Project Big Red

[laserjock]

About half way through I made up my mind you were going to get this.

You're drunk Brian, go to bed.

Lol lol lol

80% huh, I think that's a compliment.

At least the day wasn't a total loss. I made these today. Thanks again for the inspiration Russ.

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Fits perfect. And just for reference. The gromet part number.

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[IDIoit]

sounds like something ive said before.
yes. i.am.waisted.
goodnight.

the vent looks rad!

 

[laserjock]

Well, yesterday I did a few things. I buttoned up the rear fuel tank sender and all. Short of a couple clamps and the vent hose fittings, it's good to go. I had to tweak my lines a little to match the new senders.
The rear tank gas the lines reversed I think from stock.

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I also stuck the front sender in. I didn't bang it down because I need to either order s shower head or put a piece of hose on it. Not sure which I'm going to do yet. Note, if you look at the sender thread in the ebay section, you'll see the units I bought. The gasket that came with the front unit will not work with my new Spectre tank. No way the locking ring will fit so I ended up using the ring and gasket that came with the tank. Same thing here. Had to tweak my lines quite a bit.

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Have to climb up in there and see how much clearance I have on the bed now.

Oh yeah, the bed.

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Called for an assist from the wife. It was sunk into the ground and I couldn't push and drive at the same time. After some work, I got the bed set on to find out that I have a height problem now.

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I thought there was something really screwy hence my post about this here.

http://www.oilburners.net/forums/showthread.php?t=73457

But now I just need to shim up the bed, get the cab corners welded on, and get on with prep work for paint.

It is kinda cool to see it back together though. Too bad it's got to come apart and back probably two more times. [emoji15]

 

[laserjock]

So the final tally is 3/8" spacer under the bed.

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Not perfect but pretty darn good. At the end of the day, I actually did a pretty good job getting the repair panel set in there but I had to go through the exercise to figure it out I guess.

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So, I'll weld some 3/8" spacers on the contact points for the bed and call it good. Need to put a bed lifting device together that is less scary than what I used and I'll get this done eventually.

 

[junk]

Very cool. Very cool.

 

[laserjock]

Well, I got a new widget in the mail.

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It's for an MRAP or 530 series navistar but the size matches up just right for my exhaust system. So long as I set the back pressure correctly, it shouldn't matter what it's for. Since it's for a slightly larger engine, I'd actually think it would be safer. Anyway, a few limit switches and a compressor and tank combo and I'll be in business. More on that later.

I pulled the bed off again

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Then I got to work on that corner. I tacked the front section on and then figured out that I needed to cut the rear section off again. After some pounding and warping, I think I got it all lined up pretty close and got the stupid gaps filed.

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Lots of welding and grinding to be done yet but it's getting there. Like we used to say back in the day, it might end up ugly but there won't be a big rust hole in it...for now. Ordered some of the Eastwood internal frame protectant for the areas I can't get to. Hopefully it's as good as they claim.

 

[IDIoit]

that patch dont look bad to me, minus the fact that you need to clean your metal.

 

[laserjock]

that patch dont look bad to me, minus the fact that you need to clean your metal.

Damn, everyone's a critic.

I struggle with how much to clean off. I hate to throw away corrosion protection. That's just my inexperience showing through. I never claimed to know what I was doing.

 

[IDIoit]

Altho your tach's look good, I'm just tryin to help!!!
Please forgive my unprofessional opinion lol

 

[BrandonMag]

More information on your plans for the PacBrake exhaust brake, please.

 

[laserjock]

Altho your tach's look good, I'm just tryin to help!!!
Please forgive my unprofessional opinion lol

No worries man! Just sharing the love!

As for the pacbrake, exhaust brake systems for the IDI are real simple. As far as I can tell, BD is the only company that makes a "kit" for it. The kit consists of the brake, a solenoid, air compressor, tank, a couple switches and a relay and switches to arm and activate it. It's really a universal kit that they say you can use on the IDI. I looked at them and the kits were around $1k. This brake popped up and for the price, it's the only bit I can't do myself really easy. Basically you need a limit switch on the fuel pedal so that when you let off the pedal it will actuate the brake if its armed. Optionally, you could just put it on a button on the shifter to actuate it. You set the back pressure with a gauge so that it doesn't float the valves so honestly, as long as you do that part right, it really doesn't matter what size the brake is so long as it doesn't cause a choke point (too small) or its so big that the holes in the flapper are so big, it's ineffective. I'll make sure it's documented. The control circuit is pretty simple.

 

[junk]

Cool Man. Patches look great. Did you back up the weld joint with more metal or doing a butt-weld. Either way is cool in my book. Looks great.

-Jeremy

 

[laserjock]

It's butt welded. I had to stick a couple filler strips in to fix my earlier oopsie but hopefully it will come out okay. I did notice last night that at some point it pulled the front lower tack as I was working on the seam.

That might cause problems up the road as I finish it off. This being my first time doing something that will show, I am amazed at how long it takes to fill the gap. Going slow and being patient is tough but I thought I was doing a pretty good job of not warping things but clearly I got enough force on it to pull that tack. Must not have been as good as I thought. I hate laying on my back trying to weld. I'm not very good standing upright welding horizontal let alone on my back with the sparks raining down on me. Anyway, this too will pass. The lines are pretty close and I'll take a hammer to it if I have to but I think a well placed pair of vice grips will do it. I didn't take more pictures but I filled in all seams pretty much yesterday afternoon a little at a time. I know there will be holes, but the welds are so ugly, I'm going to have to work it down to see them to fill them. I ordered a bunch of rolock pads for the die grinder to try to keep the heat down. Even with the flap wheel, its easy to get things really warm with the 4" grinder.

Baby steps.

 

[laserjock]

Putting metal on....

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Taking metal off....

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Sigh.

 

[junk]

That looks great! Nice Job!