Barn raising

[Mike Bradbury]

This;

[C0UCH]

Took my lady to Disneyland last night and remembered one of the cars in carsland has painted tires... They looked really good, even from just a few feet away.



I'm going to order a set of Diamondbacks soon, just need to figure out the offset of my wheels.

[Mike Bradbury]

If you are going to do the same thing as mine then I would order some sheet rubber so you can cut out the stencil. It makes it come out so much better that any other material because you can stick it to the tire really well with spray addhesive and pull it off when done and it is still good for touch ups. I have had to re coat mine several times because of rubbing the curb or it starting to turn yellow. After a couple of coats it doean't turn colors anymore.
I had mine laser cut at a sign shop and they came out perfect.

[mcbassin]

anything new Mike?

[Mike Bradbury]

Funny you should ask, I went out to my truck last month and there was a big puddle of power steering fluid under the rack, Ugg just what I need. Thinking about it further I was really leaning toward just going with a porter built front end. Reason being that I have lousy turning radius with my mustang rack and I do not really feel like fixing a rack I am not happy with. The rest of the suspension system would just be because I want one.
Question for you guys still reading this thread who have or have considered a drop member; Does it lift the engine in the engine compartment? Does it push it back or foreword? Can I get one that works with my drop spindles with out putting me on the ground? I am going to run Bilstein coil overs not bags.

[skorpioskorpio]

This is a mockup of how mine should sit with a Porterbuilt mild drop cross member and CPP modular drop spindles with 28.5" tall tires:

I will say though I opted to not use their Mustang rack which is a generic replacement rack and instead went with a Flaming River rack. Night and day difference, the rack Porterbuilt sent me that I sent back:

..and the Flaming River rack:

I bought the quick ratio version which is about half a turn less lock to lock, off the top of my head I think it was something like 2.98 turns for the standard Mustang ratio and 2.27 lock to lock for the quick ratio.

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by Mike Bradbury

Funny you should ask, I went out to my truck last month and there was a big puddle of power steering fluid under the rack, Ugg just what I need. Thinking about it further I was really leaning toward just going with a porter built front end. Reason being that I have lousy turning radius with my mustang rack and I do not really feel like fixing a rack I am not happy with. The rest of the suspension system would just be because I want one.
Question for you guys still reading this thread who have or have considered a drop member; Does it lift the engine in the engine compartment? Does it push it back or foreword? Can I get one that works with my drop spindles with out putting me on the ground? I am going to run Bilstein coil overs not bags.

Good to see you still lurking around here. I love your truck. I hope to mimmick it some day with a project in the back of my head. I wish I could help you with the suspension but I don't have a clue...

[jlaird]

The Goodyear letters look killer!

[Mike Bradbury]

Thanks guys, I really like the stance of the truck and do not want it lower with the addition of a drop member and I also want the engine to be accessible.I have seen drop member installs where the distributor sits so close to the firewall that it cannot be removed with out unbolting the engine and sliding it forward. But then I have seen others that have been just fine. I just want to get the right one.

[aggie91]

Call Nate at PBFab, he can answer all your concerns.

[Mike Bradbury]

Here is an update as to what I have been doing the last several days to try to fix the power steering. Turns out it was a failed banjo fitting that just started leaking. Figuring that was an easy fix and no need to scrap the entire rack because of a bad fitting I decided that it was best to fix the reason why it failed. My original bracket that I made for the P.S. pump put it right in front of the pinion shaft on the steering rack. Everything was really close and it mad it extremely difficult to tighten or even adjust.
Using the old bracket, which was a mod of the OEM bracket I lengthened and lifted the bracket so all fittings are now able to be maintenanced. I also had to modify the alternator bracket that I fabricated last year. I wanted to maintain the custom look while adding the ease of adjustment for the P.S. pump.

Here is the original mod, you can see how close the back of the pump is to the steering shaft U-Joint.


You can see the pump sits low compared to the alt. and the pumps adjustment bracket is attached to the header.


Here is the modified alt. bracket in mock up stage with the new P.S. pump bracket now attached.


The new lower P.S. pump bracket made from the OEM bracket


And here they are all powder coated



And in place. I still have not fired it up because I am still waiting on the new offset pulley but the whole mod cost a total of $40. The back of the pump is now up and away from the steering shaft by a good two inches.Sorry the image is not any better but it works a lot better.

