B3000 SHO swap

[pat8703]

Frame boxing plates tack welded in and started bending tubes. I also got the lower irs plates welded in. It's amazing how much the frame boxing helped increase torsional stability on this chassis, even with minimal horizontal bracing.

I'm hoping to get most of the tubes bent up tomorrow but I have to start customer work. I need to make the rear framebox plates as well, but can't until I get there center tubes in so I can brace the end of the frame and cut the spare tire frame it. Lots of work to do.

 

[pat8703]

Started the monkey bars. About half of them it. Although most of the remaining ones are basically gussets.

I went to mount the IRS and found that the plinths either got bumped at blasting or the blasting stress relieved the metal as they no longer line up. The alignment studs are a .010" slip, Soo if it's not perfect, it won't go. Now I have to cut all that garbage off and remake it....

 

[pat8703]

All the tubes are in and I've started burning in the rails. About 2/3 of the boxing plates are done, and a couple of tube joints.

What I did is way overkill, but I want this thing rigid. I left no node unsupported. Before there was about 3 inches of torsional twist in the frame. Now, jacking up from one side at the bumper mount, there's only 1/2 inch of twist before the front off the frame lifts off it's jack stand. It really could use a bar tieing the two sub bars together under the tranny but then I'd never be and to get the tranny out. Once the rest of the cage is in this should be perfectly rigid.

I have four more bars to add, picking up the rear irs plynths, but I need to make boxing plates for that section first.

 

[fixizin]

WOW!... between the OP's welding skills, and the completely off-the-chain mods to the YamahaZu-Ninja-SHOgun powerplant, this should be like 3 episodes on a top-rated SPEED Channel show!!

Just a thought though--seems like you're going to need full-time AWD to keep all that power on the ground, but all those sweet frame-stiffening mods might block off a transfer case + related 4WD H/W...

ETA: Oh snap, just saw your early-on post about this being a drift monster... perfect vehicle for breaking loose the rears... never mind...

 

[pat8703]

It's funny you mention that. Check out "Trucks!" Project called Rolling Thunder. It wasn't the inspiration for this build. In fact, I didn't find out about it until about a month ago.

So my customer projects are all wrapped up for a short while, so it's time to kick ass on the frame again. Next time you see it I tink it will be ready for the cab. To be put back on.

I did make an impulse purchase the other night that's going to cost be about $3800 in the future. I've been keeping my eye out for an aerostar t5 manual bellhousing. While I didn't find that, I did find a NOS quick time t5 bellhousing for the sho. These bellhousings are discontinued and when in stock are around $2200. I picked this one up for $300 shipped. That's less than my wholesale price on normal QT bellhousings. So eventually I'm going to have to bite the bullet and pick up a t56 maginum with an f-body tail shaft.

 

[pat8703]

So I lied about it being ready for the cab...... You're going to have to suffer through this post and one more. Today I (finally) finished up all the frame boxing. there were a few spots where the frame doesn't follow a straight line and they needed filler patches. So that's finally all done. As well as the frame boxing, the monkey bars are all 100% finished. In the back, the square steel is where the fuel cell will mount to. It'll be a fuelsafe 10 gallon tank. I still need to add fuel pump and fuel regulator mounts (I'm going to run dead-head), battery box, and corner weight posts. I also cut off all the IRS plinths because they didn't fit and I need to remake them. I also need to remake one of the motor mounts. I guess when I mounted the motor before the frame had a twist in it and wasn't level up front, causing the motor to be off by about 1 degree.

I am leaving town for a wedding on Thursday and my goal is to have the frame done and painted by then. Tomorrow I'll get the IRS done (again) and get the frame painted. Hopefully Wednesday I'll get the brake lines and fuel lines done.

I also bent up some tubing for the bed mounted radiator. Brackets for those are at the waterjet and should be back Wednesday. I wasn't happy with the fact that the protoge thermostat cover was only 1" inlet and was pointed at the wrong side of the frame, so I cut a miata t-stat cover and modified it for 1.5"

 

[fixizin]

I'm not a perv, and it's not at all cold out, but... my nipples are getting a bit pointy! What I'm saying is those frame mods make me want to go full Hollyweird, build up a bunch o' ramps, and shoot the sequel to 'Mr. Majestik' with LOTS OF AIR-TIME! Crikey that beast is going to have less chassis flex than a 3" thick granite slab. I'm thinking Twin Bilsteins on each corner and I'll get the cameras and insurance riders ready... ACTION!

 

[pjtoledo]

I want your chain tensioners

 

[pat8703]

LOL the chain tensioners stay.Sorry.

