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GLTHFJ60 said:
The rockers look great! Have any pictures of the undersides?
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Didn't end up taking any good pics of the open rocker. I'm not done with them so I'll get some decent ones in a week or two.
 
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Looks good.

Are you going to close up the underside of the rocker to keep rust producing crap out?

Phil
 
pjohnson said:
Looks good.

Are you going to close up the underside of the rocker to keep rust producing crap out?

Phil
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I'm going to seal the seam that is under there and probably the holes for the pillars but that's about it. I will coat it and that should be fine.


brokenparts said:
Looks good Mike... you comin Sat. to bend up some tube?
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Yup, I'm still planning on it and it even looks to be a dry day! What time can I swing by? I might need to use the welder a little too.
 
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Whew, just finished reading--what a great thread. Seeing some of the issues you've had to work through has been a good thing. I definitely need to have stuff together before starting--lots and lots and lots of research to do yet.

Have you thought of using a water injection kit to keep your EGT's manageable when towing in the mountains?
 
Drofen said:
Whew, just finished reading--what a great thread. Seeing some of the issues you've had to work through has been a good thing. I definitely need to have stuff together before starting--lots and lots and lots of research to do yet.

Have you thought of using a water injection kit to keep your EGT's manageable when towing in the mountains?
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I'm glad I wrote this all down because I wouldn't be able to remember it all! It's fun to go back through and see the things I've done so far. Anyways, I have thought about water injection but for me that would be after I've finished tuning. I'm still trying out different power settings, chasing my mysterious boost leak, and playing with timing. All things that can have an effect on EGTs

EGTs got hot in the mountains towing for a couple reasons:
towing with 38s and 4.11s (4.56s would probably be better but this is part of my compromise to have one rig do all these things)
restriction in the exhaust (solution was to move that baffle from the down pipe)
I certainly could have slowed down some but I was impressed that little engine would pull that weight at 70mph with my setup.

I still have only 1 fan hooked up (it's winter so I haven't really needed even that one)

So I'm trying to say I've got a few things to finish/tune that can help with the higher EGTs while towing. Removing that baffle helped and if I could keep all that boost I'm trying to make going into the cylinders that would also help. Since I've been chasing those leaks I try out stuff and than work on other projects so that's why it seems like it's dragging on.

Currently as of FEB 2009

EGTs run about 800F on the freeway at 70-75mph. If I drop down to 55-60mph they go to ~600F. This is without towing. I haven't really towed anything heavy for a while so I'll have to see how changes I've made since then help whenever I get something heavy to tow. I'm peaking at 21psi of boost when I've got my foot to the floor which is only when I'm getting on the freeway. Gauge is still fluttering (much less now so progress is being made) and my end goal is upper 20s-30psi. That should get me about 180-200hp which will be more than enough; torque should be over 400ftlbs at those levels. It's the goal and the goal can change if it looks like that won't be reliable. Anyways, thanks for reading.
 
I beat you to the pics Mike.... here's some progress on Mike's sliders from yesterday:

Tube being bent... the cheapo hydro actually works pretty well

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Outrigger bent up:

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Mike welding up the slider arms:

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not too shabby for his first time with a mig:

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This is how Mike looks on a regular basis:

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Sorry we got caught a little short today for time but at least we'll have idea of what were doing when we start your front bumper.
 
Thanks Zach for posting the pics and thanks a TON for letting me bug you yesterday, it was lot of fun. That bend tech program and your bender really make putting shapes in tube fun and easy. Glad your wife saw us using it. I enjoyed playing with your MIG welder and am amazed how fast your plasma cutter rips through steel (no wonder you don't like going back to grinding!) You are a great host and I look forward to our next fab day.
 
boots4 said:
Thanks Zach for posting the pics and thanks a TON for letting me bug you yesterday, it was lot of fun. That bend tech program and your bender really make putting shapes in tube fun and easy. Glad your wife saw us using it. I enjoyed playing with your MIG welder and am amazed how fast your plasma cutter rips through steel (no wonder you don't like going back to grinding!) You are a great host and I look forward to our next fab day.
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me too my friend.... it might be a bit harder for the next month or two because of my daughter's soccer but we'll get in another day sometime soon to work on your bumper.
 
Looking forward to being the bumper guinea pig too.

I got the outriggers tacked on and three supports per side done too. Hoping to get some paint on it tomorrow.
 
weekly update

Here are my side of the pics from last saturday fabbing with Zach.

Loaded my stuff on the trailer. Put on a "flag" so people wouldn't skewer themselves on my tube. I thought the hearts were a nice touch.

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Zach getting the bender set up.

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While the jack may be slow if you had to bend tube for a living I thought it was a perfect speed and really allowed you to fine tune the degrees.

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Here is the work from this week.

I borrowed this fun little tool from Zach to get my bird mouth angles transferred onto the outrigger supports.

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Here's the lines being transferred. Then I just cut out a V with cut off wheels and used a grinding disk to carry out the curves.

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Now the supports are also tacked in. I didn't weld it up because I didn't pick up any new batteries for my welder but here's what they look like. The outriggers have a slight upwards slope to them.

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Once I get them welded up I'll paint them and then work on attaching them to the frame.

My :princess: cuts up old kids clothes she gets off of craigslist and I use those as rags. I grabbed this one to wipe the coating off the tube before I tacked on the supports and saw an interesting pic. I cannot read it but I don't think thats needed to understand what it says (hope it's not offensive writing). No wonder she cut up this shirt!

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Kind of hard to get decent pics of the rockers but I hope this gives an idea of what they look like inside. I finished my cuts, cleaned them up, sealed the seam, and slapped the first coat of Rustbullet on them. I'll put another coat on it before I weld the sliders on.

Front looking back

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Front fender area. Because of the rod and the welded well it actually has good support and it doesn't flop around. I might put a screw in it but probably doesn't need it.

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I retimed the engine to 14.4 degrees (from 15.3) because I was eating a little too much oil and a little too loud. It did quiet down a couple dBs and we'll see about any economy improvement with a couple of tanks.

I think I'll take another look at my boost signal line to the gauge and see if I have connection/pinch issues. I wonder if the line might be too small. :hhmm:
 
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That's what the inside of the rockers look like. Nice.

Excellent sliders!
 
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