Looks like fun. So with all the projects of your own that you do, what projects have you been doing that keep you in business?

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> This is actually the first major project of my own I've done since I built the StinkBug, almost 4 years ago. I've helped friends with a couple buildups, but mostly do all sorts of custom fabrication stuff. Cages, bumpers, etc. I also spend a lot of time working as Crew Chief for the RedBull Rockcrawling team. Starting in about 2 weeks I'll be on the road at least one week a month going to competitions and working on the comp buggies. In a month or so I'll also be flying out to Blue Torch Fabworks in Alabama to help finish the new RedBull RockHer for Becca.

Dallas <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I spent the last couple days finishing out the suspension, mainly the track bars and brackets. Well I finally got em done. Actually the front is just tacked together, and still needs some gussets, but I dont wanna make it permanent until the steering and other things that could interfere go in.







I also got ahold of this trick little tranny cooler. I've really been wanting to do something cool with the space inside the subframe plating and since this thing was the perfect size I went ahead and welded in some tabs and stuck it right in the middle of the frame. I'm hoping it'll be protected from rocks enough, if not I'll find a new spot.




Dallas

Well, as of yesterday I had pretty much given up on taking this thing with me to EJS. I leave a week from this friday, and I still have a ton of work to do. Today a couple friends decided to change my mind though. They offered to help me get this thing running in time so that we could test it out in moab. It definitely wont be finished, but hopefully it will be running. Me and Josh worked until midnight tonight and got quite a bit done. He worked on mounting the radiator and fan while I got to work on some of the remaining tube work. I finally sat down and figured out the roof line and bent up the first tube. Unfortunately I didn't have enough long pieces of tube to bend the other side though.



While I was working on fitting tubes, Josh was making a bunch of brackets. The fan and Radiator are in place now, with enough space behind them for my winch. I'm not going to put the winch up front both for better weight distribution, and so that the cable can drop straight down to the axle for suspension control.



Heres one more of the fan and brackets Josh made.



Dallas

dallas.....what steering box is that ...Toy or F-150?

I think he used the old Toyoda that was in my Bronco.

edit: Definetely the Toyoda, I see the super bling Flaming Rivers u-joint on there.

duh, that;s right i remember talking to him about it....it's like a 2wd box IIRC

Yep, I've been told its a 2wd Toyota pickup box. Its the one with the funky 3 hole mounting in 2 different planes. Kind of a wierd mounting for a stock style frame, but actually works pretty well for a buggy.

Apparently Dustin didn't get enough of fab work while in Alabama working on the new RedBull RockHer, because he came over to the shop today to help out. Here he is underneath welding some chassis gussets in.



While he was working on that Josh built this nice battery mount that fits inside the subframe underneath the drivers seat.



And meanwhile I got started on bending the brake lines. It feels really wierd running lines already, as I'm used to finishing the fabrication on a rig before plumbing it, but in this case its actually working out pretty well. I've got a very detailed plan for everything already so I can do a lot of things at once or out of order and it should still come together. you can also see how the battery fits here.



I'm really happy with how theses lines are coming out. They're goin fast and coming out very clean. I should be able to have em all plumbed by tomorrow afternoon.





Once Josh finished off the battery mount I decided to let him loose on notching and fitting some tubing for me. I'm actually really impressed by how nice everything came out, as he's never actually done any tube work on his own before. I've shown him some of the tricks I use in the past, and apparently he was listening because everything fit perfect. The blue tape here is where the B pillar and wing window bar will be added.




Dallas

More work goin on today, though a lot of it was running around town getting parts. I did manage to finish off all the brake lines, and the fuel return line. Josh also mounted the ECU, Fuel pump and filter. Doesn't seem like that much, but its a big step towards getting the thing running. Tomorrow I'd like to finish off the fuel lines, and I've got more tubing coming in so I can get some more of the cage done. I've also got all the steering linkages arriving so I might have a tie rod and drag link as well. A number of friends have offered to help over the weekend and if everything goes as planned I think I'll actually be able to fire the motor on sunday. That leaves me 4 whole days to collect the remaining parts, mount driveshafts, bleed brakes, mount the body, setup the gears and locker in the front end.........

Oh and on monday I have to put a clutch in a crew cab chevy duramax <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />
Should be a fun week.

Dallas