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Got some wicked news today and im pumped! Peetie was supposed to be out of town this weekend and that would have stalled the wiring job pretty good. Just got the call and hes back in town early so were gonna hit the wiring tomorrw.

At least the end is in sight now. All thats left to do is to route the rest of the column wiring under the dash (ignition is done), install the logic for the signals and 4 ways then hook up the alternator and fuse box.

Dont know how far well get but im hoping most of the list gets knocked out. I wanna take it for a rip regardless lol.

D
 
Gettin close! Get us some video man!

Pete
 
Oh im plannin on it lol. Got the gopro packed up already cause im a cheezeball.

Im just freaking curious how it will run and ride down the road more than anything else.

D
 
Probably slow

2F's usually don't agree with 39's no matter what gears you got, they are still 120lbs plus the beadlocks
 
Oh im not expecting a sports car by any means, i was referring to wether it will drive straight etc. after all the mods lol. I know the steering works awesome as do the brakes so im just hoping it drives ok overall.

Made progress yesterday. All of the logic for the signals etc. is installed (just missing one led signal relay) and all of the rest of the column wiring has been run under the dash to the 40 pin doisch. We can now control the brake lights and signals with the switches pedals and levers in the cab.

Threw in some wires for the temp and oil pressure and ran em to the firewall before finding out my alternator is charging at 17.5v. Thinking the internal voltage regulator is dicked so out it came and im planning to take it to a local place to get looked at and maybe rebuilt at the same time.

Not much goin on till the week after next since pete got sent out of town again but at least we both have the week after that off so im hoping we can finish er up. Maybe itll even make its way home... and..... maybe even fit in the garage lol.

D
 
Vid!



Took her for the first real rip since the start of the build last night. Went for a boot down petes gravel road and hit a trail that leads to an old quarry.

We got to wheel a bit and test the suspension and im happy that all went well. Front end handles pretty mint with the coils and she steers lock to lock without the tires making contact with the radius arms or anything else. Steering is a little heavier with the 39.5s replacing the 36 iroks but its still day and night compared to the strongarm setup and 31s it came with.

We didnt even drop it into 4lo when we crawled over a couple berms and hills in the quarry just gave er in 2lo and it motored over stuff great. As a bonus low gear isnt nearly as useless as i thought it would be... Id still love to grab an orion eventually but i think itll wheel ok as is for now.

High gear isnt the greatest but i think i just might be able to keep up with traffic around town... Highway driving isnt gonna be stellar but we didnt wind er out so im still hopin itll at least hit 80km/h without blowing up. We were drivin up some steep but short gravel hills by petes and she didnt struggle too bad. 2nd gear did the trick.

Only real hiccup was when pete went to shut er down w the key and it kept running lol. 10 minutes and a strategic diode solved that issue. Last couple things that still need to get finish wired are the blower, wsh wipers, and 4 aux lights.

I was freaking pumped and giggling like an idiot the whole time so i guess that 3 or 4 years of dickin around was worth the 45 minutes of delirium. Unfortunately it was dark by the time we were ready so the pics and vids will suck but whatever.

Still lots of testin to be done but its gettin close.

D
 
lol ... sweet!!! ... glad to have shared the journey ... you have been generous, posting plenty of pics and info ... my truck's stock and screams at 55 mph ... I'm running 33's ... can't imagine what yours will be like turning those meats ... I find many people on the roads are in tooooo much of a bloody hurry and don't show the old girl the respect she deserves ... she may be a little slow, but 99% of those cookie cutters won't last anything close to 37 yrs ...

hope you get to give it a good run, before the weather turns ... congrats ...
 
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One of my favorite 40s on mud.
Nice work! Congrats on the initial drive!
 
Thanks guys!

Felt kinda surreal drivin something thats been a stationary fixutre in your garage for like 3 or 4 years.

Overall impressions didnt dissapoint for what it is. After all the talk about the 2f and the big tires i honestly thought that id be drivin around in low gear to get anywhere. Nope she climbed little hills on the gravel road with ease and accelerated decent. I bet its got like at least a 4 second 0-60.. We timed it all official so its true.

The trails we took it on had a lot of atv ruts so they were bumpy as all hell and the front suspension took em all. It was very plush and the 5100s with the firm valving seem like theyre a good match. The rear rode like leaf springs do but these are a well used set so way better than expected. Steering works great but i could see it using some assist when the tires are jammed up against rocks so i might look into tapping the 60 box eventually. It climbed some rocky hills and small ledges and even got up some modest sand/gravel hills. Peetie stalled on one sandy hill with the tires near the top and after startin it back up got her up the rest of the way without backing down. Gotta give the 2f some credit for sure, shes got some torque even with the big meats. Gotta start savin for an orion though if i really wanna wheel it but for some trail riding it should be good.