Fixzin, I'm planning on using QA1 double adjustables in the rears. I'm not sure what I'll use in the front. I have a bunch of take-off coilovers from old customers projects, BMW and VW mostly. I'll probably adapt one of those to work. Or I'll find a ranger front coilover conversion shock and just use that.

Anyway, The frame work is done for now. Done enough to put the cab back on. The pictures don't show it but I finished painting the frame as well. The black in the pictures is rust inhibitor. It took me so long from sand blasting to painting that it started developing some surface rust. Because of that I wire wheeled the frame back down and hit it with the rust inhibitor and then painted over that.

The battery box is mounted. The fuel cell frame is mounted. IRS plinths are done. Rear mount radiator hose brackets are done. Front roll cage frame outriggers are done. I'm going to run battery, fuel and brake lines before dropping the cab on, but that's easy enough. And I still have to address the one slightly off motor mount and mount the aluminum radiator tube that wraps around the front motor mount.

Before anyone says anything, I'm going to run the rear bumper, so I don't think I need to cage and brace the battery box.

How I had to weld the inside of the front cage outriggers that wrap around the body mount

Parts are here to make the front control arms, but I have to leave town for 10 days for work, so that'll sit on hold for a little bit.

 

[fixizin]

We should start a TIRE Fund for this maestro, so he'll make and share drifting videos with us...
You don't see many Rangers going fo'wheel-drift, always ricers...

 

[pat8703]

So thanks to covid I haven't really had time or spare funds to work on the truck. I have a small break in the shop work right now to squeeze in some work on it and I've been slowly stock piling parts.

I finally decided on a wheel package and will hopefully have wheels and tires coming soon. I'm going to run 03 cobra style 5 spoke 10.5 wide with a deep lip wheels and nt05r 315/35-17 all the way around. With that knowledge in hand, I now know what to set my track width to, and can start on front control arms.

I'm going to do the front suspension in two steps: first get it rolling, then get it right. I'm not running any numbers on it right now. I just want to get the chassis together.

Here's what I have for lower arms now. They're almost 22" center to center. I am waiting for a tap to come in to chase the rod end threads, then I can jig them up and attach the middle bar. These 2.5" Dom bars weigh about half a much as the djm drop kit lcas

Edit:
I forgot to mention I finally figured out what I'm going to do for widening the fenders. I was watching stadium trucks the other night and the wife said she thought the trucks looked cool. She gave to go ahead to use trophy truck fenders, which is just awesome. I only need 4" per side, so it won't look Goofy with the tiny cab. I also set the frame on stands at ride height today. The top of the cab is going to be about 58" of the ground.

 

[c1skout]

Awesome! Is that a Thunderbird IRS?

 

[pat8703]

Thank!

It's not. I was going to use a third rear end, but it's way old tech, with components that are extremely weak by today's standards. This is a 2017 mustang gt rear end with an aluminum 8.8. It has better gearing for what I am doing than the tbird, better suspension geometry, stronger axles, better brakes, divorced parking brake, and better aftermarket support. By the time you buy a T-Bird rear end and upgrade it to be as strong as the mustang, the mustang comes out way cheaper anyway.

 

[pat8703]

I was able to put some time in to the truck today. Got some fun stuff done, and a bunch of not fun stuff.

Control arms are "done", for now. I still want to add some gusseting to them, but I am going to wait until I get the wheels and can check my clearance. I want to maximize the gusseting and don't know what my clearance will be right now. I also finalized my suspension design and have the final spindle cad files off to the waterjet. I've decided on 4 degrees caster, -4 degrees camber, and 5 degrees sai. This combination gives me +3 degrees lead wheel camber and -4 degrees follow wheel camber at 70 degrees of steering angle, about 1.75" of slip angle with 315/35r17s on 10.5 wheels, and while not resorting to absolutely obscene amounts of static camber traveling straight. The caster is a little low, but it should be alright. Once the spindles get built I'll build the upper arms.

The other stuff I got started on was power cabling and brake and fuel lines. They're going to be ran inside the rails. It doesn't look like much but the copper nickel fuel lines are bent nice and tidy. I forgot to order fittings for the tubes, so that'll get done sunday when those come in. I also built a forward frame rail bulkhead for fuel and brake lines to come out of in the engine bay. I also started running the lines for the handbrake as well.

 

[pat8703]

Rear shock mounts are done, but I still need springs. Brake lines are 99% done. Rear secondary caliper brackets are one. The rear shock mounts are custom. The QA1s are actually for an F-body 4-link kit package I picked up from summit 18 months ago during an "open stock" sale event. I have the heights set here for a 60/40 compression/extension travel. The rear motion ratio is around 50%, so I should have 6" of extension and 8" of compression travel. AKA PLENTY