No real progress. The truck has been pushed into the corner for winter mode since the snow started falling early up here. I need to organize some parts and move a few bins of things to my storage unit. If I finish the welds on the engine mounts I can toss the cherry picker in storage, that thing takes up a lot of space.
I've been doing a bit with the printers again. I have a couple projects for the Fiesta I'm working on and one or two for the truck as well.
Also, name change to try and keep it uniform across Instagram and other forums mostly for my own convenience.
java230
UltraDork
11/14/18 3:11 p.m.
Sad to see it put away already. Hopefully it gets picked right up in spring. Followed on IG :D
In reply to java230 :
Just shoved in the corner. I need to make a little bit more space so I can work on it yet this winter. I get a discount on battery powered heated gear so don't let me make the "It's too cold" excuse just yet.
Super cool! And way more ambitious than my Isuzu. I like the C4 suspension. I put a Jeep body on a C4 chassis with a poor man's LSx swap 10 years ago. It ran and drove but I never really finished it. Sounds like you have a BS in some sort of engineering? I have a BS in mechanical engineering, but I'm a HS math teacher.
In reply to carwhisperer :
Ooooh that Jeep is all sorts of good bad ideas. I'm just kinda starting to have enough space and disposable income to make my crazy automotive ideas a reality.
I have BS in Mechanical as well, there is quite a few guys on here that have an engineering background of some sort. I work for the company that makes the red tools you see in a lot of the build pictures.
In reply to RacetruckRon :
hey man, i'd like to ask you some C4 front subframe dimension questions. PM me when you have a chance, please. thanks!
In reply to AngryCorvair :
You've got mail
Been awhile since I updated this thread since I've been busy with house hunting and life in general this winter. A lot has been going on in the last 2 weeks, Future Mrs. Racetruck and I went on vacation, she said yes and we closed on a house.
The house is about 5 minutes away from where I've been renting for the last two years and we don't have to be out until the end of April so moving won't be too stressful. It's 2 bed, 2 bath with a 2 car garage and a short but wide driveway. The limited space will be good for me and limit my ability to hoard projects. The truck will not be moving under its own power to the new house but is scheduled to move the first weekend in April. It will be good to work in a fresh space with no one else's E36 M3 laying around getting in my way. Garage currently has 15 amps or less (shares a 15 amp breaker with some interior lights). I need to befriend an electrician and have a 60 amp panel put in so I can run the welder and plasma cutter without running a hundred-some feet of RV extension cord from the basement. Also I have been exploring the option of trading the FiST in for a half ton truck because homeowner.
More along the lines of project progress with the truck I have been thinking a head a bit about the dash and gauges. I am currently between two options: a set of cheap Jegs Electrical Analog Gauges and a Raspberry Pi Dash.
Jegs gauges in question. Not sure how I feel about installing extra sensors and having the Jegs logos glow in my face non-stop.
Pi Dash suffers from roughly 30 second boot time before gauge display is live. Also direct sunlight can be an issue OLED screen would mitigate some of that but bigger (10"-12") OLED screens get a little pricey.
Android tablet and obd2 dongle is off the table, I don't want to deal with the questionable reliability of a cheap tablet and garbage bluetooth chip refresh rates. Other than that I'm curious what the braintrust here has to offer for insight. I am going to be running a Microsquirt so stock GM gauge cluster wont work either.
java230
UltraDork
3/22/19 1:17 p.m.
I vote piDash, thats cool. And is 30 seconds at startup really a big issue? I generally sit for about that long getting seatbelt on and warming up for a sec.
In reply to java230 :
In reality it probably isn't. Batch fire, wasted spark, no IAC control will take a little while to warm up and find it's happy place.
I'll end up 3d printing a cluster for either option. Which is kinda funny since that was the whole reason I bought a 3D printer in the first place... 3 years ago.
Also I have been exploring the option of trading the FiST in for a half ton truck because homeowner.
Don't do it. I had a Focus ST and loved it. Got a job that provided me with a F150, sold the ST and it was torture. That truck was honestly one of the reasons I quit that job and took one without a company vehicle. I bought a FiST and a $400 beater truck for the homeowner stuff.
Congrats on the exciting life events! Looking forward to more of this build once you are settled in.
Following because I may end up with one of these...
In reply to RacetruckRon :
Don’t believe the hype! I’ve been a DIY homeowner since 1996 and I’ve never owned a truck.
AngryCorvair said:
In reply to RacetruckRon :
Don’t believe the hype! I’ve been a DIY homeowner since 1996 and I’ve never owned a truck.
+1 on this. A 4x8 utility trailer, or U-Haul will get you everything you need, plus save you $$ over all
Cashed in a favor with an old coworker to move the truck to the new house this weekend. The roll pan barely cleared the ground getting the truck on the roll-back. In typical GRM fashion we had to daisy chain jumper cables together to get power from the tow rig's battery to the winch to pull the truck all the way onto the trailer.
All tucked in at the new garage.
Plenty of rearranging and house/garage projects left before I can do any serious fab but the truck is home.
Big congrats on all fronts!
damen
Congratulations on being engaged and also being a homeowner! Big steps!
Thanks guys it's been a busy few weeks. Hoping to knock enough house stuff out and get some time to thrash on the truck soon. I should get organized, have a build day and call in a bunch of favors from my other car friends in the area.
I had a slow day at work the other day and got carried away with designing a piecut jig for my bandsaw. Run it through the printer workflow, throw it on one of the science machines and 19 hours later. Voila.
Add 3 pipe clamps from Home Depot and it's ready to go.
Perfect 9° piecuts on 3" intercooler piping. I also have a 1-7/8" jig designed so I can modify my headers.
Been a minute since I've done anything to the truck. No physical progress, but I have been able to feed the scope creep bug. I've been playing with Xbox Kinect sensors and 3D scanning. I went through a few different scanning softwares and tried an xbox360 sensor before I borrowed an xbox one sensor from a friend. I had great results with the Xbox One sensor and a software called Kscan. KScan has no limit on how many polygons you can export, so I can export as big of an STL that NX will let me import.
I had some issues with the scanner getting good readings with the shine of the paint so I put masking tape on the important bits.
Going to design some small flares this week between projects.
I can't quite get over the fact that you already own a truck, is this not the obvious solution to your DIY/Homeowner needs.
In reply to akylekoz :
that would make too much sense.
