I now have almost 400 miles on the truck and liking it. Mostly on back roads with a 60 mile round trip on mostly highway . I haven’t got to the insulation and floor matt yet so every noise is louder than normal.

It runs pretty good around the back roads And handles really good for what it is. I think the RR steering and the stiffer spring hangers and shackles help there. The steering took a bit of getting used to. I t definitely is touchier than it was. much tighter even with the Rock auto rebuilt steering gear..

The brakes are Hydroboost good. I am going to get an adjustable proportioning valve for the rear. to tune that a little.

The transmission shifts ok but could be better so that will be a future project. I am really happy with my twin stick transfer case It is useful when reverse is a little too fast. like tight parking lots. I can stick the rear wheel drive in low put the tranny in reverse back out take the transfer back in high in tranny in first or second in a matter of seconds. pretty cool.

The turbo is working out well. I have little smoke aside from the puff from shifting. I could use some more fuel But may wait until after we move.

I have a slight driveline vibration that starts at about 65MPH. could be the slip yoke or the rear differential and transfer case yokes are out of plane.

All in all pretty good for having so much apart it one sitting.

 

That sounds pretty sweet....I sure could use that when backing up my trailer....might have to move that up on the "to do" list.

Glad the truck is performing well after all your work, it's a good feeling!

 

It really works great it doesn't fight you to shift either moving one side at a time is super slick.

 

Yes twin stick NP-205s are pretty slick.

 

I finally got around to making a brace for my down pipe.

 

Looks great, Mark!

 

Thanks Augie.

 

I like the look of that custom hanger bracket.
I may try to reproduce that when I do the 4 inch exhaust on Poncho rather than my usual modified factory mount.
Nice work as usual Mark.

 

Thanks Oliver.

 

This morning before it got hot out. It's 107* now. I did a little welding on my Scrap metal bumper.

 

Very nice, Mark. Now if I only knew how to weld, I could make up something like that.....

 

That's crazy, Mark. Way too hot for normal humans...


I guess that's why you're still functioning and tinkering around welding, eh ?





Better be careful, though. At those temperatures, those bags of HS concrete might just ignite if you're not careful..

 

For somebody that doesn't know how to wele you sure make some cool stuff.

 

Yesterday was 110* I don't even go outside when it gets over 100*

 

Saturday I installed the THD fuel pin. I am happy with the way the truck is running even before the little tuning that needs to be done.

Yesterday I took my leaky plastic speedometer reducer off and threw some epoxy on it to attempt to fix the leak so far so good.

over the last couple weeks I sanded and painted my grille. The headlight bezels are next. I used bumper black and steel grey Rustolem paint. I figured it will stop the sun from wrecking the plastic and if I like it I can get better paint later. I like how the darker grey dosent compete with the aluminum.