1978 F-fun hundred 3/4 tons and 37s

WiscoF100 said:
Absolutely. Just a random idea and I found one in the perfect color. Couldn’t let this northern Minnesota hide my western roots

Thanks, Austin

Did you re-enlist or go full time again? Think you mentioned that in your build, which the dust is covering the awesome colors
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Nah just volunteered for a deployment to get some active time in for the retirement points, might be getting a full time contract when i get back though which if thats the case my project might be another year
 
Drove for an hour today. Good and bad stuff.

I’ll forever have a list of things to keep me busy on this truck for sure. Steering is still sketchy. The reman gear certainly is noticeable but the road manners are still awful. Sailing ship/darty type stuff. If it’s not my T link, it’s the toe setting or not enough caster. I also suspect the leafs of shifting. In hard cornering you can feel the ass end shift and get an oversteer condition. Gonna try a panhard.

Much more pleasant driving with glass, weatherstripping and the heater works great.
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Awww first time in the snow.
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Very pleased with the new fan setup. It was only low 20s but everything works and cycles as it should. Pleased with the steady 19in hg. Oil pressure is much more stable with the new T4 10w30. I tried to be rattle snake cool and get the shift indicator light to work but didn’t have any bulbs. Best I could do is the climate controls.
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Dropped the water last night in the driveway. 17* didn’t let it run very far :laughing: Still icicles hanging from the drag link. Now with 50/50 mix it can live outside.

Forgot that I have a 1/4 mile tunnel in my back yard. Brappppppppppppppp. Made some music last night to circulate the anti freeze.

Wish I could describe the sketchy steering. It wanders across the lane. It requires constant gentle and ever floating steering wheel input. Cornering is probably the most sketchy. It will pull in harder and the counter correction can be unpredictable.

Toe-in is 3/8”+ Fault of my fixed T link and offset heim joints.

Caster is 4* It’s hard to find a factory number but some references are as low as 3* I know what some will preach. I could change the bushings and get 7* but it will most likely make the front driveshaft inoperable.

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I can easily make this a crossover drag link setup. It may require a new pitman arm which isn’t an issue other than time. While the knuckles are off for BJ deletes, I can drill the factory steer arms.
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How much is this reverse Ackerman screwing me over? Pretty sure I just want to dump it in favor of factory. It wasn’t a choice I made but rather a product of the arm design. I just rolled with it not knowing otherwise.
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Full droop shot but aside from slightly flatter link angles, the two trucks are near identical. This truck would go 80-90mph with no steering issues. It had factory Ackerman and 7-8* caster being the most notable differences. Locked axles and full time 4x4. Never anything scary.
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Levigarrett76 said:
Lookin good man, anxious to see these balljoint deletes and hear thoughts
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Me too. It’s step one in figuring out this front axle. If anything it should clear up the odd shimmy felt in the column the faster I go. Or maybe it’s the solid shaft between column and gear box :homer: I had too much race car on the brain building this truck.
Provience said:
Bummer about the steering
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I’ll find the son of a bitch and kick its ass. One change at a time until the culprit is found. It’s mainly on the highway. It finds a groove or camber and follows it. On dirt, I can practically take my hands off the wheel. Can easily over drive the truck as said before, I have to remind myself it’s not the ultra4. Also it’s weird not being in a cage like I was used to driving the other truck.
 
3-4* caster should be fine.
3/8" toe seems like a lot.

I would attach drag link to upper knuckle arm, but that won't necessarily fix your issue.
 
That’s the plan. Crossover drag link to knuckle. Tie rod on factory steer arms for proper Ackerman

The 3/8” was a mistake. Result of a last minute dimension change and it’s stuck thanks to the “fixed” tie rod. The above plan will sort that stuff out.
 
Dang what a chore this was. Called it a day. Still have 26 joints to weld. Then header paint.

It’s all tack welds too. Don’t give me credit for an amazing welding job because it’s not. Closer to the farmer fab side of the scale than the Morgan Clarke. But it definitely looks good from a distance across the internet.

I had to build as many sub assemblies as possible to create this out of thin air. Every piece of the OG exhaust was salvaged to recreate this and utilizing the summit racing X pipe kit. All bends are 45*. These flex billows and sweeps consist of 7.5* cuts for 15* x 3
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3x12 resonators
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Tucked the X above the driveline and offset 1.5” to match the drivetrain offset
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I’m not plasma table rich
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35 joints to weld. It’s exhausting. Thank you. Thank you. I’ll be here all week
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Salvaged these RuffStuff clevis to hang the mufflers
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Man thats cool, never crossed my mind to do crossover or a single with fenderwell exits. Got me thinking of using single 3.5” tail section off 02,7.3
 
Added these 4” stainless bells I found on Amazon tonight. I love how this X pipe sounds. It messes with your head like the sound is swirling. Idk. Iykyk….

Sounds way more exotic than the low compression “smog” motor that it is. Well, it’s just a “lazy” Cleveland is all. It scoots especially for turning 37s
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Whole lotta AMD in this picture. Replacement windshield arrived today. New wiper arms on Monday.
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Had a little tuner helper today. She would report to me the changes in vacuum. Waiting on bootlegged Holley parts to arrive from my dad. $30 for a squirter? Those are whore house prices. So I had him rummage through my old kits.
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In other news, the joint deletes went well and I’ve put probably another 100 miles on it.

My steering issue is most likely rooted to toe settings. Turned 1 end 1 revolution to yield 3/8 TOE-OUT and it’s way more stable. I’m working on getting the drag link to the knuckle. 1 step at a time.

It just has return to center issues. It picks a direction and stays with it. Double checked caster, it’s 3*.

Plan is new shorter coils to lower the front which will gain some caster and worse case scenario I add 3* of poly bushings.
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Knuckles drilled for factory Ackerman.
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WiscoF100 said:
My steering issue is most likely rooted to toe settings. Turned 1 end 1 revolution to yield 3/8 TOE-OUT and it’s way more stable. I’m working on getting the drag link to the knuckle. 1 step at a time.

It just has return to center issues. It picks a direction and stays with it. Double checked caster, it’s 3°
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The toe being out is why it now wanders. You gotta get it as close to zero as your can. I know it's gonna suck with the way your draglink connects, but you're gonna have to deal with it eventually.
 
reptillikus said:
The toe being out is why it now wanders. You gotta get it as close to zero as your can. I know it's gonna suck with the way your draglink connects, but you're gonna have to deal with it eventually.
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That’s why I’m going away from T link is to be able fine tune the tierod as necessary.
Levigarrett76 said:
I Dig bootleg holley parts
How is axle wrap?
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Haven’t had any chatter problems. Partly because I have this tip-in stumble. When I can jump on it, the tires just spin. Not enough rear weight or such high anti squat. Can’t hook at all.
 
My daughters favorite saying in the shop is that I never use the lathe anymore. Hold my juice box, kid

By Monday night I should have extended the drag link 10” (35 to 45) and have crossover steering. Could be done tonight but I’m back on-call. Will splice and slug the existing bar with the extension and 14” 1”x.120” dom.

Turn down the tie rod misalignment 1/4” and it will allow a 2” mw for the heim and high misalignments.
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WiscoF100 said:
Ha! Slid into another day off. Wrap this up tomorrow
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Nailed it
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Tomorrow I’ll throw the tierod in the stretching machine and get rid of this negative ackerman while I’m at it.
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I tried to extend a piece of 2x.250 DOM this way but when I inserted the 1.5” DOM it wouldn’t go in all the way and got stuck. Did you use a press to do this or what? I tried cleaning it all up as much as possible it it seemed impossible.

Awesome work as always :smokin:
 
I had to turn the OD of the 1” to press fit the 1-1/2”. I maxed out the 20ton press on one of the extensions. There’s an interference in the .250 wall or my lathe cut a taper. Which is likely since I have never leveled it.

.250 holds a very tight tolerance. Nothing slip fits like .120

I preferred to go this route because I have the capability rather than pull new material off the shelf and throw more used pieces in my scrap bin. It’ll be every bit as strong as 1 piece just heavier on one end :laughing:
 
I guess the picture above is deceiving. It only shows a 2” pass that’s machined. Idk what I was photographing but it was early in the progress.
 
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