nice I am a rotor head at heart, i'll be keeping an eye on this
Turbo Rotary Mazda Minitruck Build
- Thread starter mymmeryloss
- Start date
thanks guys.
appreciate all the kind words..
will be doing some welding tomorrow with pics..
appreciate all the kind words..
will be doing some welding tomorrow with pics..
got quite a bit done today..
my buddy came over that hasnt welded in awhile, so i let him have it it for awhile..
got my taillights shaved and a piece cut out and welded in for my tranny tunnel to sit flush with my new firewall..
here is the bed removed. cold as f**k outside...
the bed sitting in the driveway on a nice sunny 20 degree colorado day..
getting ready to go to town on the taillights.. still need to fix my roll pan..
took a flap disc to the paint to get it to bare metal to get ready to weld..
tacked into place...
and the other side done also..
and just a cool picture, sorry its sideways..
shitty pic, but u can kinda see my rear setup..
heres the plate i welded up for the tranny tunnel from the firewall..
and here it is welded in. im not completely happy with it, but it wont even be seen, so it serves it purpose..
i wish i could take credit for this weld, but i cant..lol
and also i wish i had a better pic before i ground it smooth..
hope u guys enjoy the updates..
more next weekend..
my buddy came over that hasnt welded in awhile, so i let him have it it for awhile..
got my taillights shaved and a piece cut out and welded in for my tranny tunnel to sit flush with my new firewall..
here is the bed removed. cold as f**k outside...
the bed sitting in the driveway on a nice sunny 20 degree colorado day..
getting ready to go to town on the taillights.. still need to fix my roll pan..
took a flap disc to the paint to get it to bare metal to get ready to weld..
tacked into place...
and the other side done also..
and just a cool picture, sorry its sideways..
shitty pic, but u can kinda see my rear setup..
heres the plate i welded up for the tranny tunnel from the firewall..
and here it is welded in. im not completely happy with it, but it wont even be seen, so it serves it purpose..
i wish i could take credit for this weld, but i cant..lol
and also i wish i had a better pic before i ground it smooth..
hope u guys enjoy the updates..
more next weekend..
Nice updates, coming along good keep it up!
good s**t man.. keep it up
ya its getting there.
hopefully engine will be going back in by sunday of next weekend..
hopefully engine will be going back in by sunday of next weekend..
*UPDATE*
trailer fender came in today, so now i can retub my firewall and mock up my inner fenders under the hood..
trailer fender came in today, so now i can retub my firewall and mock up my inner fenders under the hood..
Progress is going well. Cant wait for more updates.
will be more updates with pics this weekend i promise...
todays plans( if it would warm up a bit and stop snowing) are to cut a hole in my friewall and get my steering wheel mounted so i can pull the truck out and degrease and wash the frame and get it ready for paint and for the engine to go back in.
pics hopefully tonight.
pics hopefully tonight.
well its coming together..
nothing really went right this weekend..
the saying measure twice and cut once is the slogan of my weekend...
been trying to figure out the best way to mount my steering clumn and cut a hole in my firewall for it to go through and i finally decided on cutting out the existing oem hole and welding it back in but my measurements and were off and i have to bevel it in, so i wasted a day and a half on that..
pretty stupid and it has me pretty mad.
need to charge the batteries in the camera b4 i get up pics..
sorry for the shitty update..
if anyone is interested, i will update this....
Well i got a lot done this weekend since the last 2 were full of bad luck and being out of town.
i had a minor fender bender in my dodge and some finances that were going to the mini truck have been disbanded to fix the Ram since i absolutely refuse to drive a hammered up vehicle..
Also my screen burned out on my computer so i had to get a new one, i swear, its just one thing after another..
So weather permitting i finally got to tackle a few things i have been needing to get done that have been holding up putting the engine back in.
My plan was to tub the firewall to fit 20's and get my steering figured out...
i also have started a RHD conversion but i believe i am going to have to convert my whole steering since i cant figure a way to get my factory steering box to work with my frame. But thats neither here nor there.
on to the pictures...
flap disced some paint off to fix the rear skin that i drug off and welded her back up. just need to do a little filler and hammer and dolly to bring it back to true..
heres the hole for the steering b4 i decided i was going to go ahead and do rhd..
it just metal, no worries
heres the process for swapping from usdm steering to rhd using the stock linkage...
now if only i can figure out a steering box or i am thinking of going with a tacoma steering since i am planning on going 5 lug anyway. but the point is, that this can be done just flipping the stock components..
bye bye ugly ass steering box..
unbolt the whole linkage and flip it
now all u have to do is pull some cotter pins and take off some crown nuts and make it all fit lol
man that thing is big and ugly.. glad itll never be used again on this truck..
well that would almost work, except not...
gotta move some things to the back to clear for the up and downness(is that a word?)
shaved some useless brackets off the frame to mount the steering box.. now i just have to find a steering box to work or like i said just change it out for a completely different setup, but like i said, this can be made to work..
i thought i was going to have to swap sides for the flip, but these stay...
i think that'll tuck 20's, now lets cap it in and tub it...
