Tribute to my Dad's 79 F100 featuring Banzai

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by Shinchu

I'm contacting RC Nerds about downsizing the grill RIGHT. NOW.

and google showed me a scale train shop near my house (8 miles or so), i will stop by later this week to check for styrene.

Hey Chris, I can send you some if you let me know what gage (thickness) you need.
Ernie

[Shinchu]

thanks Ernie! but... i have no idea! lol i need to go check at a store to see what i need and how much, see if they have pattern stuff, etc...
its going to help hold the body on, too.

trying to figure out budget, but i might also be able to build up the awesome styrene bed cap/shell i found for the Tamiya hilux from dinky... maybe.

[Shinchu]

*UPDATE*
didn't need the thread tap. i had to use a hammer and a socket to get those spring collars on the axle tube. took me a good half hour of pounding (giggity) but those things aren't going ANYWHERE. after bolting them to the original shock mount, they wont budge.
got the shock relocation part done. hit the whole axle with some flat black so no more brass, no more silver upper link truss. i need to snap a pic but it looks beefy in all black. it was late and wifey needed me for couch time. pics will go up later.

how does it function? ehhh... had to play around with geometry a LOT. and i think most of that is i need to adjust the frame length. shock angle was so extreme, i had to move the upper bracket all the way forward and remove the X brace to do so. it articulates ok but not like it used to. shock bodies hit the frame before full travel. BUT! NO MORE SHOCK TOWERS!!!!! body sits nice and flat now.
now i can get to work on the drop bed (but due to the body being more like a 1:12, its not going to be very deep).
oh and i need to put on the leafs... or just stiffer coil springs. it sags under the weight and wont return to full height lol might use the springs off the old shocks or play with lower perches. haven't driven it yet.
I'm also debating on a COMPLETE, full tear-down of the whole rig, for a couple reasons.
1. shorten the wheelbase to put the right locations of the kit over the axle
2. possibly re-paint the chassis (and front axle bits, chubs/nuks) flat black and bake it. silver is a bit too flashy for this old daily camper rig. Ernie did a great job on the silver and i think its a nice nod to keep it, but its just a little too flashy.

pics of the rear shock relocation later tonight i promise.
oh and i haven't heard back from RC Nerds yet. sent them a PM here, i guess i should register on shapeways and send a message there.

shipped out my HPI RS4 to the lucky ebay winner, should get a bit more budget to work on finishing pop's rig (phase 1.5). most likely going towards a replacement shift servo (still need to see if i can save it), leaf springs, and maybe the RC Nerds stuff. if the servo is good, RC Nerds for sure and probably the dinky bed cap too.
okay I'm rambling now.

pics tonight!

[Shinchu]

got answer from RC Nerds on shapeways! its uh... a bit of a head scratcher though...

"Hello Chris!
This grill is designed special for Pro-Line Ford. It takes few weeks to take all measurements form lexan body. I can of course resizeit but I think it need to be redesigned to feet it perfecly. And it wil take some time again.
If You can work in some graphic software and You can send me Measurment We can work on this"

so uh... i told him i don't have any graphic design program, nor do i have any experience with them. offered to take some measurements with a dial caliper and go from there.
but seems he is willing to help!

oh and, yes i know i still need to take some pics of the shock relocation and results. bad shinchu! BAD!

[Shinchu]

yeah i think RC Nerds are from Switzerland or something?
all i can hear in my head is the sound of "Mateo's RC Movies" voice from youtube lol if you haven't seen, check him out, they are actually quite good!

RC Nerds are on youtube also, lots of tutorials on how to get a nice finish on their parts.

can you tell i watch youtube?

[Shinchu]

Finally got pics of the shock relocation!

Here is how it looks with smaller boingers from Ernie, and repainted axle.


Look how flat and low it is! BRING ON THE STYRENE!!!!


And here is why I need to shorten the frame a notch, the relocation brace should be on the forward of the 2 bumper bracket holes, but it's now on the rear x brace holes. Makes for funky geometry and the rails look funny from the fender openings.


But the body sits flat now. Bye bye shock towers!!!


That's it for now. Next is full chassis tear down for shortening the frame and painting it flat black. When it goes back together I will install the rest of the leaf kit brackets, and hopefully I will have the leaf on order.
Oh! Almost forgot, I have some 1.9 wheels on the way! Hopefully they look ok wrapped in the 1.9 version of dirt grabbers, and the truck should be a little more capable while still being accurate to the 1:1 version.
After that, interior and bed topper time!

[mgputer]

Originally Posted by Shinchu

Finally got pics of the shock relocation!

Here is how it looks with smaller boingers from Ernie, and repainted axle.


Look how flat and low it is! BRING ON THE STYRENE!!!!


