First Rendering

First Rendering
Brian Jennings First Crack At A Design

Monday, July 26, 2010

Minor Update

The shop has been crazy busy and my Mom was in town, so progress has been a bit slow for the past couple of weeks.  The wiring is almost done, and the brake lines are all made.  Still need to weld some studs on the diff housing to hold down the brake T, install the trans dipstick and shifter that should arrive today and mount the battery box.  I hope to have it running sometime this week.

Friday, July 16, 2010

July 16th Update

OK, So I have been slacking on my updates.  We had the NHRDA Diesel Nationals in Redding last weekend, so we were slammed preparing for that.  We have had a record amount of work at the shop, so my time has been slim to work on RattleRod.

The good news is that Danny and Jake have been hard at work on fab projects on the car, so at least some progress is being made.
I finally got the car on its wheels and rolling and it steers so well, I am concerned I might not need the power steering after all...We'll see.
The rear of the car is a little high at the moment, but there is no fuel in the tank, no battery, sub, or amps in the trunk and no top or rear bumper on the car, so I will reserve judgement on the rear height until I get that stuff in the car.
I dropped the front to where I think I want it and the steering geometry looks good.  I have to get it on an alignment rack before I get too excited, but I think its going to be OK. We took 4 inches out of the oil pan, so now its the same level as the front crossmember.  Still pretty low, but its all we have to work with.
We got the mounts made for the intercooler heat exchanger and intercooler, and Danny got all the piping laid out.  Hoover at TurboHoses hooked me up with some nice silicon boots to make it all work, now we need to make support brackets for the piping and an intake solution and we are set.
Chad got the pump timed and my SDX injectors showed up.  The motor is ready to fire as soon as the wiring is done.
I ordered up a Lokar dipstick and shifter since the factory linkage has no room to work.  This wasn't my first choice, but I think it will be cool anyway.

Jake has been hard at work on the trans tunnel and it should be completed today.  I got the brake pedal re-hung and we are able to use the factory throttle pedal as long as we flip the brake pedal pad so we have some extra space between the pedals.


Next week I will start my 6am mornings and get the wiring finished up so that we can test everything out and get it running.  Then its on to brake lines and a test drive.