Well, ..... RBX and otherwise.... I am going to do some more measuring, but I don't seem to see anything that is a quarter inch off. It seems like the 16th here in a 16th there on opposite ends., but I think that's obviously negligible considering the variables of the ground. I have it back in the garage and it is by far the most level ground I can choose from, so I just have to deal with a little tighter space....

Front and rear most ground parallel portions of the frame are 25-3/4" from ground to frame... almost identical on the tape, all 4 points... The body mounts are slightly staggered in places so obviously that differs, but I will try to post up some measurements later today and check with the more professional opinions as to whether I'm doing the math right.

Again, when I went over, it was definitely harder on the passenger side, but also, I bounced off the sliders and tires, lightly touched on the roof , and what seemed like a little bit more slow motion, came down on the driver side finally. The Stinger did make contact with the ground , but I guess you could say it was a rolling motion and there wasn't really much scratching the point that it barely got through the paint except for a couple of little rocks that scratched it. I'm only throwing that out there for the purpose of thinking it out . Remember, I never touched the body mounts on my red truck and I don't believe they were ever touched all the silver 1.

Speaking to a 40 year body guy the other day and california, specializes in collision and otherwise, he said that he has done a couple bodyswap s over the years, and that if I picked it up as I say, and all of the doors and so forth are lining up, he finds it hard to believe that the front clip would droop just by gravity, and considering that it was only in the air for about 10 minutes total why we lined everything up, just doesn't see it being likely... And worse for the chances of that scenario is the fact that if anything it would be tighter upfront then the rest of the rear mounts, because the front clip would have enforce downward into the frame body mounts and would be making contact first, not last. He suspects that if anything is wrong, other than just a quarter inch here or there, that maybe either there was some long ago tweaking to the frame( which he finds odd to be identical on both front body mounts), or the silver truck was worked on and they replaced the core support and lined it up to high....

I'm just throwing it out there cuz I'm completely lost as to what is the problem at this point. Lol.

 

The silver truck was in to great a shape for me to suspect it. When you had the frame in the red truck, you found some previous damage to one of the rear quarter panels, makes me wonder if it wasn't possibly damaged before you owned it and didn't know it. Possible when you rolled Ruby, or how did you land after the jump on the calendar? I would suspect your frame.

 

Well, I landed at pismo front end first, but barely. ..And, I would think that would cause the frame body mounts on the front to be further up not down, but what the heck do I know? Lol. On the role I just really don't think so. It's barely touched the singer in the front and bounce off the sliders fairly quickly. It was more like a whip motion with the body took the brunt of the impact. Little bit on the pass. corner of the front bumper. Also, it was uneven on impact from side to side. The right side hit harder, so it seems so unlikely to be equally damaged on both sides. All the other body mounts seems to mate up down perfectly...

 

Mark if your front hit first, then your frame would theoretically be bent down. No hit is even even. I know the front mounts are smaller diameter hieght not sure. If your front on ruby moved you should have noticed hood fender gaps and fender door gaps.

 

Hmmmm, well, I meant the front tires hit first, but barely. It was not a dramatic landing. Pretty smooth. So that is what I meant by the front of the frame anything being tweaked upward. Same with if I had left the 2 front body mounts on and tried to lift the body, it would bend the core support tabs down and closer to my 87 frame than the rears. Sorry man, I hope that makes sense, another expert like yourself by any means... Just thinking about it doesn't seem logical to be bent downward, but there's a quarter inch of wacky somewhere! Lol. Probably not enough to be easy to find either, especially being even on both sides. Lol.

 

Right now I'm also breaking in gears, so I have 340mi left to tack on by the wheeling day trip to Big Bear with redeth005 /Richard. (if I want to be really anal that is. Lol. Gonna be difficult, but I'll just get tacking on whatever I can by then. It's 130mi. to the trailhead, so make that 210 miles or so by Wednesday evening. Lol)

 

Im no expert myself, I'm just trying to imagine what the truck hit in the roll over. But I bet the frame isn't tweaked if it was gentle. I'm guessing the sheet metal just isn't lining up.

 

I just pulled off of my front interior to try and do some clearancing for my triple sticks so that when I remove the body mount lift of 1 inch, it will clear... I was just about to cut and I decided no way in hell am i coming war. That's the whole purpose of having a triple stick. The transmission hump on the automatic transmission from the donor truck is definitely lower, at least by five eighths of an inch... This means but I either have to find some way to get Davez offroad kit within a century of ordering it, or modify this current kit to be swing under( which would solve everything ). .....



Just too dayummmmmm tight! ....



Where I almost cut, but stopped just seconds before starting and decided to try another route...





ALL back together, and with my seat raising kit I thought up installed... Loving having to sit up a little higher, just an inch or so..

 

Hey guys, sorry man... Been really busy. By the way, had a trip to Big Bear with a few guys and what an awesome time! I will post any more organized trips read and slap the link up here and the post...

Big Bear, John Bull, 8-14-2014 #1:
It is writing definitely more stable in my humble opinion on this trip. Much less body roll and it just seems so stable compared to the other times. I need to work on it still, but it's getting better!

 

Mark , you running stock birfs or other?

 

U going to the pismo jamboree?

 

What PSI are you running? Looks like you could drop it. A little more...

 

Dirty 30's buddy

I can't be sure yet. Dates again?

15 this time. I usually run 8-12, but I wanted to see if I could get through with 15 or so this time.

Just had to pull my exhaust manifold and I found a brand new one cheap. I lost a stud completely on the top left , the frontmost one. It literally fell out on the trail . Got it back on and that one stripped out and I had to pull everything again and do a helicoil. All new lock nuts and gasket collector gaskets and hardware down there as well. So far so good, silent!

 

Last I checked, new manifolds are at a descent price. Usually it is the bottom right stud that I find stripped all of the time. Helicoil isn't so bad if you can get a drill to it.

 

Hey buddy! Yeah, it's a solid fix, but that end gets tight..... Gotta tie off the coolant hoses and pull them either forward or backward, out the way. I used shorty bits and a 90° angle Drill... It's the one thing that really sucks about a hole that is already drilled and blind. Until you hit the bottom you're not going to ever be sure if you got it exactly straight. I know they make a drill bit guide tool for that but good luck finding it in there. I guess on the front see you it would work fairly easily, but that back two? Damn! Lol...

 

By the way, the stud that goes into the head is not y I decided to go with new on the exhaust manifold. Because I got it so cheap and because 1 stud in the blind hole at the collector on the exhaust manifold snapped off clean in there and another one started to feel really nasty towards the end... And, for a while I have had a crack just above the o2 sensor in that dimple... What the hell, I figure it's 27 years old, and I still have it if I want to mess with it again. Another thing is we milled it down quite a bit to get it flush, so I've lost a good amount of the flange which I don't like either

 

Exhaust stud repair quickygram:

 

Soft top on for another run tomorrow and Sunday. ..

 

Top looks great!!! Someday I want one. I was going thru a package you sent a while back and I found a VSV that I have been needing for my 85. I forgot about it and found it today. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. It made my day and one I have been needing. That was better then Christmas finding that. I had checked the local boneyards for it and no luck.

 

I've really got to stop by here more often, like 9 times a day, to keep up with all your goings-on Chef. Whew! Couldn't agree more about sitting up a tad higher. Kinda jealous about the triple stick ability- would love to have that! Trips look like fun too!
And good morning!