Wow. Cool project.
Wow. Cool project.
There's nothing quite like three weeks of covid to make you want to go out and mow the lawn. Fortunately, I don't have to mow the lawn, but I have been able to get back to Willys things: more cutting, grinding, and welding (and huffing horrifically toxic smoke from who knows how many kinds of substances that have been adhered to this poor thing over the decades).
Tubes and plate, yo: Everything here is 1/8" thick something or other to overbuild to death some seat locating/bracketing things. It's plate, 1x1, and 1.25.
Much like the ridiculous seat belt brackets, I laid down the plate to lay down the tubes. Since old truck cabs are so small, leg room has to come from height above the floor, hence the four-inch rise in the seat holding stuff. I am just under 5'9", but room is still at a premium.
This is way too complicated for mounting some freaking Jeep seats, but I've got an old garbage can full of metal. I've probably had the round tube for like eight years . . .
The seat is pretty comfy. It's very posture-forward as well, which is good, cuz I'm kind of a slouch.
That's pretty much that. There's a bit more welding to do on the passenger side brackets, then maybe a bit of grinding, then it's on to spraying some paint and seam sealer over all this crud. Here's looking forward to fun things like plumbing and wiring soon (and way less covid) . . .
Before the weekend, I managed to slap some appropriately-colored paint inside of this thing, creating happiness to not see bare metal or any of the many odd coating materials that have been applied to the metal of this truck over the decades. Seat brackets are done, and they should hold up under a major girth-quake. The shifter clears the dash quite nicely, and it feels appropriately modern, however much I'm not into manual transmissions. At some point, I will need to cut and re-shape the clutch pedal arm . . .
I am waiting on some sound deadener, which I will slap in some strategically chosen areas, then I'll bolt in the seats for good. Some day, I may seek out some sort of rubber floor covering. Malleable suggestions are welcome.
And yes, it is not the Nikon's fault that I take terrible pictures.
Slowly, things are being done to this truck. I attempted to use the computer that came with the truck, with an eBay harness, and it pretty much only resulted in filling a cylinder with gas. The Gen 3 intake was nasty, and the injectors had been dormant (and used) who knows how much, and I had a Gen 4 unit sitting around. Since I was creating momentum to dump the GM computer, the Gen 4 intake would be easy with a Holley . . .
Gen 4 intakes and EV6 injectors are just better anyway, so there's that. I also bought lovely Chinese throttle body while I was at it. That filter is just a cover, not the future intake setup--not there yet . . .
I also made a battery mount. E36 M3 gets toit when all the stuff needs to happen.
I made a cute bug-like upper radiator holder the other day . . . with metal that's been sitting around . . .
There has been a lot of wiring activity. I am using a $30 or $40 dollar body harness from eBay, lots of wire from Autozone, and trying to fit the Holley harness around that. A ten-pound bag this truck is not.
I made a bracket for the Holley Terminator out of .020 sheet that came from the floor supply, then welded it in on top of the brake or clutch pedal (both?) bracket.
That thing's bolted in with nylock nuts, because only one door can be locked. It is also quite well cushioned, as the bracket is shaped like a wave. They called that crap mountain bike suspension in the 1990s . . .
On an off note, there is a lot going on in my back yard today.
In reply to rustomatic :
You should name this truck Bigfoot depending on the tires you go with
In reply to rustomatic :
A rabbit, a deer, and sus-sqwatch?
The stupid bigfoot thing is my neighbor's. We only have a fake flamingo. All other animals are legit.
So I've got this thing running nicely--still very much in the process of "self-tuning" the fuel and ignition by playing gingerly with the (cable-operated) gas pedal. I even took it for a short drive around my neighborhood, which was stupid (no static tuning done at that point--forces super-rich condition under throttle), as I had to stop no less than two times to receive compliments and answer questions.
Telemetry is still in a temporary state, as this is, 4x4 notwithstanding, a hotrod, so give it a few decades for things to be finalized. I've already got a new digital gas gauge that probably won't work . . .
Since I am pretty much a geezer now, and I'm basically from the '80s, I really dig digital gauges. My modern truck has both options, and I only look at the digital. I don't have glasses yet, but digital is the E36 M3. Above, you can see all green lights on the Holley Terminator warning indicators, so all is good for the moment.
One of my proudest achievements with this thing thus far is the exhaust tone--it is perfectly quiet for my grumpy-ass lawn invader sensibilities. It fixes what I screwed up with Fritz the E28 (a sense of calm that it once had, but the V8 kind of ruined). It's nearly quieter than my '21 Ram, but not quite. It's super-quiet for a 3-inch system. It didn't even require a turbo . . .
The intake makes some damn noise, however--the intake snout is 4" exhaust tube and a Spectre filter. And this thing revs insanely quick. Perhaps it's a result of the eBay throttle body's cam profile (part that holds the cable down). Sometimes, you've got to love the mellowness of a relatively stock engine. Note how I had to mix-match the spark plug wires between two sets to keep them off the headers . . . Hotrod.
Looks like a fun build. There's one of these sitting idle one street over from me. If I didn't have the J20 (which is already sitting idle), I'd be tempted to ask if it needed a new home.
I finally took this thing for a more extended drive around the neighborhood today after some tuning in the Holley. It seems like the standard tune always has IAC values completely screwed up (creating a hanging idle), so lots of shuffling of the SD card between units will ensue . . .
Anyhow, it now idles perfectly around 650 RPMs, and it will calmly crawl up my steep driveway at no miles per hour (4.10 gears/31" tires). I am liking the NV 3500 (for a manual), as it's got a pretty low first, along with an overdrive. I can take off in second gear pretty easily.
People stare at this thing like it's an alien life form.
All trucks this age are minitrucks.
Beauty!
Nice truck!!
Heck my '95 F150 looks like a mini truck compared to new trucks!
Looks awesome! Congrats on the milestone
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