Sara’s chase truck. A linked, boatsided, custom frame K5 4800 class build

[ParadisePWoffrd]

I think the truck cabs have a bit more to gain from a true boatside than the blazers especially towards the back at the seat hump. The blazer rockers hang about 4-5 inches below the floor pan. I’m gonna go further than that and bring the boatside all the way up to just under the bottom door hinge. It will be 2x4 tube directly under the door hinge with Dom tubing connecting the box tube to the frame. So the cut will be about ten inches up from the original bottom of the rocker, plus the square tube I’ll gain about 8 inches of clearance at the outside of the truck.

a crude drawing of basically what I’m talking about. The connecting tubes also will be tying into the backside of the box tube rather than the bottom.

i guess this could be considered more of a flat bottom boat than a true boatside. also thinking about a possible “rub rail” on the outside of the box tube. This will also be a major part of structure in my cage design ideas on this part of the build are definitely still churning.

Are you concerned that you might not be able to roll the window down, in the door, after that much of a cut? I dont know that it is true, but it would be close, if not.

 

[mobil1syn]

Next up will be to bend the new lower frame tubes and notch a few pieces to be able to mock everything up. Now i know some of you are thinking there’s no way this is gonna be anywhere near straight. My idea is that I’m going to make some scrap “cross braces” that will get cut out later after welding. The idea being that these braces will be cut to precise measurements to basically hold everything straight. While still not the perfect method its about the best im gonna be able to get with this. These will run both vertically and horizontal across the frame to theoretically hold it square. Than once the frame is tied to the Body, boat sides, suspension sub frame, and cage. They could be cut out.

i hope you are getting someone to laser/plasma all those tiny tubes.

 

[redneckK20s]

Are you concerned that you might not be able to roll the window down, in the door, after that much of a cut? I dont know that it is true, but it would be close, if not.

I saw a thread on Pirate that the guy took a full 12" out and he said his windows still worked. He went past the bottom door hinge mount.

 

[Clemson13]

Any updates on this?

 

[McBastard79]

Plus 1

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

Plus 2

 

[Clemson13]

Glad i wasnt the only one who kept waiting for this to go back to the top of page 1

 

[xr-nut]

I think the truck cabs have a bit more to gain from a true boatside than the blazers especially towards the back at the seat hump. The blazer rockers hang about 4-5 inches below the floor pan. I’m gonna go further than that and bring the boatside all the way up to just under the bottom door hinge. It will be 2x4 tube directly under the door hinge with Dom tubing connecting the box tube to the frame. So the cut will be about ten inches up from the original bottom of the rocker, plus the square tube I’ll gain about 8 inches of clearance at the outside of the truck.


a crude drawing of basically what I’m talking about. The connecting tubes also will be tying into the backside of the box tube rather than the bottom
i guess this could be considered more of a flat bottom boat than a true boatside. also thinking about a possible “rub rail” on the outside of the box tube. This will also be a major part of structure in my cage design ideas on this part of the build are definitely still churning.

Here is how I did mine back on the old board. I think I raised the floor 3''(ish) and tied the 2x6 tube in to the frame as sliders.

 

[Coolmeadowsmotorsports]

Sorry everyone. Mine and Sara’s lives got really hectic these past few months. Sold her house which took some time along with moving her in with me. And without giving to many details, thanks to recent events (”cough” covid “cough”) my job pretty much took over what was left of my free time. But that being said things are changing and we did accomplish some progress during these past few months and especially New Years weekend.

So to pick up where i left off, we finished bending the 4 main frame tubes. It was than i realized we needed some sort of jig to hold everything together to begin fitting the vertical notched pieces of the frame. its not pretty but we where able to build a level jig/platform from this piece of i beam i had along with some 2x4 square tube.

We then used some scrap steel as vertical ”locators” to hold the frame sections in line with each other. Like i said its not pretty but i check the whole setup with a level every time I’m near it to make sure its staying true. Also had to set it up in a car canopy outside the garage as there just isn’t enough space to fit this and the blazer tub in the shop until the frame is under the tub.

surprisingly the sections lined up almost perfect and our bends seem to be matching. Next up was beginning the long process of building the notched pieces. This was all done with the bend tech notch wrappers that the program creates and makes life soooo much easier.
We first print the wrappers out for a piece,

Next was to cut each piece with the bandsaw and mark a straight line along the tube to align the wrappers Followed by spacing the wrappers at the given measurement from each other and taping them in place

I use the ”distance to second measurement” which is just the distance between the red line on each wrapper. Now the tube notcher could be used on some of the basic notches but for any of the notches on bends or offset planes i just used a cutoff wheel and flap disc which honestly ends up being a cleaner nicer notch in my opinion.

