Merrill's 4G64 DOHC.

[Merrill]

Phase 1 of the chassis is DONE!

Just about everything went in as planned. I did find out my vendor screwed up the order, and I missed it. My drivers side caliper is the 91-93 caliper, while my passenger side is the 94+. Thankfully, the only difference is the legs that come off the caliper. Everything else is the exact same from pads, piston bores, and dimensions. I had to mod my bracket, and now it's all on there and stopping like a dream!


Above all, I'm mostly excited for my wheels to match
Calipers need their paint and special touch up front, but that can be done whenever.... I'm liking it all now, except the ride height. In these pics, the air shocks are full (to get it on and off the rack), and forgot to dump them. However, the ride height is slightly higher than it was with the other wheels. If I can hold out long enough (and not get impatient), Phase 2 of the chassis build will drop it lower.

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Just as I was ready to test drive, this happened....

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I was on the phone trying to operate the lift, so all I saw was one side of the truck go down, but when I turned around.... something didn't look right


For whatever reason, one side of the lift decided to drop while the other side stayed up. No harm done, but it sure did look funny... I guess next time I will pay attention.

While Phase 1 is technically finished, I still have 2 items originally not on the list to install (rack and pinion & rear sway bar). These are little things, so they can be installed as "floaters" for when I am waiting on parts, or have down time. It is now time to start Phase 1 of the engine and start banging out the body. More to come as it happens!

[BradMph]

Sure glad you were not under it when it happened. Any body parts would of been dismembered.

[Merrill]

Yeah lol... probably could have been bad
It didn't really drop suddenly, just one side lowered like any other time. I just didn't see the left side because I was talking on the phone I turned around and was like "huh.... well that could a been worse."

I'm just glad it didn't mess anything up on the truck, property, or anyone.

[Rahtid]

the truck looks good with the wheels and drop

[bobbyk]

Your truck looks good. I've been following your tread and really like what your doing.

[DroppedMitsu]

Truck looks really good. Loving the stance and wheels.

[Merrill]

Thanks all!

I'm mildly annoyed at the moment.... took the truck in for a hand wash/detail and they did a real shit job. After enough bickering, I ended up paying to clean my truck myself. Looks great now, but it sure wasn't from these detail dudes....

[bobbyk]

That's why I always wash my trucks myself. If you want it done right do it yourself...right?

[Merrill]

Yup. They were nice enough to give me a free wash next time I come back. It's really going to be more like a free window cleaning and armorall again.... but if the truck isn't really dirty like it was, it should be a decent wash at least.

Today's update - just ordered my 93+ front end. Time to get the body mods knocked out!

[Rahtid]

Do you have the bumper brackets for the 93+ front bumper, I have a bumper to put on but no brackets, any help would be appreciated

[Merrill]

I dont. I can't find the bar for it anywhere. Chances are I'm just going to build it and not bother with the headache of trying to find D it.

[Merrill]

Wowsers.... haven't updated here in a bit. Mods have never stopped since the last update. It's been getting pretty fun actually.

pretty sure this is a 2 post update... Here is what I have to show.

I guess I can start with the front end. I did order up the 93+ bits for it. The grille arrived quickly (as expected), but I ordered the bumper at the same time from the same warehouse, but it took 2 weeks to get here. They kept messing around with shipping while providing about a dozen excuses why it didn't show. While it did delay my build schedule a bit, I did still manage to get it installed.

I had a few scouts looking all over the country for factory 93+ MM brackets, but no luck. I ended up fabricating all the brackets anyway because I could not wait any longer to get the front end on. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to snap any pics of the brackets, but they were really simple. I had them done in a day with some flat stock and rivnuts.... really simple. The truck is now off at the body shop getting banged out and painted, so I will try to remember to get pics of the brackets once the truck comes back.

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There are a couple things I simply cant stand about the front end on this chassis. I really don't like seeing the suspension in the center cut out at the bottom. It looks kinda tacky. I was searching for something to use for a lip, or maybe a cover up solution, but I didn't find anything I liked. I still have some time to figure it out. If anyone has suggestions, I'm all ears, but please spare the Home Depot mods.... edge trim and foam garage door seals are NOT my style.


