Southeast Texas King Cab

[southern620]

Updates?

[]2eDeYe]

What he ^ said. :D

[Rhapakatui]

Fine. I'll show you my shame.

 

I was having tons of fun looking at my truck and imagining my truck driving me to Oregon. Taking pictures of it next to my DD, who I resent for personal reasons that make me less manly and shouldn't post on Ratsun. (Probably selling it).

 

 

So my parents helped me tear it apart for weld out.

 

 

 

 

 

Then I started breaking down the back end for the new coilovers. After some new measurements I realized something wasn't right.

 

Then I found a problem so obvious that I am astonished at how stupid I am for not noticing it 6 months ago.

 

Not wrecked side of the car.

 

Wrecked side.

 

Whole back end needs reworking.

 

Then i went and bought this for my wife.

 

And I haven't worked on the truck since.

 

Gonna build new links to replace bent one and the good one so they match, but I've been Plymouthing...

 

Sorry Ratsun.

[southern620]

Ouch. Well sometimes a project just needs a break so you can can back at it with full steam or the unmentionable alternative........

[bonvo]

the front portion of that frame looks a little flimsy

[Godzilla]

dude u have skills and make it look so easy. lol. cant wait to see this thing done. make sure u have an lsd in there. id love to see that thing go sideways.

[Rhapakatui]

A little cutting and welding and it'll be straight again. Just disappointed that I never measured where the spring mounts were in the back to notice they were out of square.

 

The front looks a little flimsy all taken apart, but with that subframe bolted to it, it's beefy as hell. That angle in the very front is basically just there to give me a place to mount the radiator and hold it square while welding.

 

There will be LSD...

 

..And HICAS.

[]2eDeYe]

With all the work put in so far, a little rework in the back shouldn't be to big of a deal.

 

 

Love the sled :cool:

[Rhapakatui]

It's just going to be a bit of a pita to get that t-iron piece cut off, squared and welded back without leaving some evidence behind. I hate being reminded of my mistakes by gouge marks in steel, and ugly, oversized welds.

 

 

I also love the sled. Still keeping it a secret until my wife's birthday in two weeks.

[bonvo]

 

 

The front looks a little flimsy all taken apart, but with that subframe bolted to it, it's beefy as hell. That angle in the very front is basically just there to give me a place to mount the radiator and hold it square while welding.

 

 

 

thats what i was thinking you were doing its looking good man this thing is going to be bad ass especially not that you will be able to get a stock hood on it

[datsunfreak]

So jealous... B)

 

It's all I can do to not buy this right now...

 

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/2952575711.html

 

I would have already bought it if it was an Imperial/Fury/Newport...

 

Those square late 60s Dodges do it for me in a sick, sick way... :blush:

 

 

 

Then i went and bought this for my wife.

 

[datsunfreak]

And if you ever sell it, PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE let me know. :thumbup:

[Rhapakatui]

Well, she loved it on the side of the road, but she hasn't seen it since. My plan is to sell my frontier to pay back the 3k I borrowed from my parents and have extra money to fund my builds.

 

If she says no, you are on the list of about 6 people who have offered me cash for that car since I've had it.

 

There was one on the Dallas craigslist for 10.5k fully restored recently if you wanna go that route.

[datsunfreak]

If she says no, you are on the list of about 6 people who have offered me cash for that car since I've had it.

 

Great! :P

 

There was one on the Dallas craigslist for 10.5k fully restored recently if you wanna go that route.

 

Yeah, no. :lol:

 

Can't see spending that much. I'd rather spend $3-5k on a decent "survivor" than $10k+ on a "restored" car. I like original paint/patina. :wub:

[Rhapakatui]

Well, I started an update on this thread... Then my wife said "why are you ingnoring me?!"

 

We had a nice feaux argument about how I have zero free time anymore. In the progress, I deleted my update and closed the computer.

 

I absolutely love my wife. I realized along the way that there was a sensation that I've been missing for a while now. I can't remember the last time that I was bored.

 

A good example comes in my truck. I love my truck. I miss my truck. As of late, my truck has been seriously neglected. My friend and coworker Josh said the other day that it looked like "a tiger ready to pounce." He was not refering to any kind of stance, or late 70s awesomness. He was referring to it's orange color combined with its current environment.

 

It has become very difficult to see through the thick weeds that have grown around it. (I promise it's in that oic somewhere).

 

Luckily with this particular medium, I don't have to remind you of what happened before. You can just scroll up and see my troubles.

 

 

I needed the bent one of these to be straight. I took a series of pictures documenting how difficult this was to make happen without spending any money. Unfortunately, they all proved useless. I ended up with this ugly robot arm looking thing that looks terrible, but actually lines up fairly close to the origional.

 

 

Got that put on and..., well, it still wasn't all square or better at all really.

 

it sat outside in the weeds for a while after that. Recently work has slowed down and I was able to pull the frame back into the shop this week.

 

First, I cut apart all of the old stuff that didn't work.

 

I struggled for a while trying to use the T-iron piece to make something for the much smaller, adjustable coilovers.

 

I failed. It all went in the scrap bin, along with several hours of work.

 

I spent hours staring at this view

wondering what to do next.

