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A low slung old chevy on rockwells... it can be done

I put a few more tubes on. Before I moved I was running out of time and never finished the passenger side rocker, I added the last few tubes and tied one into the interior cage through the floor cage plates.





also added some lateral stability to the front cage and possibly a better front shock mount for longer shocks, right now I bottom out the shocks at full droop.
 
in that above picture that tube is also in a good place to be tied into the interior cage if I feel the need in the future.

Previously my hi lift was just lying in the back so I built a mount. Took 1/4" plate, notched it, drilled 2 holes and welded 2 bolts to it for the plate, then just a longer bolt, sleeved it and welded it to the cross tube. Should hold it pretty good and I can take it off in about 20 seconds from outside of the truck.






 
I want more vertical support in that back portion of the cage, so the following pictures show tying into the frame behind the rear seat. Since The body mounts were right in the way of where I wanted to put these tubes, and I have never been fully satisfied with this booty fabbed gas tank setup I am going to rework it.

Goal is to drop the tank down further between the framerails, get a more dependable fuel line setup, cover that up and bolt down an action packer underneath the spare tire. Eventually box in the rear seat with sheet metal so they are more protected from this freaking washington mud.

nobody wants words, they just want pics




all of this is just tacked in for now since I just have my hf spackler, but my buddy down the street has a pimpin miller 220v that I will finish weld everything with.
 
Well in the mean time I have been reworking my crossmember setup. My setup, was weak, the 205 was flapping in the wind, and I had reserve with high centering it. Old crossmember was original stamped steel with a joke of a rear (basically a tube booty fabbed into two bolts on the rear of the 205. Now here is my new crossmember



And here's how I did it... I am going to be a big pic whore on this one

Used the original rubber t case mount as a template


This is 1/4" plate I took from the scrap pile for ultra cheap at the local metal dealer


a diy4x fabricator set connected to it




this is 2x2 .120 wall. I contemplated thicker stuff but my rig is allready heavy and I didn't want a 150lb crossmember. This thing has some good bracing so it is still pretty stout. And it was ultra cheap too. To get this to fit just right with the fabricator set I did add a 1/4" drop to it.


these are the original t case crossmember holes.


another view before the square tubing


the beginning of the front crossmember out of the truck
 
had to notch this thing to fit the driveshaft at full droop




notched and pieced together to fill in all the holes. It clears the d shaft just right


another angle


replaced the stock pto cover with one I made from 1/4 wall. It doesn't show it here but I put a fill hole in this thing because I just simply couldn't get enough fluid into this thing with it clocked up.


second crossmember tube behind the 205, just like the front just not notched.


another angle


tied the two crossmembers with this tube and tied into the pto cover with another fabricator set


another angle


here is a funny pic of how I held up the t case in just the right spot while I was taking this thing in and out about 100 times. I knew I cut a hole in the floorboard for some reason
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dang it. lets try that pic again...


Now, the 205 still hung down about 1/2 inch below this crossmember so I needed a way to cradle it. This tube will help with that.


this is the beginning of the cradle. I don't have a plasma, or band saw etc so these cuts were just me and my grinder. My hands were pretty tingly afterwards. Holy crap look at all that slag.


and after some trimming, fitting, and retrimming, here it is tacked together.


so here is the crossmember out of the vehicle, top side down


and my cradle


so this is the only pic I got showing how I tied into the passenger side of the 205. Another fabricator set, connected to a home made bracket that bolts into the 2 holes for the original 205 tcase brace.


and this is what it looks like from the back or the truck
 
driver side


front


what the belly will ultimately be, not perfectly flat, but not too shabby.


and everything was originally tacked in with my flux core harbor freight spackler. Finish welded with my buddies miller 220 mig. I am getting a bit better at welding with a mig. The holes are just 2 1/2" from hole saws. Adds a pretty cool touch imo.


another angle, bad pic, sorry for the glare




and here you go, this took a lot of time but was totally worth it. I have allready put it to good use as you can tell by the crap on it
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suck on this!!!

