In the last picture you can see that clamp was rusted through, plus the tailpipe was bend forward and rested on the frame.

To use a stock clamp up front I had to make this side cut. worked great and just popped off. I was even able to use the stock 23 year old clamp!
 
Did my measurements, double checked and weld a 25 in piece between the cat and muffler. The muffler and cat are 3 in from Magnaflow.

OK, lets put a nice exhaust on this this to make it sound better and free up a few ponies.

Was doing this in between finishing this up for the scouts. It works great and race-day is tomorrow!!

When I got this is was bare wood but worked. I sanded it for several hours (using a electric plane and belt sander) just to get the side flat. My buddy who has a sign company did the graphics and a fold down start. I rebuilt the lights for the finish during this ad added memory foam to stop the cars!

Looks nice Don. Got a pic over in the SUB build for you.

I think moving it to the back would change nothing on how it works if mounted to the same basic "points" on the frame and axle. Reminded me of the guys who say a cranked up torsion bar will ride worse than a stock setting.

FIRE IT UP!!!!  ;D

Wagon Wheels, hadn't heard that in a long. Had those on my 77.

Called the local spring place who I have used before (valley spring works in Dixon). $300 a corner for custom springs, but will re-arch the rears for only $100 each and said they will be better than any with the way he heat-treats. Won't do the fronts as they need to much arch and he said it would be cheaper to go aftermarket.

So looks like 6 inch springs for the front and 2 inch re-arch for the rear with the shackle flip.

Built my own pressure bleeder for under $20. 1 gallon sprayer, clear hose, 1 fitting and a ebay 30lb psi gauge. Cut a piece of poly for the cover but it was to flimsy and need use alum at least.  Also need to figure out a clamp as using a c-clamp is a pain.

The brake light is out now but I think I have a bad left caliper, won't bleed, just dribbles. Right is fine but if I replace I will do both and under $20ea at the local store less pads.

I had this GM steering wheel for a spar for my elky as I like the feel, but now it will have a new home.

All the lights work great, save one headlight and the other was dim. The burned out light actually has rust on the bottom inside. Got these conversions that will let me use a H4 bulb. Stock is just 55/60 which will have to be upgrade.

Also need to do the front seats they are warn. I believe the 88 up trucks will bolt right in??

Ok, finally got going on the rears. All the parts I had were wrong and were for a 6 lug vs a 8 lug. We had to look up parts for a truck to get the right parts!!

First thing is get help with the wheels. The air gun weilding son from the Samurai avatar was right there to help.

Been chasing a few parts too,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

If it has D44's you should be fine with 33's unless you have a healthy SBC in there.

I have been researching Cvs for my Dmax do you think that would help, unless you know for sure it is rotors and they are cheap now!!

OH, and to play Devils Advocate, where are the pics!!!  ;D

Either my eye sight is going or it may even be a bad pic, that cross member looks as though it is already bent?

I think that is just the picture but no gusset???

Now that is a stout cross member. Looks like it will withstand a skid plate easy to protect that purty 205.

If that tank wasn't there I would have said bend that pipe up out of the way!!

Quote from: JR on January 18, 2015, 02:01:49 PM

And do I see that those are stock with grim and all the other 200k stuff on them?

Nossir!, no grime on those mounts or anything else under there. I took them down to nearly bare steel then finally top coated with undercoating...That's the texturing you see there.

Just making sure,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

OK, lets fire that puppy up!!!!

Was the rumor true about using the words "pork" and "sausage" being banned as hatefull. Did a little search and found little on that.

Good to hear they are standing up a little. Remember you have to crawl before you walk or run.

Pics???

Hmm, where have I heard that before?

Anyway I started with a brake inspection. Nothing fancy but if I am going to drive this thing I want to stop it. Plus it will haul my kids around too, the light was on and the pedal did not feel right. It was hard to tell when the last time these were off, the cobwebs and grime were a plenty!!

Popped off the left front and was expecting some pretty rusted up rotors and who knew what the pads looked like. It actually looked very good, shiny rotor and over 1/4 of pad still.

Then off came the left, well I took the bolts out anyway but that wheel did not move. Being a concentric wheel, it had rusted itself to the hub. After some choice words and a few malet hits and even a sledge, nothing. So I put all the lugs back on loose and drove it down the street doing some evasive manuvers. However, it did not budge!! So a little looser and another jaunt down the street (with a curb or 2 added) and tried it again, no way!!
OK, time to get serious here. Loosen the lugs a couple turns and go across the street to a Christian HS parking lot. I bounce it, find lots of curbs inside and out and don't hear a thing so I head home. Well viola, it had broken loose. It looked good to so I buttoned it back up after a little never seize on all the lugs.

Now onto the rear.

What the heli was was simple, just thought you would like it.

Work, what is that?

Just came back from the AMA 2015 expo in Ontario, Ca. Was a fun weekend with the guys. Drank some shine, played with toys and worked on guns.

Anyway the big thing the last couple years has been "quads" which are basically a 4 rotor helicopter that is very stable. Drawbacks are the smaller ones don't like wind at all and the bigger ones cost $$$$ to the point of being scary. The larger ones have as many as 6 rotors (all located on booms) and some have dual motors so there is some redundancy if a motor goes out (rare). 

