The Chronicles of 95riosnake's OCD Machine

[Steve-Oh]

Damn! Everything looks so nice and cozy in there!

I can't wait to see how it looks when you bend all the hard lines for the air tank/compressors. Gonna look sick.

Sent from Space

[ttocs]

looks good of course.  The perfect motivation I need to go and try to make my meth tank.

[SublimeRT]

Wow that is awesome looking. I'm curious, I've seen you make all these cardboard templates for mock-up and deciding on final designs, but do/did you ever make a sketch of things before even starting at all? Or do you just have an idea of an end result in your head and just go off it? I generally do the latter and it usually works out pretty well, but there are few things with my car, I wouldn't say I'm unhappy with how they turned out, but in hindsight I think I could do better, and I will probably end up redoing. Also a bigger project, like remodeling your whole trunk, I can see how helpful it'd be to make a few sketches.

Did you take note of your trans location for Prokiller? I'm curious how other 3550/TKOs sit now after that.

[95riosnake]

Damn! Everything looks so nice and cozy in there!

I can't wait to see how it looks when you bend all the hard lines for the air tank/compressors. Gonna look sick.

Sent from Space

 

 

looks good of course.  The perfect motivation I need to go and try to make my meth tank.

 

Thank you sirs!

 

Wow that is awesome looking. I'm curious, I've seen you make all these cardboard templates for mock-up and deciding on final designs, but do/did you ever make a sketch of things before even starting at all? Or do you just have an idea of an end result in your head and just go off it? I generally do the latter and it usually works out pretty well, but there are few things with my car, I wouldn't say I'm unhappy with how they turned out, but in hindsight I think I could do better, and I will probably end up redoing. Also a bigger project, like remodeling your whole trunk, I can see how helpful it'd be to make a few sketches.

Did you take note of your trans location for Prokiller? I'm curious how other 3550/TKOs sit now after that.

 

Yea I sometimes snap a photo, then underlay it on my cintiq tablet at work and do a sketch on it, lets me hash out a few ideas before I waste time pursuing something I don't end up liking visually. Then I usually make a rough hand-cut template with measurements of all the locations and dimensions of all the existing stuff the part will have to fit. Then I draft it in cad and I can use our computer controlled box cutter at work to cut an exact prototype to test fit before I ruin any real materials. That last step is a blessing, especially if you have priced metals recently, and I'm sure you have. I had to make a couple changes after the first cardboard prototype, so the process proved itself in that instance!

 

Yea I took a couple photos and texted them to him yesterday, his is still waaaaay off center compared to mine. The shifter is definitely not centered in the opening of my floor, but I'm not entirely sure that it's supposed to be. As I discovered when fabricating the exhaust, the floor pans of these cars are anything but symmetrical. Pretty much everything on the passenger side is a bit different from the driver side, so I wouldn't be surprised if the trans, especially a non-factory one, isn't going to sit perfectly centered under the opening. He said his is literally touching, so I'm starting to think that his motor mounts might be the culprit.

 

 

[ttocs]

I discovered while I was painting the green stripe down the center of my dash that the driver side seat area is actually almost 2" wider then the passenger area.  When I painted the defroster vent area I just measured the  piece from end/end and then cut that number in half to find the middle.  When I put it together I discovered the strip on that piece as 2" off to the pass side and had to correct it. 

 

Would it scare you as much as it does me if I were to figure into the time I spent sitting and just looking either at the car or at pics you took of the area either trying to figure how to make something fit, or trying to imagine how you wanted things to go together?  I know last night I spend at least an hour in the garage just trying to get the image in my head for my meth tank/radiator mounts I am doing now, probably another hour looking at pics before I went out today with cardboard to make the template.  Hell the templates took less time to make then for me to get the idea/image in my head of what I wanted too do..

[SublimeRT]

Cool stuff Dan. Do you have any kind of renderings that you'd like to share? It's cool to see the progression of an idea.

Sometimes I wish I knew about and had access to that kind of technology. It all seems to be really changing the custom car world quickly and becoming more common. Almost must-haves. One shop that comes to mind is Nelson Racing Engines. I've been following their Maximus 68 Charger build and it seems like every custom part is designed in a CAD program then CNC'd out of billet aluminum. I guess I am behind times. I just bought a sketchpad and some pencils to help with some things on my car, haha.

