It's my turn, 47 S10 build

[joedoh]

ahh there is something about wide BFG 15s, just says hot rod.

[Cautrell05]

It is currently licensed and I have probably put probably 5 0 mi on it just around Town driving cruise nights and whatnot. Both rear axles are bent bad enough I don't trust them at highway speed so till I get the rear end out and gone through it it's not going to be seeing any extended driving. Right now it's pretty much in Mobile mock-up mode. It's roadworthy enough I can test things out and make sure it's going to work before I fully finish everything in.

I could write a chapter book on everything I've done to that front crossmember. Some of it was worth it some of it I'd maybe do different in the future. The biggest and hardest modification was making a tunnel through it for the steering shaft. I roughed in my original hole enough to get the rack mounted and steering shaft run a while back but then it came time to close up the excess holes and make it to where I trusted it. What I ended up doing after looking at it for half an afternoon trying to figure out how to piece it together was just cut most of it out, and make a big scary hole and then fill it back in. The front edge / radius of the crossmember is a piece of 3/4 in solid round bar that runs all the way from the outer frame rail to the bottom center of the crossmember just inside of the control arm bolt. I took a piece of ready bolt at home bent it to the pattern I needed and then brought it into work and used the torch to heat the round bar and then bend it right where I needed. Once the front edge was where I liked it all the missing sections were cut out of 3/16 plate and weld it in. There are several pieces inside boxing the crossmember, basically making a channel. It's not just the top in the front piece that you see. There's enough material there welded in that I'm pretty sure it will never fail. It is also a metric crap load of work that I don't know if I would do that part exactly the same again just because the amount of work involved.

[Cautrell05]

And one more.

[Father&son56project]

Originally Posted by Cautrell05

It is also a metric crap load of work that I don't know if I would do that part exactly the same again just because the amount of work involved.

Agreed, that was a metric crap load of work, but the end result is quite slick! But if you were faced with a similar problem in the future, you could repeat what you did in a fraction of the time, as you have already figured out how to do it (and you showed it to the rest of us so that we can do something similar). I also will spend the better part of a day staring at a problem before attacking it and sometimes I wonder if I actually spend more time staring than working, but then when I have to do it again I fly through it.

Keep posting those great pics and descriptions of how you overcome problems!

[Cautrell05]

Originally Posted by Father&son56project

I also will spend the better part of a day staring at a problem before attacking it and sometimes I wonder if I actually spend more time staring than working,

Figuring out what you need to do and then plan how to get it done is a daily thing for me. Most of the time I enjoy the challenge but it still frustrates me at how long that stage takes.

This is on a customers build at work that I'm doing. That was at least 3 days of planning and fabbing. Probably closer to 4. I definitely felt like I spent more time planning than I did actually building. 65 mustang, Ford Coyote motor, Schwartz chassis, fully loaded. I definitely enjoy my work.

[Cautrell05]

looking back through I forgot to post pictures of the running board mounts. Last summer we put a new hoist up at the shop and the main assembly came shipped on a pallet and they had some quarter inch thick L-shaped straps holding everything together with ready bolt. There's eight of them total. At the time I was looking at it thinking these have got to be useful for something so rather than chucking in the iron pile it threw them in the back of our one parts truck we have out back that's got potential metal stored in it. That's where we throw the odd and the regular stuff that might come in handy but we don't use it often enough to keep in the shop. Kind of like a junk drawer for fabricators. So when it came time to do the running board mounts originally I was going to use 1x2 1/8-in wall rectangular tubing because we got a bunch of that. And then I got to thinking about those L brackets. And they ended up being the perfect size for what I'm doing. And they were free. Which is also nice. The short leg of the bracket is wide enough that the factory quarter inch running board bolts can go through there with room for a nut and washer. Not a very big washer but enough. And then where it is bolted to the frame i used another section of the same bracket. I could have welded them but if they get bent folded or whatever I'd rather be able to take them off and fix them rather than have to cut them off and then weld them back on. I got the front two done c because they were the easy ones. I still need to get to the third one back at the front of the box. They are ridiculously solid though. I can stand on them and pretty much jump on them and I don't feel any flex at all. That's more than I can say for some of the $800 running boards that I installed on new pickups when I was at the dealership.

[joedoh]

great problem solving, i love using on-hand stuff

[Cautrell05]

Long overdue picture dump. I don't have a good excuse other than I've been lazy with updates.

I built a battery tray for it that fits behind the right rear wheel. I'm thinking instead supposed, rear weight and right side weight to offset fuel tank, steering column, driver etc still need to get a remote charging/jump start post wired in as well as a inner fender cover for it.

