At least you have a thermostat in the man space...my current digs is a toasty -17 F right now. Talk about a motivation killer.
Even so, I gotta drag the kids beemer inside for some repairs tomorrow. If I'm lucky my little propane heater might get it above freezing in there. Winter sucks. Next priority for me is a NG overhead furnace and 220 for the garage.
2014.04.06 - UPDATE!....I'M BAAAAACK !!!!!!
Welcome to my first build update of 2014.
Yeah, it's been a while. I can't make any excuses about it.... things just didn't work out over the last few months, but finally the weather has turned the corner around here and I've finally got a real "fire in the belly" to get back outside.
Sunday turned out to be an amazing weather day. Mid-60s and sunny. I rolled up both garage doors to let some fresh air into the workshop and surveyed the damage that a winter of neglect causes....
Oooops... December 2013. Guess it HAS been a while since I've been here!
The "patient mistress" was buried and hidden behind a bunch of debris, but still happy to see me...
I spent about 3 hours cleaning out the sand, salt and slushy debris.... cleaned up the tool area, and just generally got my head back together as I put the garage back into a functional, clean state. It's always a good time when I've got the music playing and have a hot cup of coffee to get me moving along.... eventually the shop was clean and I found myself staring at the truck wondering:
"SO....... where was I?"
Good question.
According to my Oracle notebook and re-reading this build thread, I was able to determine that I still had some final welding and hole-drilling to finish on the monolith. So that's where I decided to start.
Before removing it from the truck, I took a careful look around to see what else might need attention. It's not so simple to install/remove this crossmember anymore, so it's good to spend a few extra minutes identifying issues in advance. I found TWO...
One is that the front driveshaft output will need a bit more clearance for droop, so the braces I've built will need to be trimmed back a little on the passenger side. Not a big deal, I marked the area with a blue Sharpie as a reminder.
The second is a bit more work, but ultimately still pretty straightforward. I had forgotten that the rear output of my Atlas has a HAD e-Brake setup that didn't fit anymore. Some of the rear bracing was in the way of the disc and will need some trimming and re-plating to create the needed clearance.
After marking that area and taking a few careful measurements, I dropped the monolith like it was hot. (and heavy)
I never got a chance to try out my new gear-reduction pulleyset for my drillpress and was excited to see if it would help my cut the 2-1/2" holes through 1/4 plate steel without loading up and stalling the motor...
It was certainly better than before, but it still needs some work. The amount of torque that is generated causes a LOT of belt slip and when I really crank down on the tensioners they deflect pretty bad (it's a single shear idler). The extension plate on the RogueFab kit bends pretty badly too. A simple triangular support welded to it will probably be all that's needed to improve things substantially.
Anyway.... after a couple of hours and a lot of cutting fluid, I got all the holes drilled. It was a great feeling of success. I'd been worrying that these holes would fight me forever, but the end result came out quite nice!
You'll notice that on one side the holes seem to be in an almost "random" pattern compared to the opposite side. That's because I was careful to align the drain holes with the drain plug on the Atlas... not being able to reach that drain plug would have been a huge "ooops" in the design.
It felt really good to get out in the garage, and I'm looking forward to my next opportunity. I've still got some finish welding to complete, as well as those small clearance issues that need finessing. Then the monolith can go back in place permanently and I can start ordering up the 7075 front links from Branik.
-G
). The Atlas is going to get pulled and shipped back to Advance Adapters for rework to their newer "2nd Generation" gearsets (reported to improve highway durability and increase overall strength).
Nice! That's fun to hear....
It is interesting to think about all the ways people interact with this thread, and how individuals gather ideas or inspiration from it. Dave (Zim) claims that it gave him the courage to try a lot of out-of-the-box stuff on his Iron Maiden build...
For sure, it's going to be an interesting year on this project. The initial priorities are to get the monolith installed permanently... then lay down a fresh sheet of rosen paper on the floor under the front axle..... drop all new plumb lines and 100% confirm that the front axle is installed square and plumb to the chassis (again). After that, a whole battery of cycling tests need to happen to insure that everything clears the way it's supposed to up front.... install the upper strut mounts on both sides for the ORIs.
Then take careful measurements for all the front links, panhard and idler steering components and get those made in final form. Pull the axle, and do all the finish welding on the axle and bracketry.
Rear axle is next. It needs to be pushed back about 2 -3" to center it more correctly in the wheelwell (to minimize cutting of the fenders) and to stretch the wheelbase back out to 107" total. More cycling tests, mini-tubbing of rear wheelwells and installation of upper strut mounts for the ORIs there as well.... then send off those link dimensions to be rendered in aluminum as well. As much as I like the beefiness of my 40Lb lower steel links... I can shave off a LOT of unnecessary weight by moving to a lighter material for those parts.
Of course, at that point, the truck will be a true "roller" for the 1st time in almost 6 YEARS.... and it will need to spend some time in the sunshine again for a few beauty shots and a change of scenery.
From there it seems like the next step should be to pull the body up and off the chassis so that all the finishwelding, hole drilling and finish work can be completed.... things like fuel lines, brake lines, electrical all need to get worked out. Still need to design a fuel tank that holds at least 30 gallons and farm that out to a shop that can render it in either stainless or aluminum.
Engine needs to be completed: framerail headers need to be built, EFI purchased and installed, and a real 4L80E needs to be built to replace my "core" mockup piece (Greg Ducato are you listening?
Ultimately, it would be great to get the entire chassis & drivetrain assembled....engine running and the entire thing in final paint by the winter. Then I can arrange to store it offsite and out of my way so that the body can be set up on a rotisserie for the winter months for all the tedious metalworking, filling and finishing.
It's an aggressive plan, but that's the current plan of record for this build.....
-G
