Ok, so pastor has asked me to bring the message Sunday evening during his absentia, and because of this I am finally at my desk where I can put together this update.
So here goes.........
Recently my family, and I attended a monster truck show in DuQuoin, IL. I had to share this because, well, you'll see..........
This is of course Bigfoot. You will notice the Ford Raptor-ish body........
Now, observe the blown and injected Chevrolet big block engine:
And some other points of interest from the pit party:
I finally have time to report some progress on my wheels so I'll detail that here tonight.
The original ag wheels are 25"x36". I wanted a 25"x32" with a 12" back spacing. Here is how I accomplished that.
Wheel build phase 1, the inside half:
In this first photograph you will see the wheel centers I had made for the foundation of my wheels.
As I posted earlier I will be building a two piece wheel similar to the 3D line drawing below. For those familiar with Honda ATC wheels of the early 1980s, I wanted to make mounting my tires easier and eliminate the leak prone o-ring that seals the outer rim flange to the inner wheel. And as a side benefit I have a much cleaner final product. Observe the final product and see if you agree.
The 3D drawing:
This view shows the plates after I drilled them. In the first photograph you can see Xs laser etched to show drill centers. There are 8 of these plates in total, 2 for each wheel. The lug stud holes were drilled to 13/16", the outer ring of bolts are 1/2". As you will see later this is not the end of my drilling. -Ugh.... To get to this point required 320 3/16" pilot holes to be drilled. Each set of plates were paired and 160 1/2' holes were drilled. The lug holes were stepped through to the 13/16" final bore. The 13/16" holes were then bored for a total of 40 of those. In all there were 520 drilling operations performed.......and this, as I aforementioned, will not be the end of the drilling.
Then I had a local shop roll some 1/4" x 8" flat bar into these round barrels. These form the basis for the inside wheel tube.
I then bolted the wheel center pairs together including a spare wheel hub in anticipation of preventing warpage from the welding operations.
I then, using home made brackets, clamped and welded the wheel barrels onto the inner wheel center plate.
Added angle reinforcements:
And then I added the old ag wheel's outer rim flange to make the new wheel's inner bead:
And this is what the inner wheel half looks like after the fabrication process:
Wheel build phase 2, the outside half:
I started by cutting the old ag wheel to the proper size + a smidge for the purpose of truing. The piece on the left will form the outer wheel barrel:
Mocked up:
Prior to paint stripping:
Set in place, trued, leveled, and tack welded:
And the finished product.....or so I thought:
When I took the hub loose I discovered the slightest of gaps in between the two plates that form the wheel center. Not good. While the seal will be around the outer ring of 1/2" bolts I couldn't allow dirt to intrude the area between the plates where the wheel mounted. A build up of dirt and foreign matter in the wheel mounting area would eventually cause the wheel to become out of true.
The solution as seen here in the centers for the 2nd wheel was to through drill the outer wheel center, and drill and tap the inner wheel center. Thus the wheel could be clamped at the center preventing dirt intrusion into the wheel's mounting area.
When this action was deemed to be the proper fix it was applied to the first wheel.
And finally one wheel is done and ready for the sandblaster:
This is where I set at the moment. One wheel done, and one more wheel 50% done. There is an epic amount of work involved in building just one wheel. The first wheel took approximately 85 1/8" 7018 welding rods. Just for curiosity's sake I put all of my rod stubs from wheel #2 in a metal soup can. Wheel #2 is up to 50 rods and is only half way done.
One reason for the slow progress on the wheels is, well, life. I took on this project these last two weekends. a week ago I pulled this cargo box, and hydraulic lift gate from the junker F-450:
Then on this most recent Friday I was presented with the Ram 5500. With the help of my oldest son we were able to lengthen the frame, and install the cargo box and lift gate by Sunday evening. I was up against the clock because the truck was scheduled to have its graphics replaced starting today. Whew. But we got-er-dun.
And the finished product:
Now I have to give a shout out to somebody on these froums!
WAAAY back I bought a set of Kenworth gauges like these in this picture. They consisted of an engine water temp gauge, an engine oil temp gauge, an engine oil pressure gauge, and a voltmeter.
In this thread, linked below, from a LONG time ago....I asked for help finding a suitable VIN from which to order the correct sending units to make these gauges operate.
http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php?topic=21355.0Well forum member "ehjorten" stepped up big time! He gave me all the pertinent poop right from his desk at Kenworth engineering. I have since annoyed him relentlessly for help in finding the values for the fuel gauge sender that I bought in the gauge set below:
I also plan on using the duplex air pressure gauge. The green (primary) needle will indicate my reservior level, and the red (secondary) needle will indicate when I have air to the cylinder that will tilt my bed.
Also with ehjorten's help I bought this recently. This is the coolant temperature sender I first asked for help about.
Thanks again Erik! Your information has been of great value. And don't forget I want to know about the W900's successor as soon as you can release that information. (wink, wink)
While I am on the Kenworth subject, the Kenworth T-370 in the following photo uses the SAME Signal Stat cab lights our 73~87(91) trucks use......hmmm.
Now let me see......what else do I need to talk about tonight........ho hum......OH YEAH! I 'bout furgots......
That's just a pile of junk you say? Well let me explain. I started collecting pieces recently for an evolution to this build. I am thinking about taking my serpentine belt assembly back off at some point to install a short water pump. Oh, and I'll need the services of a smaller distributor. HEI wont work. My 454's original distriutor with an electronic conversion to eliminate the breaker points should fill the bill. Why would I do that you ask? Patience, I'll get to that in a moment.
We have another good friend on this forum who helped out recently with a request that I had in this thread:
http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php?topic=34652.0As part of my evolving monster truck build vision I decided I may need extra the cooling capacity of a diesel radiator. These radiators take a special bracket to mount them to the radiator supports. Our good friend and fellow forum member "fitz" stepped up an sallied forth the most precious brackets. A big thanks to you as well, fitz.
Now you are asking yourself "Why, Eng, you have the big 454 radiator already. Why do you need the diesel radiator?". Well, reliability is paramount with EVERYTHING I do. More engine = more heat. So, continue on in this post..............
Recently the big brown truck of love made a stop in my driveway and showered me with affection aplenty:
Yup, that's an old school 6-71 GMC blower sharing shop space with the ol' munster twuck. Hehe.
25 years ago I bought a blower core EXACTLY like this one. I bought aftermarket bearing plates, race bearings, seals, and many other accutrements for making a 454 breathe. But truck pulling had no welcome for such wickedness so I sold it. Now, I have a chance to get the period correct blower for my monster truck with the GMC case and I jumped on it.
I know what you are thinking......"Eng, why did you buy a 6-71 blower already built when you have the skills to rebuild one yourself?" Well since you asked, it has mainly to do with time. It's been almost 9 years on this build. I want it done this summer.......
Well when the neighbors noticed the big brown truck in my driveway it wasn't long before word got out and I had a crowd..........
Of course, the topic of conversation turned to bench racing........
My full time security guard Hershel stopped by on his rounds and Jimmy was telling him how nitro fuel injected, supercharged, big block Chevys with open headers cost him his hearing......
And of couse somebody had to break out the suds and it all went down hill from there.............
Been doing alot of research. I really, really, really want a Birdcatcher on top of my 6-71 blower. Based on early assumptions I should be able to make the constant flow fuel injection work with E85 in my application and not have to revert to the way more expensive EFI.
auf wiedersehen
-Eng