Br3w City's Project omgwtfbbq

[jb1016]

Congrats dude! What did she pull on the dyno?

[BR3W CITY]

366 to the rear wheels, torque at 34x I can't remember.
Not bad on a cam only setup, figuring almost 20% loss through the 4l80e and 12 bolt...put the crank hp closer to the mid 4xx range.

[c.brown]

nictruck like the look of those rear wheels on there

[mcbassin]

Awesome project! I'm glad I found this one. I saw your input several times on the LSX engine area. Thought I would stop by. Man, you kicked some butt getting your truck on the road in short order.
congrats on the trophy and dyno numbers!

Question, on the flange plates your buddy fabbed for you, how did you seal them to the TBSS manifolds? Just a standard gasket? I am thinking about using LS1 manifolds on mine but don't have those flanges myself. I could make some if I had to, prefer to just find some in a salvage......we'll see.

[BR3W CITY]

Got off my ass and got something done today. Not a huge project, but I got my Wilwood D52 upgrade calipers and pads mounted up.
First I had to get the old stuff off.



The calipers were dirty but in good shape overall, and the pads had a ton of life left; they were installed a month or so before I bought the truck and have less than 4k mi on them.




I'm going to be keeping these in the garage for now, and hopefully converting the rear to disc as well. I do have some clearance issues in the rear so well see.

Now we mount up the good stuff.


They BARELY clear my aluminum 15" Mickey Thompson wheels. I had to take off the stick on internal wheel weights because they actually interfered. With the hammer on weights they clear but man its close. You can see them but just barely; looks like I need to get some bigger front wheels

[McMurphy]

Very nice build, congrats on your trophy win too!
Was a fast and fun read, thanks!!

Think I am going to go home and tear into my guage cluster tonight too.
Under frame tank install is this weekend for me !

[BR3W CITY]

Just realized that my photobucket links from that last set got moved. Here are those pics of the old front brake removal, and the new wilwoods.

[mcbassin]

I love the new calipers!

[BR3W CITY]

Finally something to update! It's been a while, with winter, health problems no job etc. But since I've had some time and a few days in the 40's (hey its WI, 40's is nice for this time of year)..I decided to get back on the horse and get some stuff done.


I found out there is a DIY media blaster that rents his 40"x24" cabinet out to hobbyists. I wanted to clean up and get rid of the worn chrome on the outside of the truck to start the new upgrades, so I started stripping her down.







I ended up pulling off the interior door handles and window cranks, both of which had worn chrome and were lame. The knobs were in good shape, and they were protected and will be used. Exterior door handles came off as well, they had cracked chrome and key scuffs, and a mix of overspray and nics from bodywork on the panels. The exterior mirrors were next, I just didn't want chrome. The rear view mirror perch was aging pot metal and was thrown in the box. I plan to do the whole grill at some point, but I did the headlight surrounds as a start. The gas cap (which I no longer use) was thrown in, again to eliminate chrome.

Aluminum oxide took off chrome, crap, paint etc all with ease. I will say its a bit harsh on some things, but the old pot metal had pits anyway, and it smoothed and textures the whole surface in a way that will compliment the satin black finish.



I hit it with 3 coats of primer/sealer to lock in the nice clean metal, then followed that with 4 nice coats of satin black. I'm going to let this cure for about 72 hours while I find a nice SATIN clear coat (hard to find). Then it will be 3-4 coats of clear.




The turn signal surround will be painted, as will the windshield wiper arms, eliminating ALL chrome and colored trim...sans the grill and bumper which will be blacked out soon.

The door cards will be getting an upgrade as well; black vinyl matching the seats.

More as well, as there was big tool purchase....but well save that for later.

[chad64chevy]

i like the painted parts, i'm going to be eliminating the chrome on my truck but i'm going to be painting the parts silver metallic!! what kind of media did you use??

[mcbassin]

Nice looking parts. What kind of media? Glass beads? My friend lives in Fon du lock. Or however you spell it. Anyway he goes ice fishing a lot. So yep 40 is warm
Posted via Mobile Device

[McMurphy]

I like where you are going with this!
Chrome is nice, but only as an accent, not as a major part of the overall look IMO.
That, and it is a real stinker to keep clean (fingerprints) when getting ready for a car show...

Cannot wait to see the total look of your rig, I anticipate this is going to be real cool.

[BR3W CITY]

Thanks guys. I used Aluminum Oxide, although the exact grit/particle size is unkown since I was using a rented facility. I would recommend staying away from glass beads on some pot-metals and soft stuff, the beads can shatter and nest in pits the in the material (even if you blow it/wipe it) and can work there way out during powdercoat or paint drying.

Like I said they still need satin clear for longevity, and I need to coat the turn signal surrounds as well...and do the larger pieces.

I couldn't grab a picture today either, but I picked up a new Hobart 210MVP welder. WOW this thing is sooo much better than my old Lincoln multi voltage. On 115 its been the single best welder I've used so far, although I haven't used it on 220 with heavy stuff yet. I was laying a few test beads on scrap and was extremely happy with the results. With a little patience, I'll have some more progress stuff up later this week.