 

I wanted to be origional and artistic, but functional... and I'm still using scrap material from work.

 

Along the way (while making real money) I found a piece of pipe that we had split in two for a hose rack on a previous job.

 

I played around (some time on the clock) with the design, and came up with this for the right hand side (easy side).

 

 

I tried to mirror it on the left side, only to find out that it wouldn't work with an exact mirror image.

 

it should.

 

Why didn't it?

 

 

My helper/brother in-law nailed it.

 

"The car was rear ended, right? Maybe this subframe is tweaked."

 

FUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is.

 

 

 

I've decided to ignore that.

 

It seems that the way that I've built this frame around the already bent subframe, that I may be okay. There will definitely be some adjusting come alignment time but, I think that the Hicas, plus adjustable coilovers, along with the fact that I cross squared and measured along lines that were not affected by the bend that I eventually found in the subframe, will allow me to drive this truck with this subframe, without serious reprecussion.

 

 

I hope so anyway.

 

I custom fabbed up one for the other side.

 

 

Did my best to make them look semetrical even though they couldn't actually be.

 

 

I think it helps to look at it from an angle.

 

 

Meanwhile, the frame is still inside the shop, but my boss informed me that we have another large job starting next week, and I'm still mainly regulated to only working on it during my spare time.

 

I don't think I've had actual spare time in years, but maybe I can steal time from some other important activity.

 

 

 

Anyone young and single reading this, next time you get bored, savor it.

[datsunfreak]

Anyone young and single reading this, next time you get bored, savor it.

 

Aren't young/single people always "bored"? That's what they tell me at least... :P

[Rhapakatui]

I know I was. Now I can't squeeze time in for a long shit. Gotta be quick about everything and schedule tasks two weeks ahead of time.

 

Meanwhile, I snuck in some more work today.

 

Just flipped the frame around and did some welding and grinding.

 

 

 

 

And since random stuff gets more people interested in a build thread.

 

 

 

I'll just make sure there's actually a build in mine so it doesn't get locked. ;)

[]2eDeYe]

I don't think you need to worry about that man. :lol:

[datsunfreak]

This is awesome. :thumbup:

 

[bananahamuck]

Actually that is frickin insane...

 

 

But i only came here to see turtles ..

[Rhapakatui]

Actually that is frickin insane...

 

 

But i only came here to see turtles ..

 

Thanks guys. It seems like I've put alot of work into it for it to look as simple as it does. Then again, I can barely remember what it is supposed to look like at this point.

 

Sorry, but I only had the one turtle for a little while. I was taking a break from grinding and saw my bosses kid carrying it from their grandparent's house next to the shop. He was trying to get it away from the house before it beheaded a chihuahua (they have a ton).

 

I asked if I could have it to bring home for my stepson, so I put it in the truck bed and went back to work.

 

When I cleaned up and locked the shop, I saw it about to head over the side of the truck.

 

 

I tried several things to keep him in the bed of the truck, but a couple hours after I made it home with him, he was gone.

 

Guess I shouldn't have named him Steve Mcqueen.

[Lonestar]

Thanks guys. It seems like I've put alot of work into it for it to look as simple as it does. Then again, I can barely remember what it is supposed to look like at this point.

 

Sorry, but I only had the one turtle for a little while. I was taking a break from grinding and saw my bosses kid carrying it from their grandparent's house next to the shop. He was trying to get it away from the house before it beheaded a chihuahua (they have a ton).

 

I asked if I could have it to bring home for my stepson, so I put it in the truck bed and went back to work.

 

When I cleaned up and locked the shop, I saw it about to head over the side of the truck.

 

 

I tried several things to keep him in the bed of the truck, but a couple hours after I made it home with him, he was gone.

 

Guess I shouldn't have named him Steve Mcqueen.

 

Holy heck, you mean to tell me that you were going to give your stepson a Loggerhead snapping turtle? I grew up in GA and lived near a small lake/pond, one day we had found a huge one sitting in our backyard, thing had to of weighed about good 100 pounds. Couldn't lift or even try to pick it up, eveytime someone got close, it's head would snake out on like a 4 foot neck and try to bite a hand off. Those things are F'ing mean!

 

Other than that, loving the build! So getting your thread back on topic, why don't you just find another rear end from a J30 that was not hit in the rear end?

[Rhapakatui]

Sort of. That's a common snapping turtle, not an alligator (loggerhead) snapping turtle. Alligator snapping turtles are federally protected so I wouldn't want a pet one incase game wardens came snooping around. The common ones don't get quite as big, and are slightly less scary looking, but just as snappy.

 

One this size could probably brake a kid's finger, and leave a nice scar, but not likely amputate anything with a bone in it.

 

I had a pet one when I was younger. He also escaped eventually. I figure this little guy is happier in the stream by my house than he was in the middle of town.

 

As the car is concerned, I think the only problem I'll have from this rear frame is the caster will be different from one side to the other. I don't think that's a big deal in the rear.

 

If there is a problem come alignment time, I'll try and find a straight one. Should only have to move one bolt hole to swap them.

[I'm BLUE]

I demand updates ! lol

[southern620]

I demand updates ! lol

I agree! lol