so I found a cheap T25 turbo, and done some research on it.... I am going to try to do a blow thru setup eventually... will haveto build my own manifold, and plumb the oil/cooling lines and piping

this will be a long term adder, but should give me close to 100hp

A little update.
Repainted it because I'm not a huge camo fan.

Also picked up some 30x7 SX2s for it.

It has a little more power but needs more. Atleast the tires don't rub anymore.

tires rub issues just require a bit more sawzall work

are you going to ditch the body and tube the chassis? (not sure if those things are unibody or not). could probably save a bunch of weight there.

With these, the tire rub was on the firewall, which is also the floor pan... only solution is extended wb or lift, which i dont want either.


They are full boxed frame.

After looking over it, doesnt seem like the body is adding a ton of weight. I know the windshield is heavy, but I would like to keep it. By the time you add tube in to support the floor and what not, idk how much weight you would save... I think that I am going to get rid of the A/C system to save weight and simplify.

When I get to tubing this out, I do plan to ditch all of the front body for some tube, and try to loose the rear floor, part of the rear frame, and some of the other sheet metal.

I really want to scale it to see where I am at...

Figured i should put an update on this since I havent in a while. I have been messing with it a little and riding it some around the house.

Mainly I have been fighting with my tires trying to keep them aired up and seated. These tires are blems. They were made for a foreign country and not to DOT specs, but they didnt sell well. They are a cool size and tread, but 1 of the beads is out of spec (too large). So the bead hump on the wheel wont keep the bead seating.

After trying multiple glues/adhesives/epoxys/etc. I decided i just needed to beadlock the failing bead.

Problem, so noone really makes a wheel in the size i want/need for a reasonable amount. I would really like a 15x4/5 alum double beadlock. Method can make them for $250 per wheel, which would double my investment. My steel wheels were currently heavier then i liked, but finding cheap alum in this size is also hard. So I surely didnt want to do a weld-on beadlock to add that much more rotating mass.

I decided to use screws to beadlock to offending side. I used a similar method to what Inchworm gear used to sale. I was wanting to run a tube in conjunction with this, but after struggling with the skinny tire/wheel/tube setup for a few hours I tossed it aside.

Here is a pic of the screws in the wheel:



as you can see, they dont go into the tire but create a barrier preventing the tire from coming off the bead. While doing this, I siliconed both the beads, and siliconed the screws. This kept the tires from leaking, but i threw in some slime for added measure.

On the front 2 tires the screws are on the inside bead, and on the outside bead on the rear 2 tires (just happened to be how the tires got mounted on the wheels).

And just to put in some other pics of how it currently sits and things I havent updated.






when ripping out the FI setup it took the factory gauges with it. To minimize clutter and save weight I went with this 4 in 1 unit in the factory location.:



you cant really see it, but to the right I also have a propane low fuel light so I will know when i need to swap tanks.

Here is a pic of my battery and tank setup. Nothing really special. Standard tank brackets and an angle iron battery box.



Both will end up being changed/moved at some point when I cut the rear off it.

I have also considered running a lawnmower battery in it. They are smaller, lighter, and cheaper, but dont have much power/capacity. One of my friends runs it in his sami with no issues, but i think a winch would kill one quick? If I did that, i could stuff it under the dash where the factory a/c is.

My vote is big battery. Does stauns make a kit that'd work on those wheels? Or, run tubes??

Pretty sure Staun is out of business. InnerAirlock makes the same thing, but only for 15x8/10 wheels. I believe they are adaptable, but still ~$500 for the set.

I was wanting to run tubes in the tires. The big issue I ran into, with the narrow wheel & tire, I had to dismount the tire and feed the tube on the wheel with the tire. Even with a ton of baby powder in the tire, the tube ended up getting a hole in it and not working. At that point I decided to just make the screws sealed.

If I were to look at this idea with std wheels/tires, I would use different screws and tubes.

If anyone is interested in this idea or process I am more then happy to share my setup and what I think would work better.

Did a little more work on it.

- Cut out some of the un-needed sheet metal from the rear and front.
- Removed the factory bumpers and rear frame overhang
- relocated the battery behind the rear seat

You can kinda see in the pic how much higher the rear is sitting now... Suprising how much weight was in the rear.

I was planning to use a Yamaha Rhino plastic, but after removing the hood and sitting it on there, it just didnt fit well. It was about 3" too narrow on each side. After contemplating removing the whole body, I figure I would save that for later.

Instead I hope to have it look similar to this.