I have had tons of followers between the two forums, and all the locals between LV and SoCal. Since I really dig all the cheers and thumbs-up compliments from people driving by, I decided to give them a little something to keep up with the progress.

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Aside from keeping the locals informed, it also serves as more motivation for me. I really REALLY want to hurry up and slap all the "DONE" stickers on

In addition to the front end, I managed to toss my "top 3" gauges in. Top 3 (in the racing world) usually refers to the gauges you want to see the most in your peripheral view. They are typically important gauges that set off all kinds of alarms and tell you, the driver, something is up. My typical top 3 are Boost, Wideband, and EGT.

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All 3 gauges are Prosport Digital series which show both the digital number, as well as a LED sweep. The LED sweep is great for a peripheral reference. I fell in love with this Wideband.... It starts reading in about 20-30 seconds after start-up, it uses a 5 wire 02, has analog output (as most good models do), and matches my other two. It is also programmable which makes fitting to the truck system easy.

So I upgraded my phone recently and it included a free tablet. I grabbed the LG GPad 8.3. It's pretty nice (surprisingly) since I'm a Samsung user.


Either way, I didn't grab it for professional reasons. I already have a tablet I never use because my phone pretty much takes care of all the in between stuff. So instead of carrying around a tablet all day for no reason, I have a better use for it - my digital dash.

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The 4G64 DOHC I am building is an Evo variant - not a DSM. Trying to convert a mostly mechanical cluster (with nothing on it), to a digital cluster (that never existed in a MM), is going to be a pain. On the same token, all the new retro fitted stuff (engine, ECU, etc.) just doesn't match a 23 year old dash and cluster..... This will blend it all together nicely once the swap is complete.

To finish this update, I finally changed out the crappy blue edge trim in the door opening. It's a small mod that will probably never be noticed, but I'm fine with that.

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You sure noticed that crap when it was blue, I'll tell you that much

[Merrill]

You might be wondering why my mu Build Schedule decal has a "DONE" sticker over the Interior section.... Here is why it is on there.

I finished my door cards which classifies the interior as done. I also dyed the carpet black (no pics) for now because I don't want to buy new carpet at the moment. The driveshaft tunnel will have to be modded once phase 2 of the chassis gets done, so depending on how much I have to cut, will determine what I do with the carpet. I may have to have it custom made.

These door cards are 6061-T6 aluminum, 0.063" thick. The process is pretty frigging simple. I'll let the pics demonstrate, but if you have a question - just ask

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Instead of buying the fancy eBay decorator washers, I made mine. There are 2 reasons why I went this route - 1: I don't like the squared edge of the eBay ones, 2: I don't want anyones name/brand on them. I know they are available blank, but I like my style better.

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In case you were wondering how to perfectly place screws into a door that has plastic push rivets in it, here is the answer

Riv-nuts.
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All I did was place them in the exact same location as the factory holes for the plastic rivets. Very simple.

There are a ton of uses for these, and I always suggest (if you are going to use these) buying a good rivet gun. These rivet guns are very specific to the Riv-Nut install. If you are spending 50 bucks or more on a gun, you have most likely bought a good one. The cheap ass ones usually bend, install the rivnut crooked, break on the first use, snap the mandrel clean off, and all kinds of other fails since it takes a lot of strength and force to squeeze one in place (unless it is aluminum). Save yourself the time and money and buy a good one first. You can either buy a few $30 ones, or buy a good one only once for $50.

The armrests were the other part of this door card. It looks pretty silly with nothing there
Again, really simple - if you have any questions - please ask.

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The upholstery was really simple as well. I just used the old door card to make the upholstered pad base.

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Voila!

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I used vinyl instead of leather on the arm rests.... I just couldn't justify the price to wrap in leather... It is a much higher quality vinyl (it's the $20/yard roll instead of the $5/yard roll), so it still blends nicely with the seats.

You may notice there is an insert behind the door handle trim. I had to add this since the new aluminum door card is half the thickness of the factory wood one. This left a gap behind the handle trim that looked terrible. The two inserts are done, and painted, but not installed yet since the truck is at the body shop getting banged out and painted. I'll update later on these.

