I don't comment a lot but I've followed this for a long time. Great job on the truck and I enjoy all that you guys have done.

 

Thanks for the compliment! The parts Jason has provided and work I've done is really starting to show and we're less then 2 weeks from race day and actually I've got only 6 days till the truck has to be pretty much ready to go cause I won't have it in my possession for most of next week! Today I rolled into work at 7am like normal to find the parking lot empty! I was on vacation last week and I guess they decided to take today off without telling me. LOL, not the worse thing in the world and actually I thought it was kinda funny! So I took it as an unplanned truck workday although, riding the dirt bike really crossed my mind a couple times!!! I got an external transmission cooler installed and plumbed up today, got 100% of the suspension and drivetrain bolts loctited and torqued and also got the breaker bar for the lug nuts mounted as well as got some 250amp fail safe fuses about a foot off the positive terminals of each battery wired up. Tomorrow if the hardware stores are open I'm hoping to get those fuses actually bolted down, mount the rear bedsides and get the tail lights mounted up in the morning. Then hoping to spend the afternoon fixing that nasty drivers side front gap between the hood and the grill.

Over the last couple days with some help we were able to get a stalling issue we were having figured out. I also got all the wiring in the cab finalized and all tied up and secured. While my parents were here for Xmas I got my Dad to wire up a harness to go from the intercom to the incar camera system so it'll hopefully record audio of what's being said or whatever inside the cab along with radio coms. I got the remaining door bars welded in place and got the a-pillar vertical tubes fabbed up. I'm waiting on some clamps to button those up though and then I can get the interior back in the truck 100%. I'm REALLY hoping to see those clamps on the door step wed afternoon when I get home from work! Ummmmm, whatelse... Oh... Got rid off all the temporary zip ties on the rear portion of the frame that were holding battery cables and wiring harnesses and replaced them with actual cable clamps bolted to the frame rails. Oh also got the first aid kit and reflective safety triangle mounted. (mandatory to carry for racing)

Pretty much that's where I stand work wise. Hoping by the weekend to have the back bed area of the truck 100% buttoned up along with the cab itself as well. If things go well tomorrow hopefully the front clip will be lined up like it should be as well and then I can spend the weekend just buttoning up final details and I then I need to decide if I want to try and knock out a transmission crossmemeber or hold off and do it post 1st race. My only concern is the truck has to be 100% drivable by the end of day on Sunday... No exception, this is a hard deadline so I'm a little concerned with hacking out the OE transmission crossmemeber and for some unforeseen reason not being able to finish it before sunday night. That would put me against a wall that I would be seriously screwed from...

 

Why not just make a brace that bolts overthe existing cross member untill you get time to make one?

 

I'm actually not concerned about the crossmember itself other then what I want to build will gain additional ground clearance. It's more the rubber bushings in the mount itself that I'm worried about. I will say thought that the one I have in my personal play truck has held up so far and it's got way more then 250 miles of offroad abuse. Granted this truck is going to be ran way harder then mine does for 250 miles but hopefully it'll hold up. My gut feeling is it'll fine for this time around.

So I got the rear of the truck 100% buttoned up. I'm crossing my fingers that UPS shows up with some parts I need today and if so I can get the fab work inside the cab finished up and get the interior reinstalled. Then take it for a quick spin around the block to make sure everything is working in the cab and maybe test the in car camera audio stuff too. I got some trim work that was needed on the front clip done getting it lined up is now next on my to do list unless the parts show up today. If they're here then the clip will be after that...

 

Well get busy!!! Im sure the brown truck will show up ot hasn't let you down yet!

 

Well, actually I was expecting to have seen the parts last week. They supposedly shipped from Phx on the 26th and Vegas to phx is only a 5 hour drive so here I am exactly a week later still wondering where the parts are...

 

Oh.... well in that case they could be on the east coast id be calling me some 1800 numbers

 

Working on it... I'm sure the holidays haven't helped.

 

No joke!! Well im sure you will get it all done no matter when they come in

 

The catch is I actually have a hard deadline of this sunday. If it's not done and on the truck by the time I go to bed sunday night my only other chance to get it on the truck will be thursday night and I'm sure that's already going to be hectic as is...

 

I dont yhink you mentioned but why is tge truck going to be out of your possession next week?? Tech inspection?

 

Tracking shows part is on my door step which means there's a really good chance the interior will be back in the truck and buttoned up tonight!

It's gotta go get sexy before race day and I'm not that good at putting makeup on.

 

Lol yay!!! I fiqured thats what it was for but i wasnt sure :p also is it getting wrapped or painted??

 

I shall label last night "2 steps forward, 1 step back". LOL hopefully tonight results in all steps forward again!

 

Uh oh what happened? ??

 

Just some lame stuff. Fabbed up the last of the cab cage. Got the dash in, tested, everything works. Plugged in the center console, all works, bolted in the center console, seats, harnesses and bolted in the remainder of the cage work and took it for a spin. Half the stuff on the center console now doesn't work. Check fuses and I've got one that blows instantly so obviously I've got a shorted wire. Guessing I pinched it while bolting in the console. Crappy part is to get the console out I get to unbolt the cage, pull the harnesses, unbolt the seats and then yank it out. Hopefully it's something obvious so I can just cut and solder it up and slap it all back in. Frustrated cause the interior should've been 100% race ready and done last night but now I've got a couple more hours of work to do cause of probably a single bad wire that I got hooked on something during the install last night most likely.

 

Awesome build man. Been following the whole build.. Great work and thanks for sharing along the way. Best of luck in the season..

 

^^^^ Thanks!


I could use another week of time and then I'd have the truck on the starting line knowing it was the best I was able to do but I fell just a tiny bit short on time. Oh well, it is what it is and it's the best it's gonna be at this point.

 

Man that looks great to me!!! Good job!!! :thumbsup:

 

sirhk100 is that a ford exploder I see in that first pic??