Like the front, the rear shocks...
Like the front, the rear shocks are in position and their reservoirs have been mounted to the rear cage. The Jaz fuel cell has also been installed, though its plumbing isn't quite complete. The round blue thing on top of the cell is a reel-holding rubber fuel line.
Krellwitz hooked up the fuel...
Krellwitz hooked up the fuel cell's fill pipe, then welded a strap into the back window to hold a bracket that will support the fill pipe's end.
Across the XJ from Krellwitz,...
Across the XJ from Krellwitz, Rivera fashioned aluminum panels to go between the seats and the fuel cell by making a paper template and then cutting sheet aluminum to match the template's pattern. This shot also clearly shows the Tupperware wiring box mounted to the cab's back wall.
In the engine bay, Karl Armbrust...
In the engine bay, Karl Armbrust mounted the Unique Metal Products air-cleaner inlet to the top of the motor. If you recall our last issue, the inlet end of the cleaner is in the cockpit.
While Armbrust was working...
While Armbrust was working on the engine, Steve Schlingmann plumbed the Howe power steering and mounted the steering cooler.
Until this point, the rear...
Until this point, the rear suspension had been in place, but just loosely mocked up. With the deadline rapidly approaching, it's time to finalize the rearend. To start the process, Demonteverde reinstalled the Deaver spring packs and lined up the mount pads for the Currie rear axle.
Once the components were in...
Once the components were in place, LaFortune, McCallum, and Krellwitz aligned the axle side to side. LaFortune then used an angle finder to set the pinion angle.
When our day at the shop ended,...
When our day at the shop ended, the guys were double-checking the pinion angle while approximating the XJ's ride height by adding weight to the rear. The team still had hours to go before setting the truck on its BFG Baja Terrains.
The Jeep's new front axle...
The Jeep's new front axle is a forged 8-inch from Currie that's "way stronger than the cast 30s or 44s," according to LaFortune.
Did Temper-Mental achieve its 10-day goal? Just about. By the end of Day 10, about 99.9 percent of the XJ's pieces were in place. Then came three days of shakedown runs in the desert outside of Barstow, California, sorting out exhaust, electrical, and clutch issues.
The truck's debut JeepSpeed race, at the Best in the Desert (BITD) Parker 425 in Arizona, started out strong, with the Jeep in first place at the end of the first lap. But chewed-up conditions on the course knocked the gas pedal loose-with the clutch and brake following suit shortly. Later, the rearend U-joint broke not just once but twice. Each time the crew banged out a repair, resorting in the end to duct-taping the last U-joint in the toolbox to hold it together. The Jeep did finish-it was the last JeepSpeed competitor to cross the finish line at 10 p.m.
The 10-day Wonder skies it...
The 10-day Wonder skies it at the MDR Mojave 250.
"When it was working, it was awesome," LaFortune said after the race. "We had stuff break because we didn't have enough time to prep and test. We're disappointed that we didn't do better, but we finished. And that first lap gave us a taste of what the truck will be like when it's sorted out."
Those words proved prophetic. In its second outing, at the Mojave Desert Racing (MDR) Mojave 250, the XJ placed third out of 24 JeepSpeed entries. LaFortune and crew later won the MDR Coyote 200 night race and also won the season-closing JeepSpeed event at the BITD Terrible 400 in Henderson, Nevada, clinching the '06 JeepSpeed title in the process.
"The Jeep has gotten nothing but faster," LaFortune said after the race in Henderson. "We haven't had any problems, and the new Currie frontend (a fully-forged 8-inch housing with heavy gussets and Dana 44 knuckles) ran just awesome. Ray Currie has been a huge help with this project."So, yeah, maybe the 10-day part of this buildup was a bit of a fudge. But LaFortune and his crew built a real winner.