rattle_snake's random shop projects v0.1

[rattle_snake]

Built a simple belly pan in hopes to preemptively improve cooling when parked, crawling or stop-n-go traffic. Most all modern vehicles seal off cavitation or leakage paths around radiator. The 67-72 truck has some of this but areas for improvement. I also cut up the valance and changed the tight fitting bumper, so made the air return path underneath chassis worse. So biggest improvement for isolation was to block off this path with a short belly pan.
I used corrugated plastic sheet and a few fasteners. Cardboard template. Tapped 1/4-20 threads in frame. Used a short piece of tube as a crush sleeve to prevent crushing the material.


To prevent wind catching leading edge and ripping it off, I made it long enough to fit into bumper. This material is not rated for automotive use, 150 C, will see how it goes, or if it helps at all. Should catch all the leaking fluids and become a slimy mess itself soon enough. It does block access to things underneath, like alternator, so if no benefit will abandon or leave off in winter.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Nice clean solution for the belly pan. If that doesn't work, some sheets of 1/4" or 1/8" ABS might workout better. The stuff I built my "cold air" box out of in the Z28 seems fairly durable.

I did the method stated above for the fuel fill on the '49. Cut the inside part of the fuel tube down and made sure the outside was sealed up well. Has worked for the last 4 years and saved a lot of body work!

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

Belly pan looks clean!!!!

 

[Boosted1]

Belly pan good idea. Looks good.

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice work on both the fill door filler panel and the belly pan cover.

The truck has a very commanding stance. If I liked Fords, it would be something I'd drive.

 

[rattle_snake]

Belly pan looks clean!!!!

Belly pan good idea. Looks good.

Thanks!

Nice work on both the fill door filler panel and the belly pan cover.

The truck has a very commanding stance. If I liked Fords, it would be something I'd drive.

We all know you have a soft spot for the big blue oval, but I'll take the complement either way, thanks.

 

[rattle_snake]

Did some prep for a longer distance camp/wheelin' trip last weekend. Replaced a worn out rod end on track bar. Picked up a new battery as the old was of unknown age and was starting to show signs of end of life. It has been in truck since I bought it 5 years and most car batteries don't last more than 2 years. Washboard roads will shake and flake the plates until a short. I wanted a lower profile battery, as I have to lean over the fenders to access things. I searched common case sized and ended up with an 'H6' type that has recessed terminals, shorter height, and a longer case. Old was a group 24.



I also tweaked the Hayden 2799 fan clutch to move it's temperature operating range down. I bent the tip of the spring and clearanced the mount post to effectively rotate spring and valve CCW by about 1/16". This was good for about a 5* temp drop. Another 5* would be nice but not easy to do robustly. Now it want so cycle between 200 and 210. T-stat full open is 193. Have a high flow t-stat to install and next.

before


after


Went on a 300 mile weekend trip up to high elevations here in AZ, Mogollon rim. Was in low hundreds when we left, truck did good going up 7% grades at 65 mph, cold A/C blowing. Was a good test of cooling system and overall comfort of the vehicle. Exhaust is a bit loud in cab climbing hills. Wind noise on cab is minimal at 55 but annoy at 65. Not sure what else to do there. Roof is nice and quiet now.

Did have issue with fuel boil, need to dig into that. Fuel consumption is bad enough already, but did get 9.3 mpg going uphill. didn't check downhill with fill up yet but should be better. In-town is still 5 to 6.

Aired down to 10 psi. Rides OK for 6000 pig. Was able to do 30-40 mph on the dirt roads. 40s soak up the pot holes well. Front end hits bump stops occasionally, more gap would be nice, but can still push it pretty good though rough sections. Overall meets goal of decent ride at medium and slow speeds. Rest of group was all late model Toyotas.


Main goal was to make it back, which I did, so success. Gained some confidence but found more areas of improvement.

 

[bradpac]

Very nice. I will try that tweak on the clutch fan to my 92 Cummins, it is running a little warmer than I want now that summer is here, but once the fan engages it cools back down so this may work well for me.

Glad to see you driving and using the truck, I wish I had some suggestions on the wind noise, but that's already a pretty smooth cab, not sure what could help unless you have some loose trim or something vibrating.

 

[rattle_snake]

Hi Brad,
Good luck on fan clutch mod. Doesn't take much.

