The Fear Monger

[camoit]

Extreme Truck Class. D-50 build out. Chevy. 4.3L V6
After going through the VORRA Rule Book my build falls under the Extreme Truck Class.

LIVE FIRE??? You missed it. but there is a video on the last posts of the page.
Lets start out with the live build cam. Here you can look in and see whats going on. I'm usually in the shop after 3:00 Pm Pacific Time.

Links to parts and things used in the build can be found here.
http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...-used-in-build

[4doorciv]

Nice looking build thread. You still got time to work on your truck with the board?seems like you did a lot in the past week for the board that's why.

[l.k.]

thanks for taking your time for the board. But you can work on your truck too..
:p we wont get mad at ya.

Nothing new to the truck lately? either way keep up the great, excellent work

[joey_crandall]

thanks for taking your time for the board. But you can work on your truck too..
:p we wont get mad at ya.

Nothing new to the truck lately? either way keep up the great, excellent work

and keep us updated.

[camoit]

Ok everybody I found an engine and trans for the build out. It's a 97 Chevy 4.3 V6 Vortec, and the trany is a Tremec T56 6 speed. I found a guy on Craigslist that had the engine. Went to there place up in the foot hills. He had a tweeky friend with the trany. The first thing he asked me, "are you a cop" I guess they herd the scanner in my truck. They wanted $1500.00 for the set but, with some negation and them thinking I was a cop. I told them I would give them $450.00 and I would forget what they were cooking in the shed out back. You should have seen the look on there face when I said that. They thought they were going to get busted right there on the spot. But I told them I wasn't a cop until tomorrow morning. They were happy to get me a receipt load the stuff in the back of my truck and get me out of there real fast. Little did they know that I just look like a cop. Or if they would have read the side of the truck they would have see it said On Site Concrete Inc. with a phone number. Here is a pict of the parts. You just got to love a tweeker.

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Fri Feb 26, 2010 6:27 pm
Over came a large hurtle today. I went to the California DMV. Now in California there is a law called AB100 It lets 500 cars per year be registered by either the year of the engine or the body type. They normally are gone on the first day of the year by around 11Am. These things are like gold. I Once I found out that there was 150 left I new I had to have one to build the truck the way I wanted to. So I went to the DMV in Carmichael, what a joke that is. One hour in line just to get a bingo ticket. Then 2.5 hours to get to the person at the counter. Then they wanted to see the truck. I told them how can you see a truck if you drive it here to show them. Now I know that in talking to the department that gives this “paper of gold” out I can get it with out the truck. But they were stuck on stupid. I herd that the Folsom office knows how this works. So off I went. With an engine receipt and a junk slip for one of the trucks I have. After 4.5 hours there I had what I came for. Now the rules are simple. Have all the receipts you used to build the truck, OR build a car from a junked car but it can’t look like the car you junked. But when they ask you is the truck complete tell them YES, but it is at home. As for a price I gave them a round about cost of $13000.00. After a fee of $260.00 I’m now the proud owner of a constructed truck. Now to build the truck. Then there is the CHP,

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Well I just scored a frame from the neighbor behind me, Phil. He is a hot rod guy and has a 1932 Ford, real nice car he has put many hours in to it. I’ll get a pict up of it when I can. Well anyway he just gave me a 1996 Chevy Caprice frame it has 4 wheel disk brakes that came stock for the California Highway Patrol. So it looks like I have a new used front spindles and rear end. The rear end on the D-50 is 48 inch wide when measured from backing plate to backing plate. The Chevy is 56 inch so I will need to find some offset rims or do something to keep the truck some what stock looking. Well here is a pict what the ride height that I'm shooting for. Give or take 3 inch. If I can get a 6 inch suspension drop and a 10 up travel fo a total of 16 inch travel I will be satisfied. NOTE the two 4 X 12 blocks under the cab. This puts the bottom of the cab at the height of the stock bed. Now it's time to start building the roll cage frame


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[camoit]

Well the cab is now cleaned up and ready to start on the fabrication. I found a nice sharp air hammer bit trimmed the cab real easy. I just took my time and worked on the inside of a bend next to the line of spot welds or with a steel backer and she cut like butter. I cut out the inside of the doors in order to give my self 4 more inches of elbowroom in the cab. Once the roll cage gets started things get tight quick. I will start with the doors by using some square and round tubing to re-enforce the door skin. The whole cab can be picked up one person now. I would guess it’s around 185Lbs. I’ll try to get a weight on it before to long. Building the front suspension is going to be a little harder then I thought, due to the narrow with of the truck. I might be forced to widen and lengthen the wheelbase in order to accommodate the new suspensions. The doors are made stable again. I used 1 inch round tubing across the top of the door panels. Tacked it to the tubing across the top, then used ¾ inch square across the bottom of the door just under the door latch to the lower hinge mount. Added in ½ inch square tube between the two. I found that the ½ inch square fits nicely in the stock window channel. It makes it easy to weld to the back of the door just above the door latch. Just gives enough room to remove the latch. Once the roll cage is installed I will be able to put the inside door handle back in.

