one step closer..

[mike reeh]

so yesterday I was off due to rain so I says to myself, since Im already losing a couple hundred bucks just not going to work, I might as well spend another couple hundred bucks on my truck!

so I went down to earls performance and picked up 14' of -8 steel braided trans. cooler line.. so Ill plumb that sucker up today. the stuff is sweet, but 14' cost me $98.. It will be worth it though, Ill probably have to spend another 40 or so dollars on fittings for the transmission (th350) end.. the cooler end will just clamp on..

And while I was at it I took my too-long front driveshaft down the the driveline shop for a cut, weld, and balance. thats $80.... should be ready today though

so my truck is getting a little closer to being ready to play with. I wont even joke around with the word "done"

oh and a buddy of mine from work is a super duper cage/tubing pro and he said he would build me a roll cage before I get my new cab on and painted! we talked about it and its not going to be a full race cage or anything but its going to be a nice tight 4 point. Its gonna be sweet. but thats way off in the future. I have seen this guys work on his pre runner ranger, his bends and welds look like a machine did it.

ohhh and another guy I used to work with is hurtin for money so for $100 bucks he sold me his practically new kenwood mp3 cd player, now thats sitting on top of the two *****in amps that are all going to go in the truck.. things are starting to come together slowly but surely..


any thoughts on ideas for the roll cage or tranny cooler or anything? I have ideas in my head but more ideas = better

ugh and its still raining outside..

mike

[Big Paul]

The only idea I can think of is that your bud can build me a cage and you can drive it up to me.

Sounds good. I gotta get my pos worked on too.

Yesterday I waxed the wiper holders and cut the door seal so it will fit all the way around the door until I get new ones.

[bigblock73]

Mike, instead of a cage why not have him build you a roll bar (one that can integrate your spare tire)? Putting a cage in our trucks really crowds things...but then again having a roll bars loses you bed space...so I dunno...just tossin ideas out there.

You need to post some pics of your rig again so i can save them to my HD this time...you have a sweet lookin truck...even if it isn't "finished".

-Jeff

[swervin ervin]

I have a question. Why are you clamping them at the cooler? They make AN fittings for this too. If you are going to pay that much for the line, use AN fittings everywhere.

I thought I taught you better than that?

[mike reeh]

Jeff: I toyed with the idea of a roll bar, but they are too 80's for me.. plus being a shortbed I need all the bedspace I can get. The spare tire holder IS a good idea though, I will have to toss that one around..... The cage will be made of 1.5" tube and it will be tight to the cab, so it will be as unobtrusive [is that a word?] as possible. that IS something Im trying to avoid: having to step over and around everything.. If you wanna see some pics of my truck I think I have some floatin around at http://lagparty.org/~mike ... thanks for the compliment btw. it means a lot :wink:

Mike: Wellllllllll, the cooler which I already have, has 3/8" hose barbs on there already and from what I gathered talking to two different earls people, all they have are dress up clamps which is just a peice of aluminum over a hose clamp. Im over that idea, Ill just buy some nice fuel injection clamps and clamp it myself (and save about $15) .. Do you have another idea? Is there something Im not aware of? If theres something better, im interested!

mike

[low 84]

can you not use a pipe cutter to cut the flared ends off the cooler and then slip some fittings on and reflare the tubes?

[swervin ervin]

Mike,

I used Aeroquip stuff for my fuel line. What type of barbs is it on your cooler? Are they removable? If so, is it a flare of pipe fitting? I know Aeroquip makes an inverted flare fitting which is AN on the other. Like where the cooler line attaches to the radiator, I believe this is a flare fitting, so the inverted flare will work. A inverted flare fitting is just like the end of a flared line.

If they are fixed with just a barb, you may not have much other choice but to clamp it. I think I would go with something like the Spectre clamps. I have these on my radiator overflow line. Like you say, they are a clamp with the fake AN look cover.

I know whatever you do, it will look good. Just the way you do things, right?

As a side, note, I was thinking about running some braided stainless hose with AN fittings for my cooler lines. I'll jump on that a little later. I got too much other stuff going right now.

Mike