The bottom was cut from 3/16 plate because I got a bunch for free and then framed with 1 inch square tubing. Top of the mount uses two existing box to fender bolts and the two bottom bolts are drilled below the bed floor so there's no extra visible fasteners. Kinda bit of a pain to pull the tire in order to change the battery but it's easier than a couple I have swapped batteries on that are mounted under the cab.

Also works if I need to disconnect power the negative cable bolts to the frame forge under it. One nut, pull the cable and power is off

[Cautrell05]

Updated the front park lights on a budget. Turned out really well for not much money.

[Cautrell05]

Transmission cooler installed, lines bent, secondary fan temporarily mounted for now. Planning on pulling the front clip off this winter and painting the inner fenders and radiator support. Going to mount the AC condenser and possibly dual fans along with a new transmission cooler. Evidently this one leaks.

[Cautrell05]

Really happy with the stance.

[joedoh]

gorgeous!


a small nit. that fan wont work that far away from the rad, those ducted fans need to be smack against the rad to work well. pushers work less than pullers and pushers mounted off the surface wont work much at all. source: CFD engineer.

[oldman3]

Looks great...Jim

[Cautrell05]

Originally Posted by joedoh

gorgeous!


a small nit. that fan wont work that far away from the rad, those ducted fans need to be smack against the rad to work well. pushers work less than pullers and pushers mounted off the surface wont work much at all. source: CFD engineer.

Oh I hear ya. It did make a difference but I know it is not as effective as it would be of mounted properly. It was a band aid while I drove it around with a mechanical fan but no shroud. When I mount the condenser this winter I think I'm going to go with dual 12s instead of the single 16.

[Cautrell05]

Got the fan shroud finished a couple weeks ago. 2 part shroud with 3/16" round bar for the frame covered on 20ga. 6 blade 17" fan moves some pretty decent air.

[Cautrell05]

Originally Posted by oldman3

Looks great...Jim

Thanks

[6DoF]

that shroud is legit, well played.

[joedoh]

perfect! I love making stuff with rod (sometimes coathangers haha) , your technique is great! also your "stickout" of the fan blades shows you did your research on fans.

will you get thermo clutch for the fan?

[Cautrell05]

Originally Posted by 6DoF

that shroud is legit, well played.

Thanks. It wasn't fun that's for sure. At least it turned out good.

[Cautrell05]

Originally Posted by joedoh

perfect! I love making stuff with rod (sometimes coathangers haha) , your technique is great! also your "stickout" of the fan blades shows you did your research on fans.

will you get thermo clutch for the fan?

I did a little reading on it. At 2000 rpm It moves enough air to suck a towel against the grille and hold it there.

Haven't thought about a clutch fan. That 400 needs all the airflow it can get.

[Cautrell05]

I needed to plumb in the oil pressure sensor and also the fuel pump pressure switch but I also wanted to keep with the no visible wires trend. T fitting, some copper tube and a simple bracket later and that's the result. Even went far enough to two tone the tube so it blends in more.

[Tempest67]

now that 'two tone' wire is what I call 'Detail'

I like it


nice work,

[Cautrell05]

Originally Posted by Tempest67

now that 'two tone' wire is what I call 'Detail'

I like it


nice work,

Thank you. I get a little OCD on some of the details.

This was on a customers that I did last year.

[Cautrell05]

Anybody else see the episode of Malcolm in the middle where Hal goes to change the light bulb and ends up pulling the motor on his car? I can relate to that.
The latest big project started about three months ago it was supposed to be just upgrading the passenger door latch so it closed without slamming it and actually stayed shut. That turned into, well while the window is out for access it would be a good time to put power windows in. That turned into while the doors are empty I should order window and door seals. Now would be a good time to paint the inside of the doors. Can't get the front side very well with the hinges in the way. Easiest would be to pull the doors. Really need to do something with the inside is the cab. The original paint was covered very poorly with some tealish colored stuff that was peeling everywhere and most likely contained lead. If the doors are off anyway now would be the time to paint the inside. Before I paint the inside I need to fix the holes in the firewall. Cant really do that with the cab on. Well crap. Time to quit putting it off.
12 bolts, the hood, shift, throttle and steering linkage and gravity is all the holds the cab on. 2 hours and an overhead hoist later and I suddenly have a ton of work to do before I can drive it again lol

[Cautrell05]

For the amount of time it would take to patch all the holes in the firewall and trying to get the wrinkles out it wasn't worth it for the cost of a couple panels from LS fab. We have a sandblaster here and the plan was to do it in two stages. First step was to rough cut the firewall and blast the surrounding area and see how but much rust repair I have to do. Compared to a lot of the builds I have followed I lucked out. I knew that both kick panels were trashed. I wasn't expecting all the other holes but at least they were minor.