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  • RCSC

F-100 Boat Puller... the "Grave-Robber"

rerebuilder said:
Man I just want to get in buckle and take that truck for a ride. That interior is just over the top excellent work.
Click to expand...

Soon you'll be able to get as close as technology will allow. I just checked tracking and my "Pilot" fpv cam' (HD, that will record) should be delivered tomorrow. "thumbsup"
I'll put it in my crawler first to get used to it a little, but it will be in the boat and the 'Jockey soon. I can't wait to ride around the pond and for the wheelie / hole-shot ride. 8)

And Thanks :D
 
I've been driving my crawler truck with the Fat Shark set-up this past week, but I have made a little progress on the "Jockey too. :)
Got a roll-bar bent up out of the small aluminum rod left over from the bumper, and got it drilled and polished.



I also got the dash mounted solid. I used more of the neo' magnets to hold it in, I took the race-tech of the removable steering wheel a step further and made the whole dash removable to facilitate a driver. Miku still hasn't shown up yet, but I figured I'd make it easier to get "someone" in and out of the seat.
Now I can pop the interior in and out as I wish, like for pic's .....



... and still pull the dash to finish more details and such too.



I still need to mount the steering wheel (it's just taped in right now) but now I can fine tune it's position first.
In the daylight you can see the dash-lights without the cam' over-brightenin' them.




Now it needs a shifter and turn-sig' switch .... and heat controls .... etc .....


8)
 
Absolutely awesome interior - the carpet, Steve's harness's, all of it.....just perfect - and again, a very creative build.
 
joe122 said:
Absolutely awesome interior - the carpet, Steve's harness's, all of it.....just perfect - and again, a very creative build.
Click to expand...

rerebuilder said:
That interior came out awesome. I like the idea of the removable dash for easier access.
Click to expand...

Thank you, gentlemen, 8) you guys deserve some of the credit. Without the knowledge, inspiration and encouragement from you and a long list of others among these pages ( too many to name here "thumbsup"), this truck wouldn't have become what it is today, or even exist.
Thanks for the infection. :shock: ;-)

Now, on with the insanity. :mrgreen:
 
Well, I spent the last 2 days circling .... well actually zigg ... zagg ... ziiigg , flip (AAAaaaargh) ....
ANYway, I was doing some speed runs with the interior in, and it was doin' a snake-dance (zig-zags) while slowing down. Upping the gyro just seemed to make it worse, and one zig right at a small bump in the highway and it was "wheels-up". So after flipping it again, I decided to look into it more. Turns out my original steering set-up put the inner tie-rod ends (servo end) about 3/4 in. higher than the outer, knuckle ends causing bump-steer that was toeing the wheels in a few degrees when the front suspension (a whole 1/4in.) was compressed (bump-toe?). The interior's added weight amplified the issue.
So, after scarring the back edge of the roof ....



and tailgate pretty badly, I reworked the steering. I made a bracket and stood the servo on end, which leveled up the tie-rods ....



..... and eliminated the bump-steer all together.
But, along with starting to repair the roof, I got my shifter lever made. I cut a piece off of some 1/8 X 1 1/2in. alum' flat-stock and started filing and shaping ....




.... and used a piece of stainless wire for the lock-out lever. I went with a B&M style shifter.



Now to make more test-runs and more parts.

8)
 
Digg'n that shift handle, well done. Scratches do suck. I have seen some repair jobs where light sanding and a few coats of clear covered them up pretty well.
 
joe122 said:
Digg'n that shift handle, well done. Scratches do suck. I have seen some repair jobs where light sanding and a few coats of clear covered them up pretty well.
Click to expand...

Thanks joe', I thought about doin' a Hurst style, knob shifter, but then I looked back thru your gasser builds and I like the more "competition" look of the "knife-handle" (B&M) style, so that's what I came up with. :roll:
And, yep, that's just where I'm at now. :oops: I just got the second coat on, may do a third (but the humidity is almost too high today :evil:). Not perfect, but a lot better than a butt-load of scratches. :lmao:
 
Well, I got the roof and tailgate patched up. You can see the before pic' above, the 'gate top was about the same. So I sanded it all up with 320 and got it ready for clear.



And here she is with 2 coats of clear lacquer, sanded in between with 800 wet.



Not perfect, but much better now. I can always sand it again and shoot another coat, but heck I'll prolly scar it all up again before that, and I'm happy for now.

