Project: Tow-Rat (Lil' Blue)

[6DoF]

another great weekend with the '55! put on a solid 1500 uneventful miles. drove to IOLA, WI for the huge car show/swap meet (4x4 Fun was the main lot theme). took us 2 days on hustle, and 42,000 steps to see most of it.

truck did great other than the wind noise at 70mph and no AC. hauled everything over and all the extra junk home. windows down in the rain and NOTHING comes in! nothing in the window that is, the kick panels leak a lot on your ankles

Emily Reeves from Flying Sparks garage stopped to talk to us for a while about the truck, take pics of it, and generally BS. that was cool. lots of good chatting with ppl for the little amount of time we actually were at it.

Both of the guys i let drive it seamed surprised at how well it drove :facepalm: no faith

i ended up buying 1 complete dodge P7100 and 2 partial industrial p7100 for $400, 6 shifter cart slicks for $10 and some wheels at another booth to build a cooler buggy to drive around next year. i bought an old outboard to display in the house for $20 and Kev (broken foot and his $35 scooter he painted and stickered) got stuck hauling it. he wasn't amused

The Iola Car Show is a large event, spanning 325 acres. It features 4,000 swap spaces, 2,500 show cars, and hundreds of for sale vehicles. The event attracts over 120,000 attendees, making it a significant gathering for car enthusiasts.

[6DoF]

ENDLESS cool rides there of every sort, it was great that they grouped things too. 'pre war', 4x4, modified, etc, etc.

the coolest ice cream truck drove all over the acers of show the whole weekend selling what i can only imagine was a TON.

VGG was there again doing an on-site build.

i ALMOST bought a shock absorber to put on a display shelf ... but not 2 for $50

[6DoF]

i tell ya what though ... the wind noise was god-awful. The road noise wasn't far behind.

from what i can tell from researching, i need to confirm the door seal is actually pressing all the way around, and possibly adjust the door so the front edge is flush or sub-flush of the frame/fender. rear of door should be flush or proud.

as i'm typing this, i need to add some form of sound control to the kick panel. that's probably a major source of the road noise and my least protected.

[nvrdone]

I just did the inside of the cab on my '49 AD. Epoxy sealed the floor. Used a/c heater duct insulation from Home Depot - same as kills. Then foam carpet insulation, then carpet. Did floor all the way up to the cowl, headliner and under the door panels and kick panels. Also replaced the door seals because I had put them in backwards. The long edge goes to the top / outside on the door Now its quiet enough that my wife enjoys riding in the truck. Lots of work but worth it.

[6DoF]

i saw a thread on door seal orientation ... i need to check that.

my doghouse and tunnel make carpet hard, but i'm really thinking i'll buy the molded set and just cut those areas out.

[youngrodder]

The best part is driving them. Wind noise, leaks and all!!. Well done racking up the miles.

Marc

[Vomit]

This is KILLER!

[6DoF]

after like 8hours on the road, Colin put his BOSE noise canceling headphones on with nothing playing for the last 2h. canceled the wind noise and amplified my voice for him. he started talking softer and then i couldn't hear him. thinking i need to look into some workshop noise canceling buds or something for myself.

[6DoF]

the one mirror i had would always move with wind over like 50mph. finally tried the little screws on the back and they weren't seized, and tightened it up perfectly. wish i had just tried that last year.

getting ready for towing more and i REALLY needed better mirrors. i have some west coast mirrors from when i first started this project and i keep holding them up and just keep hating them ... i can't do it. at least this style, there's no way i'm drilling holes in my doors for these.

i've had these clamp on fender mirrors, but they were never good either. they always wanted to fall off, always wanted to scratch the paint more, etc. i sat down last night and got things dialed out finally. they are now SOLID on there, and i can see out of both of them. now to find out if i can see around the airstream

[6DoF]

oh man, did over 3500 miles in the last few weeks and they went flawless! a lot of them even towing.

