surlydiesel
Adventurer
I've heard that about Mini's. I'm curious what you find when you open it up. Completely off topic of course.
-jorge
-jorge
The Sooper Camper F350
- Thread starter Sooper Camper
- Start date
Sooper Camper
Adventurer
About time for a gravedig eh?
Well, around 10 months ago, I got the nod from the owner of the company to move up the ladder. Only caveat was relocating from San Diego to San Luis Obispo county....which sent life into over drive. In the span of 2 months we finished 1 ongoing remodel, listed and sold 1 house, bought another and moved across the state. We learned a big lesson last time around, so instead of putting off any 'some day' projects on the new place I dove head first into those with the new house so that has been eating a lot of my free time. We've also spent a lot of time exploring the local fun spots and reconnecting with old friends (my wife and I both graduated from Cal Poly). I've been driving it a couple times a week, still hauling crap to the dump with it. Still no oil pressure, still no gas gauge, still no worries.
Progress on the truck has been slow, visually speaking. Mostly I've been dumping money into the black hole of my local machine shop. Good news is, the young guy there is a wizard with old Fords and has a 79 F150 4x4 putting down 650 or so before the bottle from a 400M. They got the old Lincoln block cleaned up and prepped, turned out I scored big time; it was totally virgin and in great shape. The list is pretty basic for a 460...balanced bottom end, .030 over, high 9's for compression, LOTS of work to the heads, Edelbrock aluminum intake, roller rockers and a pretty healthy cam, with some mild headers and a new exhaust in the pipeline. I'm getting the last bit of accessories ordered, so things are slowly coming together. Should make in the realm of 400-450hp, 550+ on the torques.:sombrero:
The Exhaust port on the D0VE heads is what really needs the work, there is a big bump for smog injection that needs to be ground down to help with CFM, he did a beautiful job blending and polishing the bowls too though:
I tossed a plastic fan in off a late 90's 3.0L V6 Ranger. Its lighter, quieter and I bet flows the same if not more; fun $25 upgrade:
In Septemberish we went to the Leduc swap meet in Morongo to clear out some old product kicking around the warehouse, and I came back with some Autofab stock width, 3" rise glass and a drop center hood. It was too good a deal to pass up, but the hood is going to require some creativity, since the rad in my truck is too tall to clear the drop of the hood. Will either need a shorter rad, or move the existing one down with a new shroud.
Before:
After, I've since notched in the corner marker lights too.
Then I went and did something really impulsive..
Its an all original 74 F250 Ranger XLT Camper Special with a 390/C6/D60. In a weird turn of events, I bought it off craigslist from this guy. It was sitting in the skate park he calls his driveway:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBntXzEB70I
Haven't driven it yet, but its complete aside from a really rusty bed floor. The shifter column broke so its just been sitting for months...now I can't decide if I want to do a cab swap, or a drivetrain/axles swap.
Oh yea...my first kid's due in July. It's been a busy year, so I better get this finished off before life as I know it radically changes...
Sooper Camper
Adventurer
Well, Mini stepped up big time. Despite being the 3rd owner, completely out of warranty range, and only with my own notebook of service records I'd performed...they comp'ed the engine and all I had to pay was labor. It hurt, but much less than it could have. All in all, lesson learned...between this and the 90s Jetta I had I think I'm good on European cars for a long time (might make an exception for a deezul Benz). It's a shame, its a fantastic personal transportation device, but it is designed to be on a lift 4 times a year getting parts replaced and serviced constantly.
surlydiesel
Adventurer
Thanks for the out of the blue update! Congrats on everything you have going on.
-jorge
06 Access Cab Tacoma 4 cylinder 5spd 4x4 with 235's
-jorge
06 Access Cab Tacoma 4 cylinder 5spd 4x4 with 235's
pappawheely
Autonomous4X4
Thanks for the tip on the rad fan, I like it.
Sooper Camper
Adventurer
No prob! Yours might be different, I assume the serpentine setup on yours (or is it 'poly vee' as they called the double serp?) will be reverse rotation...there are actually a LOT more options in that case.
pappawheely
Autonomous4X4
The stock steel one always makes me think of edward scissorhands.
Sooper Camper
Adventurer
i whacked my forearm on the fan while setting the timing with the engine running once, hurt like a ********! The plastic fan has a much more modern hum to it too.