Project: Midnight Panic

thrillbilly85 said:
Seriously, thank you for posting this build. Not only did you fill the downtime of two whole shifts at work, you've actually lent some level of inspiration towards my project.
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I'm glad all you guys in here enjoy the build & it's documentation,
I truly enjoy building stuff, & it's very cool if others find it inspiring!
And there is still a ways to go on this one,

Speaking of,
After the initial test drive I had a few concerns I wanted to tackle immediately,
First was the throttle pedal, it was so stiff & short stroked that I actually had a tough time controlling the throttle, it was like trying to moderate the thickness of a tennis ball without squishing it to far, because after a certain point it was like going directly to WOT,
Straight away I started thinking of how I could re-design the whole assembly, but, after taking a minute I decided to try a couple adjustments & a lighter/longer return spring, & so far have been very happy with those changes,
Next was how sloppy the engine sounded at an off idle cruise, I know this is not an area the engine will spend much of it's time, & part of the choppyness is the camshaft itself, but I could also tell it is pretty rich & that was not helping,
I ended up putting another 6* of timing in the ignition, the leaning out the barrel valve at idle quite a bit, (this also cleaned up that off idle transition quite a bit)

One part I was really happy with after the initial drive was leaks, all these connections, home built hoses, flared hard lines, bleeders, fitting etc, I ended up tightening / re-seating one hardl line B-nut, & the lower radiator hose was seeping, turns out there is an issue with that hose & fitting style, so I have a different brand ordered, but everything else so far is good to go,

Another system that works so good that I didn't even think about it is both front & rear steer, for an electric pump this thing reall y works well, & the crank driven pump on the front steering is rediculous, it turns these big ags better/easier than my stock F-150, effortless at roughly 3 turns lock to lock,

I took a little time one evening & built new bump stop pads for the used kings I had installed over the rear axle,
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Then installed a couple small links to keep the rear shocks & resi's from twisting/flopping around,
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These links are kind of an experiment, while they hopefully limit the shock from rotating far enough that the resi gets into the tire, they still allow movement needed through the suspension travel,

One other small part I needed was a dipstick for the engine, so I could change the oil, :laughing:
I had a #6 AN fiting & cap in the dipstick port on the pan, so I just figured out a length & added a rod to the AN cap,
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Naturally with some tuning changes & fresh oil I had to take it for a drive again before starting the work week, Besides, the wife said it was her turn for a ride,
Between her recorning on-board with her phone, & the kiddo recording with mine outstide the rig, I was able to mash up a little video,



Both throttle & tuning is considerably better, I't pretty peppy for sure.

Hopefully next week I'll have some radiator hose components, & possibly get started on body work.
 
Skipped_Link said:
truly enjoy building stuff, & it's very cool if others find it inspiring!
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Same brotha. A few years ago I did a ground up resto(mod) on a 1970 Jeepster Commando. As soon as I had all the bugs worked out, I sold it and was on to the next thing.

Truth be told, I'll probably end up owning it again one day, as 6 years, and two owners later, the title still shows me as the owner ...
 
Well, a least I've got you beat in the steering wheel dept....
:flipoff2:
 
It's hard to follow up a couple "first drive" posts with regular build content, but that's all I've got for a bit,

After getting a little dust on the rig I knew I better wrap up a small project before I drove it any more,
The lowest point in the chassis is a tube, with plates on both sides which form the lower link mounts, these mounts ended up forming the perfect are to trap a good amount of mud/dirt & debris, not only that, but it will also be one of those areas that provides a not so nice facial every time a pressure washer is pointed at it, I recognized this issue right away, & knew I would have to fill this void with something, preferable after powdercoating,
After a little research I decided to try a good deep pour two part epoxy resin with a metallic pearl mixed in,
The kiddo has messed with hobby casting resin before so we conversed on this project a few times, I mentioned possibly putting some LED light strips in the void before filling everything in, of course that got a big approval, (should also net me some street cred with the local ricers!)

Anyway, long story short, when they say you should do a test pour, maybe don't make the final project your test piece. Turns out epoxy resin, especially one designed for deep pours really don't like cold temps, & of course the week I do this project it never got to 40*
So, after 24 hours the resin was just as liquid as the minute I poured it,
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On the plus side, the resin goes dormant under 40*, so it wasn't a total loss, or big mess to clean out, I just had to add heat,
A couple 300W work lights, setup right on top of this area got everything curing,
Unfortunately the reintroduced warmth in the shop woke up more than some dormant epoxy, the next day I was welcomed by a nicely hardend product, infused with about a half dozen trapped flys, :laughing:

Either way, I had about 7 days of cure time to work out how I was going to fix it,

While waiting, & after the last drive, I decided an exhaust gas temperature gauge would be a good addition, & knowing the headers would be off again, I put the CNC router to work modifying BBC exhaust gaskets to fit my application better,