[BR3W CITY]

Just a couple pics of the new equipment I mentioned above. Welds really nice.

[BR3W CITY]

Pulled the grill and headlight assemblies off. Since I already painted the surrounds, I needed to do the finishing on the grill itself. It'll be going to the blasters and getting the same finish as the others. You can see the chips and such.





I pulled the wiper arms and turn signal surrounds off to coat them as well. I stripped the chrome off the wiper arms and used a scotchbrite pad on the stamped portion, and for the signal surrounds.

[mcbassin]

Love the new welder. Keep hammering brother! Looking forward to seeing all the new finished parts installed.

[BR3W CITY]

A pair of my M/T center caps blasted


Then the same prime n paint




The support on the grill had been cut, so I needed to throw a bead and clean that up otherwise the grill shell flexes a bit and doesn't look right.



Not sure why but my camera doesn't like focusing on the weld itself.
More coming.
I am starting to shoot video as well, since pictures can get boring. You guys will have to tolerate my stupid ass narration, so I will do pics as well.

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by BR3W CITY

Not sure why but my camera doesn't like focusing on the weld itself.

Because you were too close to your target area and the offset from it, and the closest thing behind it. The lens and the sensor for the auto focus are not co-located, there is a bit of an offset to them as well so if you get too close, what the sensor is focusing on (especially in this case) is not what the lens is pointed at.

To adjust for this what you can do is rotate the camera clockwise or counter clockwise and press the trigger 1/2 way down until you get a point where the target area is in focus (in dimmer light situations you can see the "waffle" pattern of red light the sensor uses to measure distance to target), then you can rotate the camera back to its logical up-down orientation and finish pressing the camera trigger.

I hope this isnt too wordy....

FrizzelFry is a professional photographer, I am sure he could explain this alot better than I can.

One last thing as well.
Using a tripod or otherwise stabilizing the camera will increase photo clarity by 50% right off the top! ESPECIALLY in low light situations (like them night shots !!)

As always, love your build, hope to see pics of the whole truck again with some of this detail work you been getting done on it !!!

When is the next planned show for this rig?

[Dieselwrencher]

Great work on the reformation of your parts! It's looking great! That alumoxide material does look like it leaves a rough texture though. But it looks good with paint, so maybe it's just the flash in the pics making it look worse than it actually is.

[BR3W CITY]

Thanks McMurphy, I'll try that out in the garage today. I think I understand what your saying about the focus, my bro's got a D400 (I think) and you can manually focus that thing perfectly on welds and small stuff.

As for the next show...that really depends. I've got a ton of work to do and....I'm crossing my fingers on this one....I might get to start my Rookie season doing bottom end on an NHRA Top Fuel Funny Car.
I'll probably try to have it back on the road by late April again, with the redone floors/carpets/etc that I'm trying to start pending the weather.
If I still don't have a job, I'll probably finish the body and bed and try to get pain on it... If I find a job, then I might forgo the paint and start working on the Procharger setup.



Diesel; the texture the Aluminum Oxide leaves is a bit rough for some, but it also depends on the material you are using it on. The pot metal and thin parts get a bit rough, but it a very even texture, kinda like a cast piece would feel. If I were using a filler primer, I don't think you'd really even see the texture after a coat or two. Because I want a textured satin finish, it played right into my hands. I'm using a low build sealer primer so the texture stays somewhat. As the paint and clear builds up you lose more and more of the texture. I'm hoping to finish with an "eggshell" feel to the parts, and the satin finish...something like you might find in a kitchen more than in a car.

[MegatronBRC]

I love this thread.

[BR3W CITY]

meow


Hit up my local upholstery supply place, which as a bonus, has an EXTREMELY attractive girl working at the desk. I picked up some vinyl to match the Procar seats in the truck, for the door cards. I kinda spaced out (not atypical for me....side effect of all the...fumes) and didn't think about the fact that a yard of vinyl is 54" wide; despite the fact that said attractive girl told me so while I was determining my order. Anyway, I ordered way too much, so I'll have to do more crap, but it turned out well, so I was happy. The color is Odessa Black.

Got together the spray adhesive, door panels, cleaner, blow dryer to heat it just incase, and some cutting tools.



Lightly sanded the surface so the adhesive had some tooth to stick to. Then we layed out the panel on the vinyl, and cut our material.


With some spray adhesive on both sides (material and surface) we lay the vinyl out starting at the center.





With the front let settle for a few minutes, we flipped the piece over and started by trimming the extra off the edges, leaving more on the corners so we could V cut them to lay smooth.



A picture of one side finished. ** ALL THE SPOTS ARE ON THE LENS, THE PANEL ITSELF IS CLEAN AND SMOOTH***

[Cameron 1137]

very nice!

[Indian113]

Nice Job ! I'm really liking your truck,fantastic work and great ideas

[BR3W CITY]

Thanks gents.
Just a small update, forgot to paint the window cranks, so I took advantage of a nice day. Same process as all the stuff before, but with some better drying weather.








And a quick snap of the grill at start, and then fully cured.