And here is why I need to shorten the frame a notch, the relocation brace should be on the forward of the 2 bumper bracket holes, but it's now on the rear x brace holes. Makes for funky geometry and the rails look funny from the fender openings.


But the body sits flat now. Bye bye shock towers!!!


That's it for now. Next is full chassis tear down for shortening the frame and painting it flat black. When it goes back together I will install the rest of the leaf kit brackets, and hopefully I will have the leaf on order.
Oh! Almost forgot, I have some 1.9 wheels on the way! Hopefully they look ok wrapped in the 1.9 version of dirt grabbers, and the truck should be a little more capable while still being accurate to the 1:1 version.
After that, interior and bed topper time!

The way the wheel wells are placed in that body it almost looks like a camper special. I dig it.

Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk

[Browneye]

Yup...camper-special.

[Shinchu]

Lol well I just changed the wheelbase cuz I wasn't happy with it hahaha

Found some sort of new species while working on the truck today?



Got down to the last 2 screws on the skid and wrrrrrrrt... stripped!
Thank your deity of choice for dremels!



Got it all blown apart, painted, and taking a break while re-adjusting links for the New wheelbase...
Might not finish tonight, but we'll see...

[svt923]

Originally Posted by Shinchu

how does it function? ehhh... had to play around with geometry a LOT. and i think most of that is i need to adjust the frame length. shock angle was so extreme, i had to move the upper bracket all the way forward and remove the X brace to do so. it articulates ok but not like it used to. shock bodies hit the frame before full travel. BUT! NO MORE SHOCK TOWERS!!!!!

I cut out a portion of the frame by the shocks on my truck to restore full suspension movement.



Loosing the little bit of suspension travel didn't bother me as much as the fact the shock shaft gets a lot of sideways force pushing on it once the shock body hits the frame. I felt that was going to lead to either a bent shaft or at least a blown seal because shock shafts aren't meant to move sideways.

[Shinchu]

nice! after i get the chassis sorted i'll see about doing that.
as of right now, when i shortened the rails (from WB4 to WB3 now) i moved the skid forward with the rails and extended the rear links with longer rod ends. worked great! except now the rear driveshaft wont couple lol so i need to put the skid back in the "center" from front to rear. just moving it to the next set of holes in the rail should do it.
so when i get home i'll tear it down again and move the skid back, then i should be in business. learning has occurred!

[Shinchu]

ok i got the chassis MOSTLY back together, including the skid moved back a notch and everything seems to line up much better. keeping track of what fasteners go where on a chassis this heavily modified was... a challenge! to say the least! i think i got it though. i stopped before getting the front axle back on, had to kiss kiddos goodnight and have couch time with Mrs Shinchu for our shows.
where i left off, i put the third link (single upper link on front) on the wrong side of the frame and was making for awkward angles. that's where i stopped. lots of re-working what i already did. already got about 5 hours into this tear down! i think it will be worth it when you guys see it though. its looking GREAT! much more scale with the flat black under the body. wheelbase is looking better and the frame sits under the bed just right now. i really need to get back to RC Nerds about the grill dimensions! but have temporarily misplaced my dial caliper. oops!!!

oh and the shocks don't hit my frame rails. not sure how, they just... don't. and i put the lower perches and main springs from the old shocks on with pre-load backed off all the way. will see how it drives but it might be too stiff. i can use the shorter softer helper springs from the same shocks and see if that's better. this will have to do until i get the leafs ordered.

also, i did some research about the Camper Special a couple of you mentioned. so its a 350 Frame with 250 suspension. hmm... makes sense. my dad had to put helper leafs on his 150 for the big six-pac camper he had. and with his little 302 that could, hills were... interesting lol

hmm...

preview of "phase 3"???



oh and another thing the camper specials came with was the wider mirrors. my dad had the "low profile western mirrors" like the bronco. he hated backing up with the camper on. "i cant see SHIT!" hahaha

[Shinchu]

okay another update.

skid is STILL too far forward. it pushed the front axle forward enough the front wheels would hit the bumper without any compression. sooooo back to moving the skid again...

and i tore down the traxxas shift servo. she's a GONNER. main gear off the motor was stripped and for some reason the controller didn't tell the motor to stop at the end point, kept spinning and ate a "bite" out of the plastic gear with the brass pinion on the motor, and eventually the motor gave up just spinning? overheated i suppose. odd it never hit the endpoint... just kept going like Forrest Gump!

so i found my son's old barrage steering servo. and it works. its too big to go where the traxxas micro was, but if i set up a bracket similar to the GCM 2 speed setup, i might be able to shift again. best of all: solid brass gears.

