Rebirth of Monster Mudder

[J-Pipes]

That's cool, we haven't had any livestock for about 10yrs now, gotta admit that I do miss it sometimes, just not the cleaning the barn out, or feeding in the winter!

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[NakeDiesel]

Been working on the molds, sanding them down and working out the imperfections. Finally got my new front coil springs in yesterday, ordered them before christmas, guess they were backordered and had to call 2 or 3 times to find that out.

Should finish up the rear fender mold tomorrow night and getting closer on the sides for the grill, then need to turn my sanding to the main grill. I'm filling in the bump where the radiator cap was raised up so it will be smooth while I'm at it. Hoping to shoot gelcoat on everything friday.

[NakeDiesel]

Well, haven't gotten to work on the molds much the last few days due to things happening, but sanded my arms tired today on them. Rear fender is done not along with the front two fenders and they are ready to have gelcoat sprayed on them. The two grill sides just need some finish putty sanded and they will be ready. Then I just need to finish the main grill shell.

Got the front diff out of the truck tonight and it's ready to be hauled outside and sand blasted so I can give it a good coat of por 15 and then I will swap the gears and put the new springs in.

4 days till I leave for Vacation with my wife, we are ready to get the hell out of dodge for bit and relax. Ready for warm weather and cold leaded drinks...

[CorneliusRox]

Originally Posted by NakeDiesel

Nice baby holder in the background!

[Mulboost]

I'll have the revised VB out soon.

[NakeDiesel]

Cory, that's the turbo bouncer... for when she's out in the shop with me. She has a ball bouncing in it.

Thanks John. I plan on picking up the new clutches and gaskets for the trans when I get back from my cruise and getting the trans reassembled and ready to go back in.

[NakeDiesel]

Finished sanding the two sides of the grill today and bit the bullet and shot a coat of gelcoat on the front fenders, rear fender and two grill sides. Hoping I got the mixture of Gelcoat, Styrene, MEK, and Surfacing Wax right to get them to harden right. Going to let them sit for the week I'm on the cruise and will start wet sanding them when I get back.

My VB is on it's way back from Muldoon's and my shocks were finished today and are on their way back to me as well from Cali. Also ordered the 13mm Plungers and Barrels and flat shock plates for the truck today, so they should be here when I get back as well. Going to be a busy few weeks out in the shop after vacation.

[NakeDiesel]

Well the 7 days cruise is over and having rum and tequila withdrawals, but it's time to get back to work on the truck. Let the molds sit for a little over a week while I was gone and there were still some places that weren't hardened, so I brushed on a coat of surfacing wax and will clean them off in a couple of days with acetone and see what I need to do.

Yesterday was a rare day with very little wind and about 50 degrees, so I setup the sand blaster outside and went to work blasting the front diff and control arms. Did a little on the rear traction bars as well. Need to pickup some parts for the sand blaster and more material ended up fighting it the last part of the day out there getting it to work.

Front diff is done and it's been washed in POR 15 degreaser. Will put the etching material on it tonight and wash it off and let it sit for another day drying and then will start painting it. Once it's painted, will get the 6.17 gears installed and it back under the truck with the new springs.

While I was gone, my 13mm plungers and barrels came in so I need to get the pump off and taken to Thompsons and have them work some magic on it. My shocks arrived back from bilstein, they cleaned up the flaking paint on them and made them look good again. Got the flat plate shock mounts as well. The valve body arrived from John at Muldoon's so I need to pick up the trans parts here in town and get the transmission rebuilt.

Way too much to do in 2 months time

[NakeDiesel]

Had another good early evening for sand blasting and so got busy with my new nozzle / gun that I picked up yesterday, my old one was worn plumb out.

Got quite a few parts sand blasted that needed it. Not going to be able to use the flat plates with my remote reservoir shocks, just can't quite get them to route right so back to using the shock towers. May throw these flat plates on my 99 at some point or put them up for sale.

After getting home from the legion meeting, got the diff painted with por15, the 4 trailing arms and one of the main traction bars. Will rotate the diff tomorrow and finish painting it and the traction bar tomorrow night and start prepping other things for paint, then start changing gears on the diff thursday night.

[Bodacious]

Way too much to do in 2 months time

Just make sure you take a break from time to time to 'Smell the Smoke'. Read like 'Smell the Roses'

[CorneliusRox]

Do you POR15 most things every year? That's a heck of a lot of work!

[NakeDiesel]

No, last year was the first time I attempted it. The normal prep didn't work and the por 15 didn't stay on components like it should have, so since I was pulling the diffs out to change gears thought I would sand blast them while I was at it and then coat them to see if it held up better. I have por15 on the firewall, underside of the cab and floor that has been on the truck since I put the 46 body on it and they have held up really well. The frame for the most part held up as well, just need to touch up a few places on it and recoat those areas.

