Pro Touring/Autocross 68 F100

[Frank ZX]

I had a guy practically beg me to sell my cams which were naturally aspirated cams. I got a set of
Cushman stage 3 blower cams to replace the Comp cams.
Heres a better shot of the firewall.

[Frank ZX]

This is going to be an amazing build. looks like your spending the money where it matters let the guy with the 10k paint job admire your diy tailgate lol.

Lol, yea! Performance has been my goal and it keeps getting better. If I had 10K more, I'd buy lighter wheels before a high end paint job
Nothing wrong with nice paint though!

[Frank ZX]

Good bit of extra work, but I'm sure well worth it in the end. You making custom seat mounts straight to the floor?

I have a slightly different outlook on the effort. Nothing wrong with how either one of us view the efforts. Lol
The cab is a few inches shorter and the seats were way too tall from the factory. I want to be in a seating position similar to a Corvette. Maybe that's not a good example but low as possible.
I cut the stamped steel cab crossmember out and welded 2- 1×1 square tubes under the floor at the front.
The rear seat mounts will attach to some of the factory cab crossmember but I added a little more material for solid attach points. On the your question, yes the seats will bolt directly to the floor but then pass thru the crossmember.

[Frank ZX]

This is really fascinating. Thank you for sharing this process Rob! I have always thought the rails were done as one long square tube on each side, not a fabricated piece. Very interesting.

Frank, didn't think it was possible, but now I'm even more jealous and missing my '69.

It's always possible when you set the bar high and never give up on your goal.
I have to admit thou, Rob put the chassis idea in my head.
I met Rob at a autocross in Kentucky over the summer and asked him to ride in my truck. I wanted advise on suspension adjustments on my diy chassis. My truck was a handful of power and I just couldn't get it to all workout.
People would comment "your fighting that around the course", and I was.
The look on Rob's face. He basically told me the chassis was at its limit and it pretty much was.
Don't get me wrong, it was alot of fun.
A couple months later I seen Rob again and That's when we decided to put his chassis under my truck. That very moment I knew my truck would ride and handle like never before!
I had already been talking to Jason Etter about a bigger supercharger. I got 3rd place at the Autocrossguys.com event. By the end of the day I had a brand new plan. Sell off as many parts as I could and put the chassis first on my list of improvements.
The new engine and transmission all worked out so now it was just improving everything else. I cut the excess wiring from the harnesses, rerouted wires to eliminate clutter and excess weight. Probably grams lighter, but grams equal pounds.
My son came over New Year's and he said ,Dad, I'm kinda glad you dont have your new chassis yet cause you wouldn't be working on the wiring and body, you'd be putting it back together already. Lol
My point is set the bar and everything will fall into place. If not, raise it higher;)

[Frank ZX]

Rob, Now the Extraordinary Excitement has reached a plateau I can actually read and somewhat comprehend what you've wrote about the chassis. Lol
I had no idea you used a 3 piece frame rail but it makes perfect sense now. When I boxed my old chassis in it moved so much I had to fabricate a spreader bar to get the front bumper on. And that was not putting much heat in one area. Its amazing how you can make a small piece of metal move from just putting heat on one side of it.
The process you use building chassis makes me think my old chassis was tweaked more than I thought.
Nothing wrong with people building their own parts and all but it just proves there is no replacement for a professional built chassis.
Here's the new Munssey Speed and Design carbon fiber gauge bezel. I've ordered the other carbon fiber interior bezels to for the heat/AC controls and radio.
I'm sending the glovebox door to him to wrap in cf too.

[Slick68]

Looking great, Frank!!! Looking forward to ripping up some courses together this season!

[Frank ZX]

Thanks Matt. I'm missing everyone already.

[Frank ZX]

I finally got the paint looking decent. I'll probably have to repaint the roof but I'm going to wait til it's on the chassis.
Hopefully I'll pick the chassis up this coming up week.
https://www.hostmyjunk.com/image/bo78U

[Frank ZX]

I made a good bit of progress on the bed today. Tomorrow I'm going to start widening the wheel tubs and more filling.
Naca ducts were bolted onto the side of the bed to force air thru the bed mounted heat exchanger. There is a dedicated water pump that circulates coolant to the supercharger only. My new Stewart EPM HAS TWICE the volume. The silver tank in the bed is thendegass.thisnandbwmtwicenthenboost sets everyon2nq0qrt

https://www.hostmyjunk.com/image/boTtn
https://www.hostmyjunk.com/image/boqJ3
https://www.hostmyjunk.com/image/bosyc
https://www.hostmyjunk.com/image/boddt
https://www.hostmyjunk.com/image/boIxa
https://www.hostmyjunk.com/image/bokOK
https://www.hostmyjunk.com/image/boYPk
https://www.hostmyjunk.com/image/boADG

[Sbeck09]

Is that bed cover all aluminum sheet with aluminum channel to support it underneath? What thickness of sheet did you use? I need to make something like it, but I'm not sure what to use yet.

[Frank ZX]

Is that bed cover all aluminum sheet with aluminum channel to support it underneath? What thickness of sheet did you use? I need to make something like it, but I'm not sure what to use yet.

Its 3mm Alumilite. Aluminum sheets sandwiching polycarbonate. I used aluminum angles for supports. It hinges to access the bed and heat exchanger.

[Frank ZX]

Insulated the cab and running wires. My goal is to drive it in 2 weels. The pressure is on.

[Frank ZX]

I made a cab/bed lifter from some gym equipment I couldn't give away. I attached it to my engine hoist.
Today I'm converting my bed from a 70-72 to a 67-69.
The bump going down the side doesnt extend to the very back. In 1970 they put a marker light at the very end of the bump. I have a junk 1968 bed. I'll cut the piece out and weld it in place. I'll post pics later.

[Frank ZX]

One side done. I'm going fill the stake pockets on top of the bed rails and mold in the naca ducts. I dont think I explained the naca ducts. The heat exchanger is just a big truck radiator but down with aluminum tanks. I have aluminum tubing that transfers coolant from the supercharger to the heat exchanger mounted in the bed. I got tired of people asking me why I relocated the radiator to the bed. LOL
Anyway, the naca ducts fill the surrounding area of the heat exchanger. I think it looks cool and so far Its done a good job of keeping the IAT nice and cool.

[Frank ZX]

Here's where the naca ducts will get graphed in.

[Slick68]

Nice progress, Frank! Where did you get the Alumalite for your bed cover?

[Sbeck09]

I've always liked your Naca duct idea there. Can't believe I haven't seem more of them used similarly on truck builds with rear radiators.

Also funny that you are closing up those stake pockets. I was just thinking about that myself.

[Frank ZX]

I've always liked your Naca duct idea there. Can't believe I haven't seem more of them used similarly on truck builds with rear radiators.



Also funny that you are closing up those stake pockets. I was just thinking about that myself.

You do know it's not a radiator in the bed?

[Sbeck09]

You do know it's not a radiator in the bed?

Haha yes. Usually it is, but in your case I'm aware that it's the supercharger heat exchanger.

Btw I like the bed mod to smooth the side. Looks better already.

[Frank ZX]

She's loaded up in route to Rob's No Limit Engineering Friday!!!