Yes, material prices is one of the reasons I'm trying to plan things a bit more carefully. Not to mention the time invested in all these things.

Your trans seems to be even more centered than mine. I've never had any vibes or rubbing though so I'm not too worried about it. These cars are definitely not symmetrical. Oh well, short of redoing the whole thing it'll just have to be dealt with.

Scott, I have spent way too many hours just staring at my car thinking about things, so you aren't alone.

[poxenham]

Holy crap Dan, that looks amazing brushed. Care to expand on how you got the brushed aluminum finish? I'm doing brushed aluminum finish on a few new products in the works and I've been experimenting with different processes using different grit sandpaper and scotch brite

[Tony]

man i'd love to see how you would back half a C10. gaaawd dang me & you could knock out a street truck like no other. 

[stprorolla49]

No words. That brushed bracket for the air tank is incredible. I really need to step up my custom parts game now that I've got my new welder. Very nice work man!

[95riosnake]

Would it scare you as much as it does me if I were to figure into the time I spent sitting and just looking either at the car or at pics you took of the area either trying to figure how to make something fit, or trying to imagine how you wanted things to go together?  I know last night I spend at least an hour in the garage just trying to get the image in my head for my meth tank/radiator mounts I am doing now, probably another hour looking at pics before I went out today with cardboard to make the template.  Hell the templates took less time to make then for me to get the idea/image in my head of what I wanted too do..

 

Sometimes I'd be working under the car and end up just laying there on the creeper coming up with new ideas, lol. Other times I'll find myself sitting on a chair for about 30-45 minutes staring at the car mentally building what's next for it, you aren't alone lol.

 

Cool stuff Dan. Do you have any kind of renderings that you'd like to share? It's cool to see the progression of an idea.

Sometimes I wish I knew about and had access to that kind of technology. It all seems to be really changing the custom car world quickly and becoming more common. Almost must-haves. One shop that comes to mind is Nelson Racing Engines. I've been following their Maximus 68 Charger build and it seems like every custom part is designed in a CAD program then CNC'd out of billet aluminum. I guess I am behind times. I just bought a sketchpad and some pencils to help with some things on my car, haha.

 

Nah I don't usually keep them, I usually didn't even save. Once I came up with a good design I just moved into cad with measurements in hand.

 

Nelson is definitely worlds ahead of me for sure, haha. Guys like Nelson, Troy Trepanier, Ring Brothers, Miranda Built, etc. are all inspirations to me though, I do my best to try to bring to the table even a percentage of what they do.

 

Holy crap Dan, that looks amazing brushed. Care to expand on how you got the brushed aluminum finish? I'm doing brushed aluminum finish on a few new products in the works and I've been experimenting with different processes using different grit sandpaper and scotch brite

 

Thanks Pete! I hit it with 120 then 220 on a palm sander to knock it down and get rid of scratches and such, followed by 400 grit on the palm sander. Then I started brushing in one direction using 400 grit by hand, followed by 800 grit then scotch brite. I need to redo the whole process one more time starting back with the 400 by hand, but this time I'll use a sanding block, then move up to 800, 1500 and 2000, then some slightly worn scotch brite to finish it off. I didn't do the second phase yet because I knew it would pick up some scuffs and scratches during the process of mounting it.

 

man i'd love to see how you would back half a C10. gaaawd dang me & you could knock out a street truck like no other. 

 

I've always wanted to build a proper bagged C10, maybe someday. I'm sure your ability to get things done incredibly fast would be a good compliment to how damn slow I work lol.

No words. That brushed bracket for the air tank is incredible. I really need to step up my custom parts game now that I've got my new welder. Very nice work man!

 

Thanks Mike! It's a slippery slope, once you start going one-off with parts, you'll want everything one-off and you'll be well into year 2 of a build with no concrete end in sight like me lol. I wouldn't have it any other way though!

[95riosnake]

Well I got some more garage time in today, which is unheard of...working on the car 3 days in a row NEVER happens.

