'95 F-150 track ready street beast

[Sbeck09]

Well I'm a bit behind since the shootout. Ooops, life has been a blur. Let's get you all caught up.

The weekend immediately following PTTS was the Scottsdale Good Guys Spring Nationals. I can only run All American Sunday against all the modern monsters so I only go to have fun.



No surprise, it was a good time. I didn't make the shootout again. This truck is A LOT to wheel around these tiny courses on a 275 tire and over 500lb ft of torque. I did give a couple rides against the "rules" because I love the look on people's faces after.



That watermark needs no explaining either. Thanks Terry.

From there I parked the truck for a few weeks. The AC needs to be recharged and the transmission's resistance to high rpm gear changes was really weighing on me. Plus I was getting deeper into the business so time was at more of a premium if I planned to ever sleep. Here in AZ we kind of take a summer break (with a couple super early track days sprinkled in) compared to many of your winter racing breaks. It's not like I missed much out here.

Speaking of that, we started 3D printing part prototypes that this truck will receive first and then ship with all my suspension kits. A major thing I wanted to revise is my homemade steering arms. More ackerman and a much faster steering ratio will be the icing on my cake!





The conversations starting going to how these would be made. CNC milling is the most logical option so I started reaching out to people for quotes. YIKES! One of the tools my neighbor actually suggested buying was a CNC machine to bring that aspect of the business in house. It's a nightmare to get small batch parts done for a reasonable price and I have amazing resources to help speed up the learning curve.



So yeah...I now have a Ford Escape sized 12,500lbs machine in my home shop. Definitely had some struggles getting it wired and then operational, but it's certainly an asset. I am also now offering small batch machining to other businesses since my overhead is lower than your typical shop.

Going back to the transmission topic....it never stop weighing on me. I didn't really want to even drive the truck anymore for fear of hurting an 1800 mile trans and just being tired of fighting with it. So I offered it among my small racing community locally and sure enough, a guy building a mild 427 foxbody wanted a TKO600 to just play with. I took him for a ride, shared my frustration, and even let him drive the truck to see how it felt. He was down so I sold it to him a few days later.



I reached out to a few known vendors immediately trying to track down a TKX. Yeah...supplier issues are the real plague. Then Josh sent me a link to Holley's site showing they had what I needed in stock. No way that's possible when everyone else is waiting 2-3 months. Yes way...I called and they had 24 ready to ship. FIRE ME UP!



Stabbed right in and bolted up identically to everything I designed around the TKO. It's really a direct swap. Nothing ever goes that smooth.



I was nervous to drive it because I was afraid it wouldn't live up to the hype. The TKO was supposed to be pretty great itself, but that sure wasn't my experience. Well, I'll let the video do the talking.

https://fb.watch/v/4yhh5YNE8/

Only have about 80 miles on it so far, but I'm blown away by how massive of an improvement this is. Seriously it's amazing compared to what I had. At 97lbs, about $700 cheaper, and a super slim body it is a really nice package Tremec has brought to the table.

Oh...I did have to make a new lever. This one is the rear shift, which I wanted to begin with. Now I just want a nice short shifter to tighten it up a little. Also, check out that Ford Performance Sparco wheel I splurged on!



That's all for now. Next event is Muscle Cars at the Strip in Vegas in September. SCCA fires back up the week right after that. Hope to see some of you between those events.

[frink84]

I am also now offering small batch machining to other businesses since my overhead is lower than your typical shop.

Oh hey buddy... now I need to dream up some parts to machine!

Stabbed right in and bolted up identically to everything I designed around the TKO. It's really a direct swap. Nothing ever goes that smooth.

so a TKO600 swaps out for a TKX directly? Hmmm, very interesting. I believe my TR3550 is the same size as a TKO and I've experienced similar issues to yours.

[Sbeck09]

Oh hey buddy... now I need to dream up some parts to machine!



so a TKO600 swaps out for a TKX directly? Hmmm, very interesting. I believe my TR3550 is the same size as a TKO and I've experienced similar issues to yours.

