my led load resistors to right behind the front bumper cover. There's an existing 10mm bolt that was perfect to attach it.
jOasEIQ.jpg

W3Pi655.jpg

Seashells in the skid plates
h1ZBt1O.jpg

I had the windows down with the AC off trying to not add any more load to the engine than necessary... Was fine until cruising down the beach on the way back and the tide had come up almost to the dunes. A wave rolled in that I couldn't avoid and a tidal wave of water came over the truck and through the windows.
DgcpoyC.jpg
 

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
That's awesome and love the pics! I'm flying into Little Rock today!!! Staying with friends in Jacksonville. I'll have to map those areas out for when I drive down again for the next visit. They wanna see just what the rig can do. (and teach the young one there how to drive stick).


Man I was right through there on Saturday! The campground I stayed in was Beards Bluff, it's pretty small but it was so quiet and had great lake views. And best of all they had hot showers lol. I think I must have spent a half hour in there trying to unfreeze myself, it was way colder than I anticipated.

The beach driving is way too much fun, I really should have bought tires before this trip because they would helped a lot. We went into the Dodge dealer for my brother to pick up some new calipers and they had my Toyos by the door and I realized mine are about 75% worn and they performed pretty good considering that.
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
After last weeks fun on the beach I decided it's probably a good idea to change my rear diff fluid so I stopped by the dealer this morning to pick up 2 qts of 75W-90 fluid. Apparently this blend comes with a "New Grape Scent" haha. I won't complain.

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I've had this stuff in for a day now and as weird as it seems I can tell a difference from the Mobil1 I used before. I can't quite put my finger on it but I remember after I first used the mobil1 stuff I noticed that something...not sure what...seemed different. Like the viscosity was too low or something in it as strange as it sounds.

When I used Redline fluid and now the Nissan stuff the rear diff seems to operate much more smoothly. And that grape scented whatever additive is great, not because it smells like grapes but because the overall smell of the fluid isn't nearly as disgusting as normal diff fluid.
 
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