So what do you do??

 

So glad I found this thread towards the beginning of it, it has been way fun to watch the progress!!

 

My day job that pays the bills and such... I sit at a computer doing automotive design. Probably about 80% classic mustang stuff, the remaining 20% is Jeep bling cosmetic type stuff. Random mix I know... The company I work for is the biggest manufacturer of reproduction classic mustang parts in the nation. There's two of us that do design work. The owner bought a jeep though a few years back and since I'm the "offroad" guy in the company the jeep bling typically falls on my to do list.


It's been quite a bit of work solo but I figure it's basically been 5 months exactly and it's getting darn close!

 

Well, got an early start to the weekend... Motor is physically in place already. Just need to finish putting in bell housing bolts and tighten up all the motor mount bolts that are already in also. Should be a pretty quick easy job to get it buttoned up. Then get the rest of the engine compartment back together and move on to whatever is next...

 

Cool beans!!!! Well when is it burn out time!!

 

Not sure but getting closer. Motor is 100% bolted in place. Doors are back on. front clip is back on the truck. Still have a bit more to do up front but not much. A night or two's worth and it'll be buttoned up. Same with the cab, it's getting darn close too. May actually start messing with some of the rear stuff some more tomorrow even...

 

It's back...



They're back... Had to do a little customization to make them fit and allow the doors to close. Not 100% if I'm staying with it how it is or not. Will see what Jason thinks when he sees it this weekend.





Oh and this all kinda fell apart last night too... Notice it turned around though too!!!

 

Man that sounds like a cool job!!! I need to go to college, 12 hour night shift working production isnt always "fun" but it gets the bills paid!!

Man all that is looking good!! So you aught to have the rear end in by the weekend and start
working on breaks huh?

 

I'm actually hoping to have it on the ground by Wed or Thursday at the absolute latest. Still won't have rear brakes but at least back on the ground. The axle is setup to run stock FJ rotors and calipers so we need to get those ordered. I really want to have it on the ground though with the new axle for Jason to see cause he's coming into town this weekend and hasn't seen it since memorial day weekend when we pulled the interior out of the cab and I cut the inner wheel wells out of the truck. I'd like to have it on the ground for him to see just for impact reasons alone you know...

Last night I got one of the spring perches shaped and ready to weld on the axle. I'll do the other one tonight and get those one. I'm also hoping to get the truss trimmed to allow the ubolts to slide thru tonight also. After that I'll start working on boxing in the rear frame.

Once the rear is in and frame is boxed, the brakes should just be a direct bolt in and bleed type situation so those will be quick once we get them. I still have to do rear shocks mounts and then hang the bedsides and the rear is then pretty much done. All the wiring still needs to be finished up. I need to talk to my uncle and see if he can make time to finish that up next weekend as I'm getting close. The front end, I still have a few engine cage tubes to knock out, mount the resi's for the shocks and tie up all the wiring and clean it all up in general. Top off fluids and then start it's tow tour... It needs a driveshaft, exhaust and an alignment. Might have the trans flushed too at a shop just cause that's a messy job I'd rather not do in my garage. LOL

 

I dont blame you lots of fluid to go spewing if something went wrong!!!

 

LOL, I can build a race truck from the ground up but you ain't gonna catch me flushing a trans in my garage! No way!!! LOL I figure start with a fresh flush and then I can simply drain the pan and do a trans fluid change after each race from this point on and it should keep things relatively fresh. Maybe do a full flush once a year or something...

 

Rear frame rails are about 90% done being boxed in. Need to make 2 small plates to fill in one remaining area and then weld a few more inches as I ran out of gas on the welder last night. Hour at the most left to go on that tonight. Then I'll get the spring perches welded on the new axle and hopefully be able to get the axle truss setup to accept the u-bolts. If all that goes smooth there's a good chance I'll be able to mount the new axle in the truck tonight and hopefully set it back on the ground to see how the width worked out. Should look good with a rear end that somewhat closely matches the width of the front!

 

I agree good luck!!!

 

Well last night went really smooth with exception of two holes. Drilling out holes that are already lasered sucks cause the laser process actually case hardens the outter surface of the metal and drill bits barely scratches it! I smoked every bit I own getting thru it plus 2 more I bought on the fly last night... But... It's on the ground again with the new axle and the width is perfect! I didn't take any pictures though. Jason will be in town tomorrow night for the weekend with his fancy cool camera and we'll probably roll it out on Sunday to get better shots of the truck so we'll have evidence next week probably. Not to mention he knows it's back on the ground and I figured it would be more fun to let him sit and stew on what it looks like for the next two days till he sees it in person.

 

Argh that means i have to wait too!!! Lol oh well im sure it looks killer!! Yall be sure to get some good dramatic stanced pics as well!!

 

I'm excited. I'm sure it looks awesome

 

I'll see if maybe he can sprint past the truck while he's taking the picture to make it blur and look like it's moving really fast in the driveway! LOL

 

Lol i meant stationary poises lol sorry

 

I'm guessing Jason will post more pictures but just for now... An idea of the truck yesterday afternoon. The glass isn't mounted in these pictures. It's just kind of roughly set in place and spaced to somewhat get an idea of what the the stance and truck will look like. We discussed final paint/color/finish stuff and I think Jason has a direction and idea of what he wants. It's gonna look sweet when it's all said and done.








After those pictures though, the truck was moved back into the garage. The rear end went back on stands, tires came off, old bedside mounts that the rear fenders were resting on were cut off and the leaf packs were torn down and setup to cycle. Tonight's plans are to cycle the rear end to figure out shock and future bumpstop placement. Would like to have the shock mounts done in the next night or two and have those done so that I can mount the bedsides and button up the rear end by the end of the weekend along with a laundry list of other stuff.

 

Alright so excited to have gotten to spend the weekend in Vegas and see the truck again. Khris has put in a ton of work all summer and what seemed like an insurmountable task in May has become a handful of odds and ends projects in November. We are 59 days from race day and there is still a lot to do but if all goes according to plan we should be able to pull it all off without losing our minds.

It's really hard to get a complete vibe of the truck through pictures. In person it looks great to me and I'm really excited to get in it and see what it can really do. A lot of the pictures I took are mostly duplicates of work Khris has done in the past, just different anlgles with a slightly better camera, and some sunlight.

So anyway, here goes....