Rookieshooter's 84 B2 Registry

[rookieshooter]

Air Circulation of engine compartment

Laying out holes for hood scoop on the underside of hood

. Note also that the hood was skinned of all steel bracing and insulation. Removed more COG robbing weight here, now couple this with the stock doors, AC compressor and battery and you got over 200 pounds and I've just begun. Oh ya, rear hatch and roof LOL. But that's another story.



Running metal thru slitter

Laying out the angles for the bends. No plans, just visions that form in the clouds of my coffee

Cutting the angles via jump shear.

Now for the fun part of taking something one dimensional and making it in 3 dimensions.

Now to give Sampson some character. Plus it's just so functional in letting air in or out depending on the conditions.

Now notice in this pic that the firewall has not been modified in the area right below the windshield.
There are a series of louvers to let fresh air into the cab. But I'm going to change that so more air is rushed into or out of the engine compartment.
Couple this with the hood scoop and removal of inner fender wells and no wonder this engine runs so cool. And that also helps in the operating temp. of the tranny. And it has proven this over the years.
The area that I'll remove is on the same plane as the wiper motor.
Also many many months in the future, the engine cross member you see that hangs down willl be trashed for a much better tubed crossmember for an upcoming D44 4 link mod. "Trust me, it happens".

And here it is all opened up to let air in or out of engine bay via louvers. And now I can even work on the wiper arms that come off motor with ease.

 

[rookieshooter]

Brake mod

Modifying the firewall for a larger 97 Ford X brake booster.

About the width of a frog hair between coilover hoop. Booster has a larger dia. then the stock unit.

And here is the reason for the larger 97 X booster and MC. A 97 X rear 8.8 with discs that will be under this truck. And then only to be relocated several times to extend the wheel base.

Black

Black will be back
It' been two more different paint schemes since black.

 

[rookieshooter]

Gas tank mod

Purchased a new 22 gal B2 gas tank and going to have the fuel line moved from the top to a more fuel pump friendly location.

I'll install AN 6 bulkhead fitting to the lower left hand side of tank.

Using a series of extensions and universal socket I was able to install the inside nut that secures the bulkhead fitting to the wall of the tank.

Done. Later in build this tank will be removed to facilitate the rearward shove of the rear axle which will also have the leaf springs removed in favor of coilovers and linked suspension.

 

[rookieshooter]

Moving right along it's time to take out this D35 and install a much better 4 link solid dana 44.

Going with the strongest housing made which is the 1979 axle housing that has the 1/2" axle tubes.
Going to be a lot of welding and the added wall thickness will help in keeping i straight besides taking a lot of abuse.
In this pic I'm prepping the knuckle for a High Steer mod. This is the driver side knuckle that already has the flat part where the high steer arm will attach along with the holes which are there unlike the passanger side with no hole or not machined for the other high steer arm. But I'll modify it where most go to a Chevy knuckle that has the modifications.
All the wet stuff is a mixture of 1 part Acetone to 1 part tranny fluid. Then mix well and let it do it's thing on those rusted bolts. Try it.

Here's the passanger side after I modified the arm.
On the right hand side I added more mounting surface by laying down a weld along the outer side and machining down (hand file) ha ha.

The other side I added a structural brace which triangulated this part of the cast. Note the sharp bend in the original casting. Now with the welded piece this really increases the strength. Does it work? well years later it's still on the truck. And it's taken it's share of abuse.

Here is the modified passanger side knuckle with Ballistic Fabrication high steer mounted.
Installing Napa brands best ball joints. These are Hot forged not cold forged for increased strength.

Taking off this spindle was a major PITA. Won't be anymore days like that.

After cleaning spindle I drilled and tapped for the pusher (Socket) bolts you see here.
If it ever gets stuck again, just turn the two screws in and it pops right out.

 

[lynchy wa]

Awesome mate, cheer's for the wet stuff tip too!!!!!!!!!

