I know it seems weird but I'm trying to keep it as stock as possible right now. I just need a truck to get me around without hassle for the next year or two and then it will get the horsepower treatment.

Which, I say that now but I'm sure when summer rolls around it will have long tubes, a nice exhaust, different rims, etc. I just really don't want my lack of money to affect the quality of the build, so I'm trying to hold back.

 

What kind of person would I be if I didn't post the finished result.

So this is how it sits now. I have a few thousand km on the motor since I put the heads back on, and not a single issue this far. I picked up a proper steering wheel, soldered the clock spring back together, got floor mats, and some half decent rims.





























My next goal is take care of the aesthetic stuff. The gas door that I painted needs a good polish, it's holding onto road grime pretty good. The front seats sort of fell apart when I wiped them down, so I'm looking to get the seats redone. I still need to find a rear bumper, get a new driver's side bed cap, fix the rust on the 3rd brake light, and pull some little door dings. Once that is taken care of, I want headers, 4" exhaust, and then I'll do the cam and intake. I also need to toss a 4L80e into it, the 65 is starting to do some veeeery soft shifts here and there.

 

Came a long way, look good man.

 

Glad to see you reviving it, it's come along way from where you started. Keep up the good work.

 

Thanks. I really enjoy doing this kind of stuff, and unfortunately it's a never ending story. I still have a list a mile long of stuff to do on this thing. Plus there's some other things I have on the go.

Here is the chassis we've built with the University for our FSAE car. The chassis team designed it in solidworks, had a company laser cut all the chromoly and it went together beautifully. I just used my Lincoln MigPak 140 to tack it all up, and we're probably going to hire a fellow to TIG weld it all, since I don't have access to a TIG machine right now.





And here is my 2014 Yamaha WR450F that I'm building. The bike was purchased brand new, and the engine was immediately pulled to use for the FSAE car. So I bought what was left, and I'm rebuilding it. It literally still have the paint on the tires, it's never been ridden. I picked up a 2008 WR450F engine, that I'm going to rebuild and convert to run on fuel injection since that's what the 2014 uses. It's basically going to be better than brand new, because I have a blank canvas to upgrade everything performance wise as I rebuild the engine. Super cool project, it's been almost 3 years since I sold my last bike so I'm super eager to get it done and go ride the hills.

 

What was your procedure on painting the gas door? I have the exact same problem... rusting gas door that stains the side of the bed. Bought a new one but haven't tried painting yet.

 

I bought a stock red one on eBay, sanded it down to primer, did probably 6 coats of Duplicolor black acrylic, and then 4 coats of Duplicolor clear. It had a bit of orange peel to it, once the weather is nice I'll do a light wet sand with a super fine grit and hit it with the buffer and some polish. I'm thinking of vinyl wrapping the entire truck soon anyway, that way I can do bodywork without having a massive amount of money to get a nice paint job.

 

The 4L65e is starting to shift like a dog, so I've lined up a 4L80e to swap in. I guess the only hangup there is finding the proper output shaft. If someone has a blueprint for one I can get one machined from chromoly and I'll be laughing. Anyone?

 

Truck has come a looong way. It looks much better than when you bought it. Funny you mention that you're working on the FSAE car. I am a grad student now at Oregon State and that was my senior project for undergrad here as well. super fun, but lots of work. best of luck! What is your major?