MasonMcK's Off-road/Mudding Cub Cadet [2016 Build-Off Entry]

Thanks! I should have the transmission from my Massey built and out of the shop by next weekend hopefully so then I can really get moving on this project. As soon as the Massey is wheel-able again I'll rip the old motor out of the 1000 and get the few parts off of it that I need. I'll make sure to get some pics of that or maybe even a before video showing it off before I've really touched it.

shinny motors always are a good thing, good luck!

Indeed they are! 

Well since we are getting snow tonight and tomorrow, and the Maseey blew the transmission before I could do much snow wheeling, I decided to slap the tires off of that onto this (mainly cuz the Massey can't use them right now lol) 

Just for the safety, happiness, and wellbeing of any viewers, please do not look directly into the clashing color schemes (red vs yellow) as it can cause severe headaches, nausea, dizziness, blindness and even death. You have been warned, and I will not be held responsible for any personal injury as a result of poor judgment on your part. Lol, onto the pics...









So the rear tires clear but are pretty close to rubbing (about 1/2"). Front left rubs when at full lock, on the steering arm and the front attachment mount bolts. But that's in the narrow position. I can turn them out into the wide position but then the fronts will stick out wider than the rears so i need to get wheel spacers or wider rear rims when it comes time for that. 

An upcoming order of business is paint for this... I need to paint my motor before I can assemble it and install it so I need to order paint soon. I want the motor to be a bright color so it will pop out when you open the hood. So my options right now are:

Option 1) Stock Cub Cadet color scheme, but with gloss black rims, and a Cub Cadet yellow motor instead of the flat black. 

Option 2) everything black bedliner, but with some bright colored accents like wheel hubs, engine, intake parts, shifter, grille, etc. 

Option 3) black frame with all the body parts all the same color, like red, blue, orange, etc with the engine the same color as body. 

Make sure to let me know which one you like the most. It will be a lot of help for me. Also if you have other suggested schemes feel free to mention them too. Thanks. 

Also, I'll try to get a few snow-wheeling pics and maybe a video if I remember.

On the topic of the smog pump, are you going with a blow thru carb setup? I dont know a ton about it but with decent boost i heard something about the gas trying to get forced back out so you need like a adjustable pressure fuel pump, or some different float setup.

Just check out some cars with the setup and see what carb differences there is, just food for thought.

Or could you put the supercharger after the carb?

I will be using a draw through system for this. Draw through has the carb before the compressor so the air/fuel mixture is *drawn through* the carb, through the compressor, and into the engine. Benefits to using DT is it requires little to no carb mods, is extremely easy to tune, and holds consistent power all the way through the rev range. Also with lower boost levels you can use a mechanical fuel pump but I wouldn't try gravity feeding it. Some draw backs is that the carb needs to be moved (possible benefit), and custom governor linkages will need to be made, unless I drop a good chunk of money on a billet flywheel and run ungoverned (which opens a whole new can of worms like coming up with an electric cooling system). Other draw backs (or benefits) is that draw through can't support an intercooler, and it doesn't require a blow off valve. Another benefit that I can see, is by relocating the carb, I will no longer be locked into using the Kohler or Walbro carbs. I could use anything from a bunch of string trimmer carbs, to triple K91 carbs, to a two barrel Command carb, or possibly a Carter 30 with a K91 carb. Possibilities are almost endless. Okay I'll admit the string trimmer carbs would be pretty stupid looking and a pain to tune, but who knows it could really pull some power. Maybe 4 push mower carbs would be a lot better looking and easier to tune. But what I mean is draw through really opens up the possibilities for something like this.

Blow through however, requires a lot more to get it to work right. For starters, the carb would stay in the stock position, so I would have no governor linkage issues; but the carb requires extensive mods or it won't run well. It indeed would require a variable pressure electronic fuel pump with a special regulator to adjust the fuel pressure. Also the fuel bowl pressure needs to match the pressure outside of the carb or the float will never work. This is where certain solutions appeared, including one where you completely enclose the carb in a box, and seal it so it will hold the boost. Doesn't look anywhere near as cool as a bare carb. There's a few other things that I can't recall right now that need to be done to the carb, but its way too much work in my opinion. Especially since I will not be running an intercooler. As for tuning a BT system, it is a major pain to get them to hold a tune, and they have low spots throughout the power band and like to stumble in spots during acceleration.

Do you have a welder so you can make your own manifolds? Just weld up whatever you want. Then you can put things where you need them.