 

[rookieshooter]

Thanks Lynchy wa, but do not store in a plastic container. The ones I used dissolved a day later. I use glass jars now.

Here I'm just cut through the weld on the passanger side to shorten the axle housing. Once I saw the faint line that's when I knew the weld was cut.
You can see it at the bottom of the groove.

Before i cut the axle tube I layed a laser beam down the tube and onto the knuckle. Marked in three places. The last being on the knuckle.
Need to make sure it goes back on the exact way or good bye camber.

All welded up. I needed to cut the axle so it would pass Inspection.

Note here how I tied all three connection points together, over kill? who knows but it looks bad ass.

Started making all the necessary brackets for the links.

Here I'm just finished one of several welds to attach the threaded stud to the joint.

Checking for penetration signs of the welds. If your not 110% confident on your welding ability, I'd get the joints that already have the studs casted onto them. Most of the joints I bought already had them casted on.

Used heavier Chevy TREs for the steering ends. Parts Mike helped me out here. I had a hard time getting one of these and they said that they make the one I needed just because it is so hard to find. Just a tip.

And while were talking steering, here is one of the High Steer arms made by Ballistic Fabrication with the Chev TRE inserted. Couple years later their just as tight.

Now that engine cross over brace just has to go Now this ain't for the Faint Hearted ha ha. But since I wanted the best angles I could get on the track and drag link and I'm going to stretch the front axle closer to the front, it's a no brainer.
Note the saw zall blade just about to go through. The back half comes off later.

Here is a piece of DOM tubing that needs to attach to what's left of the crossover.

Now to get rid of the back part. Some guys think this build is a little out of the box..."You think".

Glad this parts done.

Needed to enlarge the hole in the Pitman arm to accept the Chevy TRE. Also to get the right angle of the drag link I want it to come through the top of the arm rather then the bottom so I started the reamer from the top.
No matter which end, do not go to far or the taper will be too large.

Use plenty of cutting hole, especially since one of our fine members shipped me this tool to use

 

[rookieshooter]

Here's the new cleanded up look with plenty of room for articulating. Also the drag and track bar at good angles.

 

[rookieshooter]

Now onto the D70 rear axle build. This particular D70 is the U series. It came out of an E350 cargo van. A friend of mine had this one laying in his back yard along with other axles. I'll keep that in mind lol.

The model # is casted into the housing. The S after the U means it's the longer of the U series. Which won't hurt a thing since I'm cutting it down anyway.

The all important BOM# (Bill of Material) This number is a pain to find. It's lightly stamped on the axle tube. I only found it after prepping the axle for paint.

The huge dual wheel drum brakes which all D70's have them will be trashed in favor of disc brakes, compliments of Chevy K20's.

Just for grins and chuckles, here is a comparison of a D44 axle housing on left compared to the huge D70.

Ya, it was just that hard to remove the drums.

Now that the drum is removed, I'm cutting the bearing race and cage for a quick removal. Just don't cut all the way through the race. Just smack with a chisel. Eye protection, Eye protection.

Removing Hub.

Hub back on the spindle less the drum brakes and backing plate.
Here's when all the fun starts, trying to figure out how to shorten the axle and same time use the existing spindle while doing it all in my garage. Other then some machine work.

 

[copter]

alot of talent Rookie

I'm always impressed with what you get done i've watched your build since the beginning on other sites and still impresses me.One day when i get mine back on the road i can only dream of making some mods.

 

[rookieshooter]

Thanks copter for the compliment, hope you get started on yours soon.
Here is how I went about shortening the axle housing Gave this much thought and researched it and found no help, so I just closed my eyes and whacked off the spindle. Don't know if this has ever been done before, but hey, it just goes along with the rest of the way I built this thing.

To late to turn back now. But this is the kind of stuff I enjoy. If I had to go out and buy all the things that I did, this truck would have never seen the light of day. Even if I did have all the money lol.

Now I've got a choice to make. Make them work or they become boat anchors.

