Scout

[MDEnvEngr]

So then we got the chassis back in the garage and on blocks that put it at ride height. We set the cab on the chassis and got that leveled and measured for spacers. Then we stabbed the engine in and got the mounts tacked in. We had to do some trimming of the firewall to get the engine back as far as we could - without sacrificing footroom. The next day we cut some more of the floor out and put the transmission mount in.

IMG_3450 by Finn Spooner

Now we are waiting on some metal to start on the tunnel and finish the floor. Meantime we decided to look at the fenders. We have been thinking about what we were going to do with the fenders from the start. We didn't want to compromise handling and make short control arms to avoid cutting the fenders. We aren't making a bagged show car cruiser. This truck will be driven with some spirit and will be autocrossed, etc. So, we knew we were in for some fender mods. So we cut the rotten bottom off of the forward bulkhead and mounted the fenders to the cab and to the bulkhead. Installed a wheel and took a look.

IMG_3449 by Finn Spooner

Looks cool:

IMG_3448 by Finn Spooner

But, we do have to turn, so there will be some cutting. The fenders really are one of the visual features of the truck - so trying to keep as much of their shape as possible was a priority. We spent a couple of evenings head scratching and chatting over it. In the end I think we are going to keep it as simple as possible: we will just cut the fender for the clearance we need. There really is no way that gets everything we want: some go with smaller wheels/tires (blah), some put the wheels far inboard (just no), some go with air ride suspension (not good for our intended use), etc, etc.

But first we have to make the front bulkhead mounts to that the fenders don't fold up on us when we cut them (and before we fabricate whatever we are going to do to replace the fender lip).

All good! Thanks for looking - Bob & Finn

[j44ke]

Whoopah! Glad you and Finn are up and running again, Bob. Great to have this thread continue.

[MDEnvEngr]

Well, we got the fenders trimmed. I had spent a lot of time thinking about how to do it and not have it look like crap. Finn went out there and got it done with one cut on each side. I've mentioned the power of the pre-beer pre-women teenaged mind - that's not a joke. Anyway, they came out great and you would have to be a real F100 nerd to know that something is different. I might go as far as saying I like the clean arch better than the stock flat-topped fender arch.

[IMG]IMG_3453 by Finn Spooner

Then we replaced the floor and fabricated the trans tunnel:

[IMG]IMG_3456 by Finn Spooner

Then some more chassis work: figuring out the upper shock mounts and the steering rack mounts; putting in the front bed support and driveshaft "hoop"; checking on rear suspension clearances.

[IMG]IMG_3460 by Finn Spooner

Happy with the chassis so far. Looks like we are going to be able to sneak the steering rack in between the chassis rails and the oil pan - and it'll be in the right place so that we don't get a bunch of bump steer and will give us some (correct) ackerman.

We moved the cab of the truck into the basement where the woodstove is. We are working on the seat mounts, the steering column mount, gussets for the cab mounts and the interior panels like the headliner and such. Those interior panels will be a challenge for us - we are not good at that kind of stuff and taking our time where it's nice and warm will help us along. Also, we will be making the panels out of hdpe and it'll bend better when it is warm.

Thanks for looking - B&F

[MDEnvEngr]

So we have been moving forward. We have the cab in the basement and are enjoying working in the warmth.

We made the head liner. Lots of cardboard templates, and a total of 6 pieces. We used sheet pvc, which I now love. It can be formed with a heat gun and when it cools it holds the shape. Really easy to work with and it allowed us to create something that looks good. Which is much better than my goal of just making something that we weren't embarrassed of.

Here a piece formed on the bench:

[IMG]IMG_3467 by Finn Spooner[/IMG]

Sometimes tweaking can be done in place:

[IMG]IMG_3469 by Finn Spooner[/IMG]

All together. We covered this with some gray headliner cloth. Here you can see the Audi TT seats. More to follow on that.

[IMG]IMG_3502 by Finn Spooner[/IMG]

WE also used that pvc to make some new defogger ducts. We cut a wooden buck, and then formed the ducts in tow pieces - plus a sauerkraut can we stole from the pantry. Then we glued the halves together and finished them with some aluminum flashing tape.

[IMG]IMG_3514 by Finn Spooner[/IMG]

[IMG]IMG_3518 by Finn Spooner, on Flickr[/IMG]

We were pleased at how they came out. We also built a new glove box using the same methods.

We flocked the dash and the inside of the glove box.

[IMG]IMG_3534 by Finn Spooner[/IMG]

The dash came out good. Shouldn't bee too many 58 Fords with a WRC style flocked dash.