the batteries died in the camera so no actual progress pics, but this is what i did:
i used 18 gauge for the tubs because its more maleable than the 16 ga. i used for the firewall.
i cut out a piece that was 10 inches wide for overlap and 19 inches long so i could mold it into the bottom side of the cab.
then i tacked it in a few places starting at the top and worked down trying to weld on the back side for a cleaner looking weld and less grinding.
then i used some cardboard and traced out the arch and the flat edge of the firewall to build filler pieces.
i wanted more shape to these than just flat so i cut a triangular piece to tie it all together...
here is the finished product all welded up. it was kinda pointless, since none of this will be seen when its all said and done, but i know its there, and that its done right..
also notice the filled hole in the firewall just stitch welded as to not warp the sheetmetal..
i had to figure out a way to tie the bottom of the firewall back to the stock sheetmetal for that clean look and also for rigidity and to seal the whole thing up tight so i scored the metal with a cutoff wheel and bent it back...
and welded in..
and heres my inner fender concept that i have never seen done b4 with a tandem trailer fender. 8 inches off the bottom and cut in half. now it just needs 5 inches sectioned out of it and brought all back together then they can be welded in also and boxed into my fenders...
making sure everything still lines up and getting measurements for my inner fender tubs..
now thats fitment... just wait till im tuckin 20's
now whats in store for next weekend is to get all my welds ground smooth and tub the passenger(new driver) side and get the inner fenders cut and welded in and frenched into the firewall. then i have to figure out my steering and brake mounting for my pedals and clutch and then hopefully work on getting the engine lined out to go back in..
thanks for tuning in and i promise to keep updating as long as u guys r interested..
if anyone has any idea on a steering box or thinks i am missing something, please feel free to let me know..
i had a minor fender bender in my dodge and some finances that were going to the mini truck have been disbanded to fix the Ram since i absolutely refuse to drive a hammered up vehicle..
Also my screen burned out on my computer so i had to get a new one, i swear, its just one thing after another..
So weather permitting i finally got to tackle a few things i have been needing to get done that have been holding up putting the engine back in.
My plan was to tub the firewall to fit 20's and get my steering figured out...
i also have started a RHD conversion but i believe i am going to have to convert my whole steering since i cant figure a way to get my factory steering box to work with my frame. But thats neither here nor there.
on to the pictures...
flap disced some paint off to fix the rear skin that i drug off and welded her back up. just need to do a little filler and hammer and dolly to bring it back to true..
heres the hole for the steering b4 i decided i was going to go ahead and do rhd..
it just metal, no worries
heres the process for swapping from usdm steering to rhd using the stock linkage...
now if only i can figure out a steering box or i am thinking of going with a tacoma steering since i am planning on going 5 lug anyway. but the point is, that this can be done just flipping the stock components..
bye bye ugly ass steering box..
unbolt the whole linkage and flip it
now all u have to do is pull some cotter pins and take off some crown nuts and make it all fit lol
man that thing is big and ugly.. glad itll never be used again on this truck..
well that would almost work, except not...
gotta move some things to the back to clear for the up and downness(is that a word?)
shaved some useless brackets off the frame to mount the steering box.. now i just have to find a steering box to work or like i said just change it out for a completely different setup, but like i said, this can be made to work..
i thought i was going to have to swap sides for the flip, but these stay...
i think that'll tuck 20's, now lets cap it in and tub it...
the batteries died in the camera so no actual progress pics, but this is what i did:
i used 18 gauge for the tubs because its more maleable than the 16 ga. i used for the firewall.
i cut out a piece that was 10 inches wide for overlap and 19 inches long so i could mold it into the bottom side of the cab.
then i tacked it in a few places starting at the top and worked down trying to weld on the back side for a cleaner looking weld and less grinding.
then i used some cardboard and traced out the arch and the flat edge of the firewall to build filler pieces.
i wanted more shape to these than just flat so i cut a triangular piece to tie it all together...
here is the finished product all welded up. it was kinda pointless, since none of this will be seen when its all said and done, but i know its there, and that its done right..
also notice the filled hole in the firewall just stitch welded as to not warp the sheetmetal..
i had to figure out a way to tie the bottom of the firewall back to the stock sheetmetal for that clean look and also for rigidity and to seal the whole thing up tight so i scored the metal with a cutoff wheel and bent it back...
and welded in..
and heres my inner fender concept that i have never seen done b4 with a tandem trailer fender. 8 inches off the bottom and cut in half. now it just needs 5 inches sectioned out of it and brought all back together then they can be welded in also and boxed into my fenders...
making sure everything still lines up and getting measurements for my inner fender tubs..
now thats fitment... just wait till im tuckin 20's
now whats in store for next weekend is to get all my welds ground smooth and tub the passenger(new driver) side and get the inner fenders cut and welded in and frenched into the firewall. then i have to figure out my steering and brake mounting for my pedals and clutch and then hopefully work on getting the engine lined out to go back in..
thanks for tuning in and i promise to keep updating as long as u guys r interested..
if anyone has any idea on a steering box or thinks i am missing something, please feel free to let me know..