Iola, WI for the car cruise with some friends
Alexandria Bay, NY with my dad's whole side of the family for vacation
York, PA with the wife for the international airstream rally

drove great, rode nice, just loud n hot. wife wore noise canceling headphones the whole ride and after 7 hours towing the floor got pretty hot. i think there's a lot i can do to make both head and temp better, so time to get after that!

[Jason 56]

And I thought I was doing good with just over 3000 miles total. Driver the wheels off her. That’s why we build them! Looks great pulling the airstream

[loudchevy]

Sick build dude Just went through the entire build. Nice fab work.

[6DoF]

thanks guys! i'm enjoying the crap out of it.

i'm torn between going after better data logging and technical updates vs creature comfort upgrades next. to keep the wife road tripping with me, i should probably do the comfort haha

[Rickysnickers]

Creature comfort for the mrs. gets my vote.

[6DoF]

the floor really has zero heat issue from the exhaust most any cruising or driving around. but after 6hours of towin, she got too toasty. thinking to really do this right, i should do a heat shield under the floor, then carpet inside with the extra sound control mass. the carpet will have to be trimmed around my giant tunnel and engine dog house though.

the trans tunnel and engine dog house only need a little heat control, but sound control on them would go a long way. i have had really good luck with recording studio acoustic blankets at work on the manufacturing floor. i'm thinking i might see if the wife could cut one up and stitch on a nice edge welting to fit over/around them.

then it's wind and tire noise ... the doors probably need adjusted in at the top to tighten up the seals. the kick panels are however a big one. maybe foam in the void at the door hinges to help sounds and rain from coming up in. pretty sure i'll need a whole trim panel over everything but the vent hole. plus some sound control on the inside of the door itself ... i should have done that while it was all apart and on the bench :facepalm:

[6DoF]

got to looking last night and the drivers door is hanging way out a the top, seal isn't anywhere close. but everything kind of lines up well otherwise, where it lines up at the cowl is basically in as far as it can go ... i think I'm going to have to bend the window frame to get a better seal.

[6DoF]

**** Heads Up Warning! ****

To anyone with Hagerty insurance, heads up that you are probably not covered at all if towing anything!

*************************

so yeah, luckily nothing happened. BUT, got a rude awakening when i went to renew my insurance for the year. they tried to sell me on their towing coverage and talked about even if the classic is on a trailer it covers that trailer. well what about the tow vehicle? what if that tow vehicle is the classic and the tow'd is not, is the trailer still covered?

long story short, i switched my 93 Dodge W250 to Hagerty for the agreed value at a higher cost cuz they specifically told me i was fine to tow whatever. well my policy got re-written for a new setup so i could add the vintage airstream to Hagerty with an agreed value. saved me money but maybe that's when it changed? all those miles with the 55 towing last season, and the last 2 years with the 93 and my race trailer ... zero coverage!

i actually asked them specifically ... the '55 you cover, if i tow the 1970 airstream that you also cover, to a vintage airstream rally/parade (literally the most on-brand activity possible for Hagerty), am i covered? the answer was unequivocally NO from like 6 different people.

next day i got a call from someone else at Hagerty talking about my prior discussion. apparently someone escalated it and the underwriter agreed that could/should be covered. 'the 55 can tow the airstream' was specifically added to my policy. however, i asked for this in writing since so many different people told me it wasn't possible before, and i have yet to be able to get that.

[71'tahoe]

Originally Posted by 6DoF

**** Heads Up Warning! ****

To anyone with Hagerty insurance, heads up that you are probably not covered at all if towing anything!