[Mike Bradbury]

The new pulley came in today it fits great. Aligns the belts perfectly and now it incorporates the water pump with the power steering pump. Before the only belt was the alt belt and at high revs the belt would squeal.

[Palf70Step]

Nice job on the bracket mods!

[hgs_notes]

Looks great, Doesn't fix your turn radius issue but maybe you can modify the spindles where the tie rods attach to tighten that up a smidge.

[Mike Bradbury]

Yeah I figured that I should save money and fix it myself. This last month has required more money on other areas on my life, so I did not do the full Porter mod. Maybe some day.

[hdff]

ok so i have just sat here and read 19 pages on this thread and all i can say is WOW!! excellent job and how in the hell do you do all of that stuff? i love the side pipes on that long bed. what kind of pipe did you use to make the part that comes out from under the fender. the whole truck is great!

[mcbassin]

What's going on Mike? Anything new to report on the truck?

[Mike Bradbury]

HDFF, thanks for the kind words. I used the original ram horn headers so they are short. I had to weld a reducer onto a 3' mandrel bent 90 so it would match up to the 2" exhaust pipe. I also had to weld on an extension to one of the 90's so it would fit. After that I had the whole thing triple chromed so it looked like it belonged. I probably spent more on it that I should have but it was worth it in the end.

[Mike Bradbury]

Mike, Nothing new recently, just driving it weekly.

[Mike Bradbury]

Ok for those still tuning in i have got some great news! A page back or so I was nervous that my engine was starting to eat the cam again and I was feeling bummed that I spent a whole bunch of money on the rebuild only to have it fail after 3000 miles. What started my concern was the strange coughing it would do at various times i thought the rockers were starting to get loose again. I checked the timing and it was pretty far off at 10* BTDC, so I set it at 30* total timing at 3000 rpm and it improved it in instantly. I drove it to the Brother's show and got 15 MPG so I thought I was out of the woods. Then last week it really started running rough and that familiar grey cloud started forming in the recesses of my mind. This weekend I figured I would start with an oil change, just to see what the mag plug had scoured from the oil pan. If it was covered in metal shavings like last time I would just stop right there and make plans to replace the engine writing it off as a failed build. It had been 3000 miles since the last change so I thought now was as good a time as any. My fears were resolved the moment I pulled the mag plug, it was almost clean. It had some sludge on it, but mostly clean and the oil look like it could go another 2000 miles. Turns out that the rough ride and popping and sputtering last week was just caused by #5 spark plug wire had popped off and I was running on 7 cylinders. Fixed that and I am running like a champ again. But the main thing is aI have a clear conscience on the engine rebuild. I was all set to photograph the issues with debris on my mag plug but it turned to that there was nothing to document so I didn't bother wiping my hands off to grab my phone. Turns out the shavings from the first oil change after the rebuild were from the break-in, rings seating and moving parts finding their normal. All is well with Tommy Boy.

[Palf70Step]

Glad you got good news. Drive on brother!

[mcbassin]

Glad to read it was just a plug wire. It's always good when it's something simple.

[NewType72]

So glad to hear Tommy Boy is living life strong and healthy with a few jokes to keep it lively around there we had the same with one of our plugs popping off on the 73 after she ran so well for the first month. They certainly like to give us heart attacks don't they?

[Possmguts]

Great job you've done here. I especially like the tires and the work you put into doing them. I did a google search on side pipes and ended up on your build.
Not sure if you're still around or not but just wanted to say how much I like the look you have gone with.
I have seen some of the big letter NASCAR style tires in yellow lettering I had thought about doing, but after seeing what you did, I may rethink it.

Not so sure about the side pipes now though. Not knocking what you have at all, it looks great on Your truck, but I'm just not so sure on doing them on the look I'm going for.

You have done a great job on this truck. Its always nice for me to see them done without the bags.

I went 5 inches in back and I don't know if I will actually HAVE to do a notch or not yet.. I've heard yes I will and No I wont have to... Like you I don't plan on hauling anything, so we'll see I guess.

[Mike Bradbury]

I actually Just hauled my 1000# lathe home last month and it rode well with no bottoming out.
I have 300# springs on the coil overs.
I ended up with a 6/4 drop and I did a small notch and it has been plenty of space.