Project: Midnight Panic

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With both ends of the two cables hooked up they just needed some sanitary routing, For the most part both cables will follow the steering hard lines from the firewall to the bottom of the front motor plate, & really the only area that they would not be tucked right up along with the lines is directly under the drivers floor board where the steering cooler is at,
If you remember earlier in the build that particular area has longer nuts welded to the floor mounting tabs just for such an occasion, this provides a good place to use a couple rubber dipped clamps to hold the cables,

However I just couldn't bring myself to use rubber dipped clamps, instead a piece of aluminum angles was cut to length, drilled to bolt to the floor mount tabs, then drilled/tapped for a couple home made clamps, while the aluminum angle was in the mill I went ahead & lightened it up as well,

The clamps themselves are pretty basic, small saddles for the cables to rest in, a mounting bolt, & I left a small lip on the bottom edge so when bolted on they would be square with the angle/mount helping to keep the cables strait,

This apparatus does a decent job holding the cables nice & tidy through a pretty busy area under the truck,

From this point they will follow the hard lines, down & along the chassis, two reasons for going under the engine, 1, routing angle to the hat, & the pump is cleaner, 2, when ever the engine has to come out it comes out the top & that's just a couple things that wont be in the way,

 

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Continuing with cables I moved onto the shifter cable, This particular shifter I am using was left overs from a project of my dads, (his drag race truck, which he installed an air shift setup), getting it second hand after a few years of sitting on the shelf & even changing hands a time or two, a few of the hardware pieces were missing, (cable, & cable mount at the transmission mostly) fortunately I was able to find the arm/lever that goes on the shift shaft,
I had previously bought the correct cable for this shifter, but when it showed up there was a couple things I didn't care for, one was the use of grooved cable bosses, & retaining clips on both ends, I have no problem with using this to retain a control cable, but there is no adjusting the cable mounting, after a little google fu & reading the installation instruction the mount at the trans has slotted bolt holes for adjustment, plus it seems like even good transmission shift cables just don't last, a few years outside of street or drag racing environments & they start getting stiff & need replaced,
That's why I decided to go with the same style/brand cable I'm using everywhere else on the project,

And that requires a bit of work, a standard shifter cable has one end that is pressed flat with a hole to fit over a pin on the shifter, rather than a threaded end, So a thread on eye was built to adapt the standard cable to the shifter,

There's reasons for it being over complicated,

Also notable, standard shift cables usually have the same working stroke as a regular control cable, but the distance from the working end, to the jacket/mount is considerably shorter,
combine that with the fact my new cable eye threads on, & now the jacket threads won't reach the mount on the shifter frame, But in my case is a good thing, I used this difference to build a internally threaded boss that the cable jacket can thread into, with a groove on the outside & use the retaining clip to hold this boss to the shifter itself,

Now I have two forms of cable adjustment at the shifter alone,

...

 

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As mentioned before I did not get the cable mount for the transmission end, After a few minutes doing some measuring I had an idea what I needed, Again this could have been a 10-15 minute project, but I managed to turn it into several hours,


Left over chunk of 1.25" 7075 from the steering arms,

After getting it roughed into shape, & the critical points drilled or machined, & before getting to crazy lightening the part up, I slotted & pocketed the mounting hole just like on the throttle pedal,


Even the washers got a little love for this project,

Then just dressed it up a little,

Everything bolted up & the cable adjusted real nice.

Next up is the rear steer return to center cable,

But I ran out of time & have only just started figuring out what brackets I'll need there,
It's a good place to pick up next days off.

 

[surpip]

damn damn, i really want a mill

and the skills to use it.

 

[CarterKraft]

This mofo is going to be a pleasure to work on.

 

[Java230]

 

[Drummer79]

Dude, seriously, you should be working on those Tesla rockets, or for NASA or something. Your attention to detail on the little things, mind blowing machinist work, etc.. far too advanced for Nascar or something, you're on a whole nother level.

 

[WaterH]

Dude, seriously, you should be working on those Tesla rockets, or for NASA or something. Your attention to detail on the little things, mind blowing machinist work, etc.. far too advanced for Nascar or something, you're on a whole nother level.