 

The next thing on the list I wanted to get the ball rolling on was a nagging clearance issue with the long tubes. One primary of the passenger side header was touching the starter...not just close, touching. And on the driver side header, one primary was touching the bell housing where the clutch cable goes in. The plan is to take them off then apply some strategic BFH clearancing before sending them back to Jet Hot for a fresh ceramic coating. The finish on these has seen better days, especially after the dip stick blew out under boost on the highway once and dumped oil on the primaries.

 

After a couple hours I had them off... and in the process I rediscovered one of my most hated bolts on the entire car; the driver's side rearmost header bolt, nestled in next to the brake booster. About the only way I've found to get at it is from the bottom of the car, shoving my arm up between the bell housing and header. Anyway, here's the car with officially no exhaust now, lol.

 

 

 

I might as well replace the starter while they're out. This one is a few years old now, and has failed to crank the car a few times from getting heat soaked, not worth leaving it, only to have it crap out on me sometime and have to pull the headers again. I'm also going to add a heat blanket to the new starter to keep it nice and cool.

 

 

This picture shows where the primary is touching the bell housing, despite a bit of trimming that was done when the trans went in, it's still touching. Plus, I can't run the cover that's supposed to be there. I'm going to either fabricate a new, lower profile cover or buy one and modify it to fit. I don't want the heat to take its toll on the clutch cable.

 

 

I might cut off the EGR tube and weld a patch in its place while the headers are off, haven't decided yet.

 

 

Marked the primaries where they need clearanced before I took them off. I would have done it today but our neighbors are selling their house and were having an open house. Out of consideration, and since they have been really nice neighbors to us, I decided to not make all that noise beating on the headers, it will have to wait until next week lol.

 

 

[Steve-Oh]

God, that rearmost bolt is such a bitch! I hate it with the utmost passion! Def cover that clutch cable. Don't wanna end up like Bryan in the trailer!

Sent from Space

[Psychorugby]

Pretty sure this convinced me to stick with shorty headers!  Man I am so jealous of your car!

[kbscobravert]

Nothing like getting some solid work done.

 

I love that engine bay.  There are so many little touches that folks just can't walk into a store or order online to get.

[95riosnake]

God, that rearmost bolt is such a bitch! I hate it with the utmost passion! Def cover that clutch cable. Don't wanna end up like Bryan in the trailer!

Sent from Space

 

Yea the scrapes on my right arm should heal in a couple days, lol. My arm doesn't exactly fit up there, I had to just force it lol. And yea I'll whip up something from aluminum to shield the cable, shouldn't be too tough.

 

Pretty sure this convinced me to stick with shorty headers!  Man I am so jealous of your car!

 

Thanks Chris, shorties are WAAAY easier to get in. I still prefer long tubes but they definitely have disadvantages.

 

Nothing like getting some solid work done.

 

I love that engine bay.  There are so many little touches that folks just can't walk into a store or order online to get.

 

Thanks Keith, that's exactly what I'm always shooting for! I really enjoy the creativity and problem solving of fabricating one-off parts, glad to hear it doesn't go unnoticed

[Psychorugby]

Thanks Chris, shorties are WAAAY easier to get in. I still prefer long tubes but they definitely have disadvantages.

 

I do too... at least I have them in the 66... but all said and done, I'm questioning whether the extra little oomph is worth the reduced ground clearance and headaches associated with having them.  Not to mention the expense for *quality* 351w headers lol.

[ttocs]

I do too... at least I have them in the 66... but all said and done, I'm questioning whether the extra little oomph is worth the reduced ground clearance and headaches associated with having them.  Not to mention the expense for *quality* 351w headers lol.

its comments like this that have made me not regret my air ride setup for a single second after writing the check.  Yes that one hurt to write, had to write small and I hate that on checks but I forget all about it the moment I drove it.

[410sn95]

I do too... at least I have them in the 66... but all said and done, I'm questioning whether the extra little oomph is worth the reduced ground clearance and headaches associated with having them.  Not to mention the expense for *quality* 351w headers lol.

 

Decided not to do long tubes on my Windsor swap cause of all the headaches with them.  Especially with the sn95 platform.  Anderson/Bassani Big tube shorties into full 3in seem to be doing the big motor just fine, am I leaving power on the table?  Probably.  Not enough for me to want to switch, though. 

