Freightrain

Mike stayed in his truck at South Bend also. Don't recall, but don't think they were charging to sleep in your truck back then? I think that has just started more recently. Anything to get MORE MONEY out of you. Getting to be just like the guberment. Pretty soon they will charge you to breathe the air while on the fairgrounds.

My plans are likely Thurs and leave Sat. I know they want you to stay till 6pm Sat, but I need to get home as I wll need to get up early to go racing on Sunday. Haven't check the time frame, but likely a 7-8 hr drive?

^^My thoughts too. How are they going to "police" the sleeping in trucks? Anyone caught on the grounds after closing who doesn't know the Secret Handshake will be escorted away??? Minumum 4 nights in campground? Ya, $180. Not! Beside I won't be sleeping "in the truck" technically. If you park next to me, I have the Onan genset on the truck and can provide nice, quiet power. This providing I make it there!

"IF" I make it, I'll be staying in my trailer. Don't really need to put it in the camp grounds as I've done in previous shows. I've got enough provisions to survive(ie: water, my own genset, food). I've got a 24ft awning to sit under if it is sunny out. When at the races, I'm the hangout for my buddies with open trailers. My recent WOT shows camping with full hookups(limited space) and no hook ups. I'll just leave my trailer on and stay on the show grounds. Will I pay the $25 a night to stay "in my truck"? Likely not.

I wonder if Toyota builds their frames? They seems to have a big rash of frame failures due to rust. Seems they boxed the frame and never coated the inside. It would rust and break in half.

Dan, yes State farm and historical. Can't recall right now but it is cheap. It is monthly along with my daily driver. $20? Don't recall value? Likely much less then your truck. As for cart traffic. I agree it is getting out of hand. Even at race tracks! Anywhere you have to watch for the kids "playing" without adult supervision.

Went through this. Loosen nut to top of threads as suggested. I then put pressure up on wheel with my legs and used air hammer to hit the shaft. Pops off with no fuss.

I've only seen one pic of Mike in a suit. A LONG time ago and likely never again!!

I have a nice matching single groove pulley from a ford engine. I was going to cut it to fit and weld it on. There is no room on the back side and the fan blade is in the way on the front. Literally no place for it. I thought of going electric fans on motor? I actually laid the pulleys out on my AutoCAD just to see how it looked with a belt and the contact area.

Glenn. I already dynamated the floor and doors. Will be doing the firewall this winter. Good for sound and heat. Yes the doors are drafty and would like to put new seals around them to help. This unit is 14k btu so I think it will cool it well enough no matter how much hot air seeps in. I spent countless hours working this a/c system in my head. No room for third groove pulley. The fan blade is too close and rear groove is too close to water pump casting. The a/c is directly beside the water pump so the front belt will have plenty of contact coming from crank and up/over compressor to water pump and down to alt and then to crank. The rear belt will be stock location(crank-waterpump-alt-crank). I don't for see any issues with slippage on anything. I don't have room on the roof for red dot because of my vintage bubblegum light.

"too new" trucks will just be listed as "special interest" in the Showtime. I'm sure ATHS will take your money no matter! I'm keeping the time open to come but need to be home Sat evening for a race on Sunday. After looking at WOT I'm curious as to parking with my trailer and staying in it too.

I got license and coverage for my atv at Auburn show and NO one asked for it at the gate. Pissed me off actually after I spent the money to be all legal like. My state farm agency wrote a policy for it.

Hmmmm interesting. Well it is what it is now. I think it will work okay.

Ed, it'd be MUCH easier to make things fit if it was in the parts yours are in. Well, the BIG garage would be a nice start too LOL! I gotta work in a single stall car garage. And it has a bunk and is 5ft longer then in this picture!! The room is about 10ft wide and the truck is 8ft.

I'd haul it.............but I'm not a cheap date. Probably cheaper to drive it (actually can't haul it, but thought I'd give ya grief just cause it's Friday afternoon) I'm hoping to make the show at all. It's in my sights, just playing by ear til then. I'm coming over to Beaver Springs in the end of April again. I'm pretty sure I have my first Stick race on May 31st(usually that sunday). Just like South Bend, I get home on Sat and race on Sunday.

Ya, I was thinking along the lines of the back of the bunk, as I've seen units like that. I have room under the passenger side so I just put it up there. We'll see how well it works?

