[ProCycle]

The new wheel studs require a 12.5mm hole.
With no 12.5mm drill bit in sight I decided to re-size an old 1/2" bit.
A quick and dirty grinding setup on the lathe made quick work of it. It didn't take much to knock it down to 0.492"

The original rotors are now converted into hubs ready to accept the Corvette 'trackday' brake rotors.

 

[ProCycle]

I have spent several days test fitting and head scratching but I finally settled on a location for the motor.
It's offset 1-1/2" to the right to make a little more space in the cab for the driver.

 

[ProCycle]

I started putting the IRS back together. New u-joints for the axles - 3 out of four were seized up. I've got the axles supported with zip-ties to hold them at 'ride height'.
Next step is to fabricate support brackets for the trailing arm mounts. Then puzzle out mounting points for shocks, bump stops and anti-sway bar.

 

[goes2fast]

Looking good! Even though I'm not a fan of the slant 6 no matter how bulletproof it is I'm diggin' this build.

 

[ProCycle]

The IRS install is getting closer. Tonight I started on perches for the rear shocks. The S10 frame is just wide enough to be in the way of using the existing Vette shock locations.

I made some brackets to do a test fitting. Instead of firing up the CNC plasma cutter I made these the old school way.
Draw the brackets in AutoCAD. Print them at 100% scale. Cut them out and glue them to a piece of steel.

I use milk for glue when I do this. It holds well enough but allows the paper to be cleaned off easily.

Then each piece gets treatment from the bandsaw, center punch, drill press, disk grinder and bead blaster.

 

[ProCycle]

Looking good! Even though I'm not a fan of the slant 6 no matter how bulletproof it is I'm diggin' this build.

The Slant Six can come off as boring old junk until you really look into how capable they are.
Here's a naturally aspirated Slant Six Lancer race car smoking a stock 707HP Challenger.
-->

 

[goes2fast]

The Slant Six can come off as boring old junk until you really look into how capable they are.
Here's a naturally aspirated Slant Six Lancer race car smoking a stock 707HP Challenger.
-->

I know about them and have owned one in a Valiant but still don't care for them. Between the look of the slant engine and bad luck with the Chrysler products, I have owned other than my Jeep 4.0s there isn't a lot of love for them. There used to be a guy selling an oil additive at the Long Beach Swap Meet when I was going regularly that used a slant 6 to demo his product. It would run all-day long with no oil pan just a radiator to cool it but no lubrication so I know they are tough.

 

[manbearpig]

Well, the Jeep 4.0s aren't even Chrysler products so there is that, lol. RIP AMC. Chrysler should probably have died years ago, but I guess there's enough interest in the brand names to keep them alive, though at this point they are just names. The hellcat is still just an old Mercedes platform with a "Hemi" that doesn't even have hemispherical heads.

Frame is coming along nicely.

 

[lilbowtie]

The Slant Six can come off as boring old junk until you really look into how capable they are.
Here's a naturally aspirated Slant Six Lancer race car smoking a stock 707HP Challenger.
-->

First off kudos on your build and skills. As far as the 6 cyl it wouldn't be many peoples choice but Mopar to ya it - dare to be different. As far the Hell Cat it only put down 550 HP

 

[goes2fast]

Well, the Jeep 4.0s aren't even Chrysler products so there is that, lol. RIP AMC. Chrysler should probably have died years ago, but I guess there's enough interest in the brand names to keep them alive, though at this point they are just names. The hellcat is still just an old Mercedes platform with a "Hemi" that doesn't even have hemispherical heads.

Frame is coming along nicely.

I will give Chrysler credit for making improvements to the AMC design on the 4.0 but unfortunately, when they got it almost perfect they discontinued it. As far as the new "Hemi" goes I'm not impressed. When my Golf was at stage 1 tune some guy with an SRT8 kept messing with me and when we came to a red light I embarrassed him bad to 60 then I let off so I wouldn't get in trouble but he had to go flying by me anyway. Now with another50+ hp, I would be able to add another car length on him. 🤣

I'm very impressed with your build and your dare to be different attitude but if I wanted to go straight 6 I would have gone with the monster of them all a 2JZ-GTE, Want to buy mine? 🤣

 

[ProCycle]

...Frame is coming along nicely.

It's getting there. I got word yesterday that the weld on K-member finally shipped. I'd really like to get the rear mostly buttoned up before chopping up the front.
Not shown in any of the photos are the 'toe bars' that run across the rear of the IRS and keep the rear toe geometry in check. I thought I made enough clearance for them but now that I can move the suspension through its real travel I see I'm going to have to rethink the rear 18" of the frame. Possibly invert the toe bar assembly.

 

[ProCycle]

... the monster of them all a 2JZ-GTE, Want to buy mine? 🤣

DON'T tempt me!

 

[goes2fast]

It comes complete with a Lexus SC300 wrapped around it! 😂

 

[ProCycle]

It comes complete with a Lexus SC300 wrapped around it! 😂

I had a SC400 for a while. What a great, well designed, well engineered car! It was actually the first potential home for the slant but I realized I wanted the end result to be much lighter. A thorough lightening of the SC would have made it much less wonderful.

 

[Mad Max]

Amazing thread/fab skills/ingenuity/creativity!
Thanks for the entertainment. Read all of it...
Making me motivated to set up my factory diesel GMC Caballero...

 

[ProCycle]

Design and fabrication of the rear shock mounts is pretty much sorted. Still just tacked together in case I need to make a change. Pretty happy so far. The upper shock mount doubles as some additional frame triangulation.

I made up a "dummy" shock with a length equal to 1/2 of the travel to help locate the upper mount accurately.

 

[ProCycle]

 

[manbearpig]

Just beautiful. Can you do mine next?

 

[ProCycle]

Just beautiful. Can you do mine next?

Glad you like it. There's still bugs to work out. You see the thing that looks like a tie-rod end? That's the 'toe bar'. It works like a stationary tie rod to keep the toe of the rear wheels right as they move through the travel. That bar hits the frame right behind the batwing at about 3/4 of suspension travel. If I made more clearance for it there wouldn't be enough strength to hold up the rear of the bed. It looks like I will have to make a new toe bar assembly that sits a few inches lower. I don't have much of a plan for that yet but It's the next big task that I need to tackle.

The weld on K-member from Innovative Racecraft should show up next week. I'm antsy to get working on the front end.

 

[manbearpig]

Just weld the bedsides to the cab, who needs a real bed when it's that short?