Well I just picked up an early block 4.3L V6 it’s a 1992 out of a GMC Jimmy.
She is one ugly suv. It came from my neighbor who owns Collage Oak towing here in Sacramento.

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It was over heated pretty badly. It melted the guts right out of the temperature sensor. Other than that it looks to be a good engine to rebuild. I now can see the real differences between the 1997 Vortec engine and the 1992 non-vortec. One difference is the balance shaft in the vortec.

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other differences are the hold down and guides on the roller lifters. Then there is the timing chain cover and bolt pattern. The oil pans are stamped steel non-vortec cast aluminum vortec.

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The vortec came out of a Chevy S-10 the pan is about 1.5 inch taller. Looking at the back of the block the 97 vortec does not have freeze plugs in the bell housing area. The 92 block has a hole in the side for where a fuel pump would be mounted if it were carbureted. They just did not knock out the inner wall of the block casting. And of course there are the heads and the intake mounting bolts. Now I can use the Nascar manifold that is built for these engines. Oh and the Vortec engine had spun a rod. So it will make parts for the 92 if needed. Well I got the new older model 4.3 torn down and ready to go the machine shop. Every thing looks good inside this one. I should have pictures of the machine process when they get started on it. It will be a couple of weeks tell they get started on it.

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[4doorciv]

I keep having to take off the hood to work on my truck. It's so much easier to work on it without the hood or the hood prop in the way.

[joey_crandall]

are they gonna be bulged fiberglass fenders? if so how much of a bulge is there gonna be?

[Acuta73]

If it's fiberglass? Carriage pins and fast complete removal. Ditch the tilt. OR, do the carriage pins thing with hinges to the rear. That gives you a choice - tip it or pull it. Fast either way and easy to fab.

[4doorciv]

I like this idea. ^^^^^ You watch a lot of dakar rcing?

[camoit]

I might change the build name to: The Greenhouse Monster.
(just in case you need a "TIP" for them in the contest located in the paint booth).
I even found one strange rap song. That could help you or confuse you.

All I can say is Wow.




Oh and the other truck is going to be converted into a street rally style D-50. Full cage time again.

[4doorciv]

Alright. So you are going to keep the camo d50 then?

[camoit]

Alright. So you are going to keep the camo d50 then?

The body style yes.

[camoit]

Today we are going to cover Ceramic coatings on an exhaust system.
As the majority of you mechanics know that the exhaust is one of the worst things to work on. It is rusted and will not come apart no matter what you use. It’s just something we all hate. But there is a way to make it last for years. Ceramic Coating can do just that.
I used a place called AIC.

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And yes that is me in the video on the front page. You can read more about Ceramic Coating and Powder Coating on their site. http://www.amerikotecoatings.com I had them Ceramic Coat my exhaust system. Since I was going to wrap the exhaust, I wanted to protect the headers and pipes as best as I could. AIC coats everything, from the fence to sprint car frames.
The first step is to sand blast your parts.


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Next they will bake all the moisture out of the part. After the first bake they coat the part. Ceramic is a liquid that is sprayed on using a HVLP gun.

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Then the parts are baked one more time. They can even make the finish have a gloss look to it. Powder Coating is a dry coat that is electro static and uses a special gun to charge the powder. It is also a thicker coating then Ceramic.

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If you get something coated do your self a favor, look at the colors they have available. The guys that work with your parts are board of the color Black. They see it all the time and will tell you the same thing. There is more then one color in the world, and we are sick of black.

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[camoit]

I finally installed the secondary suspension, or Bump stops, as they are known. They are Fox 2.5 X 4 inch Air Bump stops. They can be charged to 500 PSI.



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At the same time I built the removable cross beam that stops the upper shock towers from moving. I used a ¾” bolt. I welded the nut inside of the cross bar. Then used a peace of 1” X ¼” wall DOM tubing. This gives me a tight fit for the bolt and a way to keep from crushing the shock tower tubing.

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I started working on the electrical system. I’m doing things the old fashion way. With no solder less connectors. All splices and ends are solder are heat shrink sealed.

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The only connectors used are the water tight and fully sealed GM style. They are a 3-peace type connector.


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The fuse panel is out of a Freightliner truck. It has circuit breakers not fuses. This way if there is a problem then the power can be restored automatically with out the use of a fuse.

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[Acuta73]

Awesome idea on the breakers...something I should consider. Pain in the ass to hit up a large sagebrush or jack rabbit for a spare fuse...Freight Shaker is a local company, mebbe I should give em a call.

Need a real fuse BOX anyway, just have a couple of bare panels stuck in my foot well at the moment.

[camoit]

Awesome idea on the breakers...something I should consider. Pain in the ass to hit up a large sagebrush or jack rabbit for a spare fuse...Freight Shaker is a local company, maybe I should give em a call.

Need a real fuse BOX anyway, just have a couple of bare panels stuck in my foot well at the moment.

