45acp’s DIVORCED build!

So were you the one piloting that door killing Taurus?

 

Got a friend from Ireland going to nursing school in IL and was visiting for the weekend. Asked me to help change/fix the brakes on the shitty '99 Taurus he picked up for $750. They were basically shot.

He had to pull the car closer to the garage, so he put it in drive and tried using the ebrake to stop. It broke/failed, and instead of putting it in neutral or shutting off the engine, he panicked and tried applying the brake pedal and plowed through the garage where I was finishing up repainting the doors and took out several other things with it.

I haven't taken a closer look yet, but I'm assuming the ebrake cable or bracket/arm was rusted to shit. It's so bad, if not for the carpet, you could put your arm through the floor in 3 different places.

 

Wow...shitty man.

 

Exactly! What a bummer, hope you can find another door without headache!

 

I may already have found a set of doors in central WI.



Also, earlier in the day I had someone (also in central WI) that was kind enough to offer a Glasstite topper off an '82 for free. Looks like this, but white.



http://www.oldparkedcars.com/2012/05/1980-toyota-hilux-5-speed-diesel.html

 

I just happened across this and thought of the door mishap. If the WI find doesn't work.
http://macon.craigslist.org/pts/5731347468.html

 

Trading places for a little bit. Can't really do much with the '81 right now, so I'm going to finish up what fab work I can on the Taco before it goes into a friend's barn for winter storage in 3 weeks. I'll continue to work on it there, but fabrication will be limited. I'll focus more on wiring and plumbing. Engine and drivetrain will stay at the house.

 

Haha looks so funny!

 

It's squatting ha

 

WI plate looks good on that '81

The race truck looks like an RC car!

 

Need moar race car!

 

You mean, like this?



FINALLY getting around to fitting/installing the bump cans and limit straps.

I've been stuck for the last several months with the issue of seat fitment vs the drivetrain.

To recap on an older post -

Due to the difficulty of getting exact measurements, I had to tackle seat mounting when I got to that point and work with it as best I could.

The layout of the drivetrain and limited height of the Tacoma cab has made it a challenge to meet the minimum requirement of 3" between cage and helmet. I added Chassis Unlimited seat sliders to the Baja XP seat and offset them in a way that I could mount the seat as low as physically possible without being an issue for the transfer case.





Another aspect that complicates things is the harness mounting. This shows the generally accepted mounting angles for the harness.


http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Harness_install/

Keeping in line with this and the current drivetrain setup, would require the lap belt to be anchored over the transfer case housing. An outrigger setup for the harness mount may be possible but not ideal, as it leaves little or no room for drivetrain movement or removal.

DSC00309 by Jonathan Krajnak, on Flickr

I know it's been briefly discussed before, but I'm trying to take a closer look at cost v befit with retaining the crawl box. Now that I have changed transmissions, having a crawl box isn't as necessary. Take into account the estimated power output (~500hp) the 3RZ will be making. Also note the modified A340F will be semi-automatic, allowing more control in situations that necessitate crawling/low range gears. Will those factors alone help compensate for removing the crawl box?

I've narrowed it down to 2 possible solutions.

1) Keep the crawl box and mount the seat slightly higher and if necessary, cut out the diagonal braces and reposition them farther forward. But do so in a way that allows more head room and still maintain some semblance of proper cage geometry/energy transfer.



2) Ditch the crawl box which would allow more room to drop the seat lower.

I'm fairly convinced #1 is the best route.

 

"ditch the crawl box" ... LOL. That's a good one....

 

I don't like the new drawn tubing for the cage for option 1.

But option 2 I think isn't a good idea. You'll just burn up your tranny. 37s are big man. Having the lower gearing in the big rocks will be super super helpful.

 

I have a big Derale remote cooler with it's own puller fan, I figured it would be more than adequate to deal with temps. But I'm probably wrong, as usual.

Got a better suggestion for the tubing/head room issue? @jberry813, @csjumper2003 your thoughts?

Something like this perhaps? Diagonal tubes are bent where they meet the center tube and still terminate at the junctions. Add gussets as needed (pictured yellow).

 

Fiiiiinnnneeee


Send me the crawl box...

I'll take one for the team..

 

I think the angle of the above pictures makes it look worse. Part of the problem is due to the suspension seat design, using a tube frame instead of a fiberglass or carbon fiber bucket. The tube frame essentially sits right on top of the housing for the tcase front output. Another problem is due to where I located the B pillar hoop. I have since found that I can get a little more room by relocating the seat tabs and drop the front of the seat, while raising the back slightly.





This should help give some reference to where it's situated, unless the measurements should be from the bottom seat cushion. Main tubes are 2", secondary is 1.75".

 

Abarth style roof?