Now back to the shifter and such ....


8)
 
rav101810 said:
This thing is awesome!!! Love the detail!! You have done a great job on this!! And i cant wait to see a smokey burn out!!

Sent from my SM-S820L using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Thank You, 8) It's been a lot of fun to build, and it's a lot of fun to drive. I can't wait to get the camera in the drivers seat. The black marks still haven't faded on the porch, but it's hard to get those tires smokin', she just hooks up, stands up .... and goes.
I actually spun a rear hub this afternoon, doing hole-shots, seeing if she'll still wheelie with the interior. Well, the added weight pushed it past the stress limit for the epoxy holding the rear wheel-hub/diff adapter together (can't use pins with the ball-diff set-up :x). SOOooo, now I'm re-engineering the rear hubs, using the other aluminum brake rotor/hexes (leftover from when I did the front "brakes") to replace the plastic hexes. I have to get some aluminum solder (and flux) so I can solder/sweat all the alum' and brass together to make some hubs tough enough to wheelie with the extra 10 or 11 oz. of interior.:roll:
Oh well, that's how it goes .... a day at the racetrack .... a week in the garage. 8)


stay tuned ....
 
Thanks rav', 8), I appreciate everyone's interest.

Aside from waiting for alum' solder to ship in I at least got a shifter body made up.



I made the shifter body out of styrene so it will glue right to the hump. It will swing from park to low. :D



Still need a 'chute release too .... etc.


8)
 
Well, the aluminum solder and flux got here today, everyone cross your fingers. Hopefully I can get the brass and alum' parts soldered together without melting anything important. In the mean time I got the shifter finished and mounted into the interior.



It's slowly coming along. 8)



I'll try the soldering tomorrow, I've made up a couple of trial assemblies to practice on. I'm ready to get my hole-shots back. :D
 
joe122 said:
That B&M shifter turned out great! The details are just awesome - very cool hot rod truck!
Click to expand...

Thanks 8), I need to figure out my chute release now.
I wish I could've built something like this with my old '68 Shorty 1:1. :roll:

Well, AAAaaOOOoooo :ror: the solder-surgery was a big success!! I used this kit from UniWeld (P4KD9) ....



.... made for joining aluminum to brass, copper, SS ... most ferrous and non-ferrous metals. IT WORKED GREAT "thumbsup" With it and a butane mini-torch I was able to solder my original hubs ...



.... together with the thin-walled aluminum tubing, a brass hose-fitting for "beef" and the new alum' rotors/hexes, into strong hub/diff-adapters.
Instead of the first versions, epoxied together with plastic hexes ....



.... now I have these. Not the prettiest "weld", but solid and strong.



And with a little clean-up with a file and some paint ....



...and thru-the-wheel. 8)



The rotors punched truer than the plastic hexes, so it spins smoother than ever. Now to test drive her and see if I can get the front wheels up with the interior in. ;-)




:)
 
Still haven't carried her down to the highway yet, went from 100 degrees to rainin'. Did a little test inside on the rug with promising results, I think the wheelie-bars will be draggin' again. 8)
And, I did get a little done on the interior. Got the heater controls made up ....



.... just 2 slides, no a/c. :D And I took the Axial steering column and slid a plastic bushing on, behind the steering wheel, and formed a cone with green putty. Then I chucked it up in the drill-press and sanded it into a nice rounded cone shape, then drilled a small hole for a "putty-on-a-pin" turn signal lever. :)



Made the little cowl for the base of the column, kind of a signature piece of these dashes. Got some interior door handles too.
Here's the sig' lever.



Still need the 'chute release, and some pedals .... fire extinguisher .... etc.





:D
 
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I had a "day at the track" today. It was cloudy, but no rain. :) I've been wanting to get some real test-runs with the interior in, and test the new hubs.
I AM HAPPY. :D
I'll let the pic's do most of the talking ..... let's say ....

yellow .... yellow .... yellow ....



GREEN! 8)



:D ..... Green ...



:D .... well, you know .....



I ended up putting 8oz of lead in the tail to balance the interior weight and get a bit more "bite". But it was worth it, for .....

The "Trophy" Shot .... 8)



.... and I just ordered a 4-pole 3300kv motor for her, so that should improve the low-end and brakes. :D



:)
 
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