crash

Well since I now have more tube, it was time to make the seat mounts...







And a test fit, they turned out perfectly, only had to drill out one hole (I have found these seats are not totaly flat on the mounting surface, and I made the mounts flat, so it caused the holes to be slanted until the bolt tightens and causes it to sit flat)..




And here are the seatbelt mounting tabs

crash

Now it is time to finish the cage ...

Since I didn't want the dash bar up high and in the way of the dash, I opted to run it low along the bottom of the dash. Now I know this isn't an optimum location, but its better than nothing and will help give the A pillar some support..



And here is how the spreaders turned out. The only thing I wasn't able to do was add a stringer from the A-pillar to the front crossbar where the top pf the windshild will rest, due to how I want the windshield to sit... Another thing I opted not to do, some kind of x-bracing behind the seats. Now I know you run the risk of the B-pillars folding with out that portion, but how I have the B-pillars done, I suspect it would take a NASTY roll to collapse them, and even so, it would olny be the upper portion. This was another issue I decided to make a compromise on since it would make it VERY hard to get my kids into the back seat ( I fully understand you DO not jepordise comfort for safety, but again like I said, I don't feel its a really needed item)..

Scarbro22

I am amazed at the creativity and love the updates with all the pics...keep up the great work!

lee

can we all agree this is the best thread ever?

crash

Thanks guys, its been a very interesting deal so far, and nice to finally get a chance to be creative on my own rig vs. on the others I have been building...

crash

Ok, here is some updates finally...

Ok, it was finally time to kill the front end crap/garbagfront stuff..

First thing, remove all the unboltable stuff and play parts tossing (rather fun game when you have a target in mind,lol)



Look at that lil turd



Ahhh, all cleaned and ready

crash

Ahhhh, more crap to kill,lol



And here is how it looked when done



All I did was whack the buckets off, and then cut the upper support at an angle then capped it. There is one thing I didn't want to do, have to drasticly modify the front, I personally have loved how the front looks and wanted to retain it as best as possable, and I was fully able to do that...


Well look at that, thats gotta go too



All cleaned and ready to add more crap back in its place



Those towers had been on there for like 4-5 years, never ever had a problem with them (and there are about 6 rigs running around with those now)..

crash

All cleaned up (what a flippin mess I made sheesh) and ready to go




I was hoping not to have to tear everything out of the engine compartment, but ended up having to remove everything off both fender wells..



Front diff in place and ready to figure out WHAT the hell to do next



While cleaning more paint off the front frame rails, I found this



It was one of the large holes thats in rthe outer edge of the frame near the front, was a hole I capped , sheesh, many years ago. So, I just cranked the heat up and cooked it!!

crash

Getting the frame ready for the front hoop in the engine compartment.



There is the tube mount ready



There is the front hoop in place, and what a tight mofo it was (again pounding a round peg into a square hole)

crash

is how it looks with the tube sitting on it



Here is the rear mount



Here is where things started getting very interesting, very tight, and chunks of the fender well started a flying!!!





And here is how it looks with the tube in place

crash

Getting the frame ready for the center down bar



And with the tube in place

crash

ANd here is how it looks. Let me tell ya, that was some of the most awkward positioned welding I have done in a LONG time, ask notstock, he was there while I was cramping my little body into some funcky azz positions..







Its plenty tight...

crash

Ok, since the cage/coilover mounts are done, I know how much room I was able to play with. Since both batteries are in the back, I had decided to build an air tank and put it where the origional battery went (need some reserve for the arb's)..

I was pretty happy with how it turned out..






I was also able to reinstall all the major removed items with very little reworking needed. I was afraid I was going to have to totaly redo everything, but I guess I got lucky




And here is how it looks with the coilover in place

crash

So, now that the large bulk of the work is done on the front, its time to gut this portion of the rig

KING

Great stuff.

Awesome thread.

crash

Ok, got the t-cases ripped out, and both completely torn down..
Removed the 4:1's from the back case, and put them in the newer bigger bearing doubler (marlin of course).

crash

Ok, now the time has come to build the toy-dana 300 adapter since I now had all the parts for the adapter made up...

Here is the portion of the adapter I had made, it was machined on both sides to aid is assembly..



Here it is tached into place on the dana 300 side.

crash

And here is the fully assembled unit.





After looking at it, I decided to add a hole for oil to pass thru and fill the reduction box. The hole where the stub shaft goes thru was pretty close to the fill hole on the dana 300 when it was clocked up...



For anybody interested in doing there own adapters, I have both stub shafts and the part that goes between the toy and dana 300 (2 parts that make the job alot easier to do).

crash

Due to how the toy tunnel is built, had to loose a little sheet metal to make the bugger fit (if it wasn't clocked almost flat you would not have this issue)
The hole is roughed in till I get the shifters done and then it will be re-sheet metal'd



Here is the adapter in place on the back of the doubler..



I put a little thought into the new cross member since as anbody who has messed with the dana300 t-case, they are not mounting friendly for a cross member (unlike the toy boxes). So, I decided to use the back side of the adapter for the cross member mount. Got lucky and was able to re-use the mounting tabs at the frame.





So, once the twin stick is done, I can shove the t-case in, get the sheet metal done, and then its almost time for links..

ravencr

Any reason you chose to do the crossmember with bushings like that?

Chris