Hackster's Need for Swede 😁

[hackster]

I think I lucked out on the powder coater. They are about 15 minutes from the house and their work has been top notch. Dropped all this stuff off Monday, picked it up done on Friday, I could not find any issues with any of them. 20% gloss black on every bracket, battery box, lower heat exchanger mount. BLK17 textured black for the strut tower bar and intake tube.





I am pretty happy I spent the extra few minutes to do the speed holes and dimple dies on the hood support, it looks a little cleaner and fits the build a little better in my opinion.



Kind of just stared at it friday night after the long week.

Had a friend down Saturday to help with the fuel system, we gutted all of the old fuel lines and dropped the fuel tank to find a terrible mess. The fuel tank was about 75% water and 25% gasoline. The inside of the tank is totally rusted out. This is the pump and level sender.



So that kind of left me at a total loss. We changed direction and tore into the heater box to do the worst task on a car ever, blower motor, wheels, resistor and heater core.





Got it all back together and bolted in the car and was able to get the pedal assembly installed as well, hooked up the clutch pedal and brake pedals as well.

Pulled the factory pressure pump bracket apart and welded up the bottom of it with a new plate and it gave me a great place to mount the Holley 10 micron filter.

Not much progress but hoping to have a little bit of progress this week.

[hackster]

With the tank being shot and waiting for another one to show up I got to work on what I could keep on.

The fuel pump will mount internally to the tank, it has the pump, hydramat and regulator all in one so it will have a single line running forward.

I have to mount a filter somewhere and the stock under car filter and pump location seemed to make a lot of sense. I fashioned a plate to cover the stock holes and got it all welded up. Didnt have time to get it to powdercoat, but only a handful of people will see it so it got the wrinkle paint on it and then got the Holley 10 micron filter and their brackets to hold it in. I think it turned out pretty well.





I didnt take any pics but I ran the fuel line up front under the car, factory location, head sleeved front to rear as I dont want to have any issues down the road. Russell GM connection at the fuel rail is super clean.

So without the tank that is where the fuel system stopped.

So this then took place.



Then everything got cleaned up, brackets all pulled out, brake tabs all hardware soaking in my secret sauce to remove all the grease and undercoating.

Everything got tapped off and shot all new undercoating in the front innerfenders.



I dropped off the lower control arms with the rear bushing pockets at the powder coater monday morning. They blasted them and had them back to me by 4 pm on Wednesday and again some killer work.

I had to be up in Seattle on Tuesday and Portland on Wednesday. So I ordered some parts and picked up on my way home.

New steering rack, wheel bearings inner and outer, seals, lower ball joints, outer tie rod ends and some misc parts.

So here is the haul for the front suspension,

From Ben

JRZ rsone coilovers
machined upper camber plates
adjustable sway bar endlinks
5x114.3 drilled hubs
ARP long wheel studs
mock up roll correction steering arms (new version hopefully coming soon)

STS Machining

R brake mounts

IPD

Lower control arm bushings

Misc,

New 330 mm brake rotors
s60R brake calipers
Custom built braided stainless brake lines, fittings and plugs from Pacific Rubber in Eugene.

Powdercoated lowers



Had a lot of little issues that hung me up today, wheel bearings just did not want to fit on the JRZ spindles, so a fair bit of finesse went to get this together, chopped off the backing plate so that everything operates like it should with proper dust protection and seals.

New steering rack installed, Lower control arms, cleaned up brackets going back in and stainless lines.



I only got the one side buttoned up today but its fully plumbed and mostly tightened up on the one side. Its gonna be low.





I am really digging the details in this little section.



Picking up the 8.8 tomorrow, then off for the weekend to spend some time at the coast. Hope to get back on it sunday for at least a few hours.

Sean

[rustomatic]

Great progress so far, Sean--it's great to see creative builds like this happening and getting done. It's this kind of build that gives sites like this a legitimate reason for existence. Question: What kind of regulator goes in your fuel tank with the pump and everything? I get the sense that my C5-style setup may piss me off in the near future . . .

