Project EconoTow

jasonf wrote:Are you putting skyjacker suspension on that thing? How come the motor is so low or does it just look wrong in the picture?

It is sitting a ride height on my fixture. As I stated earlier there will be about 6-7 inches of ground clearance for the pan. The front of that wooden cradle that then engine is sitting in is 7.5 inches. Plenty of room for a highway truck. I also chose it to be that low for the lower center of gravity and also to prevent any weird angles on the drive train.

Will the body hang low enough to cover the engine or will you be able to see it?

jbozzelle wrote:Will the body hang low enough to cover the engine or will you be able to see it?

Engine is completely hidden under rear deck.

Surprisingly I got the front leaf spring brackets done today. I could have gotten more done, but was also working on my brothers Air Boat with an overheating issue.

I just finished the passenger side engine mount a little while ago. Drivers side should go a lot faster now that I have a master pattern to go by, plus I need to make a trip to Lowe's and load up on some flap disc for my angle grinder. Just in case anybody is wondering what those are bolted to the heads, they're temporary braces so the engine doesn't move around on me while I'm fitting everything.

Well you wont be braking that mount.

res0rli9 wrote: Well you wont be braking that mount.

Lordy, I hope not ! It's made from 1/4" thick plate, and a lot of dang welding. I think I got a little bit of tan this weekend on my arms

Doug Rahn wrote:

res0rli9 wrote: Well you wont be braking that mount.

Lordy, I hope not ! It's made from 1/4" thick plate, and a lot of dang welding. I think I got a little bit of tan this weekend on my arms

Little bit of tan??? I just get sunburned...

I like those mounts. How wide (thick??) are they about 1"?

jasonf wrote:I like those mounts. How wide (thick??) are they about 1"?

Overall thickness is 1-1/4".

Doug will you be able to use the block hunger short headers like you posted up top.

69F100 wrote:Doug will you be able to use the block hunger short headers like you posted up top.

It's hard to see in the other two photos, but the mount is well forward of the center of the cylinder head and block. There should be plenty of room where the collector comes straight down.

It looks alittle different in that photo ,what wheel base you shooting for

I like it very inventive! That block mount looks very similar to a V8 S10 mount did you borrow the idea from one our just coincedence? Either way great work!

bigblok2000ranger wrote:I like it very inventive! That block mount looks very similar to a V8 S10 mount did you borrow the idea from one our just coincedence? Either way great work!

Thanks! Just a coincidence, I've never seen one.

The only thing I got done this weekend was making the fixture to support the rear axle during mock up. I should have my tax refund by Thursday and then take a trip to a salvage yard in Hazlehust to get the rear axle from a 2000 F350 Dually

Doug Rahn wrote:The only thing I got done this weekend was making the fixture to support the rear axle during mock up. I should have my tax refund by Thursday and then take a trip to a salvage yard in Hazlehust to get the rear axle from a 2000 F350 Dually

Don't plan on working on it next weekend either...

10-4 Big Daddy. What day are we going?

Doug Rahn wrote:The only thing I got done this weekend was making the fixture to support the rear axle during mock up. I should have my tax refund by Thursday and then take a trip to a salvage yard in Hazlehust to get the rear axle from a 2000 F350 Dually

Doug you getting it from McCarty if so he a old drag racer too I have bought from them years ago

69F100 wrote:
Doug you getting it from McCarty if so he a old drag racer too I have bought from them years ago

That's the place.

I picked this bad boy up yesterday. It had the ass end of the Ranger riding a little lower down the road . A lot of work to do before I put it in the fixture. Cut the spring perches off, shorten up axle tube on the drivers side to move the pinion to the center, and a few other little odds and ends.

Well , I ran in to a minor little snag that pisses me off more than anything. About 6 weeks ago I contacted Stainless Works about their block hugger headers ($490). Now, I've built many sets of headers over the years, but this time I wanted to avoid it to save a little time and there was something off the shelf was was perfect for my needs. I called this week during my lunch break to place the order, the salesperson I had talked to said they were showing inactive on his computer. He said he was going to contact the general manage and find out what the deal was. Later he called back and said they don't make them anymore. I asked can't you make one more set? But, noooooooooooo, they don't have the patterns and tooling anymore . Now what kind of idiot doesn't save their patterns? So out of curiosity I contacted another company that builds stainless headers and sent them the picture I had posted on here. They said $1200 . You've got to be freaking kidding me! I told them no freaking way am I paying that much for block huggers, I don't mind paying that much for full length race car headers, but simple non-complicated block huggers .

So now it looks like I've got to build my own damn it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You try Sanders? and just coat them?

what about FPA?

dfree383 wrote:You try Sanders? and just coat them?

Yep, primary's are to small.

Doug Rahn wrote:

dfree383 wrote:You try Sanders? and just coat them?

Yep, primary's are to small.

On shorties with an exhaust system it wont make a giant differents in the rpm range you will be towing in.