YES! Hit me with ideas. I'm hungry to make chips!

Not sure about the 3550 mount setup, but yes the TKX was a direct swap from my TKO. I think I was under the truck for just over an hour for the install. I was fully expecting a surprise and it just worked. Ive been super happy with it after 200miles of street abuse and 2 race events.

[ProTouringMan]

The custom dash layout is really nice. Who made your 8 button pack?

[Sbeck09]

The custom dash layout is really nice. Who made your 8 button pack?

Thanks. Those are how the my Racepak PDM is controlled through it's CANBUS. These won't work with anything else.

[Sbeck09]

We've got some catching up to do again.

Leading up to MATS in Vegas I was trying to get some street miles on the TKX. Every shift I was liking it more and more. On my way to a car show one morning my buddy and I ended up going lightly airborne in the truck. The city had apparently been doing some work on the road and left a huge step up between sections of pavement. The splitter slammed into it making a horrible crashing sound and the truck literally jumped a couple inches. I had no time to react given the amount of cars around us and we were doing the 45mmph speed limit.





Somehow the damage was minimal. The leading edge of the splitter chipped bad and it tweaked the holes, but the truck was otherwise unharmed. Whew!

This was the week before MATS so I repaired the broken splitter mounts and loaded up for our tow to Vegas.





I hadn't ever heard of this event before since it was originally a Mopar drag racing event...neither of those things interest me much. What made me want to go is that they have allowed all the US automotive brands and do an autocross for a number of years now. Even better, the autocross was being run by Racing Byrds. If you have ever attended an event run by Racing Byrds you know why I wanted to go.

I expected it to be run on the exact spot they do the LS Fest West autox, nope. They moved us to the top of that same parking lot. WOW! Talk about grip! Ive never driven in a parking lot that had so much bite. It was soooo fun!





We all had a great time. You may find it odd that it's dark. That was something they tried this year and I feel it was a brilliant move. It's hot in Vegas during September so the decision was made to run under the lights. I hope it stays this way because it was beautiful weather and no risk of sunburn or just feeling sun-baked. It reminded me of the annual night Autox event the Lone Star Chapter of BMW CCA would do at Mineral Wells, TX every year way back when I first got into driving.

The truck ran flawlessly becoming the fastest of the 4 trucks there and mixing it up with times put down by modern muscle cars.

Following that we ran with our local SCCA again the weekend after and the truck still didnt skip a beat. With 2 drivers and a combined 120 ish laps within 2 weeks, it was a great feeling seeing this thing just work.

After all that, I finally sat down and forced myself to start my Youtube channel after saying I would since 2013.



I have been sharing weekly build videos of the truck. So for those of you that have followed along all this time, you will probably enjoy that.



Ok I need to get back to building a 4th gen camaro roll cage for a car many of you should know, but I'll try and bring this thread fully up to date before the end of this week.

[Sbeck09]

I just realized that I've mentioned the cnc machine purchase, but never showed what I've done with it.

While the process has been long and slow to learn, I've got some amazing friends who are brilliant mentors and I've started rolling out products to help others with these trucks not struggle as bad as I did to build this generation of F-series.





I won't link them here to stay out of trouble with the site, but that's one of a handful of things I'm doing.

Before the following month's event with SCCA and Good Guys, I decided to tackle a task I've put off longer than I wanted....a side exhaust exiting through the bed. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's an itch I needed to scratch. And I can't leave anything alone. haha







Gained about an inch of ground clearance and the truck is more aggressive sounding without being painful. Neither was a goal as much as seeing that idea become reality. I filmed it all too so that will be a future episode. I even caught myself on camera falling off the stool while tig welding. oops

I always enjoy the lead up to SCCA events in the fall here since they seem to include the best sunrises.



Forgot to take any other photos that day. Did notice on the drive home that the truck seemed a little more prone to darting with road grooves at 80mpph on the highway. Figured it was just the camber and tight components.

NOPE



Upper ball joint nut retired early and the stud was halfway out. The damage this could have caused flying down the road was a reality check. I always try and give everything a visual on the lift between events and boy am I glad I did again!