I was thinking he needs a Utube show like the "Binky Project". He would get lots of supporters. I think his work exceeds theirs. I would love to watch him making all those brackets while some good music is playing. He might have to practice an English accent. Lol

 

[Skipped_Link]

I actually checked out "Project Binky" several months ago because of you guys, ended up watching the whole build up to its current state,
I wish I knew someone as interested in making videos as I am making parts, To actually produce quality videos I think it would be very time consuming, I don't think a youtube channel is "easy money" by any means,
I have a YouTube channel, & there are a couple videos from this project, but not a lot of talking or tech info, I can post a link to those if you guys want, if there is enough interest I could try to make time to do more of them,

 

[WaterH]

On the binky, they don't do anymore tech than you in your narratives. (Probably less) I know what you mean about putting together quality video. I've had people suggest I put one together on my build. But I don't do as quality work as you and I'm so F'ing slow. I know shit about videos. Could be you just point some running cameras at your mill, lathe and welding area and turn them on when you walk in. Let someone else edit later and you could inject tech and a joke or two then.

In your case, I think you would need a local highschool kid that is interested in videography. Too bad your kid is not a little older. Maybe next project. Your right though, may not be any easy money there. It would be interesting to know what the binky boys are making off that.

 

[Austin]

To actually produce quality videos I think it would be very time consuming, I don't think a youtube channel is "easy money" by any means,
I have a YouTube channel, & there are a couple videos from this project, but not a lot of talking or tech info, I can post a link to those if you guys want, if there is enough interest I could try to make time to do more of them

Yea if you're trying to make a living off them they are a PIA, but just for sharing quick info they are good ..... at least post them here

 

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Another 5 days of life thrown at this thing, & two little projects completed,

First on the list was the last of the control cables, this one being for the rear steer return to center unit,

For those that do not know, I build return to center kits that basically piggyback any existing rear system, I built my very first RTC unit for the buggy back in 07 I think it was,
Then somewhere around 2016 I was asked to build a similar kit, then another, & another, ect,
Fortunately when first asked to build a kit for a project besides my own, I came up with a much simpler design to produce on manual machines, just in case there was more interest later on,
Like the one on the buggy they are remote mounted out of harms way using a cable form the knuckle up to the sensing unit,

Here's a couple FB videos of building the RTC sensing bodies, No tutorials, or info, just videos of what each part takes,

Lathe work, (side note, I miss having a turret lathe for doing this stuff)



And the milling process, (amazing what changes happen in a few years, this video was on my dads old milling machine, since this video, I have gotten my own Bridgeport, he replaced his with a newer, nicer one & I am on my 3rd lathe upgrade since the little Logan in the first video)



Internally is simply a plunger/rod with a block to connect to the control cable, the plunger activates one or the other of two ball switches that thread into the body,

I usually do a run of 10 or so units at a time so I have them on hand when people order a kit,

So once the machine work is done, there are stainless mounts that are cut at the water jet place, then I TIG weld them together,

When someone orders a kit I install the mounts, then build the wire harness according to what system they want to run,

So this is a sensing unit ready to package up & send out (minus the wiring harness & any hardware)

You can see the mounts also double as the cable mount,

Over time there have been small improvements made, mostly to the harness with different relays & fuse blocks, condensing stuff down to smaller/cleaner packages,


And so, with the RTC history out of the way, back to the project this thread is about,

The point of the cable is to remote mount the sensing unit out of the elements & harms way as much as possible, (you'd be surprised where I've seen these things mounted)

So I need to get from one of the rear knuckles to inside the cab, but first I had to fine tune the ratio of movement at the knuckle so as not to over stroke the cable or the sensing unit,
When I was building Axletech high steer arms for people I would always drill/tap the two rear arms, 10/32 thread, 1.875" from the center of the king pin, that way they were already setup for RTC, & well within the working limit of the control cable,

On this project I wanted to use as much of the available cable stroke as possible, (the more you can use, the more accurate it will be)
After cycling the steering a few times, getting some measurements, & accounting for ackerman, I figured 2.375" from the center of the king pin is going to get me as much cable usage as I am going to get,
My arms were already drilled/tapped at the standard 1.875" location, so I just utilized this threaded hole, along with the grease Zerk (1/4-28 thread) as a place to hold a new cable attaching point,

It was interesting I had a hand full of longer 1/4 thread Zerks, the thickness of the part was based off of that, the 10/32 rod end mounting threads were left higher just cause I liked the angle on the cable better while mocking things up.