The truck may be on display before my first race where a lot of people might see it so I wanted it to look good for that and some car shows I want to hit. If it doesn't hold up this time, I'm giving up on coating stuff. Because powder coating doesn't hold up, regular paint doesn't hold up, por 15 was my last ditch effort.

[CorneliusRox]

Originally Posted by NakeDiesel

No, last year was the first time I attempted it. The normal prep didn't work and the por 15 didn't stay on components like it should have, so since I was pulling the diffs out to change gears thought I would sand blast them while I was at it and then coat them to see if it held up better. I have por15 on the firewall, underside of the cab and floor that has been on the truck since I put the 46 body on it and they have held up really well. The frame for the most part held up as well, just need to touch up a few places on it and recoat those areas.

The truck may be on display before my first race where a lot of people might see it so I wanted it to look good for that and some car shows I want to hit. If it doesn't hold up this time, I'm giving up on coating stuff. Because powder coating doesn't hold up, regular paint doesn't hold up, por 15 was my last ditch effort.

Gotcha. I was going to ask about powdercoat. That's too bad. Hopefully this does the trick. I've always thought that sandblasting seems to be the best primer!

[NakeDiesel]

I've used a number of different chemicals and hacked together coatings that I've sprayed onto the underside and paint of the truck to help with keeping the mud from sticking and thus pulling off the paint from baby oil to diesel to diesel and atf and just atf, haven't found the best solution yet. If baby oil wasn't so expensive I'd buy it in bulk as it seems to work the best. I buy the dollar store out of it when it goes on sale. But all the power washing we do during the season just destroys coatings.

[CorneliusRox]

Gotcha. Have you looked into boat stuff? There's some pretty crazy boat coatings that are insanely slippery. Stuff past just wax.

[NakeDiesel]

No, but if it's anything like the gelcoat I've been fighting to make molds, I'd probably end up blowing the truck up in frustration getting it to work right....

[SmokeShow]

Bed liner type coatings? Or would the mud get in the micro pores and stain it and look ugly?

[NakeDiesel]

it would probably stain it and also use those micro pores to latch on tighter so it would be even harder to wash off. Needs to be almost microscopically smooth or slick. That's why we coat the body and underside in baby oil or diesel/atf to help keep it from sticking as bad.

[NakeDiesel]

sitting here at work, made up my todo list for the truck....



Finish trans disassembly
Clean trans case and paint
Rebuild transmission
Install transmission
Install transfercase
clean frame and touchup around front diff area
Finish painting front Diff
Paint track bar
Paint shock towers
Paint tie rod and draglink
get new boots for tie rods and castle nuts
get new grade 8 bolts for control arms
change gears on front diff
install front diff
install control arms
install springs
install shocks
measure for limit straps
install track bar
install tie rods and draglink
install brake calipers
install front driveshaft
install front loops
install front tires
remove fuel lines
check timing on injection pump
remove injection pump
deliver it and 13mm plungers and barrels to thompsons
remove valve covers and paint
pickup new valve cover gaskets
wash engine bay and detail
polish aluminum covers
install valve covers
reinstall injection pump
reinstall fuel lines
remove rear diff
remove rear leaf springs
remove rear shackle flip
remove control arm front arms
sand blast parts
paint rear diff
paint rear leaf springs
paint rear shackle flip parts
paint control arm front parts
cleanup and touchup paint on back frame
install shackle flip
install leafs
change gears in diff
install rear diff
design radiator mount
design fuel cell mount
design fuel pump mounts
design trans cooler mounts
build radiator mount
route water lines
build fuel cell mount
install fuel cell
build fuel pump mounts
install fuel pumps
make new fuel lines to engine
build trans cooler mounts
install trans coolers
make new trans cooler lines
clean inside cab of truck
clean bed of truck
make carbonfiber fenders
make carbonfiber rear fenders
make carbonfiber grill
make aluminum hood
make mount points for one piece front end
cut off old mounts
paint or wrap hood and grill
attach front fenders to hood/grill
pickup exhaust housing for turbo
install exhaust housing on turbo
make new exhaust pipe / hood stack
install upper and lower bars for traction bars
install rear tires
weigh truck
adjust traction bars
reweigh truck
adjust traction bars
etc..

more to do than I thought...and I'm sure I've left a few things out as well.

[SmokeShow]

Originally Posted by NakeDiesel

it would probably stain it and also use those micro pores to latch on tighter so it would be even harder to wash off. Needs to be almost microscopically smooth or slick. That's why we coat the body and underside in baby oil or diesel/atf to help keep it from sticking as bad.

Kinda what I figured.