After every big block chevy header gasket on the property was modified, the headers were removed & the weld in bungs & temperature probes were installed,
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A couple hundred mile trip to pick up spare sheet metal parts, & making a few repairs mentioned earlier pretty well took up the remainder of those days off, so after another work week my 7 day cure time was up,
After pondering things a bit, I decided another pour was needed, this time using a tabletop epoxy, since I only had about 3/16 of an inch in depth to work with, I didn't really care for how the pearl looked so this time I tinted the resin with a dark blue acrylic, to try & burry the current mess, before anything was mixed, I took a die grinder & dug out the fly carcases, then scuffed the surface of the first pour, & finally mixed & poured the final layer, this time putting the heat to it right away,
The following morning & was much happier with the results,
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Allison was pretty happy about the LED's as well,
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Ricer approved!
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With all that important stuff off my mind, I got back to EGT gauge install,
It's tough to throw stuff in a build without having it look like it's just a thrown in after though, especially whin it is.
With the probes installed I just needed to build a gauge mount & run wiring,
There was no room IN the dash so on top by the tach was the most logical location, The CNC was again employed to whittle out some aluminum parts,
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Which most were welded together,
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It looks a bit odd, but adjustment is handy to have,
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Even though it's an afterthought, mounted is mounted.
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I think I have a solid 2 days in shortening, repin/plugging, looming, & routing 8 EGT probes, but all said & done, it works,
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The only other fab work that got done this last week was a couple battery hold downs, & again the CNC did most of the work,
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Then yesterday after shimming the main relief pressure in the transmission, Allison & I went for a short drive so we could see what gains were made there,



As much as I dislike body work, I'm going to have to get started on it prettu soon.
 
In this picture. What is the circled part called? Is the correct name, crankcase evacuation system? I was thinking about these a few days ago and couldn't remember the name.

And is that just a heat resistant non return valve?

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gt1guy said:
In this picture. What is the circled part called? Is the correct name, crankcase evacuation

And is that just a heat resistant non return valve?
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Yes it is part of the crank case evac system,
The part you are asking about in particular is basically just a check valve to prevent a flash back into the valve covers.
Air will easily pass through one way, but not the other.
 
The valve itself is a common check valve used on 80s and 90s vehicles with a smog pump to inject air into the cats. They have a 3/4 pipe thread. Or all the ones I've ever seen do.

The flow of exhaust creates a vacuum behind the angled tube that partly obstructs the flow.

These don't really work well in systems with mufflers or any exhaust restriction to speak of though I suppose one could play around installing it in a primary tube in order to get a good scavenging pulse.
 
Been pretty quiet here for a few weeks,
The family & myself went on a little adventure at the end of last month, I can't really go into much detail on that just yet, But it was definately worth taking a small break on this project,
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More on that when I get the green light to do so.

Shortly after that trip, a schedule change at work left me with a less than the normal amount of days off for a couple weeks, so I really focused on cleaning up the shop & work areas,
At that time I decided it was finally time to toss these,
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I started saving all of the empty welding wire spools at the beginning of the project, Hard to imagine over 70 lbs of wire went into this thing, not counting what went into the new welder when I bought it & finished the differential/axle welding,

Speaking of LBS, I've decided to get a lower stall speed torque converter & I figured a good current over all weight would be good info to have when ordering a new one,
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Currently sitting at 8200 pounds, by the time I get the body on it, 8500-9000 should be right around where I was guestimating the thing would end up when I started,

And speaking of the body, I FINALLY get started on that little project,
Starting with a pressure washer & sandblasting attachment, I spent most of a day washing most of the paint & surface rust off of the cab & doors,
Then several hours with a DA sander to get a base started,
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Dent & rust repair were next, & took most of the next day,
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Day 3 started with chopping out the inside of both doors, cause you know, that 3 lbs per side on an 8500 lb truck is critical, :laughing:
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This will actually make it much easier to modify the door latch parts & make the lexan windows still go up & down, when I get to that point,

The rest of day 3 was spent doing lots of hand sanding, & extensive cleanup to get rid of all the sand & dust,

Day 4 started with another careful wipe down with final wash, & spraying some primer,
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A medium-light coat of etch primer followed by 2 medium-heavy coats of 2k high build primer took me right into the holiday,

Back to work today for 4, but the good news is my new converter should be here this afternoon, so maybe next week I can get that changed out, & try to get the front fender to the same stated as the cab!
 
Wow, I haven’t been getting notices of this and had to back 6 months. (Something not right Austin) That assembly video is really cool! The first runs are also great. You never fail to impress!
 
How did the pressure washer & sandblasting attachment work out for you?

I bought the sand attachment, then read the requirements for it. My pressure washer didn't meet the minimum so I bought one that did. Haven't used it yet though.
 
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