Next was to cut the axle housing to the correct length. At this point I still had a lump in my throat as to "can I really get this done". Those 1/2" walls will come in handy when all the welding is being done on those tubes.

Here is the cut axle housing less both spindles. Next was how to connect the spindles to the housing?

Next was to clean all the crap out of the axle that has accumulated over the years including the stuff from the chop saw.

Rags wrapped around a makeshift cleaning rod then covered in steel wool.

Much better. Do not need all that crap between the ring and pinion gear or the up coming ARB locker.

Now for the really really cool part of this axle build. To get the spindles machined down for a press fit. I just wanted them turned down just enough to clean up the end. But this left me on how to fasten to end of the axle housing.

Lookin good after leaving the machine shop.

Here is the exact location where I want the spindles located. Note the two different outside dimensions of tube and spindle.

And here is what I come up with. A piece of DOM tubing with enough wall thickness that I could machine down to the two different IDs.
The machine shop pressed the sleeve onto the spindle. The sleeve is not pressed onto the axle tube yet. Just flush with tube.

Here you are looking through the DOM sleeve. The bottom has the spindle inserted. Note the stepped inside ID is about an 1/8" larger where the spindle stops. This is the OD of the axle tube which I will press onto. But I don't have a press lol.

Sleeve was pressed on far enough for a good weld.

Then weld spindles to sleeve.

Here's my home made press. Just heated the sleeve up by using a 6013 welding rod held about an inch away so not to leave any weld puddles and keep the rod moving along the sleeve as if your painting with a brush.
Then I had a 3/4" all thread going through sleeve and passing into the axle tube into housing. Put a washer and nut on the side that was in the housing.
Next I just turned the other nut on spindle end until spindle hit the axle tube.
I had the machinist turn the inside of the sleeve a few thousands smaller then the tube. The hole in the sleeve is for a plug weld along with a complete weld around the sleeve. I stitched welded the sleeve on opposite ends first before completing the weld to lessen any axle deflection due to heat.

 

[rookieshooter]

After pressing the ends I set up a laser and it's dead drop straight throughout the axle tube.

Next was to weld on the Chevy K20 caliper brackets that I got from Ballistic fab. But had to increase the radius due to the larger dia. sleeve. All I did was to place the bracket on the stock D70 tube, slide it up against the larger sleeve, scribe a line and then cut out with hole saw.

To make the K20 rotor fit the D70 hub I had to grind down some bosses on the back side of the hub.

Here you can easily see why I had to grind the metal on the hub for the rotor to fit. The rotor is drilled hub centric but the stud hole is just a frog hair larger then the stock stud. With a little research i found that a Dorman 610-301 is 9/16-18, 3-1/4" stud works great. It's just a little larger near the top which makes a good fit in the rotor.

 

[rookieshooter]

Then some custom brackets out of 3/8" x 3" flat stock for link brackets and axle truss. Just took same size hole saw as axle dia.

Walla, less time then getting on computer then describing to some supplier how I wanted the custom brackets made. Oh ya, throw in shipping time.

A whole lot of time transferring angles from under truck to axle and over to D70.

Done with brackets. Lines are just to show the angles of the link brackets that will put the cross bolt 90 degrees to the link. Stronger then having the brackets squared with axle tube.

Next will come the custom diff guard utilizing existing holes in axle housing.

 

[AlexSport'00]

Black

Black will be back
It' been two more different paint schemes since black.

I saw the word black and got excited...saw the body panels painted and wondered if you were going blacked out...saw the final pic with the black and red, and it's just too damn beautiful. I'm not sure if I could take that offroading much...it's just too clean.

 

[rookieshooter]

Custom built correct length axles shaft by Moser. These are true 1.5" dia 35 spline shafts. Where as stock D70 axles start out as 1.5" but taper down just behind the splines. Moser axles on bottom.

Custom axle Truss and diff guard done.