One that really caught my eye was the Syma X5. It is just a small quad but has a camera that shoots 720 video and pics, but they must be downloaded after you land. However for something well under $100 it does what it should.

http://www.amazon.com/Syma-X5C-Channel-2-4GHz-Explorers/dp/B00KI03U8Q

There there are the slightly bigger quads and the price is in the mid $100s up to about 1k. Now these have much more support (aka-parts) better video and many have GPS and FPV (first person viewing) which means real time video.

The big one here is the Blade 350 QX3 from Horizon Hobbies; http://www.horizonhobby.com/350-qx3-ap-combo-rtf-with-safe-technology-blh8160?clickpath=homepage_rotator1_01052015

This will return to home with GPS but you have to fly this all the time. It does however transmit realtime video and pictures. Here is a link to video of one of them flying; https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4BskKD2tUg0 (yes I am there wearing a red shirt)

Then for a few $$ more you can step up to the Typhoon 500; http://www.horizonhobby.com/q500-typhoon-rtf-with-cgo2-gb-camera-p-yunq500rtfus
This has the same video options BUT you can set waypoints and it will fly hands off with presets and waypoints. However at this time you must set your waypoints buy flying to them.

I was at a model aircraft show in Ontario Ca. Sounds like toys but so much more. It is also a weekend out with the guys and I got some great info for camera platforms.

A couple pics here for Don though. He should recognize the speaker here and the model heli. A hint is the speaker is a household name for aerobatics. That model is worth around $3000, much less the time.

Heck, Don could'a put a big ol screwdriver hanging off the bead of the tire and when red dog chewed on it it might have launched him!

That was hard work but good times. We built motors, did glider kits and all that goes with it. Most of the trucks were Detroit V72 a couple big Cats and V12s to. I hated split rings (3 piece) but the 22in weren't all that bad.

They even used to send me to the local bud brewery when a driver would twist a drive line off. We slid a welder in my truck (77 gmc) and I would weld a pipe into or onto the twisted piece to get them the 40 miles back to the shop. for a real repair.

Now the kicker is we had a yard truck there with a 555 cummins in it that had a broken throttle cable. These are the ones with 1/2 a cab and a hood that flipped up tot the side. To get it back to the shop one day (with another in tow via chain) the owners son drove the pig and we wired up the hood. I sat next to the engine with a vise grip on the throttle for the trip from Fairfield to Sonoma. So what you saw when going by was the yard pig with hood up towing another tractor with my head sticking up from the engine bay working the throttle. Oh, we even had a "blocker" that would drive along side when we were in traffic so the chain was sorta hidden and I was on the pass side anyway.

Younger days and good times!!

You know, that made my morning!!!

Who ever is near LV there is one on ebay right now for under 1k, Henderson to be exact!

What a great way to start the year!!!

CONGRADS!!!!!

Getting the same done on both my 91 subs. 1500 won't start (think the alarm disabled the pump) but the 2500 runs great.

Been trying to get it to fire right now. Got much of the under dash wiring fixed but not cleaned up.

She turns over, but no go. Got spark, noid test shows the injectors are getting power and power to the relay looks good. Doesn't fire at all and no fuel even with a little spray down the blades. Pretty sure it is the pump but not alot of time to play with it right now. One more test at the harness in back then the pump gets replaced.

Pulled the warn off the 2500 so I can send her out monday

Now this part almost needs its own thread, but here goes;

"WHAT IS THAT ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD"?

So I am getting on the freeway and I see this red thing next to the local Sonic fence. Looks like an Optima battery so later I go by and walk around the fence. Yes it is and in pretty good shape! So I grab it and look it over and it has a cable burn all the way around one side like a cable shorted out and melted through the case. I figure what the heck and throw it in the truck and bring it home. Date reads mid 2012 and it has the top posts only with clear labeling, 800cca.

When I get it home, I see the coils have been exposed all the way from the top to the bottom. I see nothing oozing out so I brush it off and clean up the melted areas. I figure what the heck and mix up some JB Weld and fill the voids, taking my time and doing all 3 sides separately. They seem to fill very well and the edges are rough so the epoxy has something to bond to.

She looks good, so I put it on a slow charge and all seems good. It is showing 11.5 volts before the charge and it comes right up to over 12 right away. Later I charge it at 6 amps and she goes though a normal charge and tops at over 13volts. I let it sit around and a few days later it is still over 12 volts, so I figure I made out on his thing and got a good battery.

So for the week I run a few pumps, run some lights and do some general work and she is holding strong at over 12v the whole time.

So I figure, why not put it into the 1500!!!

Just noticed there are hardly any inside pics. She is kinda a storage unit now since I don't have a maple tree, but these will give you an idea. She is clean and one reason I got it.

Here is a picture of the crossovers, alarm and cell phone that was mounted in there. All those wires you see on the floor are what I removed!!

Guys, reff this little project here; http://real-man-truckworks-and-survival.com/index.php?topic=623.msg7253#msg7253

I am looking for a set of springs for the 91 2500 suburban that have a military wrap. I know I can custom order anything but not looking to break the bank either.

THX