Then: shifter. We are using a Getrag 6-speed tranny out of a 2016 mustang. The stick in this application is hung at the end of a 1' long beam. This puts it in the wrong place for our application. We need the shifter to come straight up. We started by machining a new socket to go on the end of the tranny stub and locating the pivot to give our desired throw:

[IMG]IMG_3525 by Finn Spooner[/IMG]

We had to find some supports for the pivot, and ended running a brace over to an available hole on the side:

[IMG]IMG_3528 by Finn Spooner[/IMG]

But the real trick was the reverse lockout. This lockout is not a transmission thing, it is a shifter thing. Where our pivot is, the different between 1 gear and revers is only about 3/6" of an inch. So, the reverse lockout has to provide a positive 1-2 throw while preventing entry into reverse. Then, there has to be some positive mechanism that allows access and hold in reverse. Finn came up with an ingenious idea to use an eccentric bushing on a shaft concentric to the shaft that enters the socket. The concentric shaft has a "J" shaped slot milled in it. To access reverse, you have to push down on the shifter knob and turn it 1/8 of a turn.
[IMG]IMG_3527 by Finn Spooner[/IMG]

This was a super simple effective solution. I was/am really impressed by Finn here. He's really thinking things through. This project has him stretching his skills and it is so great to see. I've said it before: there is nothing more powerful than the pre-beer pre-women teenaged brain.

So seats. We had those sweet Audi seats. We built the seat mounts and they looked great. But they are big. We had this nagging thought that they were too big. And once we put the pedals in, we saw they were big. So we looked around and then decided to make our own seats. We designed up a steel bomber-style seat that has the shape of the GTI seats we love. The shell is flat bottomed, but we will use minicell to form a seat bottom contoured cushion. The backs and bolsters will be covered with 1/4" neoprene. Using our kayak outfitting experience here.

3-D CAD prototype design:

[IMG]IMG_3522 by Finn Spooner[/IMG]

Laying it out. If you have watched since the beginning of this thread you might notice that Finn is about 8" taller now. Another couple of inches and he'll be taller than me - not that that is such a big deal.

[IMG]IMG_3526 by Finn Spooner[/IMG]

Some bending, and a ton of holes and dimples and now it is tacked together:

[IMG]IMG_3535 by Finn Spooner[/IMG]

So we'll have 2 weeks into something we didn't think we'd have spend any time on. But that is the way it goes. On the other hand, I think these seats might be a highlight of the build for most people. Not everyone can/will appreciate a good engine build or a cool suspension setup or an ingenious shifter. But everyone can see cool seats. We will make the passenger seat a little larger, a little more relaxed than the driver seat. We still have to stretch/shrink the angle to finish the edges - that's a little on the tedious side but cool to do at the same time. Then Finn gets 16' of thing sheet edge welding. Better him than me.

Along with all of that it is general mayhem down in the basement. We are also building some frames: a little run of gravel/cx bikes because our crew has outgrown everything. And Finn is working on the second snow-dog grooming sled for paying customers. Busy, busy!

Thanks for looking - Bob & Finn

[72gmc]

Inspiring. I hope Finn is documenting this for his personal CV.

Regarding building your own seats: is there a set of standards (federal or otherwise) that you have to adhere to?

[JoB]

Me: I'm kinda busy not sure i can squeeze in a ride today.

Bob & Finn: rebuilding a truck is NBD, let me weld up some seats, bike frames, and dog sleds.


My hat is WAY off to you two!

[Too Tall]

REALLY enjoying this tread.

GO FINN!

[MDEnvEngr]

Plugging along. Finished the chassis and got it painted. Installed the suspensions with dummy shocks and rolled it out into the sun to install the cab.
[IMG]2 by Finn Spooner, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]8 by Finn Spooner, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]9 by Finn Spooner, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]6 by Finn Spooner, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]3 by Finn Spooner, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]4 by Finn Spooner, on Flickr[/IMG]

The chassis looks short. There is a 1' structure going on the front that will support the bumper and be designed to absorb and impact. Likewise on the rear - but it's nearly 2' long.

We put the fenders on to figure the inner fenders and then set the hood on just to take a look. We like the stance:

[IMG]11 by Finn Spooner, on Flickr[/IMG]

And, new addition to the family. The timing was about a year early. Finn's younger brother Keenan needs a vehicle as unique as his brother's - but it must be completely different. And, /keenan isn't so much into building his own from scratch. So I happened to be catching up with an old buddy of mine - who I also would count as a frame building mentor - and he mentioned that he was looking for a home for one of his amazons. Well, a barn find vintage rally car brought back to life doesn't come by every day. This one was meticulously tended to and is about as good an original example as you'll likely find. There still is plenty of things my son and I can do to round it out. And for sure we will be tapping Finn. Keenan can't actually drive it for a couple of years, but me and Mom will keep it exercised for him:

[IMG]21 by Finn Spooner, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]22 by Finn Spooner, on Flickr[/IMG]

Good times! Thanks for looking! Bob

[72gmc]

Nice work!