Raising the top link for a better Roll Axis for street driving.

 

[rookieshooter]

Removing an 8 lug hub off a 1 3/4 ton axle to change my 5 lug to an 8 lug to match the rear dana70. This is from a pic and pull yard.

Here I've got both off. I'll discard the rotor for a new Chevy K20 including K20 calipers.

Here I have the new larger 3/4 ton spindle. Larger as in inner bearing. Plus I'm making my own caliper bracket.
I set he caliper so the bracket bolts just did touch the rotor. Then hit rotor with angle grinder which only took a few minutes as opposed to shaving the top half of the caliper so I can fit the 15" rim.

 

[rookieshooter]

Working a new and improved tranny mount using steel channel, DOM tubing and poly bushings.
The DOM tubing ends will contain the poly mounts with 9/16" bolts that will attach to tabs going down to the custom built x-member. The two holes are where the attaching bolts pass through to the transmission.

Poly ends installed and finishing up the mounting tabs that go down to x-member.

Now with the increased width of 9.5" as opposed to 2.5" where the mount attaches to the x-member, this will greatly suppress the rotational torque when Atlas is engaged in low.
The mount on the bottom next to rule is an after market mount that worked fine before the torque multiplication of the Atlas came into play. So file 13 went that mount.

Here it's easy to see the increased width from where the yellow arrows showed the previous location of the other mount. Much better structural bracing of the Atlas. The existing mounting position was just too small of a fulcrum point allowing for so much rotational twisting of case.

There was a considerable amount of time designing this bracket with all the angles and protrusions on the side that faces the C4 tranny, including shaving some bolt heads and allowing for the vacuum line.

Bingo...Done! But more can be done, as in a built cradle for the Atlas.

 

[rookieshooter]

Now to make an Atlas transfer case support that will even control more of the rotational twist of the drive train. Especially when shifting Atlas into low. This design was built after contacting Advanced Adapters on how to properly attach such a mount.
Basically they said only attach to the oil pan bolts as the sketch shows.

Here I'm working on the lower L hand side mounting point. Bottom angle is just to help hold the mount for welding.
The DOM tubing will have pressed in poly bushings to absorb shock and to transfer all that torque to frame and then eventually to the tire footprint.
Note also that the stock style body mounts have been replaced years ago with solid mounts which will further transfer the energy to tires. No need letting all that energy get lost in mushy mounts. Put it to use where it's needed in the tire foot print. Let Mother Earth absorb it...right.

Starting to take shape.

Here is the upper mounting point. Needed to box in frame at this point due to where the mounting tabs will be located. Not a bad idea to box in the frame anyway. At this point the upper mount is not welded to the frame yet.

Frame done less the poly bushings.

Done.

Here is the proof of how the combination of the new Tranny mount and Atlas mount control all that unused and damaging torque rotation is utilized in passing the energy to the frame and thus to the tire foot print.
The first video is the stock style tranny mount which is in fact an after market hard poly mount. With stock separation of the bolts that attach to the C4 tranny.
The second video is a combination of the improved 9.5" separation tranny mount along with the Atlas mount. Not the stabilization of both the tranny and Atlas with all the energy moving the frame.
http://s1224.beta.photobucket.com/user/rookieshooter1/media/GOPR0001-001.mp4.html

http://s1224.beta.photobucket.com/user/rookieshooter1/media/GOPR0001-2.mp4.html

 

[rookieshooter]

Need to replace and relocate the OBA gauge to a better location. Seemed it got damaged when loading a Buck into the infinitesimally small rear bed area during the hunting season...Can't have no more of that.
Plus going to use those slick Push Pull fittings.

Making new attaching bracket out of sheet metal. Old parts bin lol

New location.

Needs some serious protection.

As in a gauge cage.
Forming the gauge cage around a spindle nut socket, hey what ever floats your boat.

Done. Only thing I might add would be a small LED exterior light. Just need one that won't be so bright that it distracts from driving at night.