SUPER CREW!!!

[CumminsPower59]

Did you get the rubber beadlock/runflat when you got those wheels?

[m880cummins]

I didn't get any insert but eventually I plan to run a PVC insert. Not looking forward to breaking those wheels back down. This truck is 3 pedals, no plugs, 128 lugs!!! Haha.







Had to blow steam off with my shop buds so we had a good time last night and I was lights-out around 3 am but they were playing Call of Duty til 6am. After all, I can't be slaving in the shop. Gotta enjoy the final weeks of senior year.



So, I recentered them today, painted and mounted! 16.5s are a bit%% to mount but if you wrap 3/16 fuel line around between the rim and tire 2 times, it will seal it and with armor-all, as soon as the tire starts taking air, you yank the fuel line out as it is building pressure. Worked pretty slick and after a couple tries on each tire, it worked.

Some of that fine dust from Afghanistan




















Nick falling asleep after last night while tightening the 24 bolts that hold the rims together.



Finished!











Also I have another head I'm almost done porting and will install tomorrow....

[m880cummins]

Messed around a little today. Measured the needed hydraulic hoses, mounted hydroboost lines, got a better driveshaft measurement and sandblasted a pair of caliper brackets and the cylinder head. Then I cleaned the cylinder head. Need to finish the ports and do a final clean. Hopefully I can mount it up tomorrow night.





Charlie

[Tacoclaw]

Damn, I thought I was hot sthi for getting my frame out of my yard.

Epic work here, man.

[m880cummins]

Got some stuff done in the past week. Here's what I did:

Clean cylinder head, assemble with 60lb springs, new seals and set on block. Need a few more allen bolts...
Mounted exhaust manifold
Went junking and got a tailgate, grille, driveshaft, seat, rear wiring harness, extra pigtails and some taillights
Received my fuel sump ($120 on ebay), brake hoses and steering joints
made a steering shaft
Ran brake lines (done)
Rewrapped rear wiring harness. Added in the needed connectors for trailer lights/brakes, auxliary fuel tank and ran a nice hefty ground wire back up to the front to the battery ground. Also had a ground wire to the frame. Should eliminate all electrical gremlins in the future.
Made a fuel tank crossmember, cleaned tank, cut hole for sump (I had to yank out a plastic bracket that holds the sender to place it where I wanted it). Mounted tank. I used the stock front strap, flipped it upside down and manipulated it a little to work with my crossmember and some mounting tabs
Couple interior wiring things
Mounted another power steering hose
Welded washers onto the frame for brake hose mounts
Fabricated my own shock towers to work with the Jeep JK shocks
Picked up 2 LED sidemarkers to eliminate the factory pigtail. Spliced them in. These will be mounted in the bumper when done.
Robbed a trans cover off another trans in the shop. Sandblasted, painted and mounted.
Picked up a piece of aluminum to make a tappet cover this week.
Bought an Exide Marine Gel battery. Plan to get another. They will be behind the seat in an enclosure with the sound amplifier and a sub.
I'm trying to make it run this weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Mildly cleaned up the ports. There were some nasty boogers in them.



Hard to tell but I pocket ported the hell out of this thing. Pictures don't show the work very well but they really are clean and smooth now. No nasty step under the valve seat.























I'm going to eventually mount this seat in the rear. I plan to run a pair of Hummer H3 buckets up front with my own console.













Steering shaft!





Washers welded on. Need to get some retaining clips





Trailer hook ups!



Aux fuel tank wiring:



Front brake hose





The sump. I used the DA sander with 60 grit then 180 grit to make it smooth where it mounts to keep seepage from happening around the O ring. Then I used some RTV just to make sure.



Tank in! Here you can see the front tank strap is just flipped, bent to proper shape and bolted on. Didn't have to hack the strap up or anything.















About an eighth inch between the cab and tank. Good to go!



LOL



Charlie

[BobS]

I think that 1/8 inch clearance between the cab and the tank will provide some future surprises for you.

[m880cummins]

????

The cab is about 3/8" lower than parallel in the back with respect to the frame rail. I may shim up the back once I get the bed back on to match the body line. Stuff shouldn't move much there. The tank is secured down to the crossmember and the cab mounts are solid poly rather than the original gum-like mounts.

[m880cummins]

Milled out my tappet cover and installed it, mounted and aligned the hood for a test fit with the intercooled radiator. Had to make a clearance dent for the radiator and realign the fenders. Now I can paint it and mount it without dicking up the finish...

Last night and today I worked on the rear axle. Set pinion angle, welded spring perches on, cut off old shock/swaybar mounts, welded new shock tabs on with new sway bar mounts above the axle for added ground clearance. Then I installed it again, rolled the truck outside and washed off the months of grime and scrubbed down the floors and got them clean. Also I sandblasted the driveshafts I picked up and measured them for cutting and balance by the local shop.



Picked up these paired strands of battery cable off a semi truck. There's 60ft of cable total and its 4-0 gauge high strand copper. Stuff costs $10-$15 a foot and I got it all with a piece of flex pipe for $50. Heck, scrapping the cable would be almost $300!



Hood on:


Clearance dent for rad cap:


Got room! I can sit under the hood on the tire!


