Builds Shipwreck (20 Viewers)

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I was all excited about doing steel wheels and poverty caps on this '40 until the thought struck me, how, exactly, am I going use my high lift to jack from the center of the wheel? I could try the old "ring on the axle end", but I think the hub cap would need to be stretched to cover that... part of the reason for putting rock rails and those flares on this '40 is to give me jacking points 360* around the rig. I can't honestly count how many times having solid anchors at the side have either totally or mostly saved the bacon... and one of those things, on my H3, I carry a hook that attaches to my high lift where I can jack inside the wheel to lift the vehicle off the ground. It's really handy (for those who don't know about these) when you're trying to change a tire on a flexy rig... most high lifts don't have enough lift to lift the vehicle high enough to change a tire... not to mention, at the coast, a board and a high lift and the hole in the sand can be filled simply by lifting the tire out of it (even my air bag doesn't do as quickly and easily as a high lift on the rim.

so... do I give up on poverty cap wheels?...
 
Poverty caps would be cooler, but looks aren't everything.

If I had the wheels that are on it now, I'd be happy.
 
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function will trump form every single time - that said, those wheels are about 1" too far under the rig... they're a centered offset 8" wheel, should be a 10" with a 4" negative offset - since I'm going to the big swap meet this week, it'll give me something to browse for while I'm there.


we now have steering!
just required a bit a honing


on the right bolt hole


then onto a bracket



since I needed my lift, I rolled it outside

 
thanks
tonight's fun
differential cover. I suppose I could have bought another one, and the accusation by some is I really need to learn to weld... no easier way than on thick metal




I now have a dipping bowl for those times when I have the guys over


and it now clears nicely




a weld or two later and voila


sad part is I'm going to grind them smooth, but I figured I'd go with the ? mark pattern dimes are for chumps (lol). In reality, I knew I was going to grind it down into a radius and I figured I'd make the finishing easier by starting to erode the top edge.
 
...and I am tempted to put something clever on this flat face
P4060009_zpsdesbs00t.jpg


my first 4x4 was a 74 Blazer on 44s, I hand-painted a picture of a small car stuck between the teeth of a huge grin on the cover... thinking of putting a shipwreck on this one.
 
yep, lots of room. this picture is at full lock
P4060004_zpsuwia8uyr.jpg


and the shipwreck brand would be just on the cover - it'd be pretty invisible. One thing, a friend had his 70 Blazer stolen from his yard and spent years chasing down similar (or maybe even the same) Blazer and parts. It was always a failure (the looking) because he couldn't identify the parts. Putting a unique brand on the major parts, especially ones that the uninformed would likely leave (as opposed to vin, license, or similar numbers) is a good way of getting parts back and the waste of oxygen arrested.... on this '40, the frame is branded, as is the tub in a couple places beside what Toyota put (and I actually am going to bondo over one so that should it be stolen, the thief would never know it's there. I'd simply bring the brand back via x-ray)....
 
wheelbase is 95 1/2 - for those curious, that's 5 1/2" longer than stock.


I bought this at the most productive garage sale I've ever stopped at (a couple years ago)


I'm going to try to incorporate it into this to hold my tools

I keep having to remind myself that this is the vertical seating of the early 70s... but boy is is this tall and getting in will be a pain. Which, could be solved in the next couple days when I attend the swap meet in Portland


unfortunately, the toolbox won't fit under the seat...


but I am planning a box once I finalize what seats I'm using
I also measured so that should I find a bucket/bench seat I'll know what width is maximum (51")


anyway.... ttfn
 
Really enjoy your build, and the reality breaks. Keep it up.
Cheers,
 
I only go to the 1st day of both swap meets (Thurs, Fri)... so I'm back with treasures....
swap meet buy,

air shocks I won't use under the '40 (but use for test fitting and trading purposes)... they were too cheap to pass up

back stock


headlights with integral signals


I bought two EFI
one is a commander 950



it came with a throttle body... seems like overkill, for this system, but for the price (less than the wiring harness cost).. how could I go wrong? came with 2 fuel pumps too


the other system was less than the price of a fuel pump (which it came with a new one)

the sensors alone made this a good deal

and I have another small project... this is for the '40... on-board air. I helped a friend install one in the mid-80s, and I loved how much air it put out.... anyway, this was $10.


in other news, brackets arrived
 
Good deal!!