There's a JPW feel to that Amazon ...

[MDEnvEngr]

So it has been a busy 4 months. We are nearly there, but there has been so many hurtles: parts availability, shipping snafus (FedEx sucks), vendor snafus and of course just normal run-of-the-mill screw ups. This is the story when you are building a completely one-off vehicle. There has been precious few parts that we have not had to modify in some what. We have cut apart brand new Wilwood pedal assemblies, re-drilled custom flywheels, chopped up surge tanks, etc, I have been slow to update - I ran out of local photo space and Flickr is just such a PIA. But figured I'd do a couple more to catch up here.

We have finished the body work - and left it a little lumpy here and there. We created front and rear valences and bumpers. We painted: epoxy primer, a full coat of light green single stage urethane and then a second full coat of dark green STU. A week of wet sanding and we have the finish we want. We finished the seats and the interior. Wired the engine and the chassis. A couple of problems there, but I was very impressed with us and the very low number of mis-wirings (the biggest was the coils: we had truck coils instead of car coils and the connectors are wired backwards). We got the engine started and worked through the tune - and learned that one cannot compare your engine needs to some other fellows 302. WE got the suspension assembled and the springs adjusted. And, well, everything...

The engine sounds great. Finn's first full engine build appears to be a success. We have learned a lot. Finn is always better then me, the brat: he picked up the spray gun and laid on the paint like he's been doing it for years. Though I still have him on the wiring.

[IMG]ad by belltownbikes, on Flickr[/IMG]

ac by belltownbikes, on Flickr

ab by belltownbikes, on Flickr

ab by belltownbikes, on Flickr

IMG_3737 by belltownbikes, on Flickr

IMG_3736 by belltownbikes, on Flickr

IMG_3726 by belltownbikes, on Flickr

[darkmother]

Great work you two! Really cool to see this project as it has progressed.

[Too Tall]

Wait what? Tell me about that roll cage, it is massively strong. Are you planning on doing some hillclimbs or track days?

[MDEnvEngr]

Wait what? Tell me about that roll cage, it is massively strong. Are you planning on doing some hillclimbs or track days?

Yes - planning on autocross and track days with the local club, with the eventual aim of SCCA hillclimbs. This truck will have to race in an unlimited class, so it'll get smoked - but it'll be a good time. The bar is 1.75" DOM - normal rollbar tubing. The side supports make more sense when you see the seats in there - we made the seats out of sheet metal. We figured that the side bolsters would get flattened eventually getting in and out. So, those bars provide a solid place to scootch yourself into the seat. And a great "oh shit" handle! Bob

[TRuth]

This is totally awesome. Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work.

[lumpy]

Love the color and the project.

[Too Tall]

Yes - planning on autocross and track days with the local club, with the eventual aim of SCCA hillclimbs. This truck will have to race in an unlimited class, so it'll get smoked - but it'll be a good time. The bar is 1.75" DOM - normal rollbar tubing. The side supports make more sense when you see the seats in there - we made the seats out of sheet metal. We figured that the side bolsters would get flattened eventually getting in and out. So, those bars provide a solid place to scootch yourself into the seat. And a great "oh shit" handle! Bob

Please make it loud.

Fantastic thing you are doing for the kid.

[MDEnvEngr]

Please make it loud.

Fantastic thing you are doing for the kid.

Oh - its loud! Has a nice low end chop too, with the B303 Cam. Notice the 3.5" single exhaust poking out from the rear roll pan super-car style.

[Too Tall]

Oh - its loud! Has a nice low end chop too, with the B303 Cam. Notice the 3.5" single exhaust poking out from the rear roll pan super-car style.

Excellent, yeah now I see. Boy that will put the fear of dog in a few. HAHA no need for a cutout.

[mnoble485]

Am I the only dork who noticed Finn’s matching green socks? Nice touch if on purpose, even better if not.

Mike

[MDEnvEngr]

Hey All - happy new year. Finn and the truck are good. This sums it up:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/915072.../shares/5V5521

Finn is awaiting responses from colleges. Uconn would be his first choice (and mine - keeps him kind of local). But RIT and Clarkson are possibilities too. Uconn has the best formula sae team - and those are Finn's folks.

Next up is the Volvo. #2 son will be helping with that, and I'm really looking forward to that. He is not the gear head Finn is - but he's already got a huge soft spot for that car. Finn will still be involved - we'll need his welding expertise. We can't go crazy on the Volvo though: JPW is watching!

Finn has a little Instagram page, so if you are inclined check him out: @Finnwerks.

Good day all! Bob