Had a couple other things pop up in life yesterday that took priority over the truck to deal with last night but I still managed to get a little bit done. Rough idea of what I'm leaning towards on the center console. I think the side plates just make it look a little more finished and will help hide the ugliness of wires and other stuff mounted on and under the console...






Everything will be bolt on and will all come apart but typically to pull the console out we'll just have to do the bolts that will be securing the sides to the floor. The fiberglass and panels will all come out as a single unit. At least it "should" the way I have it figured... LOL


Oh and once the seats are in, they'll cover where the panels end towards the center of the cab and you won't see any of that anyways...

 

Close to looking fairly legit inside again finally...

 

Center console has 6 bolts, pull those and the shifter stays but the rest all comes out attached as one solid unit with all the electronics in it. Switch panel will go between the seats behind the shifter and the whole console will be wired to just one or two master plugs. Same as the dash. Just a couple bolts and one or two main plugs and the whole thing comes out as a complete unit with everything attached.





Not sure why the siren control box looks so crooked. In person it looks square but it sure looks strange in this picture. Power points at the far back are plug ins for the on board camera system so that we don't have to worry about 90 minute battery constraints...

 

So allergies are kicking my ass today! The wind has picked up around here and the temps are great but I'm dieing also out there so I'm calling it a day unless I clear up and get a second wind. I know a lot of the pictures lately are looking very similar with only minor differences but here's some of what I got done over the weekend.

Brackets made to support the race radio in the console.



Ugliness under the console...



Painted...



Paint's still a little wet up at the very front in this picture so...



It's actually looking way too clean. I'm trying to convince Jason that we should just park this one and build mine instead and use this one for show!



Got these little blowy thingies mounted too. All the wiring still has to be done on the whole truck btw...



And a shot of my helper for the day.

 

Fresh air supply or cooler?? Looks good!!!

 

Fresh air. Hoses connect from those directly to our helmets to pump air into them. It creates an air flow thru the helmets which is nice and it keeps the dust out since there's continuous air flowing out of the helmets.

 

Not sure if this post is still going but if it is, great job man!

 

Oh yeah it is, look at the dates, it's uploaded almost daily! Granted, today's update might not be as work filled as others but...


I had to take a break from the build tonight to swap a radiator out in my daily driver. I know I know... Priorities suck sometimes but I'd blown it off for over a week at this point so it was bound to happen sooner or later.

So instead I knocked out a quick small "to do" item... Personally, out of everything on the truck so far, this possibly single handedly could've increased the value more then the blinged out shocks, big tires, long travel this, custom that... Pretty sure this just set the truck ahead of the pack! LOL

 

I agree you need to put it in gear to win the race lol

 

Didn't take any pictures last night but I got the A/C pump removed from the engine and pulled the motor mounts off it. Got those designed up and all the pieces are ready to fixture and weld up for the new motor mounts I'm going to build. Doug Thorley headers finally showed up yesterday and they're pretty badass looking also. Between the last two nights I was able to get the axle housing truss welded up as well cause I'm starting to get fairly close to moving to the rear of the truck work wise so I'd like to have that ready to simply weld the spring perches on and go for it.

It's getting closer!

Right now the plan is to put the motor in next weekend. I could do it this weekend but I'll have a friend in town for Sema next week that's staying the weekend also so it just makes sense to hold off another week to have him here for a 2nd set of hands.

 

I agree to much going on for just one set of eyes and hands

 

You know what's funny is when I did the motor swap in my pickup which I put a 3.4L in also I had the motor in and out of it probably 6 times checking clearances, figuring out the motor mounts, etc... I got really good at doing it solo so I know it's possible. But I have help available and 1 week isn't going to make or break the project so I'll just rearrange the progress timeline and work on other stuff instead this weekend.

 

I've been in a little bit of a holding pattern on major progress for various reasons this week but am still making general progress. Got this finished up over the last couple of nights. I also have been working on motor mounts. I've got a weld fixture built based off the stock ones so I can hold the bolt pattern and I have the first one tacked up. Should finish up the pair of motor mounts tonight I would think...

 

Holy crap at the brace that aught to take a direct hit from a tank!!! Lol looks goid

 

We're not messing around! LOL Put it this way, in the two previous trucks I've raced in. We've ran them hard enough to occasionally slightly knock the wind out of us in the seats and the trucks just laughed and kept going like nothing happened to them. So I'm trying to build this one the same. I want the physical abuse our bodies can handle to be the limiting factor on the truck, not the truck itself.

By the way, I measured the axle tubes on that currie housing and those alone are 5/16" wall thickness. Pull out your tape measure to get a real idea of how thick the tubes alone are on it! LOL

 

Well, got the fuel cell 100% strapped down with a real setup rather then the temp stuff we slapped on there years ago. Got the shifter cable insulated where it runs thru the floor so hopefully we don't have cut cable issues. It's something I'll be keeping an eye on for a bit though till I'm satisfied that it's safe. Also started putting the axle together so it'll be ready when the time comes to swap it under the rear here in the next couple weeks. I've gotta drop the axles themself off tomorrow to have the bearings pressed off so I can pull off the backing plates and also at the same time press out the old wheel studs and push in some new ones. Then just slap those in really quick and it's ready for me to figure out pinion angles/spring perch positions and to cut some u-bolt holes in the truss to get it in place. I also have to do some research on brakes for the rear. I had a direction in mind but after today I'm going to look into something else to see cost vs. ease factor of it. I'll show you what I'm thinking when I get there... LOL

OH!!!! And I have to say thanks to Scott at S&S Fab out of Grants Pass, Or. for hooking us up with a great deal on skidplates for both the race truck and my prerunner truck as well! These things are legit and should take some serious abuse! They're all built out of 3/8" plate and bolted right up. I actually made a tab to capture the rear of the housing just for a bit more but what he supplied is great by itself as well!!! Thanks again Scott!!!!




Either way, this axle setup is pretty damn stout and I really think the axle is going to be something we can abuse without worry!

 

Yeah u should be able to barrel roll and keep on trucking now!!!

 

Hopefully it doesn't happen but in all honesty, that's kinda part of the point! LOL Flip her over, check fluids, put her in gear and charge!




Well progress this week is pretty much slow to say the least. It's SEMA week for me so I spend my days down there and by the time I get home I'm pretty beat. I got the key mounted and got the headers installed on the motor too. I believe everything is ready to go to get the motor dropped back in place this Sat and then I can focus on getting the front end all buttoned up and move on finally once and for all. I have a few things to still button up in the cab fairly soon too but most of my effort will get moved to the rear of the truck probably in a week or two I'd guess.

Anyways, just posted up... Haven't lost the motivation... Just work is getting in the way for me this week. At least it's fun work though!

 

I would love to attwnd a sema convention one day!! They always have cool stuff evwn though bout half of it never makes it to full production

 

It's pretty crazy. I have to go every year for work which doesn't suck. It does seem like the same thing every year but it's still cool and if you've never been its pretty mind blowing. Like I tell most people. Go to your local car show and there's usually that one or two cars that is above the rest, this show is all of those cars and then about every 10-20 cars there's one that's just unreal...