Walking isn't a lost art - one must, by some means, get to the garage. ~Evan Esar

It's time for a new post, I can show everyone something I had been waiting to see for a while. I finally saw the engine between the frame rails. I got the engine cross member welded in and the trans cross member ready to bolt in. The engine wasn't kept in as we needed to do transmission work. We are gonna be rebuilding the trans, and I need to do work on the firewall and frame for the steering rack. 

 In progress on my rear fenders I completed one of them, so I also get to post a picture of the rear fender with tail light, just the way I imagined it.

Now gonna end on a completely different note and show a painting I did of Iroh. I hope everyone likes it.

"Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines." -Enzo Ferrari

I've been meaning to get on here to update my progress for a couple days now and everyday I've kept making more progress. So I'm gonna get you caught up cause I'm very excited about where I'm at now. As in my last post we were getting the upper and lower control arms on. We had some issues getting the springs in, compressing them with ready rod wasn't working. We finally bought a spring compressor, that worked using it in the same way we were doing with the ready rod. just dropping the rod through the spring hat and using only the bottom spring hook, pulling the spring up until we could get the ball joints bolted in.

With the spindles in we moved on to looking for space to install the rack and pinion steering. We eventually just cut out the whole stock cross member. I've boxed in the rest of the frame up to the front, and I'm going to weld in a inch and half or two inch metal tubing under the radiator support. The rack isn't installed yet as we have to notch out the frame for the rack to have space to reach the spindles. We also installed the brake rotors, but no calipers yet as I'm going to get them painted before installing them. 

I was really excited today as we we're starting mocking up the engine and trans for their cross members. Which means I finally got to see the Rat between the frame rails. The truck makes the 454 look small. But I think it will be a lot of fun and still can't wait to drive. We didn't get final markings for position of the cross members, but hopefully tomorrow I will. So here it is, I will leave you today with the engine and trans between the rails.

Batteries not Included, Some Assembly Required.

My suspension has finally arrived... well everything but the shocks. We had everything suspension wise as far as we could go without the components so we called speedway motors and told them to ship what they had. Got home from work and had seven boxes waiting. It was like Christmas all over. So what I have accomplished since the last blog, I boxed in the frame, and notched it for the cross-member to slid into place. I tacked it and the spring hats to the frame. That was when we had to wait.
When the components arrived we drilled out the cross-member to fit the larger lower control arm bolts. We actually ended up cutting the tacks and removing it from the frame to use a drill press to drill the holes. With the cross-member rejoined with the frame we positioned the lower control arm, the upper control arm, and the spindle. We checked the camber and removed the control arms for welding. It is not yet welded in but should be one of the nights this week.

I'm very excited with how everything is coming together. These are the two inch drop spindles, and as we have read in reviews of the mustang II suspension, apparently even without the dropped spindles it gives the truck an "in the weeds" look. I'm curious to see how low she sits. As you can see the spindle, which would be the center of the wheel, is next to the frame rail. The stock ride put the center of the wheel below the rail. Or the other way I think about it, with the frame on the jack stands it sits lower than it did on the wheels. It will be interesting to see how low she goes.

No Coal for Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone. I know I haven't posted in a while, things have been a bit slow finishing up a semester of school and the holidays. Now as I did not get coal for Christmas when I first got the truck there was an Ice Cream bucket full of coal in the cab. I'm not sure why the coal was there, perhaps the heater broke down.
Anyways for Christmas I did get a set of MSD Spark Plug wires. Then I also came across a 400 Turbo transmission to bolt up behind my 454. As it didn't come with a torque converter I placed an order for one. Also in delivery I ordered up an MSD distributor, and a flex plate for the motor. In other good news, we contacted speedway motors for an update on my suspension components. They are waiting for only the shocks and then it will ship.

This weekend I will be boxing in the frame, for the suspension cross-member. I'll have more pictures later on of that. I have the frame ready after flattening the part of the frame turned up for the stock steering box.

Low Rider Donny... Donny, Low Rider

I'm excited, I had a very nice time off during the Thanksgiving weekend. Spent time with my family, ate some good food, spent $1200, played some football... Oh well backing up to the spending $1200, I ordered the components of the front suspension this weekend. I was very happy that I was getting free shipping, and saved nearly $200. I was also amazed with the service of speedwaymotors.com. I had previously order the cross-member off their website on a Sunday morning, and had it Tuesday afternoon. When I placed the order for the components Saturday around one o'clock, by four i received a phone call explaining that some of the pieces were out of stock, and they wouldn't ship for a couple weeks. I was amazed to receive this call so quickly and even more so on a weekend. It makes me wish speedway had more parts available for my truck for me to order from them.

I spent a little time this weekend getting the frame ready for the cross-member and soon the components. Also I removed the steering column. Just a little more work before welding can be done. As I have also tried to keep up to date on the fender work I've been accomplishing while at school I have gotten one tail light nearly complete with just the rest of the fender needing to be straightened before sending off to primer. The other fender still needs more fiberglass work. It is looking just as good as I imagined it, I am happy with the results. Hopefully my next post will include pics of the components and the cross-member on the frame.

Is there anything else I can take apart?... Not much.

Iroh is pretty well stuck where she is at. I've removed the front suspension and soon the steering column will come too, to make room for the new suspension cross-member, suspension, and rack and pinion steering. I tried to put the frame all on jack stands but as my stands are too short even at the tallest height the truck would still sit higher had it been still on it's wheels. I actually couldn't put the jack stands on the frame in the back because the rear differential dropped too low, and the jack wouldn't come out from under it. So those stands got put under the rear end. I'll be preparing the frame for the cross-member, some areas need to be flattened, and it needs to be ground down to be welded.

Just as a side note as I'm thinking about it, I purchased a "Wel-bilt" Universal engine stand/rolling dolly, to hold my 454 as it waits its turn for installation. I don't want to have to become a member of the "Northern Tools and Equipment" website to write a review, but it sucks. The bolt holes were close to where they should be to bolt the motor on but they were off just far enough that we couldn't. We got the engine to mount on there but it worries me because only about half the bolts made it in. So don't waste your money you could probably build you're own better, this isn't to dis "Wel-bilt" their creeper I bought is nice but the engine dolly... no.
Anyways moving on... still slowly making progress on Iroh's fenders at school. I seem to be adding a fair amount of weight with the tail light housings but that's okay, it will just help push the rear tires into the ground. One of the front fenders saw some epoxy but a few other dents and maybe some finer sanding is in its future. Straightening, and filler work has started on the rear fenders so hopefully they too will be straightened out and see epoxy soon too.

 right rear fender, other fender saw fiber glass today but no pics yet. 

Left front fender

"What’s behind you doesn’t matter." – Enzo Ferrari

Have you ever done 40 mph in a truck with no engine, no brakes, no fenders, no windows, no seat belts, seat not bolted down, and driver door tied on? I have, and my brother joined me for it. Now my truck is in a friend of my dads, shed. So when I get around to buying the front suspension components, I'll be able to start welding it on to the truck. Once the suspension cross-member is welded in, the engine cross-member will be able to mocked up and welded in also.  

As far as progress with the fenders at school goes, the boxes made for the taillights are welded in and soon they will be getting finished up. The front fenders are being straightened by a couple of friends in my class. They are looking good and soon they should be able be shot with epoxy primer. I don't have the latest pics of the fenders on my computer yet, but here is the rear fenders after being shot with some primer before I welded them in. My brother is on the paint side and sprayed them for me.