I don't have a welder at my house but I have access to one nearby. We will be welding up manifolds to connect the intake to the smog pump, and then another manifold to adapt the carb(s) to the smog pump. Then another manifold to put the air cleaner up as high as possible inside the hood.

So does anyone have any opinion on the color scheme for this?

How about a white hood, bedlined fenders and yellow rims and motor? I think that would look good

What shades of these colors do you mean? Like the Cub Cadet white and yellow, or do you mean a bright white and a brighter yellow more like the John Deere yellow? How about the color of the frame and chassis? 

I'm just trying to envision exactly what you mean. Thanks!

On the topic of throttle linkage, although it is personal preference, i love the ungovenered setup a lot more, makes me feel more in tune/ control of the machine. It complements the steering, tuned in clutch, pulley swap, ect.

I can run the stock cast iron flywheel up to 4000 rpm before I run the risk of it exploding. So if I keep the stock flywheel I will be keeping it governed, because I have a fairly heavy foot. If I go billet for the flywheel, I can turn it up to anywhere from 5000-8000 rpm but then the con rod becomes the weak link. The welded cast iron crank *should* be fine unless I hold it at a constant high rpm where the engine can go into harmonic vibrations, and shatter the crank. But I more than likely won't be doing that. 

So if I can justify the billet flywheel, I'll get it and go ungoverned. If not I'll probably end up using a cable off the governor arm to the throttle plate and keep it at 4000rpm.

MasonMcK wrote:

I can run the stock cast iron flywheel up to 4000 rpm before I run the risk of it exploding. So if I keep the stock flywheel I will be keeping it governed, because I have a fairly heavy foot. If I go billet for the flywheel, I can turn it up to anywhere from 5000-8000 rpm but then the con rod becomes the weak link. The welded cast iron crank *should* be fine unless I hold it at a constant high rpm where the engine can go into harmonic vibrations, and shatter the crank. But I more than likely won't be doing that. 

So if I can justify the billet flywheel, I'll get it and go ungoverned. If not I'll probably end up using a cable off the governor arm to the throttle plate and keep it at 4000rpm.

Im trying to design a rev limiter for small engines, so maybe when i can order the parts you might be able to make it work.

But hey, if a billet rod and wheel are possible, id romp at 8 grand RPM also

You could do JD yellow and 'ice white'. Chassis vcould be bedlined too.

A rev limiter would be sweet especially if it's adjustable. Would also be sweet if it had a plug in for a tachometer. But I don't know exactly how hard it would be to make one. Especially cuz I'm going to be using tranaistorized breaker points ignition with a Bosch cool and not a magneto like most other small engines. But I am definitely interested if we can get it to work. I'll start looking into costs of a billet rod and flywheel and start researching a cooling system. If I can get a few small electric fans that won't interfere with the smog pump, and if they keep it cool enough, I'll get a billet head too for some extra power but I'm just worried about it cooling properly. I have heard mention though of being able to bolt plastic flywheel fans off of Briggs engines or similar onto the Kohler K-series billet flywheels and having them fit inside the blower housing. Sadly nothing more than a minor mention of it. So I guess I'll have to just drop the cash and then hope for the best. Worst comes to worst I will just save it for my future drag strip cub. I could probably ask around on pulling sites some more and get some dimensions of one and then find a plastic fan that fits before I drop the cash. I'll have to see. 

MatthewD, thanks for you input. Maybe later on today I will get a pic of it roughly photoshopped into that color. Makes it a lot easier for me to quickly browse through all the options and choose my favorite.

The thing looks great I like the idea of the super charger! Im probably going to be putting a turbo on my build which is going to be diesel should be cool to see this thing run!!

The thing looks great I like the idea of the super charger! Im probably going to be putting a turbo on my build which is going to be diesel should be cool to see this thing run!!

Well it's been a little while with no updates so I figure I should let you guys know what's going on. First I blew out the differential in my Massey and spent the past 2 weeks rebuilding it, then my whole shop is getting rearranged and organized so it will be easier to work in in the long run. Due to this everything for my big block Kohler have been shoved aside for now. I've also been working on my Jeep a lot lately, trying to get it on the road soon. I will definitely get working on this but it may be a few weeks before I make any real progress.

Hi man, what's the status of this build at the moment? Would love to see it finished!

Matthew D, Thanks for the inquiry. Sadly other priorities took over and nothing has changed on it since my last post other than getting the new motor halfway built and starting to build a side exit exhaust. I will be entering it into next year's build off and hopefully I will have time to build it.

Thanks no worries. Better to take your time and get it finished properly.