I said before and I'll say again... one of the most entertainingly educational threads on MUD!!

A lot of it is above my skill level, but I find it thoroughly educational nonetheless!!

Keep it up!!
 
SuperBuickGuy said:
since I got grief before about what is a good deal (apparently, some think that the axles I got, a dana 44 hp 4.56 gear, and a dana 60 locking rear for $300 wasn't a good deal....) about what is a good deal - here's what I paid.... $100
so you folks tell me... good deal or no?
Click to expand...


$100 for what? The air shocks, headlights, misc and efi systems? I would say good deal since you can resell pieces for more. My 40 came with a Holley efi on it and the PO told me that he could either get it to run well at idle or like a raped ape wide open, but never both. After a month if fighting with it, I swapped in a quadrajet. After the quadrajet I tried an aftermarket tbi system that was total junk, then I went propane after adding larger heads and wound up with a baller mpsefi setup from mass-flow. Point being keep it simple! I had never run a carb before the quadrajet and was impressed with how off angle I could get and it still ran great.

Since you have the air shocks, you may as well experiment.
 
$100 for the air shocks alone, they're 12" ones.

to me, EFI is simpler than a carb. I speak both languages and I've run both quite successfully in a variety of applications from stocker to boosted or bottle fed. I have a AFB carb on the rig now, but EFI is simply better for my build.... it's not the only choice, but for what I'm doing. It's better.

I've seriously considered propane (even looked at one for sale at the swap meet). I had a 75 Chevy 4x4 short bed in Reno that had propane power. I liked it, but propane has some detractions like loss of power (especially since the motor is already build for gas), and the elephant in the room - don't run out of propane, it's a pita to solve and finally, loss of cargo space (which was quite extreme in that pickup because it took 1/3 of the short bed for the tank).

From what I bought, the 950 commander is the most flexible system, the other system is the easiest because it's all GM validated stuff... so I dunno which I'll use, I'm leaning towards the Howards/GM system because it's so simple (even though it requires coming up with a harness).

so moving to the larger picture:
1) EZ EFI, I've run it and it's good for what it is - however, it's extremely limited because you can't change the factory-programmed maps. You can tell it to run leaner or richer - the problem is the system takes your advice and generally tells you to stuff it... on a stock motor, pre-80s, it works okay.... just don't run a hot cam.
2) EZ EFI 2.0 - at least gives you some programming that you can do... but neither can control spark
3) Howards (and a couple other folks including FItech) - they just came up with a cheap EFI system that the folks at Blueprint tentatively say is pretty good... as it's all GM TBI, I can't imagine there was much challenging the envelope - yet they both allow spark control through the efi.
4) FAST, Holley Commander, Megasquirt... all of these are very user unfriendly (to varying degrees), but they give you so much flexibility - including the ability to run the system closed loop.

I don't know which Holley EFI you ran, but the first generation (Pro-jection) couldn't run closed loop and required you to turn dials on the computer to set AF ratio and such... I used one of those, then didn't run another EFI for 10 years because of how terrible it was to make run. I also ran an AirResearch system in two forms - the original, and the system that was put out under Accel's banner... one of those times where the infusion of cash and tech expertise resulted a worse system...

One big thing to consider about the motor, was it EFI before or not.... putting such things as two temp sensors, knock sensors, and the ability to run a wide band O2 on an older motor can be challenging... and despite what they tell you, where you put each and every one of those sensors matter... to the point that you move the O2 sensor too much and you'll never get a good reading.
 
Wilson said:
I had never run a carb before the quadrajet and was impressed with how off angle I could get and it still ran great.
Click to expand...

but don't get me wrong, the above post was simply to lay out the thought process. I really like Quadrajets and think they're one of the best carbs out there if you want a dial and forget. their issue (and everything has issues - surprisingly, even me) is they are a challenge to dial in, and when they go wrong, they're a pain to diagnose and fix due to their complexity.
 
I'd like to thank you, I've now got another project to my DD, hunting rig, on board air out of an air compressor.
 
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