LocostUSA.com

alas, after some careful measuring and checking, there's no way the early series one nose will accomodate my engine (without an 8-inch bump in the hood and nose. I'm going to start with the
Series 2 nose. I may make one of my own that looks more like the series one (with more height).

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1998 E 300 Turbodiesel
2006 Jetta diesel
1995 C3500 purple diesel bucket truck w/yellow & silver flames

My new TTL nose from Kinetic vehicles arrived today. Much, much larger than the original series 1 nose but it clears the high overhead cam Ford motor. I'll use this nose to start with, then fashion a new nose with more taper at the top and flatter at the bottom to get the Series one look.

I've been sidelined on Locost work because I have been fixing my @#$% truck. I just put in its 4th diesel injection pump. Here's a photo of the rebuilt one. GM has long been touted as having the largest prototype fleet in the world (their buyers). This pump is a perfect example of that. Stanadyne who builds this pump told GM to hold off releasing it because it needed more testing. It turned out the optical sensor and the Electronic injection driver both fail fairly regularly due to the heat in the valley of the engine. GM said fuel flowing through the pump would cool it, but they didn't consider the hot soak time when the engine was off. I also found a sheared woodruff key on the pump driver gear. This let the gear wander around which would throw the computer into limp home mode...then the computer would retime the pump and everything would be fine for awhile, until the gear moved again! $1300 for the rebuilt pump. 11 hours worth of work sticking it in. Hopefully I'll get 50k miles out of it!

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1998 E 300 Turbodiesel
2006 Jetta diesel
1995 C3500 purple diesel bucket truck w/yellow & silver flames

The new nose is not much like a series one nose but it clears the oil cap on the valve cover nicely. I built the scuttle frame before getting the nose so I new I would have to adjust it. Turns out that the front of the scuttle is too high as indicated by the blue tape. I'll cut it down, then mount the nose with Dzus fasteners before I take the whole thing apart again and finish up the frame.

I intended to get a lot more done on the car by now but there's just too many things to do in the Summer. Since winter gives me the most downtime, I'm going to move my whole shop to the front of the barn which has a 7-foot insulated ceiling. I'll build a wall the width of the barn to enclose the space and I'll install a Hot Dawg heater that's currently on the first floor. That'll give me an 1800 sq.ft. space that's heated and insulated and all I have to do is build a single 50' wall with a 12' overhead door in the middle.

I'm going to order the Series One rear fenders from Mike Brotherwood this week.

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1998 E 300 Turbodiesel
2006 Jetta diesel
1995 C3500 purple diesel bucket truck w/yellow & silver flames

That looks excellent, JD. It seems like with better weather and longer days more work should get done during the summer, but you're right, lots to do. Good reminder to get a nose before starting on the scuttle.

I got some work done on the car this week. The Bomber seats arrived. (I bought them on Ebay. THey're 80 bucks each and the quality isn't bad. With the seats mocked up in place I could finally build the roll bar and located the safety harnesses. I bent the roll bar on one of those $99 HFT 12-ton benders. It took some trial and error. I ended up filling the tubed with wet sand, capping it with duck tape on both ends and then making little half round pads from larger tubing to keep the rolling parts of the bender from putting dents in the tubes. After a few kinks and dents I had the roll bar bent perfectly...for about what it would have cost to have someone do it for me.
Ah well, that's not what doing this is all about.

I also mounted the radiator brackets. That pinto radiator is very long...no doubt to take full advantage of the luxurious space that the elegant Pinto grill affords. I tilted the radiator quite a bit and kept cutting the under side of the nose an inch at a time until it slid right into place. That radiator will offer up a nice crush area if I ever need it.

It's time to take the whole thing apart and finish welding the frame. I'm still trying to decide whether to go with a steel or aluminum floor. I have the metal for either. The old style fenders are on their way from mikebrotherwood.com

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1998 E 300 Turbodiesel
2006 Jetta diesel
1995 C3500 purple diesel bucket truck w/yellow & silver flames

I got some work done on the car this week. The Bomber seats arrived. (I bought them on Ebay. THey're 80 bucks each and the quality isn't bad. With the seats mocked up in place I could finally build the roll bar and located the safety harnesses. I bent the roll bar on one of those $99 HFT 12-ton benders. It took some trial and error. I ended up filling the tubed with wet sand, capping it with duck tape on both ends and then making little half round pads from larger tubing to keep the rolling parts of the bender from putting dents in the tubes. After a few kinks and dents I had the roll bar bent perfectly...for about what it would have cost to have someone do it for me.
Ah well, that's not what doing this is all about.

I also mounted the radiator brackets. That pinto radiator is very long...no doubt to take full advantage of the luxurious space that the elegant Pinto grill affords. I tilted the radiator quite a bit and kept cutting the under side of the nose an inch at a time until it slid right into place. That radiator will offer up a nice crush area if I ever need it.

It's time to take the whole thing apart and finish welding the frame. I'm still trying to decide whether to go with a steel or aluminum floor. I have the metal for either. The old style fenders are on their way from mikebrotherwood.com

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1998 E 300 Turbodiesel
2006 Jetta diesel
1995 C3500 purple diesel bucket truck w/yellow & silver flames

More photos

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1998 E 300 Turbodiesel
2006 Jetta diesel
1995 C3500 purple diesel bucket truck w/yellow & silver flames

According to most Asian Culture, it's a very lucky day for you today - 8888 views so your decisions for the car today should be successful!

I'm definitely going for chinese food at lunch to see what the fortune cookie says...

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1998 E 300 Turbodiesel
2006 Jetta diesel
1995 C3500 purple diesel bucket truck w/yellow & silver flames

Wow, you've been busy. It looks ready for a drive. Nice going.

It's really an illusion! It's time to disassemble the whole thing and prep the frame for paint. But I'm having psych problems with going "backwards." I also have a clutch pedal problem to solve. The MGB master cylinder is only 3/4". The pull style slave cylinder I want to use on the Pinto clutch arm requires a 7/8" master cylinder to operate well.

Do I go back to the Pinto cable style control? How would I mount the clutch pedal? SHould I do it now? or wait til the frame is painted up and risk having to weld in some fab stuff.

This is one of many problems you encounter when you mix and match drivetrains, interiors and controls. Going on vacation for a week. I'm sure a solution will pop up during that time.

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1998 E 300 Turbodiesel
2006 Jetta diesel
1995 C3500 purple diesel bucket truck w/yellow & silver flames

Now fill the bed with water and you have a perfect high diving platform.

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mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

fabbing up the "adjustable" seat brackets today. I welded slotted one inch tubing to the floor that has 2-inch long 3/4" tubing inside with square nuts. The bracket bolts through the slot to the smaller tubing inside. The big tab with the hole holds the anti-submarine belt so it will adjust with the seat.

Not a very convenient seat adjustment method, but with handy allen wrench in hand it will do the job the once or twice a year someone besides me will drive the car.

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1998 E 300 Turbodiesel
2006 Jetta diesel
1995 C3500 purple diesel bucket truck w/yellow & silver flames

A mere two small pieces of tubing to weld to the frame and it is ready for sandblasting and painting. As one who used to build frames and other metal pieces in California, I've noticed that humidity makes for a lot of surface rust as I've put this frame together. Compare my frame to Nick 47s California frame (which we started at the same time).

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1998 E 300 Turbodiesel
2006 Jetta diesel
1995 C3500 purple diesel bucket truck w/yellow & silver flames

Hey. it gets humid in the garage when the dryer's running. I have a month or two to go before I can paint the frame, but I'm out there every other day with a 3M pad keeping it clean.