Thankfully Ive been hoarding some parts as I prepare to product my front suspension as a kit so I had a fresh ball joint and hardware to throw on for Good Guys.



Good Guys Fall National was all the fun I expected it to be. Tons of people stopped by to pour over the truck and confuse my SBF with an LS swap or just find it strange that I have A arms instead of beams. Always a great time even if the surface sucks.



I say that, but then I actually made the All American Sunday shootout on my little 275, heat-cycled-to-death Rivals. Mark Golovin immediately reminded me that cars are faster by bumping me out first round, but I made it so that was more than I expected. Woohoo! Ironically Black Betty, that he drove, is the camaro here for a cage. I'm supplying work to the competition. So funny.

Next up was the Falken Tire Autox challenge in Fontana, CA put on by Racing Byrds. I've missed all the others, but I was determined to close my 2021 racing season by making the final event. Spoiler: WORTH IT!

I also saw this as perfect time to permanently retire the Rivals in favor of some fresh RT660s. Why not show up the the Falken event on their hot new tire and see what all the hype is about?



Aside from the relentless fog that even caused some delays during racing due to lack of visibility, it was a blast. Little chilly, but the event ran smooth as could be.



Sandy and I shared the truck again. She was showing a huge amount of improvement and I was feeling the tires scrub in better every lap.



660s are definitely better than Rivals. Turn-in feels better and the lateral grip was surprising. Still running a 275, although these are more comparable to a typical 295 in width. That grip came at a cost for me. After setting my fastest lap and becoming the fastest truck by a small, but brag-worthy margin over TJ in his S10, I took Valerie Pichette (Dragon Lady GTA Red 3rd Gen) for a second lap since she was obviously my good luck for that day.

Going out on the final lap of the session on the first day, I knew the truck was ready. The tires scrubbed in and I was getting the layout. We came flying up to the 3rd corner, but the truck didn't turn in at first. Wtf? So I slowed down hard and turned the wheel more. Boom....driver's side front corner of the truck slams down onto the splitter and we are sliding while I bring it to a stop and shut down.



Ive been pushing harder every event and it was inevitable that something would give. The threaded portion of the ball joint just sheared clean off leaving the lower control arm to slam down into the barrel of the wheel.



Luckily the grooves are shallow so I don't forsee the wheel having issues continuing in service. I've run worse before.

Some of you probably recognize who makes that ball joint. I'm not here to say anything negative. I'm sure glad it wasn't my parts that I manufacture, but it's an eye-opener at how hard these parts are working as I have optimized the geometry to extract every ounce of grip I can. I believe it's a matter of making far more grip with a 3600lbs vehicle than these can take at those loads. I'm also glad it happened to me and not a customer with a suspension kit of mine on the road. So I've picked a replacement that will go onto my truck and ever other arm from this point forward. You can probably guess which one...



To finish the 2nd day of racing at the autox challenge, which is also the most fun day, Tom and Val Pichette offered up Black Betty for me to drive. Yeah...amazing people. Do I want to drive the car that kicked my ass the week before? YUP sure do.



Against the clock the best I could do was .7 seconds faster than my best in the truck. We did find the ridetech TQ triples are pretty dead and the adjusters are frozen so I'm going to spec out a brand new set off coilover while the car is here, but it's FAST and a proper working coilover will really wake it up. Runs modified Heidts ProG IRS so it's kinda unique.

My short winter "break" will be filled with getting suspension kits into production and moving forward trying to find more CNC machining customers. The first suspension kit will go under my truck so I can get all the little improvements I've designed in from testing. Already getting my new billet steering arms run through initial setup on the mill. I'll offer these for sale to anyone that also uses the spindles in a front steer setup.



2021 has been a wild year for me and this old truck. I still feel like we're just getting started. To those of you who made it a point to come by at events, drop messages, or even subscribe to the youtube channel, thank you. None of this would ever have kept going if you weren't all terrible influences on my financial well-being. I appreciate you all! haha