The Shop Truck

[r3dd0g]

We made a lot of progress yesterday, it's much easier when I have a helper in the shop with me and yesterday I had two. We finalized the rear window and tinted it. I used Vivvid headlight and turn signal tint as it's designed for lexan. What I didn't realize is that it's not clear, everything is blurry looking through it. Unfortunately I would have had to delay finishing the roll bar to do something different, so this is what we're going with for now. It's the back window and I have the dumbo ears so I'm not too concerned with visibility.

We had to cut the top of the front of the bed off in order to be able to drop the roll bar down enough to weld the tops of the hoop. I was hoping to not have to do that, but once we got to this point it made sense. We made the call to cut it off so it wouldn't be blocking any of the window anymore. Once we dropped it down I was able to finish welding the rear down bars.

In other news, the wheels showed up yesterday and they look fantastic!

I can't wait to get the tires mounted and see how they look.

 

[r3dd0g]

We got quite a bit more done today, although the roll bar isn't "done" yet as I had hoped. I made a bracket to keep my shoulder harnesses where they're supposed to be (part of the SFI 16.2 rules I think)

With that finished up, we painted as much of the main hoop and down bars as we could prior to putting the bar back into place. No pictures, but just imagine it in black hammered paint. Once we finished that up we installed the rear window. We did have to clearance the cutouts a bit, but it wasn't too bad.

This is what I mentioned about the tint. It's textured, the window is clean in this shot.

You can see the texture in this shot.

I may try to get some better tint and install it with the window in the truck at some point, but it will be this way for Michigan Miles.
After getting the window in I went around and welded as much of the frame tie ins as I could. They're all 60-80% welded and are good enough for me to get it on the lift to finish them up without contorting myself under the truck.
We still had a bit of time left, so we mounted up the new slicks on the new wheels and tried them on for size.

I think it looks great and I don't think I need to powder coat them. Most drag cars don't have matching wheels anyways, so I think this is a good look.

I can't wait to get this back to the track, we're planning on hitting firebird for the midnight madness test and tune on the 25th.

 

[r3dd0g]

I took a break yesterday, but got back out in the heat today. I got the truck back onto the lift and finished the last bit of welding on the frame tie ins, then sprayed them with black hammered.

With that done I tackled the drive shaft loop. The local track tech said he'd pass me with the crossmember loop, but the NHRA rules say it has to be within 6" of the front u-joint so I put one in. I don't want to drive 2000 miles to be told I can't go fast. It's made of 2"x1/4" cold rolled steel per the NHRA specs, I just attached it to my trans crossmember for simplicity.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to finish up the roll bar (paint and rear window grommets) then I'll see what else I can get done. We leave in 4 weeks for Michigan Miles.

 

[76zimmer]

I have a similar design in mind for my Vette. Combo crossmember w trans mount forward of the crossmember and the hoop behind the crossmember just behind the joint.

 

[Babaganoosh]

Do you have your dominator harness running under the cab up?

 

[r3dd0g]

The Dominator harness goes through 3 different bulkheads. The majority of it goes out the firewall behind the engine, the trans harness goes through the floor under the center console, and some goes out the back of the cab.

 

[Babaganoosh]

The Dominator harness goes through 3 different bulkheads. The majority of it goes out the firewall behind the engine, the trans harness goes through the floor under the center console, and some goes out the back of the cab.

Thinking of running mine under the cab and up behind the seat. It’s just to much to run under the carpet.

 

[r3dd0g]

I have the center console to hide all the wiring, but yes there are a ton of wires going up the trans tunnel from where I have the Dominator mounted.

 

[Babaganoosh]

I have the center console to hide all the wiring, but yes there are a ton of wires going up the trans tunnel from where I have the Dominator mounted.

Do you have any concern running them under the cab? I don’t like mud but it occasionally will see some.

 

[r3dd0g]

Do you have any concern running them under the cab? I don’t like mud but it occasionally will see some.

As long as they're protected with loom and or heat shielding they should be fine.

 

[Babaganoosh]

As long as they're protected with loom and or heat shielding they should be fine.

What I was thinking, thanks.