EZ, there is no room for the condensor anywhere near the radiator/fan on a B model. There is less then 1/2" in front of the radiator for the shutters. That is why the remote mount and electric fan.

Looks good. Big thing is you don't want the tubing to collapse. 3/8" should be plenty stiff enough and you are bolting it close to the edge.

Wow, I like it. Just curious: what is the typical life span of those old V8's? At 500K is it about used up? I know maintenance is everything, but still. Don't think there are many parts left for them if something did go wrong.

Ya, had it been a Toyota, the frame would have folded in the middle and created all kinds of havoc. We had some really bad ice last Saturday morning. As I was making my way to a buddies house I about lost it three times. Lucky with no traffic around I was able to use all the road and keep it out of the ditches and off the telephone poles!!! It was hair raising and definitely had to pry the seat out of my ass before getting out of the truck. After arriving, we decided to wait awhile before we headed off to our final destination!

If I could get rid of the SLOW, NOISY, RATTLY old truck portion I would really have something LMAO!!!! Going TO and FROM the races, my buddies all have late model pickups with all the creature comforts. I think the a/c will come in handy. Making it a bit more comfortable on hot/muggy days. The air steering will just make it easier to manuveur. Won't have to work so hard to park it.

Been a slow, very thought provoking process. Been eyeing up the possibilities and how I was going to do it. Finally bought the kit and started it a few weeks ago. The air assist steering is coming along slow also. All cleaned up: The red boot is from a Rancho shock. I had a pair laying here and it was just the right length. Still need to purchase another small tank so it has its own supply(like a 7x24 like I already have on the truck) with a check valve inline. You can see the fan for the condensor laying up on the fifth wheel.

Well, I finally took the plunge and got me an underdash A/C unit for the truck. Been spying them for a few years. I got mine from RetroAir in Texas. http://www.retroair.com/universalackits.html Been a pretty nice group to deal with. My first evaporator showed up broke on the front corner. No problem, and had a replacement within a week. Kit comes with everything, but like anything "universal" it needs finesse to work. I remade the mounting bracket for the dash unit. I was going to mount the cb below it, but just seems kinda wrong. So I used some 1 x 1/8" stock and bent me a new bracket so my CB is in the same location. All the work under the hood has been quite an undertaking. Was NEVER any room for an a/c compressor on a B model. I saw the way they mount it to an R model and since finding the OEM bracket wasn't going smoothly I just made my own. I had to remove the original fuel filter from the front of the motor: I cut the arms off the mounting plate and used them to fabricate a new mount off the frame rails: I had thoughts of converting to spin on filter, but since I had all this I figured just to reuse it all. A few new lines to get everything hooked up and that part is complete. I then started on the compressor mounting. I started with a 6x9 pc of 1/4" plate and made it all work: I will need to trim the 1" shroud from the radiator to get the clutch to clear. I will be running from the front belt only. The rear belt will not clear the accy drive on the front of the motor. On the R model, they run just off the water pump pulley, but there is NO room for another pulley groove with such a short water pump. You can't space it out because right now there is only maybe 1" clearance from the fan to the radiator. Barely get the fan bolts on/off with the tips of your fingers. I have some more pics I need to download from my phone from the brackets I made to support the plate that run down to the accy drive area where the pump bolts on. Two 1/4" plates runs down to steady it. Should not ever be an issue with anything ever breaking loose/off. Once I slot the bracket I can then figure a belt length and finish that part up. I am working on getting hose lengths and having the ends crimped on. I mounted the condensor under the bunk on the passenger side(just above my battery box). The kit comes with a nice 12" electric fan to mount on the condensor. There is NO other place to mount it. The shutters are only 1/2" away from the front of the radiator so no room there. I thought of mounting it upright behind the bunk but with the fan I figure this is out the way and won't have any chance of getting damaged. It will be probably a month before it is ready for testing and charging. Baby steps.

Found out my steering arm has a smaller hole then air assist. I'm getting the arm sent and will put it on in hopes it will be no issues. Nothing I can't handle. Just now working on trying to get my arm off. Nut came off easily but now trying to get arm to pop out. No room for puller.

I'm no economics major, but I bet the pricing for shipping will stay up for a while at least til someone starts cutting prices to get more work. Then the bidding war will start.