48 fire truck roadster

awesome looking truck. great to see so many of these on here now. looks super narrow how much did you cut out?

10" was taken out of the center. It makes it the same width as the 38 to 46 cabs. There are pix of the dismemberment on the first page of the thread.

You stated there are a lot of these on here. Do you mean a lot of duallies or alot of dually roadsters? I haven't seen any roadster duallies, so if you know what threads they are on, I would appreciate knowing which ones so I can take a look.

Lookin good man!... i cant wait to get my frame back out of storage... winter is killing me

Another one goes "over the top"! Thanks for entertaining us with your documentary Truckster. Hope to actually see this one on the road.

Thanks Corpo and Earthman,

Corpo: I can't wait until you get back on yours either, want to see what you do next. Love those duallies. By the way, it was 65 degrees here today, welding, cutting and grinding outside all day. Do as much of that as possible outside under the roof extension to keep the garbage out of the shop.

Earthman: I want to see it on the road as well. Also want to know if you are creating the emoticons you use. Best I have ever seen.

More pix on rear suspension

Completed figuring out the 4 link, fabricated it and tacked the brackets on the axle.

First cardboard template wouldn't work, so redesigned it with second carboard template. Then reverse engineered it on Autocad, printed the brackets out, (the brackets on each side are actually two different patterns) taped them to some plate, marked and center punched them, plasma cut them, and punched some holes with the ironworker. Sounds easy but there is more than two days work in the brackets (a lot of bucket time).

Last picture is of bracket to mount lower end of coil-over-spring. Again, everything just tacked in place. It looks crooked but it is angled out so it is parallel with the top mount. Camera angle makes it look like it is cocked sideways.

Pretty happy with the result. Size is right for that big old axle, frame and tires

brackets look great... i used the same process on developing mine.. even down to punching the holes with an iron worker!.. thats one machine i would love to own some day! It sure makes putting holes in thick steel much quicker then the old drill press..

Thats kinda nice having the square axle tubes for welding too.. keep up the great work! and i am jealous of your warm weather!! so ill just continue to sit here and watch[P

We saw a couple Ford Triton V 10's at the Grand Nats; they are pretty huge.
(I'll dig out the pics in the next couple days.) I saw one at the Greenleaf Pick-A- Part a year or so ago for under $1000.

The brackets look great. All those holes will help keep that unspring weight down!

Yeh, losing 1.5 pounds on that 800 pound axle/tire/wheel assembly should make a real difference. (I can't define sarcasm, but I can recognize it when I see it.)

think I will take a look at the Ford and Dodge V10's before I start on the front suspension.

Got the coil-overs installed. Sorry about all that shiny stuff, but it was all I could find that would work.

First photo was of the brackets I had built earlier for the top mounts. Now that I could try them on with all the other components, I didn't like the appearance of them or the angle on the shocks, even tried to change the profile on one of them to make it work. No good!

Went back to the lesson I learned on the 4 link, and just by luck, direct attachment to the frame worked out. Very lucky that frame length was exactly right. Guess if it had been longer, I could have added another cross member, but this is much cleaner.

Well, maybe those holes won't make a real difference, but hey, it LOOKS lighter!

The shock mounts look great - very clean. A few holes in that cross member might ... aaah never mind.

Looks very nice; excellent job!

Built the panhard bar assembly yesterday and bolted and tack welded it in place. Then removed the coils and ran the linkage through full articulation. Missed it by that much! Bar contacted top of carrier 3/8" before stops.

Removed it all and will build new axle bracket to locate attacment point 3/4" higher and relocate the frame bracket 3/4" higher.

1 step forward, and 2 steps back.

Almost bought a 2000 Ford V-10 with auto trans today. $500. Decided to do some homework on the net first.

1) couldn't find any aftermarket parts available -2) lots of torque, but no more hp than most mild build V8's -3) early Ford V-10's were prone to spit spark plugs -4) only custom applications I found were cubic$$$$ builds -5) numberous comments about not liking exhaust note on V-10's (I have owned two Dodge PU's with V10's and never noticed this to be a problem) -6) no aftermarket wiring kits available that I could find (and wiring ECM applications is out of my league).