*AND! Pawel from RC Nerds sent me a PDF template of the grill to take measurements and see if the curve matches! i really need to find my dial caliper!

but first... the skid.

and all that takes a backseat to what i found in my house last night. SLAB LEAK. gotta see if home warranty/insurance will cover it. if not, might not even go to proline by the fire :(

[HumboldtEF]

Awesome project you got going here

Good luck with the slab leak but thats a bummer, I hope it doesn't keep you from going to the Proline By The Fire

[Shinchu]

Slab update, TOTALLY BYPASSABLE!
Great crew showed up, attacked the source from the garage so minimal drywall repair, they will run a new line in the garage to the washer where it was leaking into the slab. No damage! No jackhammer!
WHEW!!!

Now I can focus on the truck over the next 4 days off work. Yessss...

*plumber bought my airsoft guns woohoo! Now i got a nice chunk to finish this! About to order leafs, measure front end with the dial caliper i just found so i can get dimensions to pawel for my rc nerds grill! Thank you pipe leak? Lmao!

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by Shinchu

Slab update, TOTALLY BYPASSABLE!
Great crew showed up, attacked the source from the garage so minimal drywall repair, they will run a new line in the garage to the washer where it was leaking into the slab. No damage! No jackhammer!
WHEW!!!

Now I can focus on the truck over the next 4 days off work. Yessss...

*plumber bought my airsoft guns woohoo! Now i got a nice chunk to finish this! About to order leafs, measure front end with the dial caliper i just found so i can get dimensions to pawel for my rc nerds grill! Thank you pipe leak? Lmao!

Great news Chris, now we will see you guys at the Proline event?? You know if you need any help getting ready I will be there to help ya. Besides we have a unofficial build challenge going!!!
Ernie

[Shinchu]

Yup proline is back on! Found my dial caliper and getting the measurements back to pawel right now!

To do list:
RC Nerds grill, lights, bumper, mirrors (dashboard?)
Dial in the chassis alignment
Order leafs
Order dinky rc hilux bed topper
Styrene like a crazy person!!!!
(1.9 dirt grabbers?)

Time to do work!!!

*Pawel just got back to me, says the grill is no prob to shrink using my measurements, and it will be cheaper because its nearly 40mm shorter haha
PROGRESS!
Also just spoke with chris at gcm, gave me some good info on leafs. I think i will try the new ones from rc4wd. If i dont like them i will go with the special combo he suggested.

[Shinchu]

Alright its looking like a ford kinda night here on the forums! Not one to dissappoint, i got an update!

Its a truck again!!!


Finally got the skid movesd back another notch and everything put back together.
Managed to dremel down the top of the GCM forward motor mount, and opened up a pass through for all the wiring for the rx to tuck neatly between the transmission and front shock mount.
And somehow, i no longer have binding of the driveshaft and shifter rod? Not sure why but I'll take it!

Wheelbase looks great and the frame sits right where it should under the bed. And she sits NICE and FLAT now!


And i decided some bedliner would be suitable for the vertical sides of the sliders (bottoms are still smooth)


Had to paint the front running gear to match the rear. Much more scale, imo.


Couldnt resist, had to take it to my backyard pile to see how the new suspension works... pretty good! Nice flex, good control, perfect mix of up and down travel. Me likey!


Still gotta order the leafs, see about a bed topper, and Pawel said he will have some news for me monday!
Things are moving along!

[mgputer]

Originally Posted by Shinchu

Alright its looking like a ford kinda night here on the forums! Not one to dissappoint, i got an update!

Its a truck again!!!


Finally got the skid movesd back another notch and everything put back together.
Managed to dremel down the top of the GCM forward motor mount, and opened up a pass through for all the wiring for the rx to tuck neatly between the transmission and front shock mount.
And somehow, i no longer have binding of the driveshaft and shifter rod? Not sure why but I'll take it!

Wheelbase looks great and the frame sits right where it should under the bed. And she sits NICE and FLAT now!


And i decided some bedliner would be suitable for the vertical sides of the sliders (bottoms are still smooth)


Had to paint the front running gear to match the rear. Much more scale, imo.


Couldnt resist, had to take it to my backyard pile to see how the new suspension works... pretty good! Nice flex, good control, perfect mix of up and down travel. Me likey!


Still gotta order the leafs, see about a bed topper, and Pawel said he will have some news for me monday!
Things are moving along!

Looking good man! What brand sliders are those? I like them! I'm looking for something similar or I might braze my own set up but I've been avoiding the garage if I can help it, only 20 degrees!

Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk

[Shinchu]

Ha, those are codyboy specials there!
He brazed the tubes and bent up the sheetmetal for the skids. They just happen to fit this truck great!

Seriously so much of this truck just... fell together. I mean its been a heck of a build, with tons of help and advice that was so good, may e thats why it felt easy? I think the only time i got frustrated was trying to gear it not knowing it had a twin hammer spur gear lol

Still not there yet though. Hopefully my goodies from rc nerds will ship soon!