47-55.1 Long Time Coming......

[gsinon]

Originally Posted by steve aleve

Very nice work! I have been following along and I admire a lot of the work you have done.

I also notice that you and I have fabricated fairly similar roll pans and we are both using the same gas tank. If you don't mind me asking, where did you pick up the filler neck cap? That is a neat sleek way of doing it.

Thanks! I love your tail pipe treatment, but it sure looks to make the fuel tank install a little complicated. Although you seem to have it figured out.

s fr the fuel filler cap, off hand I can't remember exactly where I got it but I did save the box it came in. I will go out in my shop later today and take a picture of it for you.

[joedoh]

crazy nice fab!

[8man]

Nice work all around. I just went back a few posts, but did you post the gas cap/cover yet?

[gsinon]

Originally Posted by steve aleve

Very nice work! I have been following along and I admire a lot of the work you have done.

I also notice that you and I have fabricated fairly similar roll pans and we are both using the same gas tank. If you don't mind me asking, where did you pick up the filler neck cap? That is a neat sleek way of doing it.

Originally Posted by 8man

Nice work all around. I just went back a few posts, but did you post the gas cap/cover yet?

Ok, sorry for the delay. It took me a few days to track it down. The filler is made from a company called Cycle Standard p/n 009800. I found this one link to where it can be bought. Maybe with some digging you can find other places, maybe even cheaper. Personally for the price I think it is a bargain. It fits nice and is compact. Once body work is done and blended in and painted you will barely see it on the fender. That to me has a huge value as I didn't want a filler cap that was big and obtrusive.

Lastly, make sure whatever one you buy has a steel housing. Some like this one have an aluminum cap and a steel housing to weld to your fender, while others are all aluminum made for aluminum motorcycle tanks.

Here is the link:

https://www.lowbrowcustoms.com/produ...d-weld-in-bung

I also just found it on Ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/324971245094


And a picture of the box for reference.

[gsinon]

Originally Posted by joedoh

crazy nice fab!

Thanks for the compliment. It is appreciated!

[steve aleve]

Originally Posted by gsinon

Ok, sorry for the delay. It took me a few days to track it down. The filler is made from a company called Cycle Standard p/n 009800. I found this one link to where it can be bought. Maybe with some digging you can find other places, maybe even cheaper. Personally for the price I think it is a bargain. It fits nice and is compact. Once body work is done and blended in and painted you will barely see it on the fender. That to me has a huge value as I didn't want a filler cap that was big and obtrusive.

Lastly, make sure whatever one you buy has a steel housing. Some like this one have an aluminum cap and a steel housing to weld to your fender, while others are all aluminum made for aluminum motorcycle tanks.

Here is the link:

https://www.lowbrowcustoms.com/produ...d-weld-in-bung

I also just found it on Ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/324971245094


And a picture of the box for reference.

Thank you, I appreciate you sharing this info. It is a pretty slick solution!

[gsinon]

Very little time in the garage this weekend. However I did get just enough to pull the engine/trans out of the chassis. I separated the trans and shoved it in the corner and put the engine on a stand. Once there I dropped the Ramjet intake back on.

For a cleaner look I had the intake powder coated to match all the other accessories in a matte black. I also found someone that still had a finned topper that matches my valve covers so I had that coated as well and then used 3M panel bond to attach it to the intake. I'm waiting for new O rings for the fuel tails, then will install new fuel injectors and the rails for the final time. Like the fuel rails there will be just a touch of shiny stuff to offset all the black.

[youngrodder]

The engine looks great. Very unique. If it was me, I would paint or get some black painted/coated fuel rails. An all black motor would look very stealth.

Marc

[joedoh]

thats gorgeous! i wish the air cleaner was in the side, i am getting early gm fuelie vibes haha

[gsinon]

Originally Posted by youngrodder

The engine looks great. Very unique. If it was me, I would paint or get some black painted/coated fuel rails. An all black motor would look very stealth.

Marc

I've been thinking the same thing with the black fuel rails and such. I know it will look better, but at some point where do I draw the line? One thing seems to lead to another you know. Fuel rails, then the crossover tube, then do I disassemble the throttle body and do that as well to complete the look? $300 later......

In the end I completely agree, I just have so much more money to spend I'm not sure if I should spend it here or not.

Originally Posted by joedoh

thats gorgeous! i wish the air cleaner was in the side, i am getting early gm fuelie vibes haha

I also love those old Rochester style injection units with the side mounted efi. I think that's why I like the Ramjet is because it harkens back to a somewhat old school look.

[Rickysnickers]

That's very nice!

[gsinon]

I'm trying to finalize a few things before doing the final welding on the frame, followed by sending it for powder coat.

Yesterdays effort was to do final mock up of the E-Stopp electric emergency brake and the cables. As seen before I had made standoffs to mount the E-Stopp. With its pull cable fastened to the rear cab mount, I now needed to connect it to the Lokar brake cables. This wasn't so easy when you realize that the E-Stopp threaded rod uses an M6 metric thread, and the threaded rod from the Lokar cable connector uses a 5/16"-24 thread. So after a trip to the hardware store to seek out a solution I came up with this turnbuckle. It was thread 5/16" course so I just retapped it. On the M6 side, the rod just slid through the hole. A double nut on either side and its all locked in place. Solution found!










With that figured out I was able to pull the rear end. The next time it goes in will be the final time after powder coat of the frame.