Guess I have eliminated a Ford V-10 as a candidate. That leaves a Cummins Diesel, possibly a Dodge V10, or, last resort the 454 BB that I started out with. Any help out there?

some progress.

Rebuilt panhard bracket on diff and cut off bracket on frame and trimmed 3/4" of top. Reinstalled and re-tack welded. Got to actually use one the the first mistake brackets from the 4 link, with a little trimming.

Got full articulation now. So rear suspension is in place, Half a roller. Need to finish weld brackets on axle, turn the whole thing around in the shop and start on the front. Getting to decision point. Looking like it's going to stay with the 454, at least till it runs. Objective is to get it to where I can drive it.

Dare I throw this into the mix - A Hemi? You should be able to find a decent running 331-392 in the 1000 area. Plenty big and does anything look truly more correct than a roadster with a Hemi?

truckster said:

Almost bought a 2000 Ford V-10 with auto trans today. $500. Decided to do some homework on the net first.

1) couldn't find any aftermarket parts available -2) lots of torque, but no more hp than most mild build V8's -3) early Ford V-10's were prone to spit spark plugs -4) only custom applications I found were cubic$$$$ builds -5) numberous comments about not liking exhaust note on V-10's (I have owned two Dodge PU's with V10's and never noticed this to be a problem) -6) no aftermarket wiring kits available that I could find (and wiring ECM applications is out of my league).

Guess I have eliminated a Ford V-10 as a candidate. That leaves a Cummins Diesel, possibly a Dodge V10, or, last resort the 454 BB that I started out with. Any help out there?

Click to expand...

AZ4GEMAN said:

Meanwhile I started building a 53 GMC COE. It is on a 1 ton dually chassis (acquired from Truckster) using his fire truck bed and the rear fenders from DJ3100's original AD project.

Once I figure out how to post photos you all can see what we are up to.

Click to expand...

We are not getting any younger here!

Looks great! and LIGHT! I think the 454 will be fine. Make big exhaust manufolds and keep the tunnel ram.

Thanks for the wakeup call Rusty Creek. Will check eBay, et. al., see if the reality I live in is out of date.

Don't need to rub it in Earthman; or were you just referring to az4geman's promise to post pics. Hope he gets a thread started and puts them on there.

DJ3100, I started to put something in those last photos about the weight savings with the 4 holes in the panhard bracket, just for you. Thought my attempt at sarcastic humor would probably come across as just an overall lack of humor.

Nothing to show for my work today (pics). Spent all day disassembling rear suspension, draining differential, cleaning old grease off differential, welding all the brackets on the axle solid, cleaning up the mess, and putting it all back together.

Looks just like it did in last post. Only thing I have to show for it is a sore back, part of that "not getting any younger here" business.

A little progress, spent a number of hours last few days looking for those $1,000 running Hemi's. They are out there, just the decimal point is one more digit to the right ($2k will get a boat anchor, a non-running long block, a reputed "running" engine 3,000 miles away that looks like it hasn't turned over in 20 years (from someone with no feedback)). Also waiting for the back to heal.

Turned it around in the shop today so I could get started on the front suspension next week. Took some pictures while it was out. About 5:00 pm, 65 degrees, sun shining, birds singing, it's a wonderful life.

While it was out, rolled the front axle in and dropped the front of the frame down about where I want it so would have an idea of what needs to get built. Coming down to the wire on the engine, something better doesn't come along in the next couple of days, the 454 is going to have to stay. Now wondering about sectioning 3 to 4" just below the center. Hope I can talk myself out of it.

No, you are getting an A for regular updates Truckster It was az4geman that i was trying to motivate. I don't see a problem with the BBC. It will spin the duals effectivly and it is what you have at hand. I'm seeing semi stacks attached to the frame behind the cab tho