Visit our community sponsor
So got all the panels done and ready for paint. Took the body off and have a bit more priming and blocking to do there. Was waiting to take body off to do the trans tunnel. Went with 4L60E which is a little wide. Causing me to have to basically build tunnel from scratch Not happy. Got the roll bar sleeved and ready to tig. Took my wheels back to powder coat shop. He ordered the wrong color and redoing for free Sorry bout the sideways picture
wheels 1.jpg1-2-2020 3.jpg1-2-2020 2.jpg1-2-2020 1.jpg
Got the trans tunnel mostly done. Formed everything with 24 gauge aluminum and glassed to the front tunnel sides. Just need to trim and do a few mods up against the firewall and cut and glass the top panel from the FFR piece.
1-4-2020 1.jpg1-4-2020 2.jpg1-4-2020 3.jpg
Here's a couple pictures with seat in place. Fits nice but I'm thinking more and more about putting in some buckets and building a center console.
1-4-2020 4.jpg1-4-2020 5.jpg
Bruce, truck is looking great. Walk me through your tunnel glass work. Is the blue tape just to keep resin from drilling through? Was trying to see if it is glassed in or is there release agent on the flanges so it can be removed.
Thanks
Thanks! Tape acting as release agent clears it all up for me.
Bruce, I did something similar, but my tranny was not a wide as yours. Had to narrow tranny tunnel to get under seat tunnel.
Keep up the good work.
Ralph
Got the tunnel all completed and trimmed. Got the Lokar Cable shifter mounted and all the brackets in place. What a pain Anyone put one of these in? I'm having a heck of a time trying to get it to go through all four gears plus park, reverse, neutral.
1-6-2020 1.jpg1-6-2020 2.jpg
New shifter Third one Last week I put in the Lokar floor mount cable operated shifter that Lokar recommended for FFR hot rod and truck. It sucked. With all the chassis tubes on this kit I couldn't get a clean shot with the cable and had sharp bends. Would not shift smooth and couldn't get all gears. Went back to Summit and traded for the case mount shifter (cheaper) with solid rod. It fits perfect and operates smooth as silk. Went with the 8" shifter with one bend and it puts it well clear of the dash and just right arms length for me. And this thing is supper adjustable front to back to fit anyone. I really like it. Third times a charm Just need to clean up holes and trans tunnel. Do all the final attachments and put in the heat/sound mat. Been working on foaming the inside of cab for headliner and interior. I'll have some pictures when I get further along. Been a time consuming process.
1-16-2020 1.jpg1-16-2020 2.jpg
Bruce, I used rod type shifter also, but on an AOD.
I did have to put a little bump in the tranny cover where it attaches to the tranny lever to eliminate rubbing.
Ralph
Finally got my TCI EZ TCU trans control and Remote TPS. Stayed out in the shop till like 3AM to get everything wired up. Man I got a bunch of wires to try to figure out what to do with Got up early and cruised around the back pasture for about an hour to get the sniper to learn a little. After that took it out on road for quick test. This thing is a friggin beast! lights em up in three gears (4L60E auto) and that's in econ mode. Don't have the performance mode wired up yet. Drove down the street to HS parking lot and did laps for awhile to get the sniper to learn a little more. No more problems and runs great. I was pleasantly surprised in the ride and handling of this thing. Cant wait to start painting and get it back together and get on the road!
PS: I did short out the battery cable on the starter about a mile down the road and had to walk back for some tools
Good deal on the test drive! You are closer!
Ben,
First drive a couple of days ago. We need to get these finished and meet up at a show.
Zach
Made some progress today. literally spent all frigging day laying out, trimming, connectorizing, soldering, tie wrapping, et et, all the wires from all the electrical stuff! looks like I'm going to build a center console so I can put all the relays and fuses in one accessible location under a panel. Once I got that all done I finalized all my grommets and heat/sound proofing. Started the carpet but just got worn out. (and a few beers). Plus I figured out that I just plain suck at installing carpet! Hope it doesn't come out to crappy But man I'm getting excited about coming to a conclusion with this thing! Few more little things and final paint when it warms up a little. Thinking about end of March and I'm on the road!
2-9-2020 1.jpg2-9-2020 2.jpg
Haven't made much progress . Been jacking with wiring for like two weeks! I decided to go with some Dakota Digital gauges. Not digital but like them much better than the supplied. They have some that just fit in the oval on the dash. Been a learning experience getting everything hooked up and working and synchronized but I love them. But of course while routing out the hole my router bearing came lose and hacked up the dash so had to glass back together Have to paint again The wiring in back came out much cleaner! Got all the EFI/Trans Control/Gauge wires going to the back cleaned up and started mocking up center console to bury everything under. Ive had a bunch of issues with the Sniper EFI but think Ive narrowed it down to the relay's on the fuse panel and EFI harness. So adds to my obsession with having all the fuses and relays easily accessible. Ended up having to move the battery back to the bed cause didn't want to hassle with making the seat able to tilt forward to get to it. Think I'll build a short bed box that matches the bed wood I went with to house the battery and get a little storage space for fishing trips
2-15-2020 1.jpg2-15-2020 3.jpg
I used a different Dakota Digital cluster and I love it too. I put it in front of steering wheel.
