build thread from the wind tunnel

[Jesus_man]

Awesome!! Cant wait to see it moving again like Justin's rig.

[Gunnibronco]

Thanks guys. Hopefully with this 3 day weekend coming up, I can really start finishing parts of this project. Its starting to feel like a bunch of small "projects" need done now. But still a lot to do.

[Justin]

I kept being surprised at how long all those little details took to do them right.

[Gunnibronco]

It's starting to get to me. I think I'm rounding the corner and then slam into a brick wall, again. I have to make everything for this truck at this point. I can't wait to take one apart & put it back together 'stock'.

[Eck]

It's starting to get to me. I think I'm rounding the corner and then slam into a brick wall, again. I have to make everything for this truck at this point. I can't wait to take one apart & put it back together 'stock'.

But is it easier to make something or find something original in good condition?

[Gunnibronco]

Making it yourself is harder.

I make beat up crap look good for a living. Lol.

[Kinder]

It's starting to get to me. I think I'm rounding the corner and then slam into a brick wall, again. I have to make everything for this truck at this point. I can't wait to take one apart & put it back together 'stock'.

I feel your pain with "make everything for this truck" statement. That is where I am with mine, so much so that I essentially stopped doing things to it as soon as it was mostly road worthy. I have some big items to check off my list this summer and I'm kind of dreading them.

[Gunnibronco]

Making steady progress, but I've been bad about pics & posting up.

The front cage is basically finalized & removed for finish welding & paint.

New battery location in cowl is boxed in.

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Gas lines & pumps, brake lines, tank filler & vents all plumbed (new filler neck location), vents for axles are run.

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I adjusted the Atlas crossmember up just a bit, and finalized the driveline placement. Transmission crossmember is built. Both are finish welded, and just need a little trimming and paint.

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I've started bracing up the floor with 1"x 1/8" square, and building a basic framework from 1/4" round to get the floor's shape.

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[Jesus_man]

Keep at it Chad!! I hope you get to enjoy this hard work THIS summer!

[Gunnibronco]

Thanks, I think a few more weeks will put me very close.

[Digger]

Looks like you're making good progress! I like your strategy of using 1/4" round rod for shaping the body.

[Rox Crusher]

Chad, I missed some of these latest updates.

It's looking great.

You'll be ready to battle the rocks in no time !

[landshark]

looks good dude, get it done!

[Gunnibronco]

Thanks guys.

This has been a real battle. It's been kicking my ass lately (for the last couple months really). It's nice to see it coming together, and getting things right & finished. I actually set my seats & center console back in the truck for a few minutes over the weekend. It felt pretty good.

Currently my goal is to finish drilling the frame for my tcase mount. On the driver's side, it's plated with 3/16", and on the passenger side I'm sleeving the frame with pipe. The trans mount is done. Hopefully, tonight, the tcase mount will be too. Then I need to add some metal to the notch in my frame. Less for strength, more to keep water, mud, etc from collecting & rusting. Then, in theory, work on my frame should be done. Then back to the floor.

[Gunnibronco]

Looks like you're making good progress! I like your strategy of using 1/4" round rod for shaping the body.

The 1/4" round is really easy to work with. Most the framework is done, I'm going to run some 3/4"x1/8" flat across it before putting 16g sheet down. The t-case is quite close to the floor under the driver's seat, and I need to put as much structure back in as I can.

I made a simple bracket to relocate the ZF shifter, under the dash, which put it right in the Atlas shifters. So I had to move the Atlas twin sticks back a few inches, but I kept the overall length & stabilizer bracket the same. Also tilted them a bit to clear the seat. But it all looks to fit nicely in all gears and all t-case settings, and felt comfortable from the driver's seat. I also found some rod ends in the nuts & bolts selection at the local Ace. I had read that the Atlas shifters liked to out the c-clips holding the linkage to the shifter or tcase. These are threaded and I added nylocs to make sure they stay put.

I ended up abandoning the cable shifter for the doubler unit of the Atlas. I just couldn't bend the cable to a usable space. I mounted the doubler shifter directly to the right of the twin sticks, and threaded some 1/4 round to fit the Atlas swivel ends. Works pretty nice (but my shifter knob will be labeled upside down now). I'll add a little angle iron to the 1/4 round to add some strength.

