Project Bike Truck

[Vimes]

Nothing wrong with having a beater. I'm going to be building a nice one, but fully expect it to wear over time as I drive it from here to the cemetery. I not only won't be ticked if I get a dent, I'll be selecting paint designed to hide them. Like, no flat and shiny black which looks amazing until a rock hits the hood after which all you can see is the dent. Kinda thinking a blue-grey metallic, root beer metallic, or that coppery-brown they put on the early 2010ish Ford pickups.

[Project Bike Truck]

No, I have not given up.

Yes I still have the car.

It’s been a while and as you guessed I’ve been on the struggle bus. Things have been damn hard.
There have been some changes and there have been some progress.

I decided I didn’t feel right in the seats in the car. My body is pretty beat up due to living an extreme sports life having lupus and other stuff. So I went and ordered new seats and that led to a rabbit hole. I wanted to make some changes to the seating position and pedal position. That took a month or so of late night changes and analysis to get it sorted out. Still not sure how good it is. But I hope it’s good because both points are fixed.

[Project Bike Truck]

Part 2 of i haven't given up

After getting that all dialed in I sent it to a guy I know for the exhaust. First mistake in a list of friend mistakes. I have asked a few questions about how to do some things and he let me know he had some time and could knock it out in 3 or 4 days. More like 3 or 4 weeks and not done like I asked or even done. (This is a theme in this post) he tells me it’s ready and I go to pick it up with a tow truck and there are no hangers and it’s made with a round tube( dinged and smashed to clear areas (this why I wanted oval) under the car and I asked for an oval.

I’m like what is this and why? Oh I ran out of time and didn't have the parts cut in time. but I’m set for next weekend to come over and make it happen. Fast forward 3 months he is still planning on coming over.

I said screw it a long time ago and bought some oval and transitions, paid someone to weld up the oval I fitted up and I went ahead and made the craziest most sturdy rigid mounts seen.

[Project Bike Truck]

Part 3 of I have not given up

I had once seen a car out of Sweden that did everything out of square or rectangle tubing, it’s been stuck in my brain since.

Not that I knew where everything went. I jumped on the chance to brace the holy hell out of the car. The seat frames are made out of .120 wall and everything else is lighter gauge. I then went to town and in typical fashion made some ugly welds and changed my mind a few times.

I came up with some creative ideas for getting a bolt out of the shifter so I can service or replace it. Also to access the drive shaft and transmission

[Project Bike Truck]

Part 4 of not giving up

I had fought for a long time with adding a surge tank being I had made a giant fuel tank (think over twice the size of a stock tank, and way too big but for long road trips) and my guy over at deeps Garage https://www.instagram.com/deepsgarage/?hl=en had tried many times before to make it happen. What's another gallon of fuel and maybe I need to make a smaller tank? So we made a simple square surge tank with about a gallon of fuel.

Now my favorite part is routing and plumbing lines. With a surge tank came another fuel pump and filter too. Packaging all these things became a little bit of a challenge but I was finally stoked and happy with working on it. I got it all wrapped up and looking pretty cool.

Don't get me wrong I remade mounts a dozen times and redid this and that a few times to get there. Hopefully it works and isn't just way too damn much fuel. Maybe I can get to Arizona and back on a tank

[Project Bike Truck]

Part 5 of not giving up

Now comes the crappy part of the post. I had another “friend” that wanted to do a bunch of work on the project. We had been talking about it for almost 2 years. It was going to get intercooler mounting and plumbing, firewall and wheel wells, radiator mounting and plumbing and a roll cage.

Fast forward 9 months and a few hundred calls and text messages later and nothing was done. I gave him an ultimatum of two days or a full refund of my deposit or a two week timeline for the cage and refund part of my deposit, 3 weeks to do the cage and intercooler/radiator work, or a month to complete everything at the prices we discussed. He chose the cage option.

Timeline was not met( big shock right) but a week later I got a cage not to my specs and not at the price we agreed( he tried to get $600 more) but I had in writing what he was to do. I got my car and bailed. Lost what I thought was a friend (25 years) and a few hundred over the quote.

Keep in mind my car was outside all day and now has all the bare metal covered in surface rust. Its a total nightmare and disappointment. All that work I did now has to get sanded and painted.

Time to move on from that

[Project Bike Truck]

Part 6 of not giving up

During the wait at the shop it dawned on me that if I put a cage in I'd never be able to replace the glass and the headliner. So I scrambled to get the glass out, I damaged the stainless trim so I had to find a good used set to replace it with. I Got lucky and got a shop to make an “alcantara” headliner. I dyna matted the roof and got it back home. I then found an old timer willing to help me get the glass installed. After getting shorted the trim and a few scheduling conflicts he got started on it. I was out of town visiting my mother in her last days and he agreed that he could get the glass done so I could ship the car back. He refused to let my wife help so we had to wait till I got back.

I got home and promptly had him come over and finish the job.This is where it got wild. We struggled to get the rear installed (all I really needed to cage the car) so we got it installed and the aftermarket seals are pretty lame if you ask me. He is doing a walk around and the dude just straight up passes out and falls into my drill press, jack stands, and brake. Just straight up out cold. I sit him up to make sure he's not bleeding or broken, he comes through and asks what happened.