FINALLY - the truck is at the body shop! It is getting banged out, blocked, and shot with flat white paint. I officially dropped it off yesterday, paid my deposit, and eagerly await the finished result..... I told the guys there that I need the truck back no later than July 1st. so I can finish the last minute pieces before MOD.

Here is all the before shots at the body shop when I dropped it off.

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They have a lot of work to get done on it. This is the first time in many MANY years I have had someone else paint my ride. I am nervous, but comfortable since this shop has been in Vegas longer than I have (and I'm a native ).

This should help explain why I chose flat paint instead of some typical shiny shit....
Take a look at the door card with the logos on it...
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There are ZERO effects applied to this pic. Notice the difference between the shadow and the light. The decals are gloss vinyl, while the door card is flat white. The logos literally pop off the door card like 3D. Since this is a shop truck bguilt to race and promote (as well as work for us), it will be slapped with our shop decals. I want the decals to pop against the paint exactly as they do in the pic above.

The other reason for using a flat paint is simple - I don't want any other ride to be seen when you look at mine. I want zero distractions, reflected landscape, sun blinding bling, or any other reflection visible in my paint. I want my truck to be seen completely in a stack of other cars. Flat/matte paint will do exactly that - show nothing but my truck.

That's all I got for now. As soon as the truck comes back, I'll update the rest and the missing stuff. I welcome all questions or comments, but please - make sure you aren't asking a question I already answered I know some of you read these like PlayBoy (only looking at pics), but I try to give all the info I can here if you would just read it hahaha.

[Merrill]

Only been a couple days and I'm having truck withdrawals. I think I'll have to sneak over there for some progress pics or something...

[Rahtid]

let me know about the bumper brackets

[Merrill]

Let you know what about them?

[asmyser]

Awesome text graphics.

[BradMph]

I know some of you read these like PlayBoy (only looking at pics)

Where are the Boobies?
boobies.gif


Now with the Merrill Performance stickers all over the truck it turns the build into a tax write off for the company and advertises as a mobile billboard. Nice little loop hole to save yourself a bit of cash.

[Merrill]

That GIF kinda looks like Jessica Rabbit.....

Once my truck hits the presentable stages, I'll see if my photographer can find me a topless model to show off a bit.

[BradMph]

That GIF kinda looks like Jessica Rabbit.....

Once my truck hits the presentable stages, I'll see if my photographer can find me a topless model to show off a bit.

That's Jessica alright....The rest of her is here http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...-quot-!!/page4

Click on her and she will walk for you

[Merrill]

That's awesome..... lol

[Redneckmoparman]

truck is goin awesome! love the chassis mods but im ready to see some motor work goin! i need to start messing with my swap one of these days.... lol

[Merrill]

Engine work will come in due time. I follow my own rules... all the power in the world is useless if the chassis can't harness and handle it. I'm aiming pretty high on the engine build, so the chassis has to take it.

All the rest of the stuff like body and paint just take up some time. I'd like the engine to match the rest of the truck (looks) once I get it in there.

[Redneckmoparman]

Oh i agree completely i come from a old hot rod background that tought me all the power in the world is useless if you cant handle it thats why my neon that im building is slowly getting better with brakes and chassis and everything else just no body work lol the engine has had little super cheap stuff done and at almost 50hp over stock the chassis can handle almost twice what it has at the moment and thats how every build i will ever do will go otherwise its pointless unless you like just doing burnouts lol but engine stuff is always super exciting and i cant wait to see how you do the entire setup because like you im going full serpentine only on a dodge engine so ill have all factory parts to bolt on and all accesories to just modify to the truck ps and ac lines but thats not hard

[Merrill]

Little update...

Still waiting in the truck to be finished. The painter says there are a few spots he wanted to go back over, and I'm totally fine with that even though we are over the deadline.

I did see some pics, and being in the industry, I know it is a ton of work. It's all the little things that you have to run back over that take up the most time. With all the little dings and dents previously on the truck, it might as well have been considered to be swiss cheese

What I saw was damn near perfection and I eagerly await the call saying it is time to pick it up. I can't wait to see it complete. .. it's going to be perfect!