Next was the cable jack mount, which was a pretty simple task,

Some may remember way back when I was doing link clamps/mounts for the hydraulic lines, on the rear set I put roll pins through the clamps between the hard lines,

Here is why I did that,

Once past the upper link mount & in the belly area, there was a little slack left in the cable for movement, then routed up through the floor right behind the passenger seat,
The next step was mounting the sensing unit, with the cable actually in place, I could finalize that mounting location,

 

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Mounting the sensing unit on one of the down tubes behind the seats has been the plan since I first started the project, & when ordering the cables I measure accordingly,
With the cable up to that general area I started figuring out mounting tabs for the stainless clamps, I spent way to much time going back & forth on a couple ideas, mostly cause I didn't think I would like either in the end,
The stainless mounts are really kind of designed to bolt to a flat surface or panel, not really tube work. A couple more mounting tabs like I have been using throughout the whole build would have worked fine, & even if not the most aesthetic, it's behind the seat,

Soooo, the stainless mounts were removed, put back in the parts drawer, & I grabbed a chunk of left over 1/2" thick 6061 from the skid plate project, then started adding to the pile of chips on the machine room floor that have been accumulating since the beginning of the year,

Several hours, & many setups on the mill later, I had a pair of acceptable clamps for mounting the sensing unit to chassis tubing.

Fresh off the Bridgeport & not even deburred yet,

One 1/4" bolt per clamp to hold each half around the tube & sensing unit.

After cleanup & making sure they fit the sensing unit,

While building the clamps I pulled the cable mounting hole in closer to the RTC body, this meant I had to build a new block for attaching the cable to the plunger rod, With that much time invested in the RTC mounts, I figured the usual piece of key stock might look out of place so I used aluminum instead,

I would have been fine with the 1/4" black oxide plunger rod, but I had a 5/16" stainless rod already on hand, so I used that instead,

Probably good enough for behind the seat,

The extra threads will be trimmed off the rod after final installation & adjustments are made,

While the clamps/mounts were on the mill I knew going from a .120" thick mounting tab to .5" thick was going to burn up my adjustment threads on the cable jacket, so the cable mounting hole was countersunk .188" from each side, but I kind of messed up, out of habit from the previous mounts I built last week I countersunk them with a 3/4" diameter, but none of the other mounts were that deep, I found on this set the major diameter of the mounting/jam nuts are a little big to fit in the hole,
I lucked out tho, while setting the clamp/mount half up in the mill to open up the diameter I remembered that the blower mounting studs are the same 7/16 fine thread as the cable jacket, & that I had a couple spares that were flanged & took a smaller wrench, after digging a pair up & a little machine work, they fit this application perfect.

All that was left was assembly, & all the control cables were done,

 

[ConwayMuddy]

Be glad you live far away. I'd be the best friend you never wanted, always hanging out, watching and learning. Thanks for the update

 

[Skipped_Link]

With the control cables all done I figured I better finish up the plumbing before I get carried away on wiring,

One of the few things I have left to plumb is the transmission cooler, but before I can do that I needed a transmission cooler,
I had been putting some thought into what kind of cooler I want to run, & where to mount it off & on throughout the build, I have a nice Derale unit with integrated fan, but it is pretty bulky & just wasn't a good fit without mounting it quite a ways away from the transmission. Plus this thing being a big gay mud truck & all, I thought it would be nice if there was something easy to clean the mud out of, (fins, & especially fins covered with a fan are not easy to clean) There is a trans cooler in the bottom tank of the radiator, but again a ways from the transmission, & the plumbing would have to run through a very busy area in the chassis, (at least cleaning those fins would be a two birds one stone type of deal)
The heat sink type cooler (like I used on the steering) is easy to clean, & easy to find a place for it, but I've never felt they are a great cooler for something that really builds heat like an automating transmission that is getting the snot kicked out of it,
Then one day while scheming on a block heater for the engine, it just popped in my head, maybe I could integrate the two, build a fluid to water heat exchanger with a block heater in it somewhere, pull water from the chassis to flow around a trans cooler, then to the engine where it will eventually return to the radiator, So I ordered the shortest dual pass heat sink style fluid cooler Summit had in stock just to see what I could do with it,