We get him up and I let him know I'm going to call an ambulance for him. He refuses and is all disoriented. He goes to his truck and I see his legs giving out again. I ran my rolling seat out under him. Tell him I am calling his family and gets upset and convinces himself he's safe to drive. I was pissed and didn't want him crashing and killing someone or himself. He had a friend down the street he wanted to go and rest at his shop, and he left. He called later and told me thanks for looking out for him and he's fine now. Never heard from him again

[Project Bike Truck]

The car left that “shop” and moved onto another garage and is getting the sheet metal done for the floors, firewall, and the wheel tubs. There is a lot more to it than that. We have added some extra bracing for things in the future, some extra supports for things, changing up the smugglers hatch cover. The guy who’s doing the work travels with a BMW 24 hours team so he’s in and out all the time but progress has been made for sure.

I'm hopeful that things will progress and keep moving forward for me. These last few years have really got me down. I'd like to finish this car and get to drive it. My mom passed this Christmas. My uncle is slowly getting closer to that than thriving. I really wanted to finish it and show them or take them for rides since it was their dads car. Some of those moments have passed and some have not. I'm hopeful I can make it happen soon.

I’m hopeful this part will be finished soon and we will be able to move onto some of the intercooler and radiator mounting/plumbing, wiring, and some other things on the list to finish this car.

Will 2024 be the year?

[frink84]

Just got myself caught up, what a wild ride

[jaybee]

WOW! That was...an adventure?

[Project Bike Truck]

WOW! That was...an adventure?

sure is I’ve been quite for some years. There has been a lot of little things in there. I’ll try and find some more things to share.

[BigTone]

Even though it had been a while, I'm glad you followed up because I haven't seen this build before. It's a great backstory, and you're building a really sweet ride one little bit at a time.

I think you and I are alike in that we both feel there is a way it should be, and if it doesn't match the "vision" then it's just not right. It will have to be redone whether it was our own work to begin with or something we relied on others for. Then there is nothing more frustrating that having the exact thing you want in mind, but you need someone else to do it. Then you explain everything, give pictures, sketches, examples or whatever, and they come back with something different than what you asked for. I get irrationally upset when that happens.

You and I even have the same crazy when it comes to radically over spec'd hose clamps as mounts. The only thing I would do is cut down the threads a bit and pop vacuum caps over them

[Project Bike Truck]

Even though it had been a while, I'm glad you followed up because I haven't seen this build before. It's a great backstory, and you're building a really sweet ride one little bit at a time.

I think you and I are alike in that we both feel there is a way it should be, and if it doesn't match the "vision" then it's just not right. It will have to be redone whether it was our own work to begin with or something we relied on others for. Then there is nothing more frustrating that having the exact thing you want in mind, but you need someone else to do it. Then you explain everything, give pictures, sketches, examples or whatever, and they come back with something different than what you asked for. I get irrationally upset when that happens.

You and I even have the same crazy when it comes to radically over spec'd hose clamps as mounts. The only thing I would do is cut down the threads a bit and pop vacuum caps over them

Thanks man I’m not alone I guess. I feel like it. I’m stressed cause it getting sheet metal work done that I suck at doing. I’m glad it’s making progress but man I wish it was back home. It’s been gone for over a year between the cage fiasco and this work.

What are you working on?

[BigTone]

I’m stressed cause it getting sheet metal work done that I suck at doing. I’m glad it’s making progress but man I wish it was back home.

Sheet metal / bodywork / paint and automatic transmissions are the only things I refuse to tackle. Transmissions just out of my own ignorance, but paint and body because I have too high of expectations than my skill and patience can come up with.

What are you working on?

I inherited my sister-in-law’s father’s ‘85 IROC project car recently. He had done a lot of work to it (suspension, k member, built SBC, etc.) but it had sat for about 8 or 9 years before I got it. My son and I are going through a first pass on it to get it running and reliable again, then we’ll dig deeper with more fab and mods. But it’s hard not to just tear the thing apart right now because I know that is what will happen one day anyways.

[c3rocket]

I just read the the project bike post and sorry for the loss off your mom and hang in there the problems you are having it happens to a lot of us that build cars and having to deal with friends and shops so hang in there and I love your car .

[BigTone]

Part 4 of not giving up

I had fought for a long time with adding a surge tank...

I tried to follow the lines but I got lost. How does that work? Is there a float in the surge tank? Or do you just use pump 1 to fill the surge and overflow returns to the big tank?

[esteen2]

What do you think of the PRP seat? I was thinking of ordering a set for my project. Haven’t been able to find anyone I know that has sat in them.

[Project Bike Truck]

I just read the the project bike post and sorry for the loss off your mom and hang in there the problems you are having it happens to a lot of us that build cars and having to deal with friends and shops so hang in there and I love your car .

Thanks man it’s been a ride for sure. I can’t wait to get it back home.

[Project Bike Truck]

I tried to follow the lines but I got lost. How does that work? Is there a float in the surge tank? Or do you just use pump 1 to fill the surge and overflow returns to the big tank?

Main tank fills the surge tank and excess returns back to big tank. So no mater what corners or loads there is always one gallon of fuel ready and being used.

[Project Bike Truck]

What do you think of the PRP seat? I was thinking of ordering a set for my project. Haven’t been able to find anyone I know that has sat in them.

Sorry for some reason I’m not getting notifications on my own project page.

I love them I used it in my lowered street truck for 10 years. Used them in drag Hondas. Makes my old beat up body feel okay after driving and even better on long road trips. It sucks up the bumps. And you ante definitely trapped in the seats. They are not easy to get out of.