If it's a street truck you will need to leave the roll bar and cage out, that makes it strip only. You don't want to DD it wearing a helmet. Lol.

 

The roll bar and cage would be solely for the seats facing backwards in the rear of the truck.

Not that I'm planning to roll it or crash it duh, but I ride motorcycles, so I like to anticipate the worst and hope for the best. That means all possible preventative safety measures.

Speaking of weight distribution and putting the fuel cell behind the rear axle, I was considering doing a flatbed conversion on the truck, and putting a wood bed on it, that or diamond plate, but I like the idea of a wood bed, probably cedar, sanded smooth and then hit with a torch for the burn stripes, then sealed in as much sealant I can manage so it'll survive anything I put on it and look none the worse. My thoughts here would be that a wood bed would be denser, and as such mean more weight biased toward the rear of the truck, especially if I put all the wood in a metal pan (slotted so it drains, of course) and additionally, I could design it so A.) it doesn't rattle, because being an older truck everything rattles and if this is gonna be a well made machine I just want it to feel like a quality build all the way around, and B.) most importantly, I could make it so I can easily lift it off, or have a swing joint of some kind that allows me 100% open access to everything under the bed, my suspension, differential, driveline, and possibly even the very back of my transmission. it'd be easy for me to fabricate that, basic *** weldable hinges, and then 2 props that fold up seamlessly into the underside of my bed and bolt in place, so I just bring the bed up all the way, untwist 2 bolts that are only hand tight, and the legs swing out, and I'd have them at a length where they brace against the back of the cab.

 

I think I'll enjoy watching this. I went to the ford dealership last week and might be on the verge of placing an order on a single cab short bed F150 with minimal options to do a brand new F150 street truck drag build build with the 400 hp coyote motor you can get in it. I think they are rated at 400 hp from the factory. I wanted to do a dodge but apparently you can't get a rcsb truck from them anymore even thought you can go on their website and do a a build your own. Weird if you ask me.