Dont really know what else.... The brakes worked great, just have to play with the proportioning valve to get the right amount of pressure going to the rear. Going down the trail and rougher roads thing doesnt rattle or squeak all which it really shouldnt since most of the parts are new but it was nice to hear.. .

Another short cell vid.

[URL=http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/zz101/charlesk11charles/Mobile%20Uploads/20151002_162911_zpsdpnmbmhl.mp4][/URL]

D
 
She's beautiful man!

Next step is to test out those rock rails you put in the rear quarters. I'm interested to see how those hold up!
 
Lol. Theyre indestructable johnny! You just gotta believe man..

D
 
Brakes were real hard at the pedal and i figured the booster was dicked so i made the 97 80 series booster i had in stash all pretty, drank some beer and threw it on.

Its a bigger booster and i wasnt sure how well it would clear the ribs and various other protrusions on my early to mid 70s? firewall so i did some reading on here then made up a quick 1/2" uhmw spacer that sits between the booster and firewall just in case. On a side note the firewall studs on the 80 booster were exactly 1 /2" longer than studs on the old booster so it was like it was meant to be.

Otherwise we just measured the old brake pedal rod dealie to firewall length and adjusted the rod on the 80 to match, bent the lip of one of the firewall ribs slightly and bolted it in. It ended up sticking out further from the firewall than the old booster but my lines were z'd at the master so it wasnt hard to get them lookin good without any major bending.

It was like 1 30 am by the time we buttoned it all up and we were a lil tipsy so i spared the neighbours havin to hear two drunk idiots revvin a forklift motor to test the new booster. Fired it up this morning and yep i have power assist now!

The old rebuildable? booster w plastic check valve.
[URL=http://s818.photobucket.com/user/charlesk11charles/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151103_105558_zpsrk6fpi5n.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s818.photobucket.com/user/charlesk11charles/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151102_221101_zps0tpvpt1c.jpg.html][/URL]

The new hugeness that works.
[URL=http://s818.photobucket.com/user/charlesk11charles/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151115_111531_zpspvf1igpf.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s818.photobucket.com/user/charlesk11charles/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151115_111509_zpsb8mgfdcr.jpg.html][/URL]

Next up Noey and i are doin the ifs hub/sky mfg 60 series axle widening mod. Were both runnin 60 front 80 rear axles and dont wanna run wheel spacers so this makes sense. I managed to find 2 sets of ifs hubs and noey has the spacer kits for the rotors on order.

D
 
Thanks man!! Thats what i was goin for with this thing lol..

Spent the day gettin the ds door to close as nice as the ps. Mission accomplished.

D
 
Well, shes got her ice racin tires on now, ready for another winter of dickin around.

Its kinda nice havin it in the garage and being able to mess with it again. When it was at petes id have to try to remember what i wanted to do and bring all the associated parts and tools with me but in the end id usually forget at least 80% of it.

After swappin the booster and fine tuning the ds door latch/striker the clutch pedal got adjusted. It was grabbin way at the end of its stroke whan my foot was almost off the pedal, after adjusting the rod it engages where it should. Mint.

A buddy of mine whos a police officer mentioned that there was no reflectors on the back of the van last time he was here and he was right. The tail lights are blacked out and i neglected to throw any kind of reflector on. He said other cops wouldnt be impressed and i didnt like being unsafe so i threw together a couple quick reflector mounts. The mounts bolt to one of my rear bumperette gussets and the reflector looks to be floating when viewed from the rear of the truck. I just used some cheapo grote reflectors from the truck shop but they seem to fit in decent. .

I also hooked up the hand throttle and fine tuned it a little. The hole in the dash where i needed the throttle to pass through was too big so i did some creative washer stacking and now its all good. Works freaking great which is cool too i guess.

Also got the ifs hubs ready to swap on. They got new races pressed in and the fj60 rotors got drilled so they bolt on to the back of the ifs hub. Just waiting on the spacer kit for the rotor from sky mfg now and i should be able to throw them on and ditch the 1.5" wheel spacers im running up front.

[URL=http://s818.photobucket.com/user/charlesk11charles/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151117_152257_zpsvgixao1l.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s818.photobucket.com/user/charlesk11charles/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151117_153336_zpse8epjydq.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s818.photobucket.com/user/charlesk11charles/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151117_153351_zpszzwbj7sh.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s818.photobucket.com/user/charlesk11charles/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151118_175238_zps5ucc19sz.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s818.photobucket.com/user/charlesk11charles/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151118_180137_zpsehjpcnit.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s818.photobucket.com/user/charlesk11charles/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151118_224837_zpsuwlqbt47.jpg.html][/URL]

Had to add a pic of the apprentice takin a break from the action..

[URL=http://s818.photobucket.com/user/charlesk11charles/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151027_212749_zpsirboxpmf.jpg.html][/URL]

D
 
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