[hackster]

Originally Posted by rustomatic

Great progress so far, Sean--it's great to see creative builds like this happening and getting done. It's this kind of build that gives sites like this a legitimate reason for existence. Question: What kind of regulator goes in your fuel tank with the pump and everything? I get the sense that my C5-style setup may piss me off in the near future . . .

Thanks man appreciate the compliments. I am not a big fan of cookie cutter anything so I gotta thing outside the box.

I stumbled onto it to be honest. Was getting ready to order up the same Aeromotive kit I have in the last few F100's but hear about this and started doing some looking.

This has a regulator built directly into the tank, regulated at 60PSI outlet pressure. I adapt directly to -6 from the pump, my entire fuel system is composed of 4 fittings, 1 at the pump, 2 for the filter and 1 at the fuel rail.

I am running the Holley Hydramat that comes in this kit. Not the cheapest setup but I have heard nothing but amazing things about it.

https://www.jegs.com/i/Holley/510/12-133/10002/-1

Fuel tank should be here today so I can drill the holes and get the pump and float assembly mocked up.

Sean

[hackster]

Well, managed to get the driver side suspension all buttoned up and installed. This sides bearings went on much better than the driver side. I fought with the spindle on that side for hours.

Waiting on tender springs for the front to show up from Eibach and I can bolt in the upper struts for good.

I was planning on just leaving the Dana 30 in the rear, but I just cannot do it, I am too deep in this project to cut corners now.

So last Thurdsay I called around with not much luck finding an 8.8. Did a little junkyarding and found a killer junk yard here in Eugene that had several 8.8's. I lucked out and found one with 3.73's and a limited slip, 31 spline and all. They even had another one next to it that I was able to pull the short side shaft out of.

Took a few days off and visited the coast with the wife, did some hiking (hard on the busted up knee) and had a nice few day break.

Got out in the shop early yesterday and got to work. Unloaded from the truck with the cherry picker and onto jack stands.

For those of you not in the know. This axle is from a 95 to 2002 I believe Ford Explorer, its too wide in stock form but has an offset center section. You can cut down the long side of it and run 2 short side axle shafts and narrow the rearend 2-7/8". These are a disc brake 8.8 rear axle and are very, very tough, 31 spline, factory limited slips and are very well supported by the aftermarket.



Tear down of anything removable from the housing ends.



Then the fun began. Even with a plasma cutter and good grinder this was a pain.

Void of all bracketry and cleaned up for the next steps. I followed a good write up and it worked out far better than anticipated.



Marked out a centerline for alignment, then got my hose clamps out, they make for a nice straight guide line.



Marked up and ready to chop out a section. I cut the end piece off first, trusty grinder with a cut off wheel worked better than expected.

I cut 2-7/8" out and it was perfect.



Ends of the tube got faced and beveled with an 1/8" land and got to jigging everything up to get tacked together.

I used 2- 12" long pieces of 3" C channel and 2 large metal clamps and a quick clamp to hold it together while I got the screw clamps on. It worked good. Clamped this way and tacked, then removed, rotated 90 degrees, re clamped and tacked again.



Once tacked together, I put everything back together to make sure I was able to get the C clips back in and the brakes on, with the shafts.



Everything looked great, tore down, and welded.

Reassmbled everything so I can measure for tabs to go on. Scott is burning out some new tabs that might work for me, hope to have them this week.



Fuel tank should be here today, might be able to get this under the car, fuel pump installed and lines buttoned up by the end of the week.

Rear brakes are ordered, e brake cables, diff cover, fluid, gaskets. Need to figure out some rear coilovers quickly.

Sean

[hackster]

I dont think that there is much interest in a backyard project like mine on this forum but Ill keep the thread updated anyways.

I did a horrible job the last few days of taking photos....sorry for the build thread.

I received the Spectrum replacement fuel tank on Monday and got to work mounting up my new fuel system. The tank is far nicer than expected, even came painted a satin silver that will totally work with my scheme here so saved me some time and money.



Located where the new setup will go, marked the location and drilled a 3.25" hole for the new assembly to drop into. This puts the pump out of the way of the stock float for the fuel level and gives me a great location for the Holley Hydramat to lay out as well as miss the factory filler neck too.