 

I like working on the car and not cussing up a storm.

[Tabres]

I'm just jealous you can actually get longtubes in and out on a pushrod with a k-member in the car.  They are absolutely the biggest bitch of a project I've ever done on a 4V.

 

 

Glad to see I'm not the only one roaming around without a clutch fork cover.  Mine actually fell off at some point, God knows where.  I went to replace it and every vendor was like, "$60, please!"  Seems so expensive for a tiny little cover.  I know I need to get one, though...

[SublimeRT]

Glad to see I'm not the only one roaming around without a clutch fork cover.

I'm guilty of it too, ha. I DD'd the car for years and never had any problems because of it. I'll get one on there someday.

[Blackmage]

Things look terrible and horrific as usual Dan! Keep up the terrible work!    

 

 

 

 

 

 

[95riosnake]

its comments like this that have made me not regret my air ride setup for a single second after writing the check.  Yes that one hurt to write, had to write small and I hate that on checks but I forget all about it the moment I drove it.

 

I've honestly never had a ground clearance issue with my long tubes, can't say the same for the rest of the car though lol. I'm looking forward to never having any ever again

 

Decided not to do long tubes on my Windsor swap cause of all the headaches with them.  Especially with the sn95 platform.  Anderson/Bassani Big tube shorties into full 3in seem to be doing the big motor just fine, am I leaving power on the table?  Probably.  Not enough for me to want to switch, though. 

 

I like working on the car and not cussing up a storm.

 

I could only imagine the clearance issues with a windsor long tube header in these cars, plus you'd have much bigger primaries (or at least you should lol) which would only compound the issues.

 

I'm just jealous you can actually get longtubes in and out on a pushrod with a k-member in the car.  They are absolutely the biggest bitch of a project I've ever done on a 4V.

 

 

Glad to see I'm not the only one roaming around without a clutch fork cover.  Mine actually fell off at some point, God knows where.  I went to replace it and every vendor was like, "$60, please!"  Seems so expensive for a tiny little cover.  I know I need to get one, though...

 

They're definitely a tight fit but it is possible. Not fun, but possible lol. Yea I could probably run without the cover but since I can pretty easily make a new one I might as well give it a bit of protection from the headers.

 

Things look terrible and horrific as usual Dan! Keep up the terrible work!    

 

I'll try my worst!

[Tony]

Things look terrible and horrific as usual Dan! Keep up the terrible work!    

 

 

 

 

 

 

lmao! 

[Prokiller]

there's actually a cover for the clutch fork?  never seen one on a mustang.

[Blackmage]

i still have one, but its not on. lol

[Steve-Oh]

there's actually a cover for the clutch fork? never seen one on a mustang.

[emoji6]

Sent from Space

[95opal]

long tubes FTL not worth it for a street car, headaches far out weight the gains. BTW Dan bracket looks bad @ass

[95riosnake]

long tubes FTL not worth it for a street car, headaches far out weight the gains. BTW Dan bracket looks bad @ass

 

Thanks Rich! Stuff like this is what is making this build take so long, but as I've said before once I get an idea nailed down in my head I have to make it happen, regardless of how long it takes lol. I could have just bolted the tank down to the false floor, but what's the fun in that?

[95opal]

Thanks Rich! Stuff like this is what is making this build take so long, but as I've said before once I get an idea nailed down in my head I have to make it happen, regardless of how long it takes lol. I could have just bolted the tank down to the false floor, but what's the fun in that?

 

 

I know all to well lol...I keep saying to myself.. Only a few more things to fab up and Ill be on my way....Then I come up with another then another.. Its like everytime I knock some fab work out of the way theres another idea that's right behind it.

[95riosnake]

Got started yesterday with some BFH work on the headers. Heated them with a propane torch, then used my 3lb sledge to "massage" them a bit lol.

 

 

 

Next up was addressing my lack of a clutch fork cover.

 

 

The Ford piece is waaaaay too big to fit with the long tubes, so I made my own low profile version. As I'm sure you guys have come to expect, the first step was to make a cardboard mockup lol.

 

 

Decided to change it a bit for more clearance to the firewall

 

 

Everything looked good, so the cardboard template was traced onto some aluminum sheet.

