R-100 4X4

[Jesse Stewart]

Headlight switch is done ..
A bit of work went down to pull this mod off ...

Took a fender washer and made up the hole reducer .. The hole that the switch will be going in was the IH starter switch hole.
It will be welded in once I get around to working the dash ...

Boogered up the bezel a bit, got another one that's got chrome on it coming ..

But that part of the doing is completed ..

Back to body work .. Going to wait till I build and fit the aux. gas tank .. Shoot both boards in one shot ..

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Needed to replace the Borgeson u-joint that's on the steering box .. Found a small amount of lost motion, been in service over 25 years time to tighten up ...

Since I'll be doing some work on the box thought was to beef up a known weak area ...

These reinforcement weld in plates adds some beef to the frame rail where the box mounts .
The frame has been known to crack under the box, fortunately my frame has not and with the plates welded on for additional support most likely won't ..

This additional work is overkill cause I don't beat on the Binder ...
But, ya never know when that situation might arise ... ??
Ounce of prevention, pound of Cure type thing.

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Got a little busy today fixing a look that was somewhat annoying to me ..

Every since I did the fenders, the huge gap over the rear tires was bugging me ..
Today I decided to try my hand at fixing that look ...

Not all that fond of using blocks to lift with, this will be temporary until I'm sure of the look, then higher arch springs will take the place of the blocks.

Took a set tall blocks for the rear and chopped them down to two inches ..

The before look ^^

Truck had a bit of a downhill rake to it, now it's sitting pretty much level ..

Thought about lowering the rear, but didn't want to mess with it cause it's been dialed in .. Lowered the transfer case mounts in the frame to net a better driveshaft angle ... (Dang short wheelbase, lifted trucks) and the pinion angle was set when the 3/4 ton Corporation axle was installed .. Really didn't want to undo all that past work ..

Also didn't want to redo the bodywork on those wide body fenders .. Eek !!

Could go up a little higher to have a better match of the gaps ...
But do think it would screw up the looks by having it look like it's always going uphill ... Don't want that ..
Best to leave it where it's at .. Tis much better than it was ..

Tomorrow I should have the new longer U bolts in place ..

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Got the drivers side running board ready to shoot ..

The board will be painted gloss black like the bumper ..
Step part of the board will see bed liner applied ... Using the "Raptor" brand ...
____________________________________________________________________________

First coat of the gloss black ..

Yeah Buddy ...
If I can get the bed liner shi errrrrrr stuff to lay down nice, just might be grinning like Al E. Gator !!

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Wasn't going to use the slip additive but being the Binder's step board is so high up, climbing in the truck with a foot on the board and a hand on the grab handle is almost a chore, thought it would be a wise thing to do ... (Dang lifted truck) !!

Well I'll be ... Found a set of used ele running boards ...
Asked a gear head friend to keep an eye open and he did !!

Don't really need them but sure would make climbing in a heck of a lot easier ...
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Think I'm going to top coat the Raptor with 2K clear ...
All that shiny black needs more shiny around it ...

Prep work is going well ...
Giving the bed liner a 150 grit to lock onto ...

Hoping it doesn't flake off in the future, a good foot might keep that from occurring ..

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Ready to shoot the Raptor ....
But don't have the time to work on the Binder right now ...
Got 7 Harley motor builds to do, all 7 are Hot-Rod builds ...

These two have been keeping me very busy and away from working on the truck ....

1969 Shovel, Big Bore and Stroked to 96 cubes ....

1957 Panhead also sporting 96 cubes ...
This puppy has NOS parts that hasn't seen the light of day in 40+ years ..

Gotta pay bills and buy parts for the Binder, ya know ...

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Been busy on the running board ..

Shot the Raptor and clear coated ..

That's one done, one to go ..

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Ok, I got a left side tank in route to me .... Had no luck whatsoever finding a Oem right side ..
Going to make a right side aux. tank using a left tank ...

This chore will be a job to net a stock look on the tank ...
If it does turn out nice the bed corner will need to be modified to fit the tank ..

Will not be trimming on the bed till I see the end results of the modified tank ..
Just may "forgetaboutit" .. We'll soon be jumping into doing the work ...

Be fairly trick if I can pull it off !

That hump in the bottom of the tank may need to see some modifications to be used on the right side ..
Do believe it's there for the drop of the sending unit's arm/float ..
Will know more when I get into doing the work ..

Got it at Harbor Freight on sale ... Going to come in handy as tits on a milk cow when I work the bottom bump ..
One end of the bump will need to be shorten, the other made longer ... This has to do with the running board brackets and sending unit's arm/float ...

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Backing up on the 47 Ford hood ornament ...

