The Nuclear Banana...... Redux!!! Even "MORE" progress pics....

cool deal Doug Im trying to get all my honny do's done so i can get back to work on my car

Just an update. Pickin' the truck up tomorrow from the new fab shop that opened up just down the road from my house. I picked him up as a new sponsor this year. He busted out his tig and did up my strut mounts for me. I'll try and get some pics up by week's end.







Doug...

that looks dam good Doug.you'v got all kinds of room for the fox struts.that's been a nice deal on a lot of race cars,and now trucks.i did'nt have much travel on my rig after i lowered it to work for me but i tried a 175#spring first but ended up with a 250#.you have lots of travel and maybe your r/h will work out good.keep up the good work.

cool deal doug

This is the only pic I got today. I got the strut cups in, and got it sittin on the ground, or in this case, the bed of my trailer. I'll get some better pics when the weather shapes up & I can get it outside & off the trailer.










Doug...

Doug! looks real good! What is your final degrees of lean back of the strut? and what part of the strut did you take that reading from? I wound up with 19* with the angle finder on the lower smooth part of the strut. I am getting ready to remove my spring/strut towers. just wanted to know what you wound up with. thanks Jason

Thanks Jason. I ended up with 10* of tip back, and 14* in. I took several angle readings from several different Mustangs and came up with these numbers as an average from all of those readings. I had to go a minimum of 14* in to clear the roll bar tubes in the front with the spring. I can't wait to get this thing on the actual ground and running again.



Doug...

Cool deal Doug looking good. Just about time to put a smack down on the chevy boys.

Looks great Doug! That sure is a cleaner looking set-up.

Bill

It sure is Bill. Not to mention all the room I'm gonna have too. Now all I need to do is get my front engine plate installed, and I'm also gonna fab up some tabs so I can use Dzus fasteners to mount the front clip back on instead of using all of the screws and bolts. Then I'm going to build me a much lighter core support as well. It should start coming together much faster now.






Doug...

Looking real nice there bud. Took me a little while to remember where you were posting up all of the stuff on the N/B.

Well, I put my new A-Arms on yesterday.


And the weather finally dried up enough, I was able to get my truck off the trailer and back in the garage. Here's a shot of the strut mounts, and the cups I had to make.


And a front shot. I think it turned out really good.


Tomorrow, I'm going to try and get the engine all back together from checking it out, and doing a "little" work to my heads. Then I can get started on the motor plate so I can get it running.




Doug...

looking good I like it.

Lookin great Doug!!

Did you leave the top strut plates larger to mount cross bracing or will they be trimmed?

Bill

Yeah Bill. I thought I'd have them oversized a little, because I still need to install a support tube to the frame, and with the cross-brace I'm going to have one that just bolts between the top plates. I figured also, instead of running the support tube from the roll bar, I'd run it from the bottom of the top plate to the frame since that's where all the torque's gonna be. After they're all done, then I'm going to dress up the top plates with the plasma cutter.









Doug...

Should work great! Sounds like you've thought this through quite well!!

It should handle a bunch better going down the track too. The rack is much more responsive.

Bill

This thing already drove down the track like you were on a road trip. It'll definitely be lighter. After I got all of the factory truck suspension off, about 350 lbs. & weighing everything I'm putting back on, 170 lbs. I'd say it's gonna be the wheelie bars back on it before I even make a test pass. I got the support bars in, but I must have bumped the driver's side bar when I tacked it in place, because it's not the exact same angle as the passenger side bar. As long as it does it's job, I think I can live with it. Looks like there won't be much trimming of the top plate either. Oh well, they look good the way they are.







Doug...

Doug, What brand are the a-arms?

Hey John. The A-arms are made by QA-1. They're very nice units.







Doug...

Great job Doug. Looking forward to Mega Ford Weekend again this year.

Thanks Ken. Not sure if I'm gonna make it this year or not. Things are pretty tight here. Almost squeakin'.
Got the engine and trans set in today, and gettin the front plates mocked up. For all you wise guys, I know the cardboard won't be strong enough. I'm doing the plates bolted to the heads "cause I like the way it looks better than the 1 piece. I've seen a few done this way and they said they haven't had any issues. They'll also be trimmed, so they won't look all blocky like the cardboard pieces do. I also found out why I hate Ford sometimes. I realized just how much offset the engine has in the trucks, now that there's more open area to look at. I have just enough room to get the passenger side valve cover off. Oh well, maybe next year I can get my tube chassis......... oooops, never mind.



Initial cut-outs for the front plates.


Final cut-outs for the front plates. I added the dropped plates on the frame for an additional mounting point.


Driveshaft angle coming from trans. Looks like I better move my driveshaft loop forward a smidge.


Going into pinion yoke. Pinion is @ 2* down. Driveshaft angle from trans to pinion is 3*.







Doug...

Don't do anything until you get a rack in it!

Don't do anything until you get a rack in it!

Good advise......

The rack is in it. Just waitin' on my tie rod ends. I didn't have it in in the 2 top pics, but figured I better check it for clearance on the pan. I have about 1/2" clearance between the rack & oil pan.






Doug...

Make sure you check the bumpsteer before you finalize it all