This days off I got the cooler out, & it was a good fit for the location I wanted, as long as it didn't gain any length & not to much diameter by turning it into a heat exchanger,
To cover the outside (to contain the coolant) I pillaged dads stash, he had an 18" long piece of aluminum tube about the right diameter leftover from one of his projects,
The O.D. of this tube was a little smaller than the heat sink fins, so the I.D. is considerable smaller, but that was a relatively small obstacle,

Having a cooler & a piece of tube was enough to get going on the project,
To start the original mounts were cut off the cooler, (small angle brackets with a couple holes) the web not welded to the cooler was cut off, then the whole thing was setup in the mill, I used the 90*head & first dialed in on the end cap of the heat sink, center drilled the end cap, & then used the boring head to machine the remainder of the mount off the cooler,

I'm not going to lie, this whole deal seemed a little sketchy at first, center drilling was no big deal, but running the boring head on the 90* head was new territory for me, but now I know it works fine & might come in handy another day.

The cooler was flipped in the vise & the process was repeated on the other end,

With no mounting tabs & the end caps center drilled I could then chuck the cooler up in the lathe & start making pieces fit together,
It was a noisy process, but the fins were turned down, leaving enough for a good snug press fit into the outer tube it will be going in.

[video]https://www.facebook.com/100012440859652/videos/pcb.1171932396564778/1171931206564897[/video]

Once to size I decided on port orientation, & marked which fins needed trimmed to get the flow path I wanted,

Next the outer tube was cut to length, & the ends squared up in the lathe,
I started the cooler into the outer tube with a rubber mallet, then set it up in the lathe to make sure everything was going together square & strait using the tail stock to push the two together, however the cooler did not go in very far before the interference fit was requiring more force than I wanted to put on the late,
So out to the press, it took wall over 5 tons to push the cooler into the tube, but it went without any drama

With those tow piece now one, it was setup in the mill, based off the lower bellhousing bolts the outer tube was notched/coped in preparation for a couple mounting bosses,
Then a second set of copes were cut spaced slightly closer together, only this set I milled deeper in toward the cooler until the cope/notch broke through into the water passage, these will be for the outlet water fittings,

Before pulling the cooler out of the mill I jumped over to the late & built all the parts that will later attach to this thing,
Mounting bosses, coolant/water inlet & outlets, & what will eventually be the bung for the block heater,

It's pretty obvious how the outlet bungs & mounting bosses fit the new cooler body, the water in & heater bung are a bit different,
They were setup vertically in the mill & the boring head setup with the longest bar I have & dialed out to the same diameter as the outer tube on the cooler, then a long cope was machined into the side of the bungs,
Not quite the limit of this bar, but it's getting close,
[video]https://www.facebook.com/100012440859652/videos/pcb.1171932396564778/1171931546564863[/video]

The reason for such a long bung was the heater itself, I just went to Napa & got the shortest one they had,

 

[arse_sidewards]

I've always wanted to do an all aluminum fluid to fluid heat exchanger like that but the price of used boat transmission coolers always keeps me from seriously considering it.

 

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After coping the coolant in, & heater bungs, I pulled the cooler out of the mill & set them up, & a slot was machined into the cope through to the drilled passage,

An additional hole was added to the heater bung, just to make sure it didn't cause some weird air pocket from trapping & boiling the coolant,

The water/coolant out bungs were simply cross drilled to line up with the openings in the cooler body,

Next I mocked up the cooler to get measurements & determine coolant passage location, & make sure they lined up between the correct fins on the internal heat sink,

Matching slots/holes were machined into the main cooler body.

The last part to machine was a couple rings to block off the ends,

Then everything was simply welded together, pressure checked, & cleaned,

Plumbing should be pretty clean & easy,

Now that everything is done, I think it could be better, well, cleaner at least, use the same heat sink cooler, but build a sheet aluminum housing, tuck the water in & heater bungs up into the housing, The only downside with that setup would be water/coolant only passing over the heat exchanger twice, where the current setup passes over the cooler 3 times before water flows to the outlet passage, I'll give it some thought, but I might build another one & see how it turns out, I'm back to work now for 5 so I have time to think about it.

