Red Rocket an expedition build

This is a picture of what the truck will look like soon hopefuly

 

ok so today was hole day, the day i have really been worried about. It turned out to not be as bad as i expected, bad but not as bad as expected. photos

first i broke the guide bit in half on the first hole, it caught an edge and that was it, so a quick trip to lowes and we were back to work.


and here is one that is 1/2 drilled i just thought that this was a cool picture

 

up next was time for the drill to take a rest, i thought it would be best in the fridge because it was hot


and after a while and a trip to the apple store where i was looking for a new computer it was on again.

 

next hole is where it really got bad the transmission in the drill went so it wont really go into gear, it will spin the blade but when any resistance is met it just stops spining. so on to the replacement and yes it is a 12 volt drill thought you would like that.

i know you wont believe this, i wouldn't but the drill actualy is really making great progress, it only takes about 2 batteries to do one hole and these batteries have a 10 year warrenty so i am not overly worried about damage.

one more down. sorry i know its hard to see, my camera/phone leaves something to be desired.

 

Sorry i haven't been updating as much as i would like to or getting as much progress done as i would like to.

but here we go, i was really starting to get nervous about my expensive 12 volt drill burning up so i went to harbor freight and made a serious 29$ investment into this, wow it almost broke my arm this thing is seriously powerful and after 2, 4 inch holes the drill was hardly hot amazing. SHOULD have bought this from day 1


here she is with only the 3 lower holes remaining to be drilled.

 

i got one more hole drilled


then went on a shopping trip to harbor freight got the drill, while i was out i stopped by the local exhaust shop and scored some 4 inch tubing for the light holes. i think is looks sweet very james bond like.

 

and here she is with the 3 lower holes drilled, and about ready to come off. just got to build the supports so the winch can't snatch the bumper off.

 

very impressive. looks mean. I wish I had the skills....

 

thanks a lot. i appreciate it.

 

started today out by building my aux mount so that the winch wont rip off the bumper this is made from 1/4 and will be plated on the side.


and here is the bumper off the truck btw its a lot lighter than i thought i can easily lift it solo, i would say its as heavy as like a tube tv.

 

i know my light hole concept was a little unorthodoxed but here they are
cut off


and ground smooth

 

here is one with a weld 1/2 way ground down

 

ok im sorry the pictures have slowed down and the work on the bumper has slowed down. ill get some more tonight here is where it is at,

I think it looks very cool off the truck, the truck looks like crap. this is the last holes on the bumper being drilled, i have used flux core wire on this bumper reason for that is I am welding outside and its been windy so it will blow away my gas and with dirty metals, i got them from a scrap yard flux core works a little better.

 

here is a front shot of the bumper you can see a lot from this view, 1 you can see where im at on the grinding, mostly done a little more and were there, 2 you can see the winch installed in the back of it, with that little W of the warn sticking out of the top sexy.

 

and one more final shot from the rear, with the winch installed you can see the fit. also most of the rear is welded in im not doing a full inside weld, i want a little flex in it otherwise its just going to crack or bend the frame if i were to hit anything.

 

Dang...

That's sweet!
Looks like a LOT of work
And a LOT of time.

 

yeah i have more time in it then i thought i would, i have built several bumpers but only for offroad rigs where things like grinding are frowned upon. My attention to detail on this build is like nothing i have ever built. it takes a lot more time. but i think that it will be worth it.

 

got a lot of progress done today adding some extras .

started by cutting a line that follows the body line originaly this was touching the body during mock up.

 

then i added a little brace i know its curved it was some leftover scrap

 

here is the start of something its boxing in the end, fully boxing the bumper is not practical from a paint, weight or instal point of view, this would make it unreal strong.