METALHEAD's 1.9er

[codizzl]

that turned out good but i like the the first pic with the body on and the tire is stuffed in the fender well
"thumbsup" :-(

 

[METALHEAD]

Finally I got some update action... As I mentioned, I got some electronics on this pig and I have a runner. I've been driving it around, here or there, in the dirt, on the rocks, out in the lawn, blah blah blah. I've made a few tweaks and adjustments, but everything seems to hold together nicely. Even in this "test drive" stage, with no threadlocker, a temporay ESC, and unglued rims, it seems to be a solid rig.

The current ESC is a Duratrax Sprint, and it does a pretty good job. I started out with the Sprint and the Trinity Monster 27T sport motor and knew something had to change. It was too fast and didn't have nearly enough shiznitt in its drawers to make a good crawler. It was good for beating around, so I'm sure I'll keep it around for goofing off...maybe go 2wd and spin some cookies or something. But that's not for this rig's ultimate purpose. Anyway, I'm spinning a 35T Lathe on dis biatch now and it's the goods. I'm stoked to hook up the Viper ESC and see what it's got.
Here's a nekkid picture:

And another:

I'm obviously running two 7.2 batts (in parallel) and there's a reason for that. Aside from the better runtime, I really want the extra weight. The HL tires are pretty soft, but not too pliable, so the extra weight really helps things hook up better. There's enough torque to move things nicely so the extra weight actually seems to help keep it planted on the rocks.

The body is mounted with three 1/2" L-Brackets on each side that are glued to the inside of the body. They sit on the two rails that you see on the sides. Currently, the body is just screwed on, but this is just a trial mount. I have some ideas on how else to mount it so I can have quicker removal, but I'm still mulling some other options over. One thing, for sure though, this IS the ride height I'm going for and this is how it's gonna roll.

Here it is, mounted up:

And, of course, the articulation shots. In the front suspension shot, it is not at full compression, but it will make full compression and still offer 100% steering with zero body rub.

This is about balls deep for the rear end. Again, zero body rub.

I still have some body work to do, finish up some odds and ends on the frame, and do a lot of painting and such. These are different rims than before with a better offset and IMO a better look. They're gonna be dyed before I'm done. Also, I'm gonna mount some panels inside to hide and protect everything and I still gotta get some fenderwells and fender flares on there, but so far, I'm happy. Thoughts?

 

[toomanyrcz]

Yup, looks good man, imo when you dye those wheels, dye them black, that would set it off! Hurry up and get this shat done and post a video!

 

[truegaintfree]

i like it looks good man......keep it commin n make a trial vid....

 

[METALHEAD]

UPDATE!!!

After I finished building my Tamiya High Lift, I had some momentum built up, so I had to keep charging. I brought my custom built 1.9er outta storage and started up on it again.

It hasn't seen much use since Unimoger's competion last May, and I wanted to get back on it. Here it is before I tore it down to start my next round of additions, upgrades, etc.

The Silverado body started out as a beater that I had mounted on an electric chassis that I just beat around with. I had holes drilled in the bed and the hood for standard mounting. The body now mounts to the frame via screws that are located on the underside of the frame. Anyway, the holes had to be fixed, along with all the rock rash, so that's where I started:

I ground the holes out underneath and feathered them out on top with my dremel. Then I sanded the top to prep them for filler and primer. Underneath, I used plastic epoxy and little plastic patches to cover the holes. Mmmmmm...remember kids, don't intentionally concentrate the epoxy vapors and huff them, as it may fack you up!

Next, I filled the holes from the top with body filler. While I was at it, I ground off the bullshyte on the roof. The body had OnStar and XM antennas molded on it. :roll: In the scale world, I do believe you'd be a puzz if your 1.9 crawler-trail rig had foo foo amenities like that, so they had to go. Actually, I just like the smooth look, but I had to fill those holes too. Speaking of smooth, there were a few other spots where the body was nicely damaged from use and just blemished from the molding process, so I went ahead and filled those areas too. Here's a shot of the major body work done, right before I primed it:

After wet sanding and blocking the body work areas I had some minor touch up where the primer didn't fill. Incedentally, body filler has a tendency to shrink up a little bit as it dries. So, I spread a second coat of filler where it was needed, re-blocked, etc. Here it is, damn near ready for paint:

I shot an undercoat of primer to act as a sealer and to give me a uniform surface to paint over. I then wet sanded all the little nasties out of the sealer coat to give me a smooth surface. I shot a tack coat and two solid coats of color, sanding between each coat to keep mah shizz clean, know what I mean? I cleaned up the top color coat and then shot three coates of clear to give me some room to work with when I cut and buff this dude. All in all, it came out pretty clean, but there's always some crud to clean up in the top coat. Here's the finished product:

Coming additions are REAL bumpers, possibly some rock guard paint for a two tone, some fender flares maybe, and some other stuff I haven't quite settled on. Anyway, more progress reports as they happen. Thanks for checking it out.

