The Baja350 - A Dentside Story

[Drayke]

Well the spindles fit right up, no problem but I did catch a rag on fire while cutting out the rusty floors with my plasma torch. That was exciting.

from this:

to this:

you'll notice that I probaby cut out more than was needed. If you take a look at where the forward cab mount steel is, you may notice there's a rearward slope to it. Well the factory floor angle slopes further rearward than the cab mounts for... some reason. The effect is that you lose some footwell volume, but it's not so noticable when you're high up on a bench seat.

It was a critical issue on my last truck with the low-mounted bucket seats. Driver fatigue over time due to bad leg angles.
The fix: make the "flat" section of the floor go all the way to the cab mount, and then turn upwards & follow the angle of the cab mount.
I needed to cut out the rusty stuff anyway.
The penalty will be exhaust pipe routing clearance. but that's a problem for later.

 

[dsrtrcr01]

Fred Flinstone power... So much cheaper and easier.

Looks like you need to cut more on the driver side tunnel. Still bad metal left. I always wondered why not make the front cab floor more of a box rather then the slope. I get the tunnel area but I would think a box in the foot area would give more room for activities.

 

[turbocourier 79]

dang old rust!

 

[FasterNU]

and i whined about a 4" strip of rust in G4. hahahah

 

[85yota]

and i whined about a 4" strip of rust in G4. hahahah

I sold my 1965 chevy k10 4x4 truck with a second truck to replace the rusted cab hood fenders doors etc. Rust like I've never seen before on that truck

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[Drayke]

Looks like you need to cut more on the driver side tunnel. Still bad metal left.

you're not wrong.
I made the cut to the approximate point where the "flat" section of the floor turns up to the "wall" of the trans tunnel. The idea here is that I can leave that edge as a reference for when I make the replacement flat section and once I get that piece fabricated & tack'ed in place, i can then come in and cut out the rest of the junk on the wall of the tunnel and replace that.
kind of a 2-phase approach but it lets me keep a reference point for where the edge should be, roughly.

 

[partybarge_pilot]

Rust repair, not looking forward to it.

Nice work.

 

[dsrtrcr01]

I have done a lot of rust on my mercury. Not fun but also not as bad as I expected.

 

[Drayke]

yeah this will be my first foray into large-size sheet metal panels. I'm nervous about it. Trying to give myself a chance with references though.

Finally received my brake components. I didn't have appropriate mounting hardware so I just had to kind of float everything together, but it was enough to get a first look & check that things will fit.
Need to get proper bolts & lug nuts to tighten up the calipers & rotor hats- it looks like the wheel offset may cause an issue with caliper clearance. meaning i'm worried the back side of the spokes on the wheel look like they want to hit the caliper. But I don't want to jump to conclusions until I get everything firmly tightened up.

wilwood Grand National 6 piston calipers, 14" GT37 rotors, willwood hats custom machined by Kyle & his fab guy, hubs with 5/8" studs.

Also gave me the chance to get a rough first look at tire clearance to the firewall & track width.
Track looks pretty great but Yikes! @ the firewall.
Will need to triple check that I have the wheelbase correct & then cycle & turn but it doesn't look great.
TBD on solution. cut firewall or push beam forward, IDK what's better yet. Fiberglass & AC parts will help inform that decision.

and yes, the jack stand is sketchy. I noticed after I took the picture & fixed it, thank you.

 

[bullnerd]

Damn! So cool!

I dig those wooden tool boxes too!