Ironworks New Project - Unibody Ranch Truck
 

Last weekend at Del Mar the guys at Truckin Mag convinced me to build another truck for some tech for there magazine. I said I would only do it if we could do a Ford. I have Shop full of Chevrolets, Nothing against Chevy, But I really want to do a Cammer motor and it is frowned upon to put one in a Camaro so here comes part two of out "Rough Neck Series" of Truck projects. This one will be nicknamed "The Ranch Truck" since it was found on a Pig Ranch in Ducor, California. I guess some day we will have to an oilfield edition Dodge to round out the Bakersfield Rough neck series.....HAHA

Here is a link to the engine I want to use. http://www.fordracingparts.com/parts...KeyField=10261

Glad you were able to find a solid starting point brother... I'll get that fin in the mail on Monday - look's like you are going to need it.

Nobody will ever be able to say that you backed away from a challenge.

It should be a cool project!

Thanks James, the truck got delivered today. It sure looks rough in the pic but it is actually pretty solid. I'm going to design the chassis in the next few weeks and see if I can find a mod motor for mock up.

Why not build up a v10 for it?

Too heavy and I love the cammer engine they look so good. I'm trying run with the Ford lightning theme with king ranch interior.

The v10 is a mod motor is no heavier then a normal big block.

That would be the Editor's Ford pickup, eh?

No it's mine, Bob has his project Sublime in my Garage with a big pile of "FREEBIES" building at the shop.

DAMN:drool: :bow:

Cool!
A buddy of mine in San Diego is working on a uni-body right now. He's got a late model Expedition motor in it. He's also using the gauge cluster.

Well Guys we drug her inside today, Really drug, Blown up tires and no rear axle is what you get for 350 bucks. We set it on the ground this morning with a 5" front and 5.5" rear ride height and Damn she looks really good. We set it up with 20's and 22's. I thought for sure it would be a less static tire difference, maybe 19's and 20's but the 22 looks money in the rear. With the rails being 34" OD front to rear it is only a 2 Dimensional frame front to rear. So that makes it pretty easy to design in Solidworks. I just need a wheelbase measurement and a few other measurements and we are ready to rock.

Here some early mock up pics.

http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/t...17-2009001.jpg

http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/t...17-2009003.jpg

cool project... Carter did a sick rendering awhile back

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/8076/unilowsmall.jpg

badass, and I can't wait to see the chassis build, the work you guys do is absolutely phenomenal. Makes me want to build yet another chassis for my truck.:_paranoid

Don't do it, You will never get the project done. Ask me how I know. The tube chassis was the 4th chassis in the 12 years I have owned the farm truck. If I could think of a way to out due the tube chassis I probably would have. I'm that crazy. This one will be cool, but not tube. We will design it in Solidworks and laser cut the boxed rails. I have some slick ideas for this one but nothing like a tube chassis.

Yours is pretty killer also....

Should be a nice project! :thumbsup:

Yea I remember seeing the laser cut box tubing chassis you did, man I wish I had better access to laser cutting, I would've totally done that instead. Thanks for the kind words man, always good to hear support from the big guys

Guys I came in this morning to design up a few chassis's. I got around to the Ranch Truck and this is how far I got.

http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/t...kchassis-1.jpg

Any more progress pics? My dad is building an air bagged 61 style side F100 (not unibody), so we'll be very interested to see the progress on this one. It's gunna be awesome when it's finished!:thumbsup:

Rodger is a very humble guy........ He makes it appear that everything is so "easy" on his projects.

We all know that the work that the crew at Ironworks does is awesome, but let's give them some credit where its due.

At lot goes in to the precision planning of a project for customers, as well as their own stuff.....

For example, the following photos are just a sample of the various rides heights that were tried before they nailed it.
http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n...a/P1010167.jpg

http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n...a/P1010175.jpg


--Eric

Wow thanks Eric......Your kindness will be reflected in your next bill. HAHAHA

We should have the frame all togther very soon. I cut an extra if anybody needs one......

Rodger

Such a cool project..I look forward to seeing the progress from you guys:D

cheers joe

Looks very interesting ! Should be a fun build for your crew and another opportunity to exercise that design demon in your head :)

Can you spill the beans on the rest of the drivetrain/suspension thought yet ? C6 on the 4 corners, some type of aftermarket system, or something custom ?? Trans style and position, etc, etc.. ??

Visting Pig Farms in your spare time ? You a meat buyer for Champs now too ?

Jim

How do you have time to work on the Ranch truck? Don't you have a certain 55 that needs some lovin':question:

that is awesome i have always loved the unibody fords.

Good choice for the motor, i had a 4.6 cammer motor in my lincoln markVIII. That was a sweet engine.

We should have some tacked up frame pics here in the next day or so.

Rodger

I am pumped to see that you guys are doing a Unibody Ford. Next to the mid 50's Ford Trucks, they are by far my favorite and I know that you guys will really take this to its full potential.

when i heard the word Cammer i thought you were referring the 60`s 427 SOHC Cammer or perhaps the latest version from ford the 5.0L Cammer..which ive never seen any use in a project yet..probably due to its HUGE pricetag...

http://www.fordracingparts.com/parts...tKeyField=8022

Some pics of the tacked up chassis Erik got done with before he went to Laguna Seca for the weekend.... Lucky guy

http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/t...14-2009007.jpg
http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/t...14-2009006.jpg

that frame looks sick, i will definetly follow this build

Looks killer, Rodger. I always love seeing updates on your projects!

Thanks guys there are some bitchin projects on Lat-G

have you noticed a strength difference between the frame you built and a mandrel bent 2x3 rectagular tubing with the same wall thickness as the plate you used?

Well I'm using a frame height of 5". But the biggest advantage with the water or laser cut frames is the one piece rails front to back and the lack of kinks in the bends. Now a frame with a beam height of 5 is going to be way stronger then the 2x3 of course. On the frames i have been doing for tri-5's we are able to make the frame much stronger on the kick up in the front. Plus I made the inside plate of the chassis out of thicker material. But the top is still .125 material. We also make the crossmembers go through all 4 rails.

Plus you don't have to have an expensive bender. With square tubing you cab not bend on 2 planes at one time. With this style I can make it sweep in and up in the same bend like a round tube frame. You could not do that with a square or rectangle bender.

Rodger

good points, i really like the idea. it cleaner looking than a wrinkled tube frame.

very nice work

those frames look very strong in static bending, but would be poor torsionally. What do you guys do to stop it twisting?

Let me put a crossmember system in it, The frame is just plates tacked togther. There are is barely 20 hours in the whole deal so far. The center section will be very strong.

Rodger

Looks killer Rodger! Then again would expect nothing less from you guys. Look forward to seeing it in person next week.

This is going to be a really cool truck when done. And a really cool project to watch come together. You guys do some top notch work there Rodger, if I lived closer and had the funding I'd bring you my 2nd gen Camaro and let you do your magic.:thumbsup:

Any more progress on the truck? I have a 63 and I'm looking for ideas.

This Truck has been put on the back burner until we get some other things done. I still want to do it. But there are just higher priorities. And alot of those priorities.

I cut 2 frames if you interested in the ride height and style of chassis we put under this project.

Rodger