Got anything cool that is going to ride in the bed?
Got anything cool that is going to ride in the bed?
In reply to OjaiM5 :
In reply to OjaiM5 :
I might have to take up cycling just for that sketch. I really can't wait to park this thing in the Home Depot Pro/Contractor parking section next to a full size Super Duty on "dad wheels" and pack the bed full of 2x4s and plywood.
Bed is on, all lights work, brakes are bled (need to check again after hydroboost is recharged), plates are attached.
Currently checking toe, camber and front coilover preload. Insurance, registration and spare fuses are in the glove box.
Will update as the situation progresses.
Update. Did about a 30 mile drive. Clutch is a little heavy but predictable. Front end is way too low, it rubs the tire on the fender and needs way more preload.
Overall the first drive was very uneventful. The rear end feels planted, brakes need more air bled out of them and the exhaust isn't ungodly loud. This thing berkeleying rips though. Got a lot of good data that I need to go over on the laptop later. I will update with photos and videos, my buddies have a bunch of pictures and videos I need to get off of their phones.
In reply to RacetruckRon :
Outstanding!
That's berkeleyING AWESOME!!!!!!!!!
w00t!!
I'm so berkeleying pumped. That was the first time I have ever driven the truck on the road.
When I first got the truck we unloaded it off the dolly and I backed it down the alley while the head gasket smoked like a steam engine.
Hellz yes! Congratulations this is huge! So Stoked for you.
"Uneventful" is excellent! Once properly sorted, the C4 stuff will be amazing. Virtual beer clink!
Photo dump time:
Registration, plates and insurance?!? That's way too legit.
I had to marvel in this moment for a little bit.
Set it down and checked to see how bad it was toed out. We took it from 4" out to zero before the first jog around the block.
Deemed the brakes good enough for now and decided to go for a longer run. Stopped at the Meijer right around the corner for some gas and pictures of course.
My laptop died about 10 minutes into our adventure so we couldn't keep an eye on everything. I was mainly just watching oil pressure, AFR and coolant temp. Previously whenever I have let the truck get up to temp the hood has not been on so I was a little concerned. The hottest I saw was 197* sitting at a long light and it drops back down to 190-192* once the truck is moving again. I mapped out our route last night when I was sitting in bed, 25.2 miles of Waukesha County back roads.
Here's a couple pictures from the Rav4 Hybrid chase car. It's all about balance.
The only real issue is the truck was way too low in the front, the tires hit the fender on a couple occasions. The right front inner fender actually shaved a little bit of the corner tread off. More preload on the coilovers and rolling the fenders is my plan to fix that issue. I want the front to sit up a little higher anyway, it was sitting at almost 50% of my total travel on the shocks.
All in all it was a great first outing. The exhaust is a aggressive but not oppressively loud, I can definitely feel the IRS doing its job when I get on it on a bumpy road, and the ride wasn't bad at all, I was expecting it to pretty harsh. I need to come up with a cover for the shifter hole. The driveshaft yoke just spins hot air up your armpit while you're cruising along. I did not have any issues with traction, part of that I think is the fact that my timing table is pretty soft down low and the fuel map is still dialing itself in. The second half of that I think is the 2.59 rear gear and sticky tires. I'll see if I can let the smoke out of the tires sometime this week.
Best thing that has happened in 2020! 
Awesome, can't wait to see video
Here's a quick video of a cold start from the other day.
And another short video of the first time the truck has moved under it's own power with 8 cylinders. You can hear my wife cheering with excitement. She's mostly cheering because now that this thing moves she might get to park in the garage this winter.
Very cool!
I've been driving the truck around a little bit to do some datalogs and let the ECU calibrate itself. I took Mrs. Racetruck for a ride on Sunday which we had to cut short due to impending storm clouds, which she was fine with because she was pretty terrified riding in it.
I took it out again yesterday for the longest drive yet, 35 miles. Mostly back roads and county highways but I did drive about 5 miles on the freeway just to see how it would do. I did learn yesterday during my sprint down the on ramp that the GPS speedometer app on my phone can't keep up with the truck at WOT.
There's a few small issues some of which need immediate attention and others I'm not so worried about. The extra preload on the coilovers helped a lot with the bottoming out issue I was having. I still want to roll the fenders but I really need to clearance the front bumper. The bumper is a little close for comfort I think it still will make contact with the tires during hard cornering.
I had pretty borderline oil pressure, 25psi cold idle but it would drop to 19psi at idle and not go up much until the engine was over 2600rpm. After talking to a friend who has a had more LS powered cars than I've had cars he asked what oil I was running. Valvoline 5w20 high mile synthetic blend was my answer which was promptly followed up with "Why the berk are you using that?" Uhhh, it's what I had on the shelf. Long story short I did an oil change with Rotella T6 5w40 synthetic yesterday and picked up 11psi of oil pressure everywhere. I do have a very slow oil leak on the back edge of the oil pan, it's either a cam sensor seal or a rear main seal leak. Neither of which I'm concerned about, it leaks less than either of my Grand Prixs and leaks way less than a SBC.
I also noticed a mystery fluid leak in the cab underneath the pedals. I figured out that the hydroboost has a slow leak of power steering fluid that runs down the plunger boot and drips right behind the brake pedal. The google machine says that's pretty common on higher mile hydroboosts, I bought this one used so I'm not surprised. It also seems from my searching that every manufacturer that has a vehicle equipped with a hydroboost has this same issue eventually, there is a lot of threads on the Dodge, Chevy and Ford truck forums as well as the mustang forums. At first I wondered if the slight kink in my return hose is causing that but if it's a known issue with a seal. I'm going to try and unkink the hose anyway. For now I'm just going to wrap a rag around that and just intermittently check to make sure the leak isn't getting worse.
I'm happy that it's running well and I can actually drive it. I've put more miles on the truck in the last 3 days than I have on my Jeep in the last 2 months (that work from home life). I might drive it to the office today since I have to go in to pick up some prototype parts and it's not a hot day today. I'm also planning on driving it out to the In-laws lake house and back this coming weekend which is a 150 mile round trip.
Edit: Forgot to add this picture of the fleet.
i just packed up my stuff and moved to bonertown.
I've been driving the truck any chance I get. I had to go in the office the last two days and the weather was pretty nice so obviously I had to drive the truck.
We can go ahead and check "Terrorize Corporate America" off the to do list a few pages back.
The clutch is breaking in nicely, add in the fact that I better understand where the narrow catch point is. I also, changed the spark down low to help it have a little more torque in that engagement zone. I need to properly bed in the pads and hook up my tach and speedo but I'm just enjoying driving it for now. I'm waiting for something catastrophic to happen, this thing runs really well and berkin hauls ass.
That's an out and outright sleeper. If you're deaf.
Super cool!
Great work, man!
i respect your diligence on proper clutch break-in, and i eagerly await burnout video.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:i respect your diligence on proper clutch break-in, and i eagerly await burnout video.
This.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:i respect your diligence on proper clutch break-in, and i eagerly await burnout video.
I have done a couple angry footed 2-3 shifts but otherwise I've been pretty nice to it.
I berked the clutch on my Fiesta in 6500 miles because I was learning to drive manual and hooned the E36 M3 out of that car like a jackoff.
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