44" boggers baby



The front axle looks like it's going to need that 2 inches forward


this thing is going to be 5 inches taller now. Glad I got an 8 ft garage door
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Now I will spend the next week swapping rims and retightening beadlocks
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. Worth it though.

I picked these up on craigslist and they still have the tits on them
 
Well to hell with the recentering, I am just going to run some spacers. Flexed it out and the fronts rub so the front axle is going to be moved forward more, but the rears don't rub and I need this thing as narrow as I can to stay between these washington trees.







Now I just need to figure out a spare setup. I am thinking something close to 44" but not quite because that is a huge tire for storage.
 
went wheeling yesterday. Did a work party at elbe hills again. Helped maintain some trails most of the day and then ran some. There are lots of little quirks to continue ironing out. I want to drop the front down about 2 inches on this thing. It now sits taller with a more vertical shackle so I am thinking about going to a 6" shackle and getting rid of my ez inch. The square driveshafts are driving me nuts, and Now I want to upgrade the front output of this 205 so I am thinking a driveshaft/yoke together. Also this 205 is hard to shift. I should have smoothed out where the shifting balls ride when I rebuilt it but like and idiot I didn't. Also my front upper shock mounts need to be moved. blah blah blah

Anywho here's a video. I can only provide the link because I don't have that star next to my name so if someone wants to hyperlink it into here so you can watch it here that would be good.

[youtube]Xunw6H-0ZZs[/youtube]
 
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a few pics of last time I went out, bashed the drivers side door on another tree. Shattered the window in there. I think I am going to take them off and run without some for a while. 20% of the body is left on this thing and it still is getting bashed. I only got a few pics

Did some trail work at a local park, lots of guys there. Here are a few random ones. Lots of toyota's and cut boggers out here in washington. They are all surprised when I squeeze the full size on rockwells through these trails.






of course some jk guys came. Those jk's are cute
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can't see the rocks behind that stump, after dicking around on this thing for a while I just winched over. I still have a little reserve hitting things really hard with that 7/16" bolt on the front shackle, it's on the list to be replaced.


I am not diggin my departure angle. I would like that rear axle about 5" back




I also want to drop the front of this thing down about 2 inches, it's so heavy low that it's pretty stable, but would be better if I drop it down some
 
I have been doing a few little things to the rig not worth updating but I did groove these boggers, they should flex a little better now.



And I built myself a welding/work table, not done but usable now. I am so sick of working on the floor
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Eventually it will have a vise, bench grinder, mig welder, etc on it. I spend so much time in the garage that now I am investing work to save time later. I do almost every project by myself and getting up and down a million times wastes so much time.
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And remember how I said I wasn't going to do anything to my motor, well I lied. I built this 383 for an eventual drag car but that hasn't panned out and I want to use it, so these parts are going to go into my tbi. I will have to dick with things to get that tbi tuned right.

 
so the specs on my motor will be:
Eagle cast steel stroker crank and rods.
Speed pro hypereutectic flat top pistons.
Powerhouse aluminum heads with 64 cc chambers, 190cc intake runners. 2.05 intake, 1.6 exhaust valves. I hand ported them. 10:1 compression
Summit roller rockers with chromoly push rods
Moderate cam for torque
and the standard stuff, double roller timing, high volume pump, blah blah blah.

not looking for anything crazy just close to 400 ft lbs low in powerband to roast these boggers when I want. Or at least until the 700r4 lets go.
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okay a couple things... Although I moved this axle forward as far as I can get it (about 4 inches) I was still rubbing on my rockers/fenders/cab at full stuff and turned. So I cut back my rockers, recapped them, and trimmed back the fenders a bit more. I also shaved down some sharp stuff on the cab that was cutting my lugs.



