79 C10 Autocross build. "THE REAPER"

[Mtrhd329]

Mounted my rear fender. I think i like the body lines lining up with the fender but i cant decide yet. Plans are to have a foam board be my tonneau cover and sit just above the fender line.



Start of the template for the ducting that will vent the radiator through the hood.

[Tomswheels]

Getting excited....

[Mtrhd329]

Shocks were leaking so i took them apart and rebuilt them.

Coilovers were rubbing the caliper bolts so i drilled new holes and moved the inboard slightly. It was suggested i pull the axles and swap the backing plates to put calipers on the other side. Keeping that in mind in vase this doesnt work.


A shot of tue new geometry. Swapped in my 200# spring while i was in there.

Next up is fixing a PCM issue i have been having. I fried one PCM. bought a replacement read it with hp tuners and then it corrupted somehow. 2nd Pcm now is toast. Waiting on funds to post so i can license PCM 3 next week and hopefully get this thing running. Still havemt heard my new BLACK WIDOW mufflers. I owe them a video .

I need to pull this pig put of the driveway under its own power so i can finally get working on the drivers side. I have been neglecting that side because its close to the garage wall and a pain to work on.

[Centerforce]

The flat-mount radiator is going to look awesome. It reminds us of a turbo car V-mount setup, just minus the intercooler. It will be just one of the many reasons this truck will be so unique!

[Mtrhd329]

The flat-mount radiator is going to look awesome. It reminds us of a turbo car V-mount setup, just minus the intercooler. It will be just one of the many reasons this truck will be so unique!

That was what inspired me to go this route. Heres a teaser of whats to come with the hood
Still trying to decide if i want to divide the fans and keep the stock hood line or keep one large opening.

[bs46488]

Lots of great work here.

I would vote divide the fans and keep the stock hood line.

[Mtrhd329]

Got some work done the other day and snapped some pics. Pass side is coming along nicely despite my tire rubs at full lock so i have to readjust and remount my flare. Starting drivers side now. Gotta get it patched up and the fender vented and painted this weekend. Hoping to get my brakes figured out so i can start driving this thing to work and see what i can break before i start racing. CAM Challenge will be in March so i have to get moving on this thing. I wont be finished with everything by then but i should be close enough to race.

[Mtrhd329]

Got some little stuff done today. More decals on. Tires swapped so the tread is facing the correct way. Power steering leak sorted. Going to work on the tune now to correct the stumble from my new intake. Coming along nicely. I might actually drive it this week.

[Tomswheels]

Digging the super short bed vibe...

[Mtrhd329]

https://youtu.be/rTyLDYY76xk

Got some more little things knocked out this week and started driving the truck. Overall i am very happy with my suspension setup. Very tight and comfortable to ride. The 3 link rear is night and day over my leafs i had before and i am happy with the crown vic front clip and rack and pinion. I need to remove some camber but thats an easy fix. I am REALLY leaning toward 315s all the way around but that will have to wait until later.

Took the truck over to CURRENT AUTO PERFORMANCE to get scaled. Hung out for a while and saw some of the awesome builds the have going on over there daily. Great shop and great people. Got the truck on scales and was blown away at where i am at


3035 overall with 55% front 45% rear. I plan to add some more cage reinforcements and bed pieces in the rear which should add some weight and bring the bias closer to equal. Then i will start reproducing parts in the from out of fiberglass to shed some weigh up front. Still pretty good for starting out at 4200 and dropping to 3700 before the frame build. New frame with custom suspension and adding a full cage dropped me 700#. I now dont have any excuse for camaros beating me. We are close in power weight and design. This should get interesting. The only seperating factor will be giys like tom and danny running 315s. I guess this will show how much effect larger tires have.

[Mtrhd329]

Added some triangles in the rear that will hide below the bed cover. Have two weeks left now. Still need to finish the floor aluminum. Paint floor. Get gauges working. Make bed cover. Make a hood. Make a tailgate. Make some sort of sound reduction devices. Fix my power steering leak. And i think thats it for now. Just ran out of welding wire so i need more to finish a few other random things like mount seat belts and finish some tabs. Hooefully i will ha e most everyrging done by next weekend. I am doubtfull of the hood being done as my fiberglass wont be here until the 24th. That gives me a week to mold a hood from my old one. No pressure. Will probably just be a skin for CAM challenge and then i can finish it up after.

[PCHRODS]

Added some triangles in the rear that will hide below the bed cover. Have two weeks left now. Still need to finish the floor aluminum. Paint floor. Get gauges working. Make bed cover. Make a hood. Make a tailgate. Make some sort of sound reduction devices. Fix my power steering leak. And i think thats it for now. Just ran out of welding wire so i need more to finish a few other random things like mount seat belts and finish some tabs. Hooefully i will ha e most everyrging done by next weekend. I am doubtfull of the hood being done as my fiberglass wont be here until the 24th. That gives me a week to mold a hood from my old one. No pressure. Will probably just be a skin for CAM challenge and then i can finish it up after.

This was fun to read.....when will you have the truck out at the track? Cam Challenge?

Can't wait to see it.