Crusty 1410 shafts off a 1990 Cab/Chassis at the local junkyard. I shortened one for mockup and plan to have a new tube installed on it. The current one is really rusty. That's something I don't want ripping apart under the rear seat.









New swaybar location:


Powder coated door handles done!


Finished rear axle. I'm drooling all over this thing! Such a nice piece between the HD spring perches, sway bar setup, disc brakes and a power lock with 3.54 gears! My shock tabs mount the shocks directly under the frame rails to leave room for a large ramcharger fuel tank in the future. I wanted the staggered shocks because they have better control over axle bounce.


Outside after a quick rinse inside and out!











Took the casting lines off the driveshaft yokes to eliminate possibility of stress risers. May also be better balanced requiring less weight.







More tomorrow!Gotta help a customer from where I work with his 92. It has a rebuilt engine and he ran one tank of fuel through the truck and found the oil level went up by a gallon and was pissing liquid out of the drain. I said, DO NOT RUN IT! I'm going over to put a new pump shaft seal in it and do a fresh oil change. Hopefully the diluted oil didn't hurt anything...

Charlie

[m880cummins]

Here's what's been going on:

New door on the poop truck. Folded the old one up into a suit case! lol





Grafted in that fuel door, worked for a few hours on getting some oil canning out of the passenger rear lower panel which took 3 hours and then used body filler and the air board to get it all straight. Finished taking it down to bare metal, epoxy primed and sprayed with 6 coats of high build blocking primer. Need to block it, give a coat of epoxy then color.















This bumper is from a 1981 ex-AF crew cab at a local yard. I like these because they flow with the body lines better...I tucked it in 2 inches to make it fit a little better. Need to grind the inside edge to flow with the bed corner a little better.







Cut down an 8 ft bed mat and made some holes for the tie downs. Looks really clean!





Got the P pump assembled and mounted!



I named my truck TONKA tonight



I have a legit side pipe on this truck. It runs just inside of the rocker panel. It is the only room I had since the frame was boxed. I may get some steam in the rain but whatever









Made a fuel tank lid for the sending unit out of a piece of plastic:



I took this picture before I added a return line dump elbow into it.



Rebuilt starter. Solenoid contacts were burnt.



Burned vs opposite side



Old VS New



Polished the spin rings on the alternator rotor. Need to buy brushes and bearings:



Upper rad hose mounted:



Tappet cover:



Pump assembled:



Typical beat up hands:



I need these things to get it running and driving:

Driveshaft $524
Turbo $100
Injectors $?
Alternator rebuild $40
Pay paint bill $192
DOM tubing $?

Problem is...I'm STRAIGHT UP OUT OF MONEY!!!! AHHHHHH I need like $1000 lol

Charlie

[m880cummins]

Well as this build is nearing conclusion (exciting just to say that) I'll put it out there that if you want to do a GROUND UP resto, you need about $20k. That's doing all the work yourself and being smart with your money. I did do my M880 with $5k but it didn't have a rebuilt cummins or rebuilt trans. It also didn't have the upgraded suspension this thing has and paint that was 1/10th the cost....

I think it will be worth it though. Should definitely turn some heads.

I'm aiming for Thursday morning to paint the bed. I blocked it down today and spot primed it tonight. I also was really happy my windshield installation went smoothly the second time. I ended up up using a semi soft gasket out of a 1987 that may have been replaced. Scrubbed it with a scotchbrite, wiped it down in laquer thinner to soften it up and let it sit in the sun. Then I lubed up the gasket-windshield groove with tire shine and the windshield popped in really smoothly. It went a lot easier that using a repro gasket like I did on the last truck. I grabbed 2 used windshield gaskets for $5 at the local pick-n-pull so I was really happy.

A light snowstorm stopped by inside my shop hahaha







Charlie

[randall488]

this has turned into my favorite build on this site, usually a regular cab fan but I love your rig man. even better that it was all done by you. keep the pics comin

[m880cummins]

I guess I'll be mounting this sucker tomorrow!!!!!

After 10 hours of blocking, 3 shots of high build and then a coat of epoxy primer to get a consistent base, I sprayed color and clear today. I left some fumes in the booth so any bugs would die if they somehow made it in. I had a pretty bad mosquito land in the paint and after pooling around with a razor blade, I got it and then misted some color to hide the damage. I also did an amateur move of letting my painting suit kiss the bed side but it wasn't bad. After 2 HEAVY coats of clear, I think it turned out nice. I need to wetsand and buff.







Bugged up:











Charlie

[m880cummins]

Bed mounted, taillights hooked up, filler neck installed, hydroboost lines finished, engine bay wiring 95% complete!



























FUEL ME!!!



I must say, not many things move me to emotions but standing on the cat walk looking down on this thing tonight was pretty moving. A LOT OF WORK went into it and I'm finally feeling like its rewarding to see!

Charlie

[ellis93]

Yes sir.....that's a lot of work! Looks real good too!

Are you planing on busting up all that copper color with a pin strip,or is it staying solid?

[m880cummins]

I'm honestly not quite sure! I do think its a lot of orange but I'm going to think about it a little. I don't want to get it too dressed up. I like things clean and simple...

Charlie