alwaysFlOoReD's race truck

[alwaysFlOoReD]

No vids yet. I took it out for a quick run and it bottomed out quite easily. So I jacked up the frame till the tires were just about off the ground and then loosened, then retightened the three bolts [per side] holding the spring and shackle to the frame. Took it out again and it seemed much better. Blew the rad hose within the first two minutes of hard running .I had just finished pouring in some Waterwetter too . Replaced both upper and lower rad hoses and another bottle of Waterwetter, C$65.00. I still have a problem with temperature after ten minutes of hard running. I'll try sloue's suggestion of running about 20' of heater hose to the back of the truck and back, I'll hook up a heater rad too. If that doesn't work then I'll have to put the stock fan back on until I can find a bigger/thicker rad.

Richard

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I ran heater hose to the back and connected an air conditioning rad [from the scrap aluminum pile] in line. Seems to work great. Some pics;

We'll see how long the rad lasts, I want to support it better underneath along the edges. The tube that comes off is fairly small diameter but has a 'flare' about 3/4" back from the end of the tube that brings it out so a 5/8" heater hose slides on with just a little [very little] force. I clamped the hose just below the flare and it would leak if I wiggled the hose or pushed it down. So I put another clamp directly above the first, putting the 'flare' in between the two clamps and problem solved. The temp didn't get above 3/4 on the stock gauge. The last run of the day I did for videos, the motor started running crappy. I hope it's just low on fuel. I'll check it tomorrow for codes as well.

Richard

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I found my problem with why my truck was running rough. I had bought new wires for the truck three races ago and I have maybe 60 minutes of run time on them. Granted it's balls out running but I didn't expect to find this;

The boots, 5 out 6, turned into a disintegrating bubblegum type of consistency. I went to the local rod shop to get some good wires and they suggested I replace the boots, so I bought 6 MSD boots @ C$1.50 ea. I also bought a set of 8 kevlar socks for the boots @ C$40.00. It took me a few minutes to cut off the old and install the new boots and six socks. Total cost ~ C$50.00 which is still cheaper than a new set of high performance wires.

Richard

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Some before pics of the truck;

And some after pics;

It was another weekend of firsts, and hopefully the last [of this type, anyway]. My first time not making it all the way through a race, not even through the first LAP!! And the first time I've rolled a truck!
The cage did it's job and so did the 5-point harness.
It felt like I was in slow motion, I saw the sky and realized that ' oh, I don't think this is the right view, I must be crashing'. Then I was looking at dirt and I was hanging upside down. ' hhmmm... I guess I better hit the kill switch' so I did. And proceeded to unbuckle myself, it was easier to do hanging upside down than I expected. It seems that I caught a rut on the corner, and it wasn't much of one, maybe 3/8' deep. The witnesses said I did a roll then pirouetted on the nose of my truck before turning turtle. Looks like I'll be doing the engine cage sooner than I expected. I pushed the rad support back 4 to 6". I'm sure glad I didn't have time to replace fenders and to do the paint. At least I still have the spare parts I'll need. Anyway, I'll have some video up [hopefully] tonight.
Until then,

Richard

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

And some video,

In this clip I'm about 3/4 way around the track and trying to catch the guy 'Donovan' in front of me. He didn't seem to be getting away but I guess I tried to hard. You can see my truck just starting to flip at the last bit of video;
click on the pic to start video;



In this portion the track workers were checking me out;



And a walk around my truck;



Richard

 

[gwaii]

oops.

all part of the fun.just a good thing you are ok.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Yes, it was fun!

Richard

 

[CopyKat]

Any progress? I wish there was something around here like that so that I can enter my Bronco in. It's going to have to wait a couple years untill its done however.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I haven't done anything to the race truck since I brought it back from the last race when I rolled it. I will be building an engine cage, moving the rad to the back, and fix or replace the sheetmetal in the spring time. I'm going to take a break from the 'soup can' and working on a b-II/exploder or b-II/bronco. I have a poll in the b-II section to help decide which direction to go.