Continuing on next post

 

[Coolmeadowsmotorsports]

Obviously no matter which way you look at it doing this was tedious for sure But Sara and i finally knocked out one whole side of the frame and every piece is dry fit before welding. The way i notched them is so they will be welded into place in a certain order that way each tube is truly fully welded to the pieces its meeting.

Now we are back up to date.
Next up is to continue notching pieces for the other side and than clean the tube for welding and proceed to weld.
sara and i have put together a calendar with a plan on what steps we are trying to complete and when. Januarys goal is to have the frame finished and dry fit under the blazer tub. February our goal will be to begin tying the frame to the tub starting with the boat sides and hopefully finishing with the cage sometime in march. Than onto the fun of locating axles, suspension, etc.
i really hope things go smooth and i will have more updates for you folks soon. Stay tuned

 

[Coolmeadowsmotorsports]

Here is how I did mine back on the old board. I think I raised the floor 3''(ish) and tied the 2x6 tube in to the frame as sliders.

I like it! i have a similar idea but mine will come up just about flush with the lower door hinge. Although Im also debating on wether we are still gonna go with the square tube or if we are going to design the boat sides from more Dom similar to the boat side of an ultra 4 car.

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

I like it! i have a similar idea but mine will come up just about flush with the lower door hinge. Although Im also debating on wether we are still gonna go with the square tube or if we are going to design the boat sides from more Dom similar to the boat side of an ultra 4 car.

If you end up running tube rockers use cromoly tube in that area. It doesn't dent nearly as easy as DOM tube all things being equal.

 

[chaplinfj60]

these maybe helpfull too, that is if you just need to trace a line and not leave template on.

 

[Java230]

these maybe helpfull too, that is if you just need to trace a line and not leave template on.

Have a 3d printer?

Files for them are here.

Parametric Coping and Notching Tool by Grav-One

User changeable parametric model for Fusion 360. Go into "change parameters" under the Modify tab and you can easily change Tubing OD, tool length, and Cope angle for the tool.Many .STL variations are included for users without Fusion.

www.thingiverse.com

 

[chaplinfj60]

Have a 3d printer?

Files for them are here.

Parametric Coping and Notching Tool by Grav-One

User changeable parametric model for Fusion 360. Go into "change parameters" under the Modify tab and you can easily change Tubing OD, tool length, and Cope angle for the tool.Many .STL variations are included for users without Fusion.

www.thingiverse.com

hot dam
thanks

 

[Midget]

Java230 nice find!

 

[Coolmeadowsmotorsports]

these maybe helpfull too, that is if you just need to trace a line and not leave template on.

Those are sweet. The bendtech wrappers actually make life really easy though. I don’t have to worry at all about notch placement and alignment as the program has already figured it out. Thanks for sharing though!

Have a 3d printer?

Files for them are here.

Parametric Coping and Notching Tool by Grav-One

User changeable parametric model for Fusion 360. Go into "change parameters" under the Modify tab and you can easily change Tubing OD, tool length, and Cope angle for the tool.Many .STL variations are included for users without Fusion.

www.thingiverse.com

Good find!!

 

[Coolmeadowsmotorsports]

Small update. Sara and I are still plugging away. We have most of the the tubes notched for the driver side portion of the frame. Hoping to have them finished in the next night or two than it’s on to cleaning and welding!

There is going to be a small direction change in this build though that I wanted to talk about. Both she and I have decided that we are going to build this truck to 4800 ultra 4 class spec. Not really much will change except majority of the main cage structure will be built out of 2” 120 wall Dom rather than 1 3/4 to meet weight vs tubing size requirements. I’d have to imagine that this truck will be on the verge of 4400 pounds when finished. Especially since we will be using cast axle housings at the start along with cast engine block.
Our reasoning behind this is just like anyone else at this point, money is hard to come by and inflation isn’t making life any easier. So rather than build two vehicles we are going to work with one for now. The ideal plan (if everything works out but we all know how that goes) would be to race this truck for a season or two. Use its unique quality’s as a promotional tool to help build the Cool Meadows Motorsports name in the Offroad industry along with marketing partners. than when the time comes retire it and build a true, dedicated, race vehicle. Where this truck will be filling in at it’s true role of chase truck or if Sara so chooses as it is still being built as hers, she can continue to race it in 4800.

