I figured I would bring everyone up to date on a project we have been going pretty hard on lately for a local guy. The project name came from the fact the owner asked one of his X employees if the shop he worked at now could handle some rust repair on some doors for a pick up he was trying to build in his garage in his spare time. The owner had no idea about anything in our shop, just knew Jimmy who used to work for him as a shop foreman at his trucking company now worked for a "Hot Rod shop". The owner of the truck said he might send the whole truck over to us to complete if we did a good job on the doors. Well here we are today.
The Truck has a custom chassis under it from a builder that will remain nameless. ( It's junk ) We are going to have to re-engineering most everything for the results the customer and I would like out of the truck. Otherwise it would twist the frame and rattle and clank if it actually created any forward bite. With a paddle shifted 6 speed auto with an LSX454 engine it will have plenty of go power if we can get it to the ground. The customer already had some 20 and 21 inch HRE wheels with Pirelli tires. We installed some Ridetecg drop spindles to try and get it down in the weeds. We are going to set up a rear frame notch and raise the bed floor. the shock mounts and shock lengths are all wrong. The shocks were at complete full droop with the arms level and the upper shock mount at the lowest setting. Plus the motion ratio for the front end shock geometry was nearly 2 to 1.
Enough BS here are some pics. This truck should be a pretty Bad Ass Cruiser.
We did an initial mock up to find the best ride height for performance and obvious looks. The truck was going to sit pretty stinking high and we wanted to hide the transfer case.
We had to rework each cab corner and some of the outer floor boards to get things to line up with out rust.
We began to build up the inner fenders and hood hinge mounts to get things to clear the tires at the desired ride height with the 20" front wheels.
We are widening the wheel tubs like 5 inches to clear the 375 rear tires. We are also raising the wheel tubs 3.5" to get this ride height.
We are shaving the cowl vent and the windshield wipers because it never rains here anyways. And the truck looks way better without them. Plus its cheaper.......HAHA
The owner is looking at having the truck painted a Flat color from a Designer series Mercedes. Then doing all the trim in flat black or brushed like the wheel lips.
Enjoy - more to come.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
Ironwork project - Paddle shifted rusty door, 1966 Chevy truck with LSX454
Rodger,I only wanted to post once.But I had fried chicken grease & ranch dressing on my finger and I slipped and hit the button more than once.Sorry about that buddy.Skipped the buffet tonight had Grilled ,bacon double cheese burger's & Hot apple pie.
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