One of the thoughts I've had while thinking about that race was the direction of rotation of the trucks on the track - clockwise versus counter-clockwise. In two of the three rollovers that have happened while I've been racing, the truck rolled while turning right [the third truck I don't know yet]. I wonder if that might throw the driver's judgment off about when the truck is starting to roll. Picture from the back of the truck the drivers seating position. When the truck side starts to lift in a roll over, I think the driver can feel the truck moving up more when turning left than when turning right, and then it's easier to correct in time to save the truck from turtle-ing. Or maybe it's just driver error.
Thanks for the interest, and your thoughts on my theory would be welcome.
Thanks,

Richard

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I finally fired the soup can up, it took a jump start and is running a little rough. And smoking like a pre-teen at school. But I only ran it for about a 2 minutes because it's not thawed out yet. I wanted to move it into the shop to start working on it again. Some more carnage pics;

I've been having problems with my knees so I haven't been working on things like I normally would. Be patient.... I will do something soon, I have to or I'll go crazy.
The pics are hazy from all the smoke when I drove it in.

Richard

 

[Andres629]

Yeah, being upside down will do that to a motor... haha.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Well, as always, plans have changed. It looks like I can't get a bender so I'll be putting in another core support. Taking out the old one wasn't hard...... the hardest part was getting started!
There was 27 spot welds on each side, I used this specialized bit to cut them out [C$14.00], it worked great,
I didn't have my camera so you get cell pics;

It took about fifteen minutes to drill out the spot welds after everything was exposed;

Then I removed the rad, wiring, and unbolted the front body mount bolts [2] and voila, core support off.

I have a choice of two core supports to put in, a first gen, or a second gen. I like the looks of the first gen better, but the 2nd gen seems to be more common. If [when] I roll it again, it'd seem easier/cheaper to use 2nd gen, but I haven't made up my mind.

Well, now I have, I'm using the 2nd gen, because that worked previously and who knows, I may need the first gen for one of my other projects [if I ever get a 'rowntuit'].
For those that didn't know, there are differences between the two generations for mounting the front clip.

Richard

 

[Andres629]

Too bad, I want to see an engine cage!
It'll look good as a 2nd gen though.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I've spent what warm days we've had trying to get some stuff for the soup-can.

The front clip from an '89 b-II parts truck;

I also took the core support off;

I removed the front wiring harness in preparation to pulling the motor;

The poor truck;

I'm going to remove the roof section and will put in a piece of flat steel. If there was an airplane wrecking yard close by I'd put on a section of wing like the '70's desert racer 'Big Oly'. I may try to fake it with a couple of pieces of aluminum attached to the sides profiled like a cross section of a wing....maybe.
To do;
-roof
-attach core support
-remove support ribs on new to me hood
-remove inner portion of new to me doors
-minor body tweaking
-add passenger seat and harness mounts
-sand blast and paint
-move rad to back and connect with tubing
-install f-150 coil springs
-re-do harness and door net mounting
-make or buy headers
-remove useless wiring
-see what I can do to widen the track of the truck within rules. I may end up using wheel spacers.

All this to be done by May long for test and tune and I have only weekends and, if I'm not too tired working 10 hour days [ remember, I'm not as young as most of you ], some week nights.
Wish me luck,

Richard

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I did a little more today. I removed the interior wiring, the 5-point harness, the seat, what was left of the roof. A few pics;
Here you get a good idea of how the cage is put together;

It's hard to see but there is a bit of damage to the back corner of the cab where the door latches and below. It's been pushed inwards and back about an inch;

A pic from the drivers side, you can see the damage a little better - on the black portion ;

I haven't made up my mind about the roof replacement yet but I am probably going to keep it simple and just tack in a sheet of thin gauge steel to the top of the cage.
I found a few things that I forgot to button up last year, like one of the crank sensor bolts was not there, and the second bolt for the steering column was loose!
Can someone tell me how to remove the wiper arms from inside the cowl area? I couldn't figure that out

Later,

Richard