20191217_151251.jpg
Did you use the Dakota Digital gear selector sending unit? If so did you use the neutral safety relay for your safety switch? I'm concerned about going through that relay with the size awg they supplied with it. The wire you need to cut to wire the relay inline is a 10awg and the relay wires look to be 14awg or 16awg. Any issues with that?
Unfortunately can't answer that - I'm running a T-56 Magnum manual transmission so did not need that. For neutral safety switch I just used the switch at the clutch pedal and its wired between the key and starter as shown in the FFR schematic.
I did use an aftermarket device to control reverse relay and speedo output (also does backup lights): https://shop.bowlertransmissions.com...in-one-harness
Got a little more done on the console. This turned out to be pretty challenging. Ive gained a whole new respect for what Herb did in his 35! Got all the safety switches hooked up and all the dim functions working on the gauges. Should be done with all the wiring with exception of some illuminated panels I ordered for the console switches. Man am I glad! That was a pretty trying experience for me
2-18-20 2.jpg2-18-20 3.jpg2-18-20 4.jpg
i got the console pretty much complete. Cant cover the center panels till I get all my switch plates in. Hopefully Monday. I'm supper happy with how it came out. There are a few things I cobbled up in the learning process but will give me something to do down the road on a rainy day I found some suede that matches the orange paint I'm using perfectly so will cover the center plates with that to kind of break up all the black inside. Interior just about done! I need to put the cab on this weekend and bolt up the dash to make sure i got all the curves and height correct on the console. Cant wait to get the panels to see how they look. Ordered a bunch of backlit panels in red to match the gauges. Got a new panel for the heat/fan/ac as well to match. Should look pretty cool
2-20-2020 1.jpg2-20-2020 2.jpg2-20-2020 4.jpg
So got most of the interior done. Still waiting on the backlit switch panels for the trans control. They will go under the arm rest on the console. Should be here tomorrow. Have to redo the dash sense I cobbled it up routing the opening for the gauges. Kept having problems with the fuel pump connector so ended up soldiering wires to the posts and putting weather pack connector on the wires. Got the heat and ac panel installed. been driving around the back pasture and serious rattle on the bed. Took off and covered all the braces with 1/16" rubber tape and totally fixed that problem. Ordered paint today and supposed to start warming up in the coming weeks so excited to start getting color on everything. I cant wait!
2-29-2020 1.jpg2-29-2020 2.jpg2-29-2020 3.jpg
Console is sweet.
Will you paint with cab on, or remove? That is always an interesting question.
Looking good.
Ralph
Console turned out good!
Thanks. Got the trans control switches yesterday so been hooking them up. Can shift to performance, econ, manual shift and lockup. Can up shift and downshift with the horizontal rocker switch when in manual mode.
3-2-2020 1.jpg
Allsome job!!!
Your build will be a tuff act to follow!!!
Started paint today. Got a new HVLP gun so figured Id practice on the bed portion that is all orange to get a feel for it. Will paint the inside stainless black satin and got some pretty cool orange colored Tineo wood veneer to build the bed floor with. I'll work on that on rainy days. Gonna try my hand at doing some lettering on the tailgate tomorrow if the base coat comes out OK. That will be a new experience Excited to start getting some color on after all the body work!
3-6-2020 1.jpgTineo Wood.jpgTineo Wood 2.jpg
Got clear on the side panels and roll pan. Came out OK but I still have some learning to do on getting Urethane to lay down without runs Will be a bit of wet sanding to do before polishing. I did the lettering three different times trying some shading with airbrush but I'm no Joe martin and couldn't get it to look professional so went back to basic black. I'll get clear on it tomorrow after I do some touch up on a couple edges. Should look good though. The white will match the pin stripe I'm going to put between the black top and orange bottom. These panels are pretty challanging due to all the angles and moldings on them. Really hard to get a consistent flow.
3-8-2020 2.jpg3-8-2020 1.jpg
So ran into a bunch of problems with paint reaction Have The Coating Store techs trying to figure it out. When applying a dust coat on panels prior to clear coating had a bunch of issues with wrinkling and bubbling down to the sealer Used all the same brand paints and followed all tech sheets. They are at a loss. Needless to say I'm going to have to strip down to sealer and start over again. Always something. To add to it my trans is making hell of a noise in overdrive. As soon as I pull back to drive it completely goes away. talked to Monster and they say the forward piston is cracked or leaking and causing clutches to engage? So now have to pull trans and engine and ship back to Monster. (at my cost of $485.00 and they pay only 80% parts) As you know that involves disassembling the entire radiator/grill assembly and messing with all the adjustments that affect the hood/cowl alignment that I spent endless hours aligning. Supper heavy sigh.....Think I'm gonna take a couple weeks off and gust go check out the Good Guys Car Show at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend and drink a few (to many) beers.
3-10-2020 1.jpg3-10-2020 2.jpg3-10-2020 3.jpg
What brand paint products you using?
I would take a couple of weeks off also.
Ralph