 

[rattle_snake]

Been looking for a camper shell for some time now. I'm cheap and too lazy to drive far. Found this old turd for $120 delivered. Farm truck style.
Basic and very light weight. Have some ideas for mods including insulation, lights, wiring, sealing and so on. I guess I needed another project.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Pic isn't showing Justin.

 

[rattle_snake]

'bout now?

 

[OutlawDrifter]

I can now see all of your recently purchased "old man" goodness.

 

[rattle_snake]

Just need an oxygen tank and some cataract glasses...

 

[LXCam]

Justin you ain't a man unless you do the rag out'da tank fill now.

 

[PhantomEB]

Love how that truck turned out. Even with the farmtruck canopy!

 

[zmotorsports]

The shell looks pretty good on the truck Justin. Being an aluminum shell it is very period correct for the truck vs. one of the newer cab high fiberglass versions.

 

[rattle_snake]

Justin you ain't a man unless you do the rag out'da tank fill now.

Funny you mention that Cam. New gasket is backordered a few months, stay tuned...

Love how that truck turned out. Even with the farmtruck canopy!

Thanks. still a lot of things to go.

The shell looks pretty good on the truck Justin. Being an aluminum shell it is very period correct for the truck vs. one of the newer cab high fiberglass versions.

complete with vintage old-school crank out windows. Not decided exactly what my plan is. Need a place to store it off the truck. Super light should be able to remove/install myself.

 

[rattle_snake]

Puttering away on annoying stuff like leaks, convivence and comfort. Not exciting but things that need to be fixed to bring up overall experience similar to a modern vehicle, or I'll just drive one of them. 1st world problems. :flipoff2:

Added keyless entry. $34. I tried to install harness as-is but ended up completely reconfiguring for my application. Has only 3 things, pwr, left and right. door wires too short. Actuators were not that hard to install but require care to not scratch window glass or tint.



Painted the gill inserts. I put a half-*** coat of black on one to see how it would look. Made eye focus on other black stuff behind grill, core support, condenser, plumbing. So decided to keep silver and which makes the grill the focus.


The plastics are old, etched, faded, sagging, so rattle can it is. $0.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Good choice on the silver...black was all wrong for the grille.

What brand did you go with on the keyless setup?

P.S. What's up with the headlights?

 

[rattle_snake]

Keyless is the current amazon product sold by many vendors under many names. all the same. No instructions, poor translation.
I may use truck pop feature with modified dual coil latching relay to control a cargo light or something else.

Headlights are LED knockoffs of $500 rigids. $87. Less current, way brighter. Wasn't sold on overall looks but growing on me and light output is far superior to 1800s technology. No halo, no turns.

I don't like the look of LED lights all over the truck pointing in every direction that can't be used 99% of the time. Triple stacked light bars. So just better headlights and done. Saved $7,000 over the typical disco jeep or toyota.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Headlights are LED knockoffs of $500 rigids. $87. Less current, way brighter. Wasn't sold on overall looks but growing on me and light output is far superior to 1800s technology. No halo, no turns.

I don't like the look of LED lights all over the truck pointing in every direction that can't be used 99% of the time. Triple stacked light bars. So just better headlights and done. Saved $7,000 over the typical disco jeep or toyota.

I'm still iffy on the LED retros on old sheet metal. Glad you chose a no halo/turn setup, and I will agree yours aren't super Euro/Ricey/Etc. I had to look twice, hence my P.S. in my initial post on the matter. Well played sir, and more light output is a definitely a good thing. One of the things I require from my daily is AWESOME light output for night driving...Bambi likes to play games A LOT in KS.

Now...if you move to some 24's with tons of negative offset, we're going to have to have an intervention...

 

[rattle_snake]

There are some ugly and funky 7" headlights out there for the 'look at me' jeep crowd. I guess they go with a grumpy gill. Oh the horror!

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Hey, wait a minute...do you suppose if we bought a set for ( @zmotorsports ) Mike, he would put them on his Jeep?!

 

[rattle_snake]

Perhaps but only for SEMA...

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

Hey, wait a minute...do you suppose if we bought a set for ( @zmotorsports ) Mike, he would put them on his Jeep?!

Mike loves cheap, Chinese Jeep bolt-ons.....I'd throw in $20!

 

[bugnut]

Well, Justin you got me with the headlight thing. I ventured out onto the internet and bought a set, sans turn signals and halos. They will hopefully be installed today on the VW project......sighs..... it's only money....sighs

 

[zmotorsports]

Hey, wait a minute...do you suppose if we bought a set for ( @zmotorsports ) Mike, he would put them on his Jeep?!

