Project: My Wife Cannot Know

[Alpha Male]

I closed the front of the bed since it isn't going to be attached to the cab. Not detailed and probably not necessary, but I'm not certain where I will mount my battery, so this might help disguise it.

[Alpha Male]

I also closed the small gaps at the rear of the bed, below the tail lights. I'm not even sure why there are spaces to begin with. Again, CA and Bondene.

[tokdl]

Originally Posted by Alpha Male

I also closed the small gaps at the rear of the bed, below the tail lights. I'm not even sure why there are spaces to begin with. Again, CA and Bondene.

Good idea, I was wondering how to eliminate these. Think I'll use your idea here.

[Alpha Male]

Originally Posted by High Cotton

What did you use to sand the fins on the trim panel in to the filler plug?

That was a real pain and I'm not a patient man, lol. I sanded the whole thing a little to get it evened out and used an Exacto knife to carefully cut the lines and a small file to straighten them up. It is not going to be perfect, but it will be blacked out again, so maybe that will hide the imperfections.

Anyone looking closely enough to see them needs to take a step back anyway, and stop breathing on my paint job.

[High Cotton]

Originally Posted by Alpha Male

That was a real pain and I'm not a patient man, lol. I sanded the whole thing a little to get it evened out and used an Exacto knife to carefully cut the lines and a small file to straighten them up. It is not going to be perfect, but it will be blacked out again, so maybe that will hide the imperfections.



Anyone looking closely enough to see them needs to take a step back anyway, and stop breathing on my paint job.

Thank you, I will probably start on my body next week. I would like to try the magnets also. It seems like the best route if you want to run a full interior but still be able to get to the battery easily. Your body is looking really looking good. Anxious to see how good it will look when you're done.

[Alpha Male]

I'm looking forward to seeing your build.

Here is where I must leave my truck for now. My wife is pissed about how much time I've been spending in my "play room". I may be the alpha male around here, but she can withhold her favors. Plus, I have a job to go to, as well. I'll get back on it soon.

The parts are just setting on the chassis, but at least it shows about what it will look like one day...

[Alpha Male]

I was able to put a few more things together while hanging out with the family tonight. Nobody can stop the alpha male.

I added scale bolts to the transfer case in place of the stock hex head screws. Will anyone ever see them? No, probably not, but I'll know they are there and this truck is all about scale details for me.

[Alpha Male]

I also finished the rear axle, complete with helical ring and pinion gears, scale bolts for the gear cover, leaf spring keepers and Superlift Driveshaft Alignment Degree Shims (size: second to the smallest of the four).

Helical ring and pinion:



The spring keepers (don't know the actual name) are flat metal from discarded windshield wipers cut and bent around the leaf springs. I pressed them on really tight with channel lock pliers, so if my Sawback build is any indication, they should stay in place and keep the leafs from wrapping.



The driveshaft alignment shims improve the angle of the pinion to the transfer case, which is higher than stock in my case.

[Alpha Male]

Since my truck is really high up, I'm thinking of adding these metal grab handles to the sides of the cab, once everything is finished. What do you think? Too much?

[new2rocks]

My .02 would be to leave them off. There's something appealing about the simplicity of an uncluttered Hilux. And besides, Bruce is an agile guy. He'd have no problem stepping up on the sill and giving himself a pull from inside the door if necessary. Especially with those awesome sneakers... :thumbsup:

[High Cotton]

I vote leave them off also. You could always get this made in a 1/10th bumper sticker haha

[Alpha Male]

Off it is then. I'll save them for another project.

[nsimps]

Subscribed!

[Alpha Male]

I can't complete the mod to the front axle until I receive a set of bearings to do the 'Bully Mod' on the c hubs, so I took some aluminum tube and a plastic muffler that I got from who knows where and made my exhaust. It will look better once the entire thing is finished. I may even make it functional. I have a 1:16 scale RC tank that has a smoke unit and I'm considering scalping it to put in this truck. If it works, I'll have a small trail of smoke coming from the exhaust tip.

[Alpha Male]

I haven't had much time for fun lately, but I did get my gear shifting servo set up. This one will be wired to the pedal servo with a Y harness, so they will operate at the same time on channel 4 of the stock RTR TF2 transmitter.

Let's see if this video will work...

TF2Shifting_zpsc3678cc0.mp4 Video by icecreamslick | Photobucket

[tokdl]

That is really, really cool!

[nsimps]

Nice setup! I couldn't really see, but are you using a spare channel on your rx to run it?

[Alpha Male]

Originally Posted by nsimps

Nice setup! I couldn't really see, but are you using a spare channel on your rx to run it?

Yes! The RTR TF2 comes with a four channel esc. Channel 3 is for the BEC, but 4 was open and is run by the thumb switch.

[Alpha Male]

Originally Posted by tokdl

That is really, really cool!

Thanks! Now that I'm getting the moving parts in place I wish I had not removed the doors, lol. Too much of the interior is going to show in order to be able to see the pedals working. I'll have to try to hide the mechanism.

unsanded and unpainted...but functional:

[Alpha Male]