Followed the ****ty instructions that came with the pump but it worked just fine. This is a big single pump, 450 with an internal regulator regulating the output to 60 PSI. The only fittings coming from the new pump is a supply line and a vent. The vent will be hooked to the factory filler neck opening.



The new assembly all bolted down to the tank.



I abandoned the stock fuel line connections on the tank but am utilizing it still for fuel level sender. I am waiting on caps to show up to plug them off. Should be here today, new level sender is installed as well as a new o ring and lock ring, its a clean looking setup and should be plenty for what I am doing.

Scott from STS Machine and I had been going back and forth for a few weeks on 8.8 stuff, he had some killer lazer cut brackets made for the 8.8 to 240, so while in Portland Tuesday and stopped by his place and picked them up with a 25mm front v8 sway bar. I also snagged some 3/4x3/4 heim joints, some bushings, tube and weld inserts.

I got to work yesterday, yarded out the factory Volvo rear axle and got to work locating all of the brackets and getting things tacked up. I spent a little more time than I probably should have but it all worked out.





I ditched the factory lower arms all together. It just didnt make sense, I was going to have to cut them down, buy new bushings for the front, Bens Spherical bearings for the rear and then chop off the back and plate it, then build mounts for the coilovers. It was too complicated for something so simple.

I used some Heim joints at the axle, 1.75OD bushings x3" wide and a piece of 2" .120 tubing for the front bushing at the car. a piece of 1.5" .120 DOM tubing for the lower control arm and a 1.25" weld insert for the heim. It worked awesome and I was able to just use some off the shelf 3" laser cut tabs for the lower link mounts. Now everything on the rear is more conventional.



I have rear coilovers on order, upper and lower shock tabs on order, brakes are shipped, rear ARP wheel studs are on order, I think I am making some progress.

The axle is actually under the car now at ride height, I shortened the lowers .75" and have adjustment to go longer or shorter still. Ben's comfort uppers are in place as well, they have just enough adjustment on them to make the shortened lowers work.

I am hoping that I can set this thing on its own weight next week some time with the fuel system all buttoned up and the suspension mostly buttoned up.

I am getting tired though, been busting my ass lately.

:-P

Sean

[rustomatic]

Is that little sanitary napkin thing seriously all the "hydramat" consists of? The idea of the internal regulator seems cool (not so much for the price, given the $35.00 for the C5 setup), but it's quite a challenge to believe that little absorbent pad will alleviate the need for baffling under g-loading. We shall soon see. You have a Panhard bar setup in the works?

The lack of interest thing is a challenge. There's a lot of pretense in the world, and if you don't have a really shiny Camaro that will make you look like you really won the world after high school (did that really happen?), you just can't win. This is okay, and it's why I've been using Google Translate to read Swedish and Norwegian build threads lately. The guys over there just want to engineer stuff to go fast, regardless of whether the end product will be appealing at the 30-year high school roundup.

[Ketzer]

Originally Posted by hackster

I dont think that there is much interest in a backyard project like mine on this forum but Ill keep the thread updated anyways.

You'd be surprised how much interest! I look forward to the updates.


Jeff-

[scrubby2009]

Originally Posted by hackster

I dont think that there is much interest in a backyard project like mine on this forum but Ill keep the thread updated anyways...Sean

BS. Been following since your first truck build. Shared it with my now 15 year old son, we check in and don't comment, but we're fans, we're inspired and we'd miss it if the updates stopped. Carry on..

[F'in mine]

I used 2- 12" long pieces of 3" C channel and 2 large metal clamps and a quick clamp to hold it together while I got the screw clamps on. It worked good. Clamped this way and tacked, then removed, rotated 90 degrees, re clamped and tacked again.



Once tacked together, I put everything back together to make sure I was able to get the C clips back in and the brakes on, with the shafts.





Sean, kudo's to you for doing all this work on your own & fabbing things along the way!
I've got a rearend that going to get cut for big Ford bearing ends and a Trutrac. The shop utilizes this product to make sure all is aligned.
https://www.mittlerbros.com/rear-end...l?options=cart

Anyway, keep up your good work, look forward to the updates.
Simon