Mike loves cheap, Chinese Jeep bolt-ons.....I'd throw in $20!

Ha, ha, ha. You guys are freakin' hiiiilllllllarrrriious.

I simply don't understand the hideous lights and angry grills that I see Jeeps running around with.

I'm appalled that you think I would put anything so atrocious on my Jeep.

 

[Monza Harry]

Ha, ha, ha. You guys are freakin' hiiiilllllllarrrriious.

I simply don't understand the hideous lights and angry grills that I see Jeeps running around with.

I'm appalled that you think I would put anything so atrocious on my Jeep.

So the skulls we all are seeing everywhere are Ok? You didn't omit them so the are included! LOL!!! If I knew how to "Photoshop" I'd share that vision for you to see what you are missing. Harry

 

[rattle_snake]

Ha, ha, ha. You guys are freakin' hiiiilllllllarrrriious.

I simply don't understand the hideous lights and angry grills that I see Jeeps running around with.

I'm appalled that you think I would put anything so atrocious on my Jeep.

It appears Marc and Ryan's trolling has succeeded!
We poke fun as we know how clean and classy you keep all your things. Jealous maybe...

 

[zmotorsports]

It appears Marc and Ryan's trolling has succeeded!
We poke fun as we know how clean and classy you keep all your things. Jealous maybe...

Yep. Although don't know about the jealous part, I just think some people just know how to push buttons.

 

[Monza Harry]

Yep. Although don't know about the jealous part, I just think some people just know how to push buttons.

Hey I resemble that remark! Just for laughs from me. I have a politically incorrect thing I say when I see certain crowd of followers and attention seekers. Hint I do compare them to an orfice of no glamor and attack the size of their manhood. Mike has no place there and no desire to be part of that group I'd guess. If we can't laugh at our selves others will. If I was a genius I'd be a Beverly Hills gynecologist, I'd still be surrounded by c...'s but they'd be better looking. Harry

 

[rattle_snake]

Felt the need to weld and grind stuff so started on rear bumper v2.0. I have a lot of other upgrades I want to do, but for some reason re-doing the bumper made it to the top of the list. Guess it is because it will have a quick impact on how it looks. Getting a little further away from grandpa truck.

Another reason is to improve departure angle, which ***** on a long bed. Had dreams of bobbing the bed, but with fuel tank there I don't think I will do that any time soon if ever. The old bumper hung low and far out, lots of room for improvement, but still up high enough to fit a bar stool under. I built frame mounts to adapt this old school bumper back in November, so it made it 7 months. Was a PITA to install after final welds, fail on the bracketry.


So started with some sketches and Cardboard Aided Design (CAD). I stole the design from CBI's taco bumper, minus the swing arm and side plates. As good as it looked on the bench, it was a fail once I put it on the truck. Ratios off. Too big and fat. Didn't match front bumper.


So on to CAD design #2. Removed the vertical plate to make it a 3-sider like the front bumper. Condensed depth 2" to slim it up. Taper starts narrower in at step instead of at frame width. Now it looked too compact and tight, ratios still off.


So final design got widened an inch, top a inch deeper, and sides tapered less. With final cross section shape I modified the brackets, although height is dependent on width along taper. Added some scabs to raise height of top of bumper by 4" over the old. The step and receiver are up 3/4" over the old bumper.


Cut some shapes with plasma and tacked pieces into a bumper looking thing. The bumper ends hit the bed corners, as expected, so I modified the sheet metal slightly to provide clearance. Still a long way to go, next steps are the receiver, bracing, attaching brackets, clevis mounts, wiring plug hole, license plate threads & light and so on.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Justin, that looks great man! I think you hit the proportions correctly.

 

[Jlarson]

Lol I don't think I've seen star headlights yet, plenty of color halos tho, we like to call em jeeple. I love the ones that have to take the highlift, shovels and an axe everywhere, I always want to ask how much the axe gets used in the mall parking lot hehe.

 

[Boosted1]

Rear bumper looking great.

 

[zmotorsports]

Bumper looks fantastic Justin. GREAT job!

 

[harley jim]

You have that truck looking great Justin, I'm lovin the bumpers.

 

[LXCam]

Liking that bumper J, nice job bud. That ride is so unique one these days you’ll have a red CC ram pull up next to you making an *** outta himself...just know that’ll be me.

 

[bradpac]

I was worried the bumpers would be too modern for the truck, but you've made them simple enough and being custom fitted they look great on that truck.