Also in the above pic I replaced the 7/16'' upper shackle bolt with a 9/16'' one. I used diy4x upper spring hangers and removed my cross tie because I was at 3.5" width bushings, now I am at 3.0". That was actually a big job with lots of work, after filing that hole for 30 minutes I said screw this and bought a tungsten carbide bit for 20 freaking bucks that finished it in 30 minutes. As far as the shackle goes, I would rather have it cross tied but I also am going to go to 56" springs up front so I will wait until that's done. Also fabbed up that upper shock mount on the tube that ties into the frame. Now the shock is more strait up and down and allows for a larger shock that won't limit my articulation like this one is. I am debating on whether to buy more expensive shocks or whether to stick with the cheapies. Everyone always says buy the most expensive shock you can afford but I always wonder the benefits in a leaf sprung trail rig. Anyone that has good experience with some shocks on these old Chevy's can chime in.
 
A few years ago while on a trail my brother caught his arm and engine bay on fire using "starter fluid". The only thing that saved his blazer was a bystander with a fire extinguisher mounted on his rig. The dirt saved his arm. So you would think I would be smart enough to never go wheeling again without an extinguisher.... nope. I just now got one and mounted it up.



that mount is from diy4x and is pretty cool. The pin is spring loaded and a quick pull and that sucker comes off pretty easy. The only negative I can see with this is it might rattle on some washboarded dirt road, but I honestly don't care about rattles, anyone who drives an old chevy knows that.

 
Last time I went wheeling, I drove back to the trailer in the dark. With only 2 driving lights on the front and nothing else it was pretty sketchy. It's surprising what just some tail lights will light up. So I went with some cheaper LED's meant for under the bumper of a ricer. I mounted 6 of them as rock lights, all tied into the same switch. They light up the underneath good enough. Sorry for bad pics, it's hard to get the lighting just right with a stupid phone.



 
finally figured out a spare tire setup. I went with joshgammill's advice and went with an old military 9x20 off of a stock deuce and a half. they measure out to 40's exactly, which is only 3 inches off of my 44's at trail pressure.



that tire says BF Goodrich on the side. Hmm, I didn't know they made military tires. I started thinking how nice it would be to have rollers and some straiter rims to drive down the road (if need be) and fit this thing into a smaller garage (if need be), so I bought 4 total. They were crazy cheap. All of these are unused with the tits on them but since they were on deuce and a halfs they are super old. Obviously the negative is they don't have any tread, and they are heavy mother f'ers. These things are way heavier than my 44's. Obviously one of the positives is now I can say my jimmy rolls on dubs.
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How it will be with the spare on, looks stupid.



naturally I started dicking around and wanted to see my rig as a dually.



I started to think this thing would fit on my trailer without having to drive over the ramps if I could flip all 4 rims in, but unfortunately the fronts don't fit over the knuckle with the rim and hub flipped in. Wishful thinking I guess.



but here is the real reason I got the tires.





my winch pulled that tire up into position. I got an engo wireless winch remote for christmas and let me tell you how wonderful that is. No plug, no wire. It just came with a remote sensor that goes in the solenoid box and the remote is about the size of a small flip phone. The remote works from 100 yards away, it's crazy. Not sure if it works with other winches but I assume it would work with any winch that has an external solenoid box.

Engo USA - Wireless Winch Controller
 
past 2 weeks I have been doing a little finish work. First off, here in washington it doesn't matter the weather, or time of year, you are in mud. And with everything open mud was getting everywhere. When I have to clean off the inside of the windshield on a trail, then it's a little much. So I enclosed the back seat better.



I bet lots of guys wondered why I kept a portion of the wheel well flapping in the wind, well this is the reason.



everything is plated and closed in.



let me tell you I have got my money's worth out of my 110v 90 amp spackler, I pretty much abuse that thing, throw it around, ignore work duty cycles, and it just keeps working.



Here is my homemade cup holder, 3 inch exhaust tubing, capped, with a drilled hole in it, welded to the side with door edge molding around the top. Holds a can and a 20 oz bottle perfect. Sometimes it's the stupid little things that keep my motivation in building.





other side


 
from behind, I had to use those 1x1" square tubing parts as spacers because unfortunately I cut the wheelwells too short a long time ago. Oh well, works fine and is strong enough for sheet metal.



that flat face on the back gives me a good surface to mount crap on, maybe an air tank and pump?...
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seat back in, cupholders luckily placed in perfect spots.



 
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