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[Kinder]

Wait, when did I miss the doubler in front of the Atlas?

[Gunnibronco]

No separate doubler. It's actually the 2.7:1 reducer that adds the extra gears making a regular Atlas an Atlas 4 speed.

[Kinder]

Cool! I'm an Atlas newb. I do like the skeletal look of the 1/4 round, I'll remember it for future projects.

[Gunnibronco]

Some action shots of the tunnel cover build

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Finished product

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The center console is about 1" higher than it used to be, but feels pretty good. Floor is stiff & has no real noticeable flex.

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Pulled the top & cage. Finishing patches & prepping for Al's HNR & bed liner. Might be putting it on this weekend. Planning to do the cowl & new battery location, rear wheel wells & tub. I'm going to do a medium gray bedliner.

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[Eck]

Nice work. Did you make the tunnel cover removable or is it welded in? Also- did you omit your heater for the new battery location?

[Gunnibronco]

It's welded in. With 2 floor crossmembers cut out, welding it in added needed strength.

I still have a heater, just no fresh air inlet. It was always clogged with snow in the winter and pumped wet air across the windshield. So I don't think it's a huge loss.

[mickphatmac]

Great work Gunni and one Heck of a Vision from start to finish!

It's always the "take this out, replace this, put that back in, now take it back out...repeat" part that gets me!

Way to keep at it :)

[landshark]

jealous of your clamp collection

[Gunnibronco]

Great work Gunni and one Heck of a Vision from start to finish!

It's always the "take this out, replace this, put that back in, now take it back out...repeat" part that gets me!

Way to keep at it :)

This has been more test fitting & removing than I ever imagined.

jealous of your clamp collection

LOL. Tools of the trade. That is but a small fraction of all the vice grips I have. There can never be enough vice grips in a body shop.

[Kinder]

I also have clamp envy! I suppose it's one of the lesser evils.

[Eck]

Lack of clamps makes the body work so much harder. Those really long reaching ones are the ones that seem to be needed at the most opportune times yet I can never get myself to spend the money on buying them.

Keep up the good work! Looking forward to seeing it all done.

[Gunnibronco]

Al's HNR sprayed yesterday. Touched up some seam sealer & retaped for bedliner tonight. Spraying bedliner tomorrow after work.

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[phyler]

Looks good! Can't wait to see the finished product. Always a bit jealous of how good freshly sprayed metal looks.

Sent from my Venue 8 7840 using Tapatalk

[Gunnibronco]

Always a bit jealous of how good freshly sprayed metal looks.

Mines not great, even with a heavy product like HNR. The bedliner will further help. It's nice to refresh the tub after 20 years of hacking at it. Covered up a bunch of old, unused holes, and filled a few unsightly spots with seam sealer. I think that with the changes I've made to the door/tub/top alignment and this HNR/bedliner, it will make a big difference. I'll hope to do something with the top at some point, and maybe interior rear quarter panels, but I've been saying that for years.

[Gunnibronco]

It's like deja vu, all over again.

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This is where the project was supposed to start picking up speed. But, unfortunately, due to the catastrophic failure of the bed liner, family visits, and a weekend in Denver at the emergency vet clinic, I'm only now getting ready to start spraying my truck again.

Every 'project' within this giant undertaking has taken about 1 month or more. So frustrating. I spent about 30 man hours stripping the HNR/bedliner disaster, and prepping for round two. The entire surface is now stripped & sanded with 30 grit. Overkill for epoxy primer, but I'm sure it'll stick.

I've taped it off, so that, hopefully, I can peel back 1 piece of 3/4" tape at each edge. This will leave the masking paper, and I can just apply a new piece of 3/4" tape to the edge for the next step. Since it's now a 3 step process, this *should* save me some time. Hopefully by Friday?, I'll be shooting bedliner, again. Planning to shoot epoxy today, but I have to run to C.S. to pick up Bronco parts tomorrow. I'll sand the cured epoxy with 180 grit, then HNR.