 

 

 

 

Drilled out the existing hole in the bell housing a bit, then tapped it for an 8mm x 1.25 allen bolt.

 

 

Bent the cover into shape, then bolted it up for one last fitment check.

 

 

The cover would no doubt substantially reduce the header heat on the clutch cable, but since I have a good bit of heat shield left over, I decided to go a little overkill on it, lol. This will be the coolest clutch cable on the planet now, haha.

 

 

And the finished product:

 

 

As much as I'm not excited about the idea, I'm gonna drop the trans soon and change the rear main seal, so when I do I'll drill and tap another hole in the bell housing to bolt down the rear tab of the cover that extends down. I couldn't get a drill in there to drill it with the bell housing in the car.

 

Lastly, this happened again.

 

 

I ordered a new tool for said snowballing, it showed up yesterday. First correct guess of what it's for gets 5 internets

 

[Det_Riot]

Engine bar! For tubular k member goodness!

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If you feel ambitious and want to sleeve your crank I've got the tool. It also doubles as a rear main install tool haha

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[95riosnake]

Engine bar! For tubular k member goodness!

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If you feel ambitious and want to sleeve your crank I've got the tool. It also doubles as a rear main install tool haha

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

 

5 internets to you sir! I'll wait until it comes to spill all the beans of which one, etc. I figure it will allow me to also install the freshly coated headers WAAAAAAAAAY easier than with the stock boat anchor in place. I have been meaning to do a tubular K for years, this just seems like a great time to finally do it.

 

I shouldn't need to sleeve the crank, this motor only has about 4k miles on it. I'm just really not looking forward to wrestling that big F'ing trans out. Part of me wants to just swap a magnum in its place but I can't add that expense right now, lol.

[Det_Riot]

5 internets to you sir! I'll wait until it comes to spill all the beans of which one, etc. I figure it will allow me to also install the freshly coated headers WAAAAAAAAAY easier than with the stock boat anchor in place. I have been meaning to do a tubular K for years, this just seems like a great time to finally do it.

I shouldn't need to sleeve the crank, this motor only has about 4k miles on it. I'm just really not looking forward to wrestling that big F'ing trans out. Part of me wants to just swap a magnum in its place but I can't add that expense right now, lol.

Pshhhh the 3550 isn't shit compared to the magnum! I pulled the 3550 by myself. The t56, not so much

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[SublimeRT]

Sweet cover. And I saw somewhere on here the other day you said, "On my way home from the gym..." So show that 3550 who the boss is.

[Kyle5.0]

Even the dents you make in some tube look beautiful...

[95riosnake]

Pshhhh the 3550 isn't shit compared to the magnum! I pulled the 3550 by myself. The t56, not so much

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

 

Haha yea, I'll do it. I just don't want to lol.

 

Sweet cover. And I saw somewhere on here the other day you said, "On my way home from the gym..." So show that 3550 who the boss is.

 

Yea I can wrestle it around, I have before but it was with the convenience of a lift. Messing with it on jack stands is what I'm not looking forward to lol.

 

Even the dents you make in some tube look beautiful...

 

Lol, I tried to make them not look too terrible, even though they'll never be seen on the car.

[Yeahloh95]

looking good , let me know if i need to make a trip out to help  my long term svo project has ended  so i am free for a bit

[95riosnake]

looking good , let me know if i need to make a trip out to help  my long term svo project has ended  so i am free for a bit

 

If you feel like helping wrestle the Tremec out of the car and put in a new rear main, let me know lol.

 

And I'm sad to hear the SVO is sold, what made you sell it?

[mscribellito]

I bought this for when I did my long tube install. It is definitely one of the better items at HF!

 

[95riosnake]

I bought this for when I did my long tube install. It is definitely one of the better items at HF!

 

Yea at first I was a little sketched out at the idea of getting it from HF, but I read a ton of good reviews, even some from guys who use them regularly. Best part is it was like $80 shipped to my house, most of the other brands were getting near $200 with shipping. I gave it a good look over and all the welds look great. I was actually prepared to grind them a bit and run a new bead of weld if needed anywhere but it looks to be a very solid piece.