[Mtrhd329]

Yup CAM challenge is what im shooting for. I took it apart right after last years CAM challenge for what was supposed to be a 3 month frame build. That escalated quickly. Sorry for the phone typing errors. Apparently i have big fat fingers and phones are being built without the big fat finger function on these little keyboards.

Today i got one camber bolt installed and sitting at -2.3* camber. The other.....well that ******* is on there. Impact gun, 4ft cheater bar and still nothing. Fixed my power steering leak. Cant wait to see how the rack feels with fluid in it.

[Mtrhd329]

Got the tonneau cover cut down and mounted. Need all the downforce i can get back there. Drove to the big 3 show this weekend and every time i applied more than half throttle i spun the rear like nothing. I did some calculations and i need to add more anti squat. Project for monday. Today with some help i found that my PS pump was leaking between the pump and reservoir. 12 dollar seal kit and 30 minutes and i had it resealed and no more leak. Got my brakes bled since i had help today and got a bunch of air out of the lines but the pedal still feels squishy for my tastes. Im thinking i might need a 1" bore master cylinder to upgrade from the 15/16" one i have now. Hopefully that helps.

O2 sensor heater fault popped up today randomly so truck runs like poo again. Probably melted a wire. Need to find that tomorrpw also. It is definately crunch time for CAM challenge on friday. Hopefully i can convince work that racing is what i shoukd be doing friday so i can get some tuning laps in to dial in my 3 link bars and panhard settings. More tomorrow.

[RBEAST]

CAM CHALLENGE is when ? did you say this friday? i wanted to go check it out and run in it too ... maybe ill see you there ... been busy with mint 400 here in vegas this week hoping you mean friday coming up

[Mtrhd329]

Well thrashed all last week and got the truck mostly done and out to CAM Challenge. Had a few set baxks but overall had a blast and got to talj with some great people and learned a lot about my setup.


My first run at test n tune i had a passenger and set out to see what the truck gad in her. Tan through the slalom kinda loose and came to the end and went to hit the brakes for a sharp 90 and the pedal went to the floor and i had to spin the truck at 50 mph to scrub the speed. Limped off the course and flintstone stopped in the pits. The bolt that held the brake pedal to the pushrod lost its nut and came out. After my passenger stopped puking i ran to lowes and got new hardware to include a nylok nut. Came back to run again and my overflow bottle was dripping so i got flagged from running. Turns out my fans werent getting turned in to cool the motor and i was overheating. Rewired my relays and i was back up but test n tune was closed. Drove gome for the night and got a p1860 code for the tcc the motor was surging badly and wpuld not hold idle when coming to a stop and would die.

Saturday. I got to the track early and tuned my tcc out to get rid of the codes and started running. The truck was solid in the front end and i could not get any push like i was plagued with all last year. The fron suspension was solid. However after a few cones in the slalom the ass end woyld just come around and spin me out. This led to a day of spinning and not being able to really get into the gas at all. Disconnected the rear bar and lowered the panhard to attempt to get grip back to no avail. Coolant fans were too close to the radiator and were rubbing.

Sunday. Ran my numbers for my rear suspension and i was running 176% AS and needed a top link change. Moved the bar down to attempt to correct it. This was the wrong way. While waiting and watching i dove in ron suttons threads on rear suspension and discovered my lower bars were angled and introducing rear steer and coupled with my high AS woyld not let me get any rear grip.

Overall i had a blast visiting with freinds and talking about race cars all weekend was awesome. The CAM culture is like none other and i wouldnt hang out anywhere else. Our next event is in two weeks so a few bar changes and some new 315s for the rear and i will see what she has with consistent grip. Shakedown almost complete. The truck scares me with its acceleration amd balance in the corners i cant wait to see what its capable of.

[Tomswheels]

Looked Awesome out there Bryan! The amount of stiffness you have in that truck has really transformed the way it looks going around corners. I'm no Engineer but I would think a bit more weight in the back would benefit in two ways. 1. During acceleration some weight transfer could occur onto the rear tires. 2. Under cornering weight could be transferred to the outside rear, giving some "natural" stick. Great to see someone building something truly outside the box, love having this racing CAM in our region.

[Dr G]

That looks like Jack Murphy (Qualcomm) West Lot. An awesome place for auto-x. I'm hoping to make the BMW Club event there this Sat.

[RBEAST]

Do you think your shortened wheelbase might have something to do with truck wanting to swap ends?
I think short wheelbase might make it harder to control and may make it too squirlly but ive been wrong before ... did you get motor dialed back in?
good luck in next event

[Mtrhd329]

Tom- i agree. I am adding weight slowly back there. Gotta pull weight outta the front also though.

Dr g- yup thats qualcomn west lot. I like this side due to the elevatuon changes and potential for longer straifht aways.

R beast- im sure the shorter wheel base amplified the effect of rear steer but i had my suspension set up horribly due to my numbers being off. Should be loads better now.

Picked up some Koni ps8 shocks today. They came with eibach springs in the 250 variety. Extra 50# stiffness should work well when i put the spoiler on.

With the new shocks veing smaller i was able to put them back over in the vertical position. Should feep better. Ill try and drive it this weekend before i leave for my work trip and report back