[gsinon]

Front suspension is now removed and I have it down to the bare frame. Time for lots and lots of welding.

Here is the top side.....





And then I flipped it upside down to start welding the bottom of the rails. I was going along pretty good until I ran out of welding wire. Should have checked that previously, you never run out at a good time!






I also added a set of these to the front and rear for easy strapping down if/when I ever have to tow the truck. These will make it so easy to just reach under and hook the ratchet strap to these instead of climbing under the truck and wrapping around suspension or something.

[8man]

I like the tie down idea, may borrow that one on the next build.

Nice work.

[gsinon]

Originally Posted by 8man

I like the tie down idea, may borrow that one on the next build.

Nice work.

Thanks! I wish I had done these tie down brackets on my last build as I towed it all over the country doing many shows all over the place. So for this build even though I don't plan on showing it much, I still wanted to add these for ease of strapping down should I ever need to.

[gsinon]

Boy this part of the project sure is slow! I feel like I've been working on the frame for far too long now and can't wait to get past this stage.

There is a big part of me that just wishes I had bought a chassis back when I started this. I would be a year ahead of where I am now, and in the end I don't really think I would have saved much money either. I could have gotten a Fatman chassis for roughly $11k, I figured I could do mine for far less. But in the end between the hours invested and all the parts I really don't think I saved a dime. Oh well, no sense on looking in the rearview mirror right?!?!

In any case the boxing plates and suspension is now fully welded. I have ground the welds just enough to clean them up and smooth any edges, but I'm not going for a perfect no weld look anyway. The holes in the frame are all welded up for the most part as well. It is funny how you need to be able to rotate the frame some to reach some areas so my cherry picker came in handy this weekend for that job. Next weekend I should be complete on this part then off it goes to powder coat.

Thanks to those of you are that are following along.

[oldman3]

It's impossible to see ahead on the hours and material needed to build a good frame. You have built and great looking and strong frame, something to be proud of, and you can say I built it...Jim

[dsraven]

frames are a lot of work but you gotta have a solid foundation for the rest of the truck to sit on or you will be wishing later that you had spent more time on it. it's nice to see some levels in the pics rather than "the ole eyeball is good enough".

[gsinon]

Originally Posted by oldman3

It's impossible to see ahead on the hours and material needed to build a good frame. You have built and great looking and strong frame, something to be proud of, and you can say I built it...Jim

Deep down I know I did the right thing in doing this myself. I'm just complaining a little about the time and effort as I'm getting tired of this part. Can't wait to move past this part of the build. Only another week or two though.

Originally Posted by dsraven

frames are a lot of work but you gotta have a solid foundation for the rest of the truck to sit on or you will be wishing later that you had spent more time on it. it's nice to see some levels in the pics rather than "the ole eyeball is good enough".

I have two long levels that I use regularly to make sure things stay the way they should. Good enough is never good enough!!

[dsraven]

I also have a couple of long levels but my go to is still the digital torpedo level. lots of times that gets placed on the long level to check and/or recheck angles, especially after doing some work like removing or installing something heavy to the frame, an IFS cross member, control arm angles, etc. I don't have a frame stand but I do have some modified jack stands with some 3/4" threaded rod on the uprights. they work great to dial in a frame for level side to side or to get the rake angle needed. the top of the threaded rod has a smaller bolt welded on so it can pass through a hole in the frame and be locked down to keep things from moving.
your work looks awesome. nicely fabbed brackets and attention to detail. it all takes time to think it through with how this will affect that later on in the build.

[gsinon]

Well I have said it before, this part of the project feels like it has taken forever. But I am finally done with the frame fabrication, and today with the help of a couple friends loaded it up and dropped it off to get sandblasted and powder coated.

After I got home I got the garage cleaned up and put the cart and bed up on my scissor lift so I can play with it while the frame is getting done.

[gsinon]

Still waiting on the frame to come back from powder coat, and that has allowed me to pick away at other things. Today I got the final welding done on the rolled pan and the first coat of filler work done. This is it roughed in. One more coat should finish it then a few rounds of high build primer.

[gsinon]

Got some things done on the project. Friday I brought the Tanks Inc gas tank to work and had one of my students prep and paint it black for me.


Saturday morning I went and was able to pick up the frame and parts from powder coat. The frame is a eggshell finish while all other parts are gloss black for some contrast.



I had some house things to do, but afterwards went out and got the rear end installed after resembling the four bar brackets.



After that was in I installed the E-Stopp electric emergency brake controller and then started on the front suspension. That was all for this weekend. Next weekend I expect to have it as a full roller!

[dsraven]

quote:
Friday I brought the Tanks Inc gas tank to work and had one of my students prep and paint it black for me.

cheater cheater pumpkin eater....
nice, a lot of schools dont even have a shop anymore."academics" rule I guess.

[gsinon]

Originally Posted by dsraven

quote:
Friday I brought the Tanks Inc gas tank to work and had one of my students prep and paint it black for me.

cheater cheater pumpkin eater....
nice, a lot of schools dont even have a shop anymore."academics" rule I guess.

I teach collision and refinishing at a vocational high school. The kids here spend two weeks with us in shop, then two weeks in academics. We have two grades at a. time, so right now freshman and seniors, then when they switch we will get sophomores and juniors for the next two week block. When they are with us they are in shop all day long.