Go to a big rig wreaking yard. If I was to get them new then it would cost some where around $200 just for the breakers.

[4doorciv]

Wow. I need some kind of fabrication skills. That rat rod looks awesome. I wonder how it'll look and drive with a 4g63 powering it....... Did you make that bar replaceable as you use the truck for jumps? I know with a few high jumps itll tweak like crazy.

[camoit]

Wow. I need some kind of fabrication skills. That rat rod looks awesome. I wonder how it'll look and drive with a 4g63 powering it....... Did you make that bar replaceable as you use the truck for jumps? I know with a few high jumps itll tweak like crazy.

If I bend it the truck is pretty much a total loss. It's 0.120 wall. The only way to bend it is to crash it, HARD...

[camoit]

The bodywork is under way.

The first step was to set the body on the truck and look at what was going to look the best for the overall project.

First I marked up the fenders with my ideas of how things should fit and look.
Then I dropped off the body to the masters of bodywork.


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Ben is the man that is working as my sculptor. He normally does high detail, dental work for bodywork. He is also an off road guy at hart.

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He has wanted to build a truck like mine for years, so he was extremely excited to get the chance to sculpt out the body and pound out some fenders.
He was going to build everything out of sheet metal, but that turned into a problem.
The extreme angles needed to make the body look right made the use of all metal nearly impossible.
So he is going to be using a mix of sheet metal and expanding hard foam to build the fiberglass mold.


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The first thing I had them do was shorten the bedsides by 1 foot off the rear, no need for long bedsides.

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From there they have a free license to make the front end look correct.
The front end will be widened by 20 inches with tire bumps and flairs. There will be a cowl induction hood designee built into it for clearance of the air intake system. The hood and fenders are going to be a 1-peace designee, with some small fenders, or splash grads. I will update things as we go.


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[camoit]

Now that Ben has an idea on how the front end will look he has decided to use foam in place of metal. Granted, they do extreme metal fabrication on the hot rods they build but there are just some things that would take way to long and too much money, like this car frame.

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So foam is a Farley inexpensive way to build a fiberglass mold. The first step was to build a dam out of cardboard all around the hood and fenders. Next comes the foam.

Measure part A & B to 50/50 then mix for 10 seconds. After that, pour on the foam. This is hard foam. It is very, sticky so don’t stick your finger in it just to feel how soft it is. (Ben found out the hard way) NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, will remove it, next to sand blasting.

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Once you have a nice thick even coating you must let it stand for about 30 minutes to harden up. After that you can remove the cardboard dam. Next comes the sculpting of the fenders. The hood has taken 2, two-gallon kits to obtain a thick enough coating to make the 2” cowl induction style hood and fender bumps.
Please remember during an emergency the hood can be used as a flotation device in the event of a water landing.


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[Acuta73]

LOL, love that stuff. Little foam mushrooms will sprout EVERYWHERE when you use it. Makes a God-awful mess, but damn it's fun. Interesting way to make the mold, very doable as well. Would have been cheaper (and likely safer) to use some kind of mother-mold and less foam. 1/4" plywood or scrap sheet would have done it well enough. Instead of being 2 feet thick, the cast woulda been half that or less.

Time for lots of release agent and resin/fabric! If yer feeling insanely rich, ask about carbon fiber. LOL

Yeah, the more I look at that, the more I see a huge waste of 2-part foam...these guys need to talk to Bill Owen or some of the other computer case modders out there. Even that thick that stuff is gonna be easy to crack and stupidly heavy. Bad tooling/engineering is bad. /shrug

Edit: The English Wheel in post #30 is about enough to make me soil myself...../drool

[camoit]

The total weight of the foam is 35 pounds, across the substructures. That is the original hood and fenders. Inside of that is a complete structure that mimics the stock inner steel of the truck that the fenders mount to. As far as the hood and fenders are concerned they think they are still attached to the truck. Once it takes shape you will see. I can’t describe it. It’s a hybrid between the stock hood and this type of hood. But when it’s done there should only be about 10 pounds of foam left.

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Now if you need an Indy car body I met a guy that has the molds of some of the older models. I would love to have him make the parts for me but he is way, way out of my price range. But there is a guy here in Sacramento that builds Drag Racing boats that is willing to show me the ropes on vacuum bagging fiberglass.

[camoit]

Today I test fit the new body mold. Now you can see the shape of the hole truck. The front end will be cut from the cowling at a 45 degree angle to the fender. Soon it will be time to start the fiberglass. Once the foam is ready it will be covered with a fiberglass twill and resin. Then it will get bondo shaped then a full paint job. The better the finish of the plug the better the finish of the final part, but I'll get into that when the molds are started.

Here are some pictures for you to look at. I want to keep the square look of the 80s, styling of the truck.

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The rear bed sides have been shortened by 12 inches, flared and cut to match the front end wheel clearance. You can also see the rear protection panel.


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This is the Point Of View from the driver seat.

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[joey_crandall]

that thing looks bad ass!