Betsy the B2300- Bluej's Build

This is Betsy:

Josh (bluej) put this truck together over the last couple of years (I think).  It's a 2001 B2300 with a 2.5 swap from a Fusion which runs but I'm not certain how well.  At a rallycross a couple of months ago, we were all sitting around talking and Josh pitched the idea of my taking the truck to the challenge on his behalf since there is now a tiny human in his family who requires his attention.  Naturally I said yes.

So, I'm now responsible for getting Betsy to the challenge to compete as a Gastropod.  The plan is roughly as follows:
-Meet at Josh's house in DC to make the engine run better, the suspension much lower, and the truck sort of handle and be safe.
-Drive truck home to my place in PA.
-Finish whatever didn't get done in DC.
-Drive 1000 miles to Gainesville.
-Win us a snail.
-Drive 1000 miles home.
-Return Betsy safe and sound.

We have a few weeks, this should be interesting 

bluekid is sceptical, but we're doing this anyway. She'll see..

bluej said:

bluekid is sceptical, but we're doing this anyway. She'll see..

i am AngryCorvair and I approve of this photo

I have great interest in this truck and will be poking around an annoying amount at the Challenge. I'm probably more interested in driving this than anything else that will be showing up. My brain is not well. 

Babies > project trucks. Always. I'm glad that everything in this thread is happening the way it is. 

mazdeuce - Seth said:

I have great interest in this truck and will be poking around an annoying amount at the Challenge. I'm probably more interested in driving this than anything else that will be showing up. My brain is not well. 

Babies > project trucks. Always. I'm glad that everything in this thread is happening the way it is. 

I had already told Chris you needed to drive it at some point.

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

At least you’ll have something to haul your drums down with!

Jim and I are down to help out when you come down. Keep me posted about details. 

irish44j said:

Jim and I are down to help out when you come down. Keep me posted about details. 

Email currently in my drafts folder. Bout to go add some localish rallyx peeps to it and hit send. Might email you for a few addresses actually!

I'll do a proper backstory after this weekend.

Here's another few pics in the meantime.

So far we have a 2.5 swapped Ranger, a baby, Maxjax, and an old dog sleeping in the driveway. This thread delivers. 

I did not realize properties like that existed inside DC limits

So my original plan was to ride a motorcycle down this weekend and throw it in the bed for the return trip, but the collection of parts I'm bringing has grown exponentially- now I need to haul a pair of sweet FloFit seats I found on the side of the road a year ago ($0 budget hit!), a few different leaf spring shackles (came with or off of various vehicles, junkyard or scrap value OK?), potentially a steering rack, and maybe some other stuff.  Looks like it's car rental time, I've got some Avis points to spend anyway.

In reply to bluej :

GRM dog doesn’t look to be too concerned ;-)

This is going to be good, I have a feeling!

pure unadultered awesome in here. 

I  LOVE these trucks slammed on fat rubber. You have my seal of approval as well.

Also, if the kids paint dipped handprints are not part of the livery, you guys have failed. I say do it in tan, because rally guys.

Fordzda club, woo! My Mazda-Ford Probe and your Ford-Mazda B2300 can be pals.

(dark thoughts brewing)

Oooh...KL-powered Ranger...now there's an idea.

Dusterbd13-michael said:

 

I  LOVE these trucks slammed on fat rubber. You have my seal of approval as well.

Also, if the kids paint dipped handprints are not part of the livery, you guys have failed. I say do it in tan, because rally guys.

hmm, that was totally the plan for re-doing the paint on my rallyX car in the next few years, but I like the idea of doing it somewhere in/on Betsy.

last night I set up the tuning laptop (lives in garage, going with the truck w/ Chris) w/ the required software, then finished up the microsquirt harness pigtail, verified the used microsquirt unit didn't die on the shelf somehow in the past few years, and verfied coms were working as required.  Oh, and verified a few things in the garage for before Chris did the junkyard run this morning for the steering rack. 

Today/tonight is finalizing the wiring diagram, some garage tool prep, and further base tune configuring (not necessarily that order).

A few weeks ago, bluewife and I realized no grandparents or other fam were going to be in town this weekend, which would have sucked for extra bluekid help. luckily, my mother didn't have any particular plans, so I was able to use some points and fly her in this evening.  Along with Chris and I, there are at least (3) other guys who've committed a serious chunk of time, irish44j on here and his co-driver Jim, and my neighbor who's a capable wrench as well. Should be fun squeezing us into my "DC" two car garage (a DC two-car means just big enough to physically park two cars, so only room to work on a single car.)

Steering rack acquired:

According to my research Sport Tracs have a similar rack with a faster ratio, although it's way harder to remove than it is on a Btruck or Ranger:

And some other bits while I was at the yard:

Then I picked up the rental car, and packed it full of free seats and junkyard suspension pieces.  Tomorrow we build!

What are the seats out of?  I like this project.

Can’t tell what kind of rental car it is...

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

I have no idea, they were sitting on the side of the road and I grabbed them.  A search indicates maybe a foxbody?

The rental car is a Fusion hybrid, since I just have to do a highway run I got the cheapest thing instead of anything exciting.

Does the fusion hybrid still have a 2.5, or something smaller? Be kinda funny if it was a 2.5..

In reply to bluej :

Nah, it's some weird Atkinson cycle thing.  Sounds like poo.

I like the proportions of rear tire width to track width already, but it needs ~4" wider to meet SSF ratio.

Space ready to work this morning while Chris took a quick drive to experience a baseline.

Progress is happening.  Axle, and bushings are off the rear hangers, and Chrisbis almost done liberating the second one. Nick D (95maxrider something) also arrived and making short work of front end bits.  We got dual grinders spinning and it's just now lunch. 

View from my spot at the upper work bench, focusing on wiring for the microsquirt: