1964 Dodge A-100 Hot rod sort of rat rod build thread.

So glad the general manager of our shop has built lots of cages. This thing will be killer when it's done. Long way to go but starting to look like a little bit of something. This will be a lot of hours to build this full cage. Pain in the ass to weld it.

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Haven't been able to do much on the truck. In process of doing some major remodeling and reconfiguring of our business of 57 years. Weeks and weeks of work to be done around here. Also still doing my real estate as well. Damn I'm a glutton for punishment. Bought new toy for up north. We have a 68 Ford 2000 tractor that has done well for 25 years but it is not four-wheel drive and not capable in the snow. Got a smokin deal on a 2023 workmaster 40 New Holland tractor. 40 horsepower diesel. Every year we have an absolute massive job to do pine needles so I built this monster box to bolt on the front end loader. Mostly scrap quarter inch thick by two flat steel. It is a little heavy but I put five guys out at the very edge of it which is over 500 lb and lifted it right up. That front bucket has a lift capacity of 1200 lb but only going out 19 in that drops to 800 something pounds. Rear tires will get filled with beet juice. 41 gallons in each tire which adds 450 lb each. Then a box blade / Ganon for the back which will add another 360 to 500 lb depending which unit. Took me 3 days and some to build that box.

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We used to be able to dump our pine needles behind The Lodge at Mormon lake but now we have to drive 40 plus miles into flagstaff. So I built 4 ft tall sides for the dump trailer making it 10 ft tall. This was our dump we did a week ago. 2300 lb of pine needles in that big brick.

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Decided to go a different direction on the motor. I think this truck needs more than 600 horsepower. Lol. So it's going to get an iron block with a stroker 6.0. I figure pretty easy to make 800 horsepower if I want to. I called RPM on my trans and rear diff and he said no problem to handle 800.

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I still have to install my stubs from G-Force and then send back so he can build the axles. He said these axles will be good for 800 to 1100 horsepower. Especially with my truck being lighter than a lot of the newer stuff being over 4,000 pounds with big power.

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.0023 on the mains. Slightly above the high limit but this is a hot rod and an iron block. Piston to wall clearance will be a little over .004. probably set the end ring gaps somewhere in the area of..024-.026. guessing we will be around 10 lb of boost.

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onanysunday said:
We used to be able to dump our pine needles behind The Lodge at Mormon lake but now we have to drive 40 plus miles into flagstaff. So I built 4 ft tall sides for the dump trailer making it 10 ft tall. This was our dump we did a week ago. 2300 lb of pine needles in that big brick.

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I'm not a greenie by any means but, all that in the dump ?. Dang. You'd think there was a way to use that for or in a fireplace for heat ?

Yikes

 
dunenigma said:
I'm not a greenie by any means but, all that in the dump ?. Dang. You'd think there was a way to use that for or in a fireplace for heat ?

Yikes
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Once fire restrictions are lifted this summer we will burn some more in the big fire pit out back.

 
Sidebars welded in. Now I'm working on the a-pillar crossbar. Pain in the ass to get to those welds. Have to be sneaky on the copes. Go to far in the tubing is junk. I bought 80 ft of 1 and 5/8 by 120 wall d o m tubing. We ended up screwing up one piece about 5 ft long and that's exactly what I need to still buy to make that brace across the front for protection. So at 2 lb something per foot this whole cage will be close to 200 lb.

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I need to get some kind of front sway bar in before installing the servo for the power steering. Sway bar will be a complete crap shoot on this. Truck will be 600-800 lb heavier than a regular C5 Corvette. Center of gravity will be higher. And instead of a mono composite spring it has airbags. So it will be a guess at best. The front sway bar that I got with my cradles is rusted out and junk. I still think to start with I'm going to shorten it 10 in and put it up in there and just see how much it stiffens the truck. Shortening that Center section 10 in will certainly make it stiffer. I highly doubt that stock sway bar is going to be adequate regardless of what I do to it.

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Guy that used to work for us and a very good friend of mine was in the other day looking at the truck and he commented why are you going to put the servo up under the dash and drive all that torque through those two v dog boxes. And he was right. So I'm going to mount the servo down low right next to the rack. I had to special order a joint that reduces from 11/16 36 to 3/4 36 spline. The E-Pass power steering unit has a weird spline which I think is a Dodge only spline. Apparently they make that joint which makes my life easy. The trick is it will be solid mounted coming up from the cradle and not the frame in case there is any flexing or twisting. With that u-joint tightened all the way down hopefully there is no binding.

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Got that front bar bent and Coped. I did at least six cope cuts sneaking on it. Pain in the ass. Shoot a little paint on it before I go home.

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I'm thinking about putting on two Joe's racing mirrors like the Funco has. I need to get that car covered up. Getting filthy in the shed.

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Axia Alloys has a combo mirror with sun visor.  Pretty nice looking and it bolt to the cage easily.  I have one in my Can Am Mav R if you want to check it out.

 
Kat-A-Tonic said:
Axia Alloys has a combo mirror with sun visor.  Pretty nice looking and it bolt to the cage easily.  I have one in my Can Am Mav R if you want to check it out.
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Actually I have some black C1 Corvette visors. (Pic from online) Small and thin and might be the ticket. Although not sure if I have the little brackets to mount them. With the seats moved in I think a single Joes racing mirror in the center might be good. Or some sort of different center mounted mirror. 

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That was a big time challenge making those rally style corner pieces. Spent about an hour with PVC first. The two copes were not exactly lined up and had to rotate the tube about 3/8 on one end. Getting closer on this cage. Tomorrow I can bolt it up in place and the only thing left is that front crossbar at your feet/knees.  I am sore from all the twisting and turning to try TIG weld this whole thing. Certainly gaining some skill along the way. Fun project. I did find a real nice set of C1 Corvette visors with the little brackets. Hopefully they will work with some brackets. My bottom plates for the roll bar are supposed to be .125 to pass tech. The plates I have are only .115. Miniscule difference but I have to decide if I'm going to buy more steel and make this tech Worthy.

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Stock visors compared to the Corvette visors. Well on the front crossbar is not the only thing. I forgot about the two angle bars coming down from the main hoop to the frame. Have to build those as well. That should be fun trying to get sheet metal around those.

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