 

[clodstall]

looking good.

 

[pantablo]

very nice, custom rig.

 

[METALHEAD]

MORE updates!

I cut and buffed the paint, sprayed some black two tone action, stuck on some fender flares, pinstriped it, threw the windows and stock (read as "suck") head lights and tail lights in, ditched the stock bumpers built a new front bumper and a filler panel/hitch for the rear end.

I'll get more pictures when I get more shit done on it. I'm waiting on some new tires and I gotta stick some LEDs in this beeyotch, but here's where I'm at for the time being:

Of course, you GOTTA have the gratuitous articulation shots with the lights on...of course.

 

[nodnarb81]

this thing is nice!!! i just scored one of these trucks at wal mart today for $20!!:-D it was the last one they had. i am going to start a 1.9 build with it too. again, great job on this truck.

 

[alias]

That paint job looks awesome and brings even more attention to a killer rig...

 

[METALHEAD]

Thanks guys! Actually nodnarb81, I doubt you got this exact body at Walmart. Walmart was selling the Earnhart Intimidator and this is the West Coast Choppers ****e-bag. The Earnhart body is nicer, because it has the interior, but this one had the lights....I guess it's a tradeoff. Anyhoo, thanks for checking it out. I'm in the middle of the next step, so stay tuned, this pig is NOT done!

 

[METALHEAD]

Tore everything down and painted the frame, painted the shocks, painted the bumpers, and built some panels to protect the electronics. Here are some shots:

Stripping :shock: :

35 Turn Lathe and TA-02 tranny and some nekkid frame:

Painted and reassembling:

Electronics:

Assembly finished, minus the body:

And, the finished product

Closeup:

I have some new wheels and tires that I'm waiting on, along with some auxillary lighting, and some odds and ends that may or may not become reality, but this is damn near the whole enchilada.

 

[Kranberry]

you should paint the top of the tenua(<SP?) cover black;-)
nice job"thumbsup"

 

[METALHEAD]

Yeah, I thought of that too cjk, it would look better. Also, technically, the top part of the tailgate's supposed to be black too. I'm thinking about having a lifting cover that will give me access to my batteries. That way I could swap batts without removing the whole body. If I end up doing that, I'll paint it for sure. Thanks for the input man.

 

[aircruiser]

that truck is awesome!!

 

[luis]

that truck looks killer !! i like the red but i would get rid of that tao2 tranny/ diff it will strip on ya heck i even did a pede tranny swap/reduction for my tao2 but looks killer"thumbsup"

 

[whoops]

I can't believe I missed this build! It is awesome. "thumbsup" I wish I had grabbed one of these bodies when they
still had them around here.:-( I like the idea of the lifting bed cover. That would be sweet. Are you going to paint the tailgate
handle black like you did with the doors or leave them the way they are?

Great job!"thumbsup"

 

[METALHEAD]

Thanks for the props guys. I'll get some more pics up here soon, as I've done a few more additions to this bad boy. "thumbsup"

I think you'll all approve.

 

[METALHEAD]

RE-Rim and RE-rubber

Just got some 1.9 SDI Trail Doctors and put 'em up on some HPI Same Old, Same Old's. It only took like 2 weeks to get the tires here, but damn, are they hot. I got the middle grade ones and can only imagine what the "sticky" variety is like. These things actually leave black marks when you spin them on cement. They chirp when you slide them across a table top. They are just awesome.

Here's some shots:

...mmmmmm....pliable....

 

[METALHEAD]

I finally got out and did a little wheeling. I think the pics mostly speak for themselves.

Sidehillin' . I didn't roll on this one, but I did roll a couple of other times. The paint isn't a pristine virgin anymore.

Creeping...