Widebody Hardbody

[Rattmandu]

Spent the weekend turning the A-Arms into a real sheet metal design that tab and slots together. This is primarily 10 gauge cold rolled sheet, with the threaded bungs for the heims being welded into 1.5" OD, 0.25" wall DOM tubing.

The upper arm should be right at 10 pounds for the weldment, plus a little bit more for the uniball bearing and the ball of the heim joints. Upper arm design:



Exploded view:



The lower arm is right around 15 pounds. Lower arm:



Exploded:



And I also ran a little FEA simulation on a simplified model of the lower arm. The test shown here is at 2000 pounds force at the shock mount, but peak force at end of travel will be something close to 3200 pounds.



And here's both arms together:



And I played around a little bit with nesting the parts for cutting. Basically an upper lower pair worth of parts fits on a 48x16 sheet.



I sent these drawings off to a laser cutter yesterday, and hopefully I'll have parts next week sometime.

[Rattmandu]

Over the last couple weeks, I've gotten the trans tunnel cut out of 16 gauge, and folded it up on a finger brake at work. I ended up making the end cap a separate piece, and also altered the design versus the cardboard mock-up. It's now the same width at the base, but tapers to an inch narrower at the top.





End cap welded on and ground smooth.



Then came the arduous task of getting it to fit the floor and firewall. I had to totally strip everything off the dash to get enough access to the firewall, then spent about two and a half days trimming and heating and beating to get everything to meet up properly. It's fully seam welded along the entire perimeter inside the cab.





It was then etch primed.



And I gooped up the underside with seam sealer.



Finally the fan, heater core, and AC evaporator went back in. I had to remove everything that allowed air to be directed at my feet, but that's no big deal.



And now for some big changes, I've been designing my own front suspension. I'm starting with the knuckles from a 2012 2WD Silverado, so that the stud pattern matches the Tahoe rear axle. Also they're cheap, and not super tall like a Tacoma knuckle, and they're front steer which is important for engine clearance. The knuckles have been modified to use a 1" Uni-ball joint instead of the standard ball joint. Note in the below pictures I have it mocked up with a Heim joint, which isn't what I'm going to be using in the final design.





This will be a double A-arm design, which is currently designed to have 40% anti-dive, and an instantaneous roll center about 30% of the way up to the CG. These are subject to change because I'm making some educated guess about where the CG is. I'm also planning on moving the front wheels about 2" further forward, this will get me some more traction on the rear wheels, and also give me more tire clearance to the foot-well. Up front I only have to worry about running into a fiberglass fender and a bumper I haven't made yet.





I've designed it to have about 6 inches of bump and 4 inches of droop. Bump steer going up is pretty good, as it sags down I get like a half degree of toe-in.





This would be with a 6.5" stroke shock and a 500-550 lb/in spring, which results in around a 1.6 hz natural frequency. Again, these numbers will change a bit once I get the truck on some wheel scales and get true numbers for sprung and un-sprung weight.

And here's a shot of the basic design of the A-arms. These will be cnc plasma cut 10 guage plates that will tab and slot together to self jig into the right shape. Those inboard plates that the A-arms connect to is designed to be welded to the outside of the frame rails so I can actually position the arms correctly in space. You can also see what the uni-ball joints look like.

[Rattmandu]

this thing is fucking rad!

Thanks!

[scweet14]

this thing is fucking rad!

[Rattmandu]

Engine mounts and transmission mount are finished.



Driver:


Passenger:


Trans:






And I've started mocking up the new transmission tunnel. I'll also be mounting the hydro hand brake to this, and hopefully adding a couple cup holders. I think I'll go one inch narrower in the rear of the tunnel than this mock-up. Also keep in mind it needs to slide slightly further forward than pictured but I have to dig more insulation off the firewall piece by piece till I can get it in there.

[Rattmandu]

It's been a productive weekend so far. Mounted the trans on the engine for the first time, sans flywheel and clutch so it'll have to come back apart.





And then I spent the next 6 or so hours taking her in and out of the bay to test clearance. The cross member that goes between the lower control arms got notched out and replaced with a tube about 1.5" lower to clear the oil pan, and that new cross member will double as a skid plate mount. Also, I'm pretty sure the intake manifold is going to stick out the hood an inch or two at the front.



New cross member / skid-plate mount:



Alternator clears the frame which is nice.



Steering column needs a little work to clear the headers.



Nice and close to the firewall.



Engine mounts are tacked up.





Transmission sits pretty high in the cab and required removing more trans tunnel than I had been guessing. Also interferes with the old hydro hand brake mount I had made, so that has to move.





And finally it started raining pretty heavily before I could get the trans mount made, but that's not a bad couple days work.

[Rattmandu]

It's been forever since I've updated this build, but Seattle's 11 months of rain are finally coming to an end so I've been able to get outside and do some more work.

First of all, I got the Collin's adapter for my CD009 and put that together with my T56 bellhousing.







And my long-block is pretty much done. I'm going with the Trailblazer SS intake despite how ugly it is, so I'll probably need to make an aluminum cover for it at some point. I've also just started the process of snuggling this thing into the engine bay, and I'm going to be making a custom cross-member\skid-plate mount to get it low enough for the hood to clear the intake.







I've fabbed up the front half of my "exo-cage." This is all removable using TMR Custom's interlocking tube clamps. The front half currently rests on 1/8" doubler plates on the aprons, but I would like to tie that down to the frame rails later. I need to finish the suspension before I know what clearance I have for that tubing tho.







And finally I started playing with my fiberglass front fenders. I will need to make front A-arms that are 5-5.5" longer on each side to fill out the wheel well properly.

[jane477]

Some minor progress, I've taken the LQ9 block to the machine shop. They're pretty swamped so it'll probably be January before I get it back.
Like this awesome https://prohighgrades.com/case-converter
I figured people would enjoy this picture of me loading it into my work truck. She was riding pretty low that day.

I just wanted to mention that your project is looking pretty awesome
And you have a funny version of a work truck=))

[Rattmandu]

Some minor progress, I've taken the LQ9 block to the machine shop. They're pretty swamped so it'll probably be January before I get it back.

I figured people would enjoy this picture of me loading it into my work truck. She was riding pretty low that day.

[Rattmandu]

I love your fab work, but I have to say I'd rather see it with prerunner-style fenders and bedsides.

It is getting prerunner style fender up front. In the back I kind of always wanted the utilitarian flatbed. Plus I've never seen anything like this and there's tons of full glass prerunners out there.

[Asshole Bicycle]

I love your fab work, but I have to say I'd rather see it with prerunner-style fenders and bedsides.

[DawsonLiri]

Looks like more an Australian's UTE now.

[Steven_318ti]

Wow!!!

[Rattmandu]

I've been largely just collecting parts recently, but I finally have everything I need to take my block to the machine shop.

The block has been totally stripped down.







The stock forged rods have been cleaned up.





I got a new set of 0.005" oversized flat top forged pistons with valve reliefs.



And finally a new Lumpy Boi. This is Summit's stage 3 truck cam.





Not pictured is about $500 in ARP fasteners. I got head bolts, main cap studs, and rod bolts from them.

I'll leave you with some fun night rain shots of the truck.

[Rattmandu]

Continuing our trip through the past with the fab work on the bed.

This was setting the ride height of the bed frame.



Making all the cross members.





Bed mounts.



Flat bed on the mounts for the first time.



Main hoops for the roll bar.





Fabbed the bumper in place on the truck.









And when I first got the fenders mounted and it started looking like a truck again.