I don't like ... It's a og, from back in the day .. Had bad pitting, sanded most all of the bad off of it and polished .
Spent a bunch of time working on it, was looking really nice till I powder coated clear ... Dulled it out ! .. Bummer

The LED lights was my doing ...
Thought it might help with being seen at night ..

As far as the ornament goes, got a repop on the way ...
Just a wee bit of backing up (And a few more bucks) to net a much better look ...

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Cleaned up the NP 203 ... Getting all the ducks in a row to install the 4L80/85E trans ...

Plug & Play it's not .. !!
Here's the gig ..

First off is the cross member mounting plate that came off the TH 400 trans ..
Won't bolt up to the 4L80. The case is made a bit different back there ..
No biggie .. Needs about .070" machined off of the O. D. of the lip that engages the tranny and take the height down some ..
That will allow the mounting plate to bolt on ....

Ok, after that machine work is done and over another problem stuck it's ugly head up ...
The output shaft is to long ...
Now this problem is a biggie ... !!

What to do about that ??

When I built the 4L80 I changed out the shaft to a 4x4 shaft ..
Was told by another Transmission builder it would be plug & play .... Wrong !
If I cut the shaft down won't have much spline working in the input gear of the 203 ... Don't want that ..

The cure ....

Soon to see how these mods will work out ??

Do want the swap to be Heavy-Duty, already snapped one output shaft, years ago, playing hard with the TH 400 trans ...

Might have a new plan of attack ...

This bad-boy is the mount that the 4L80 used on 4x4's ..
Being much fatter than the TH 400 used would allow for big time spline foot contact in the 203 ...

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Be the middle of next week before the parts come in for the tranny/transfer case ..

Back to some body work ..
Still in the mode of fitting the hood ornament ...

This is pretty much how it will be ..

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Slowly been stock piling some needed parts when the motor work starts ..
One known needed item was a oil pan that allows room for the motor to trans stuts ..

This oil pan is well made and adds two qts. more oil .. And won't cause a fitment problem with the stuts ..

The motor runs super well, doing a re-ring job is mostly for replacing the freeze plugs, bearings, gaskets and painting ..
At the moment it has a Moroso 7 qt. stock car, bat wing oil pan ..

These take-off parts will be sold, since I'll have no further need for them ..

Kind of going to miss the "overbuilt" TH 400 trans that will also be sold..
That Bad-Boy is still ticking as well as the day it went on line ..

Bunch of goodies went into this pig !!
Used a "K" Heavy-Duty case as the foundation for the build ..

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Kool Beans ...

The Oem 4L80 4x4 plate came in today ..

That gap will be used for the custom made conversion plate ..
Plenty of spline engagement ... I like that ..
Do see some more work involved that will need to get done ... The shifter mount will no longer have a place to mount to.
Where it did mount is not there any more .. The custom made adapter will not allow it ..

A new shifter mount must be made ...

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Dang nice !!

Yeah Baby, yeah !

Bolted it in last night ..
Crossmember will be a chore to fit, bout 3.5" needs to come out of the drive shaft, moving the transfer case shifter entails fabricating a mount over the transmission case ..

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Tranny is on hold until some material get here to make the trans spacer out of ...

Been busy in another area ..
Seats are now nailed ..

I kind of like them more without the headrests on ..

Attempting to get some ideas on the door sill trim ..
Chopped up some GM Junkers I had laying around just for a look-see ..

Super thin aluminum ... Would like to have Stainless down there
..

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Transfer case shifter mount ..

Was in the mode of coming up with some metal to fab up the mount ..
Buddy came by and said he had some junk metal ..
What he had was a mechanical Baseball pitcher ..
Had what was needed to do the mount ..

Cut, bend, drill, thread and a tad of welding will net a beefy mount for the shifter ...

That part is done ... Need some angle iron to make up the shifter to mount happen ... May get a piece of 3/16" plate to make that part of the mount ... ??

Looking like it's going to work really well .. Soon to find out ..

 

[shortbus4x4]

TH400 is nice but a 4L80E with lockup and OD is even nicer for a driver.

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Got this crossmember on order ..

Much better than my idea ...

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Transmission mount came in ..

Been busy on the T case shifter ..

Trip to Ace for some hardware should get it done ...
Appears to be able to work .. Going to test fit it on the truck before final welding goes down ..

Welded on the extension to the shifter, if my measurements are right should see the gear shift in the center of the cab's floor ??

Soon to see the results ..

 

[Jesse Stewart]

Nailed it ...

Shifter stick could be a few inches taller ..
Going to scout for a used one .. Anybody holding ??

Would like to see how this one would look ??

Being 15" tall may suit the looks for a old truck ??

Or Hurst 5384331 ..

I like this one better than the other and its 3" taller ..

Might use the one I got ... It's growing on me ...