Let me know your thoughts, I know it’s going to be a heavy pig, and wether or not it will actually be competitive only time will tell. But at this point it’s become our only feasible option to try and make this racing dream a reality.

 

[00nissanguy]

I think I'd give up if I had to do that many notches 🤣 nice job though. Frame looks great

 

[Coolmeadowsmotorsports]

Boom! Finished notching!! Having a snowy weekend here in Jersey so Sara and I where able to dig In and knock out some work yesterday as by some miracle I wasn’t forced to work for this storm on Saturday.
We mocked up all the pieces and marked out where on the main tubes we would need to sand clean for welding

Then she and I got to work and developed a routine. She sanded down the tubes and I started working my way down the frame welding them in piece by piece.

At the end of the day we have most of the front portion of the frame welded in. Alternating from driver and passenger side in hopes to keep heat to a minimum.

We where really hoping to be over half way done welding by the end of the day today (Sunday) but my phone rang this morning and off to work I went. This may have to wait till the beginning of February at this point as early Thursday morning she and I will be flying out to King of the Hammers to spectate the EMC race and Race of Kings Friday into Saturday.
Happy to say motivation is high though, both she and I are itching to get the frame under the blazer tub. It Will be a big step completed.
Stay tuned.

 

[PAToyota]

Man! That's a hell of a lot of notching by hand!

With access to a Dragon, I'm having a hard time even imagining all that work (not me in the picture).

 

[Coolmeadowsmotorsports]

Man! That's a hell of a lot of notching by hand!

With access to a Dragon, I'm having a hard time even imagining all that work (not me in the picture).

I’d love to have access to equipment like that. But In all honesty it wasn’t too bad. Sara and I had a pretty good routine going and knocked it out in decent time I’d say.

 

[Coolmeadowsmotorsports]

Boom! Big initial step in this project complete. Frame was completed. I took a gamble that it would hold shape and hadn’t deformed at all. So we cut it free from the jig and it didn’t budge.

You’ll notice I left tube out of the front left corner as she and I where still unsure of our steering situation (full hydro or keeping a steering box) but after a long discussion I think we are going to commit to full hydro.
Up next was a big moment where we finally got to slide it under the truck. (A big relief as all our work could now take place in our heated shop finally)

While I was raising the frame up to the body I suddenly remembered that I designed the frame to be higher in the bed Area than the factory floor would allow, so out came the floor.

We welded a piece of angle between the quarters to help hold things in place along with the hard top still being bolted in. Next up was to get everything level and align/ center the frame to the body. But first I determined that I didn’t wanna gamble with any deformation as we start to build the rest of the chassis so a frame table was in order.

 

[rattle_snake]

Hell ya, nice work getting to this milestone.

 

[Coolmeadowsmotorsports]

A while back I found a deal on marketplace for two more I beams that I picked up for stupid cheap. Leveled everything out in the shop and cut pieces from the original I beam I used as the base for the chassis jig and put this bad boy together.

Check out the wood shims we used to level it

Welded some heavy duty casters to the bottom from harbor freight and rolled it under the truck. Still have to figure out some sort of setup for leveling feet.

I’ll get some updated pics of everything as it sits not all leveled and centered tonight. Now we finally get to start measuring up and designing the boatsides.
After that I’m waiting on a tubing order to arrive that I sold my kidney for and we can continue the fab work!

 

[Coolmeadowsmotorsports]

Hell ya, nice work getting to this milestone.

Thank you! Yeah this is a very ambitious build for us so each completed step without crazy issues or dilemma’s is a big accomplishment.

 

[Midget]

Loving it, how high up are you planning to do the boat sides?

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

Glad to see an update to this thread!

Chassis turned out bad ass, and it looks sick sitting under the Blazer.

 

[Coolmeadowsmotorsports]

Loving it, how high up are you planning to do the boat sides?

Up in the air about that but Sara and I mocked up a potential location that I’ll post about here either late tonight or tomorrow. Going to probably be going up at least 6-7 inches from the bottom rocker.

 

[Coolmeadowsmotorsports]

Glad to see an update to this thread!

Chassis turned out bad ass, and it looks sick sitting under the Blazer.

Thanks!! Not sure how much blazer will actually be left when we are done though haha