*************************

so yeah, luckily nothing happened. BUT, got a rude awakening when i went to renew my insurance for the year. they tried to sell me on their towing coverage and talked about even if the classic is on a trailer it covers that trailer. well what about the tow vehicle? what if that tow vehicle is the classic and the tow'd is not, is the trailer still covered?

long story short, i switched my 93 Dodge W250 to Hagerty for the agreed value at a higher cost cuz they specifically told me i was fine to tow whatever. well my policy got re-written for a new setup so i could add the vintage airstream to Hagerty with an agreed value. saved me money but maybe that's when it changed? all those miles with the 55 towing last season, and the last 2 years with the 93 and my race trailer ... zero coverage!

i actually asked them specifically ... the '55 you cover, if i tow the 1970 airstream that you also cover, to a vintage airstream rally/parade (literally the most on-brand activity possible for Hagerty), am i covered? the answer was unequivocally NO from like 6 different people.

next day i got a call from someone else at Hagerty talking about my prior discussion. apparently someone escalated it and the underwriter agreed that could/should be covered. 'the 55 can tow the airstream' was specifically added to my policy. however, i asked for this in writing since so many different people told me it wasn't possible before, and i have yet to be able to get that.

That's crazy. I had to run regular insurance on my 67' C/20 because I use it for farm use and towing/hauling hay and other various trailers. I may have to talk to my agent to make sure even my regular insurance is covered and get it in writing since I was only told I was covered verbally on the phone.

[6DoF]

Originally Posted by 71'tahoe

That's crazy. I had to run regular insurance on my 67' C/20 because I use it for farm use and towing/hauling hay and other various trailers. I may have to talk to my agent to make sure even my regular insurance is covered and get it in writing since I was only told I was covered verbally on the phone.

i wouldn't be too worried about 'regular' insurance, that's kind of a basic use case. i switched the 93 Dodge back to Erie Insurance with the house and wife's Grand Cherokee. no agreed value so it might be a fight if they try and include gas versions in the value estimate, but at least there's coverage.

[6DoF]

jumped onto the '55 to try and get some things buttoned up for spring. first time on the lift in the new shop! just putting in on there and running it up a few inches so the hood clears my head is so nice.

but what an absolute mess from only 5500 miles with a 12v :james:

the OneGauge guys set me up with some wrong sensors to start with, the intake temp sensors were just basic coolant style probes and reading the intake metal more than the air. so swapping 3 of those out for actual intake air sensors. of course that requires a system flash and re-wiring them, along with drill n tap all those ports from 1/8" npt to M16.

the CAN signal from the OneGauge needs tied into the dakota digital dash so i can hopefully monitor EGT, fuel PSI, and boost in the dash all the time. will be super helpful to not have to have my phone on for that all the time. i also need to set up some alarms in the TORQUE app (or hopefully the dash) in case i'm watching maps when something happens.

in parallel i'm getting the charge cooler water temp sensors set up better too. adding an extended T fitting so they are no longer in the flow path blocking half the hose area is a big one. then adding a ground wire directly to them will hopefully make for some real readings. one wire sensors with no ground but the water in the lines get funny.

finally i want to swap the factory back glass in place of the slider. in this truck i found the slider really offers no added air, while it blocks a lot of my rear view. might just be a tall person issue, but i need every last bit of rear glass height to see and the slider frame takes too much.

[Jason 56]

Nothing like a little spring maintenance for the upcoming season. I just ordered exhaust cutouts for mine.

[6DoF]

some good news and some bad news on the gauges, but still moving forward. got all the sensor locations re-drilled and updated with the new sensors and wiring all cleaned up. stuff i don't mind doing, but stuff that takes WAY longer than ya always expect. the bad news is things aren't yet working 100% with the OneGauge, but they are looking into the custom program they sent me. cross your fingers they find something easy. a few sensors need scaled, a few aren't reading, and the CAD data isn't being read. on the dakota digital screen, hopefully we can get the boost and fuel psi working, but also A/F reading as my EGT. so like 12.8 would be 1280deg.

also swapped out the rear slider glass for the factory glass. looks better, way better rear viz too. the slider is great in Hank, but really make zero difference open vs closed in the 55.