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

What do you do for a day job build space ships or something?


I get excited every time there is an update to this thread. The level of perfection you put into every single part is truly amazing.

 

[Skipped_Link]

What do you do for a day job build space ships or something? 🤣:

of the two choices above,
"or something" is the closest fit,

 

[Firstram]

Ambiguity at it's finest

 

[DMANbluesfreak]

Obviously he builds space ships as his hobby, duh.

Impeccable work. I'm blown away by the level of detail and cleanliness of the parts you make.

 

[ConwayMuddy]

I think it could be better...

As the rest of us sit here in awe...

 

[WaterH]

Now that everything is done, I think it could be better,

Well, of course, you just slapped that together.




Seriously, that mill head did look sketchy. Couldn't you have just done that work on the lathe? I never used a mill head, so I have no idea how hard that was to set up.

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

As the rest of us sit here in awe...

Right!

 

[gt1guy]

As the rest of us sit here in awe...

And he's knocking it out in his spar time.

I'm just glad he's willing to take the time to share it all with us.

 

[mobil1syn]

maybe i missed something, but whats up with the heater elements?

 

[Wilson]

maybe i missed something, but whats up with the heater elements?

to help bring the fluid up to operating temp before a “run.”

 

[Skipped_Link]

Seriously, that mill head did look sketchy. Couldn't you have just done that work on the lathe? I never used a mill head, so I have no idea how hard that was to set up.

After center drilling the cooler, yes I could have done that work in the lathe, but the boring head at 90* really ended up not being to bad, it just looks odd.

I'm just glad he's willing to take the time to share it all with us.

Documenting a build is always good, but showing ideas & conversing about how or why, or maybe even having someone catch a potential issue before it's actually a problem, is really much more than just sharing a build.

I am glad people out there enjoy this part of a project, & not just focused on the end results.


​​​​​​​

maybe i missed something, but whats up with the heater elements?

to help bring the fluid up to operating temp before a “run.”

Biggest thing is water temp, something like this truck isn't something that you're going to take for a little drive around camp & be ready to go, & Methanol doesn't really build heat when idling around, if it's a little rich it will actually cool off, (I've see frost form on the hat & intake manifold at idle)

Some drag race guys will partially close the fuel shut off valve to the point it will lean the engine out & build heat, they actually make a tunable solenoid valve for this purpose too,

Seems easy to just plug in the quiet little generator & let it do all the work while I spectate, when I'm up, hit the button & as long as it fires I'm good to go.

The trans oil probably won't see any more than a 1/2 quart of pretty hot oil flushed through the return port right at start up,

 

[mobil1syn]

Biggest thing is water temp, something like this truck isn't something that you're going to take for a little drive around camp & be ready to go, & Methanol doesn't really build heat when idling around, if it's a little rich it will actually cool off, (I've see frost form on the hat & intake manifold at idle)

https://www.hotheadheater.com/ i have seen these used in other forms or racing. so you are just taking that style of warmer and making it all self contained on the truck. nice

 

[WaterH]

Biggest thing is water temp, something like this truck isn't something that you're going to take for a little drive around camp & be ready to go, & Methanol doesn't really build heat when idling around, if it's a little rich it will actually cool off, (I've see frost form on the hat & intake manifold at idle)

Some drag race guys will partially close the fuel shut off valve to the point it will lean the engine out & build heat, they actually make a tunable solenoid valve for this purpose too,

Seems easy to just plug in the quiet little generator & let it do all the work while I spectate, when I'm up, hit the button & as long as it fires I'm good to go.

The trans oil probably won't see any more than a 1/2 quart of pretty hot oil flushed through the return port right at start up,

I know nothing about this, so this might be a stupid question. Is there any possibility of starting the truck with gasoline and let it idle and then switch it to meth after its warm? It seems like it would be beneficial to really warm up everything. I've seen this with diesels up north.

Edit, side question. I know this is a competition machine, but will it not be capable of driving for an hour straight?