Dallas-

Are you going to box in those fancy side pieces made out of plate? (Sorry, not sure what to call them) That unopposed section where the tranny mount seems like there could be a good bit of movement. And, any hits they take on the long edges will deflect them inwards.

Just a thought.
Michael

There will be much more boxing going in, but until I get more tube in and figure out where all the connecting points will be I'm leaving it open. Its easy to add structure later, but if I put it all in now and find that I need something to run through that spot then it'll be really difficult to cut out.

Dallas

I like to make a correction on that....

Now: you have about 5 seconds to either hop in or get your truck started or you probably won't be able to catch up...

My friend Josh came over to the shop last night and we got a bit more work done, but unfortunately I forgot the camera, so no pics today. We got the front shock towers bent up and the upper shock mounts. Also made the first rough cuts on the hood and figured out how much of the grill will need to be removed. I'm pretty happy about how the hood came out, it's gonna look pretty awesome, plus I ended up only having to cut the sides off, so making a new one after I crunch this one should be pretty easy.

Dallas

Heh - my hood is one of the few pieces of sheetmetal I don't worry about <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shiner.gif" alt="" />

Heres the pics of the narrowed hood, and what was removed.





When I showed up at the shop the other night there was this box full of CNC Brake parts that had magically appeared.

Thanks again Steve.




My buddy Josh came over again today and we got a bunch done. added a bunch more tube, and got the drivers seat mounted.







Dallas

Well I didn't get any help today, but I did manage to get quite a bit done. One of the things I've been stressing about is fitting the exhaust into the chassis, especially on the passenger side where the frame and shock tower is closer to the motor. When I pulled the motor out of the trooper it had a set of old, rusty, cracked Edelbrock headers on it, which I had planned to toss in the trash. However since I've been unable to find header flanges for this motor I decided to see what I could do with em. On the drivers side I know I have room for a stock cast manifold so I had both headers to scrounge tube from to make this work.



After a lot of cutting and fitting and playin around with different ideas this is what I ended up with.



and heres how it fits.



Its a bit ugly at the moment, and theres one splice in there that doesn't need to be there, but I didn't know that when I made the cut. Oh well. It'll get cleaned up a bit tomorrow before final welding.

Next I finished up mounting the passenger seat and welded everything solid. Unfortunately the inside front mount for the passenger seat will have to be cut out, as I wasn't thinking and put it where the exhaust is planned to go. Should be easy to fix though.



Once the seats were in I found a good spot to mount the cutting brakes and fabbed up a nice bracket to hold em.



Heres the bracket without the brakes.




Tomorrow I'll be taking a trip to a friends shop to have some parts machined and to use a few of his tools that I dont own.

Dallas

I've been trying to work on all the stuff thats I know is a real PITA and takes lots of time. Building a cage looks really impressive, but really doesn't take much time, so I've been trying to concentrate on all the annoying bracketry and layout stuff. Unfortunately this stuff isn't nearly as impressive looking and at the end of the days I just dont feel like I'm getting much done. Also I've been working alone most days lately. You may have heard that my friend Wayne injured his hand at TDS, and as such has been unable to come into the shop. Though we annoy each other and bicker a lot we also usually come up with some good ideas and force each other to get things done, and have a lot of fun along the way. I'm really hoping his hand will start feelin better so he can get back down to the shop, at least to toss ideas around with. I highly doubt he'll be using many power tools anytime soon, but at least it might get me more motivated to get things done, and to not halfass anything.

Today I took on the job of mounting the brake master cylinders and pedals. I'm using a dual pedal setup from CNC that has individual pedals for front and rear brakes. In addition the rear brakes will also run through the cutting brake handles I mounted last week, so I'll be able to brake either rear wheel independently. Because of the way the chassis tubing runs up front the masters needed to be offset towards the center of the car. To get the pedals in the right spot they needed to have a dogleg bent into em.








Dallas

Today I got my buddy Josh to help me get the steering column positioned and mounted up. I ended up cutting apart the stock trooper column and using the shaft inside, as well as the bearing that supports the steering wheel end. For the other end I used a 5/8" heim that was kickin around the shop. Seems it was used for the same purpose on Waynes buggy before he went full hydro. I'm pretty happy with the wheel location, its very comfy for me, and even Josh said it felt good for him, and he's an ogre. On the wheel end I ran a straight tube across the chassis that will serve as the main support for the dash. Its gonna make for a pretty large flat panel on top behind where the hood ends, but the nice part is I should be able to reach all switches and controls with my shoulder straps tight. I'm also thinking of building a hatch into the top of the dash for either storage under the dash, or a small cooler.





I also ordered up a bunch of exhaust parts today, and I'm working on a solution for the steering box. I was gonna use Waynes old Chevy box, but it simply doesn't fit. I've also got the stock Isuzu box, and a Toyoda box that both sit above the frame instead of outside it like the chevy box. I'm thinkin the Toyoda box will be the easiest to mount, but I'm still looking. If anyone knows of a compact box that mounts outside the frame rail let me know, especially if it has a forward facing pitman arm. Still undecided how I'm gonna route everything, but I've got a good amount of room for linkage, just not for the actual box.

Dallas

looks good dallas