1988 "lowmanche"

[Awinski]

20 hours ago, 89 MJ said:

Thanks!

12 hours ago, A-man930 said:

 

I'm currently re-working my rockers and floors.  I've envisioned something similar for mine.  How "in the way" was the t-case hump? (mine will stay 4wd)

This pic should help give reference. In all honesty it's more to help get an extra wide prp in there. 

[Awinski]

In case anyone was wondering if the frame was galvanized. 

[Awinski]

Lil update. 

[89 MJ]

Dang!!!!!

[JMO413]

That is awesome!

[Awinski]

Thanks guys, started on the final rear supports last night, will be doing one more vertical bar in the middle and that should be enough to hold the rear straight. Also going to change up the "center console" bars I think, order some kirkeys as i sat in my boss' and fell in love. Rear should be on the ground again this weekend I hope

[Awinski]

Rear frame is done, heims ordered to make adjustable seat mounts, bed is mocked up, front suspension mocked up, decided to make my own lca's for the front with a larger k727 ball joint, and switched to crown vic front knuckles! It's about to become a real melting pot under that thing.

[MiNi Beast]

Got skills for sure. Admiration good sir. 

[Awinski]

Front is ready for brake parts. The driver side is atleast. Need to do a final numbers check, then I can burn everything in and start on cutting up the front hannemans to fit how I like. 

[kansashogan]

Badazz

[Awinski]

More progress

[NCP_Bullet]

Those wide body fenders for the front and the flares for the bed...did you make those or get them somewhere?

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[SiXJaK]

Fab skills. Wow. What a build.

[Awinski]

Some updates, got the t56 out of the firebird I bought a while ago, I have to adapt it to an ls but no biggy. Got the rear 95% of the way welded up, added some gussets etc. Made a drive shaft notch in the body for that, extended my steering rack for my added mounting point width, and started finally mounting up the bedsides

[89 MJ]

How is progress?

[JMO413]

[Awinski]

There is a lot to update, I've been busy with well, moving myself and the comanche up to Pennsylvania. 

 

So here goes, designed a new front control arm that would clear the wheel better, but more importantly, look cooler. 

 

 

I got my brakes installed, the credit goes to the genius' over in the crown vic forums. C5 calipers with 2010 gt500 rotors ought to stop much better than most.

 

 

 

 

Designed a shock "hoop" will redesign the upper to look better and clear more but it does just barely touch at full droop. Can still get the coil over in and out relatively easily

 

 

 

 

Then I strapped the fuel tank to the cage and decided to take her for a drive after an eyeball alignment. I even forgot to remove the front fender that was mocked up, luckily it stayed put. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Driving this thing is a blast, but it is clear that the springs settled while it was sitting for a month so in the pics the jeep is about 1" lower than it should be. Lastly I loaded the jeep up and we headed to our new home in Pennsylvania. I won't be there fully for a few weeks but it does help to have great friends willing to lend a hand

 

 

 

 

[Awinski]

Time to start mocking up and cutting this ranger topper 

[thecodemonk]

It looks so good!

[JMO413]

  

[CapitalCityPioneer]

Wow! Awesome build. This definitely deserved that move to the "Epic" tab!

[Awinski]

So here comes a boat load of updates and info. Informational pictures are going to be rare but I'll try to explain. If anyone wants to see something just let me know. 

Bought another topper, it's in way better condition than the other but i did need to move the front of the bedsides in about an inch on each side. So I just cut and welded the tube. 

Found a chrome front clip at the junk yard so put that on. 

Changed my mind on the seats... again. Decoded on a bench and to remove the cage till a day when in decide to remove the interior trim completely for more room. 

Then I shortened the steering column, the header for the v8 was going to be in the way. Oh yea, it's getting a v8. So i cut it, replaced the bottom bearing, and welded a section of 3/4 DD shaft in. I also welded a set of nuts to the column itself so I could move the steering wheel farther away from me as I felt it was in my lap. 

[Awinski]

This ones pretty simple. I bought an L33 vortech. Basically an all aluminum, flat top piston 5.3 that puts out a little more power.

Removing the old engine and trans

To mate the lt1 t56 I needed a new mid plate and bell housing. Luckily this is all readily available 

For clearance purposes I decided to run an aftermarket oil pan, only fun part is trimming the windage tray. Pretty simple process and otherwise there isnt much to it

cleaning up the engine and trans, just a drill and some wire brush heads. 

And the very simple trans cross member I made out of some plate and 1x4 tube. This was before the actual trans mount was fabbed and welded on. But it's just a simple two bolt mount

 

[Awinski]

Here was a fun one. Once I got the engine where I wanted it. I couldnt get a set of headers for cheap I knew would fit. I knew I wanted long tubes, and I knew I wanted stainless. Rather than spending good money on a set and possibly having to modify them i decided to make my own. After hearing what a set of 8-1 sounds like, some parts were ordered. Primaries come out to about 40.5" and all are within 1/4" of each other. When it comes time the headers will be wrapped to keep hear down. And yes, the entire assembly slides off, and the water pump is serviceable. 

The front cross member was slightly damaged already, and I didnt like it anyways so I decided to make a bolt on one to make it much easier to remove the headers or anything else. 

[A-man930]

Wow.