International L122 B Binder Rat Build

[ratrodney]

Yea thats sweet dude! Love the whole stance of it to. RR

 

[jmlcolorado]

Man that thing is coming along, keep up the work I really like it laid out with the full fender setup

I think i do to [cl A little different from the norm. You think it would look goofy if a didn't run anything up front?

Ill have to mess around with the steps. Id have to shorten them a bit. And the brackets to hold the steps on would likey interfere with how i was planning on running the exhaust. I was going to run the exhaust on the outside of the frame rails to dump out between the bed and the cab at the bottom. There's a nice square dead space there.
The brackets will make me loose that space i think. guess ill just have to run open headers out the front

 

[jmlcolorado]

Slow progress here still Work has me busy.

But today i setup the rear fenders again. This time paying close attention to how everything would have to fit together. The bed would have to come up a couple inches to clear the fender when aired out.
I really like the look actually. I set it up and rolled it out to see it in daylight. There was a weird dead space between the bed and cab that needed something. I could use the full running boards but that would bean having to completly readjust the bed and cab to match the steps. Then the steps to match the frame so everything looked right aired out.
Seems like too much work, soooooo...... i chopped down the step to make a little filler. I think ill mount the air tank above the step.
Im still up in the air about it.
If i did run the fenders, i would have to narrow the rear end about 6 inches for everything to work right. Its either that or add 3 inches of width to each fender but i dont want to do that. These look good as they are.

Heres some better photos. I would love more input from you guys.

 

[jmlcolorado]

Crappy...... Researching narrowing the Chevy rear end doesnt look too cost effective.
I could narrow the housing fine but to buy a set of new axles seems pointless. Im running 2 inch wheel adapters. I'm wondering what the chances are to redrill everything to the wheel bolt pattern? That would gain me 2 inches, and then i could have the wheels split and the rim moved inward 1 inch to gain the last inch needed.
Im i crazy for thinking this?

 

[zzrodder]

Looking really good, fenders are the way to go in my opinion. [cl Yeah, new axles are pricey, probably the cost of re-drilling the axles and the rim mods could add up too though (unless you have the machining skills)? Looking at the side shot, the wheels look a little far back - have you considered sectioning the box sides to raise the fenders up to the top of the box sides and move them back, that may help your tire clearance issues and center the wheels (just more tin work!). That would also bring the front edge of the fender higher so the running board would come closer to lining up with the bottom of the cab. [P

 

[jmlcolorado]

Looking really good, fenders are the way to go in my opinion. [cl Yeah, new axles are pricey, probably the cost of re-drilling the axles and the rim mods could add up too though (unless you have the machining skills)? Looking at the side shot, the wheels look a little far back - have you considered sectioning the box sides to raise the fenders up to the top of the box sides and move them back, that may help your tire clearance issues and center the wheels (just more tin work!). That would also bring the front edge of the fender higher so the running board would come closer to lining up with the bottom of the cab. [P

Its a tough call between fenders and no fenders but i think ill run the fenders. It gives the truck so much more character!
So i dont know why i didnt think of it last night, but rather then shorten the rear end, i just widened the bed. The plus side of that is i get more usable bed room [cl and i dont have to drop a ton of coin on an un needed rear end rework.
The inside bed measurements are now 6 foot long, 4' 3" wide and 18" deep to the bed floor I think this thing has more cubic feet of room then a normal modern mini truck [ddev

Your right, the rear axle is too far back. I origionally lined everything up to look right without fenders. With the fenders, i will need to roll it up a couple of inches. Oh well.

Now to figure out what its gonna take to shorten the trailing arms...... it never ends.

 

[Charley Davidson]

Truck looks great

Wouldn't it be easier to move the fenders back?[S

 

[jmlcolorado]

Well, one would think so. But I chopped the bed so as to keep the factory lines. There's recess that goes across the top then down the front and back and all the way around the radius of the fenders that I refuse to change. I could raise them if I had to but moving them back or fourth without actually adding material to the bed would be a feat. I'll have to post dome photos so you can see
I wanted the bed to look completely factory. Guess that defeats the rat rod theme I guess

 

[zzrodder]

Well, one would think so. But I chopped the bed so as to keep the factory lines. There's recess that goes across the top then down the front and back and all the way around the radius of the fenders that I refuse to change. I could raise them if I had to but moving them back or fourth without actually adding material to the bed would be a feat. I'll have to post dome photos so you can see
I wanted the bed to look completely factory. Guess that defeats the rat rod theme I guess

Yeah, looking at the pics, I see the lines and the wheel humps on the inside of the box and understand not wanting to mess that up. I didn't see pics of the rear frame Z - this may seem nuts -- but if you haven't made the driveshaft yet, you could shorten the frame a bit to move the rearend forward ??

 

[jmlcolorado]

Yeah, looking at the pics, I see the lines and the wheel humps on the inside of the box and understand not wanting to mess that up. I didn't see pics of the rear frame Z - this may seem nuts -- but if you haven't made the driveshaft yet, you could shorten the frame a bit to move the rearend forward ??

Another good option. Problem with that one is I made the zee right behind the cab. Like literally. The cab mounts are 1/4" from coming into contact with the upward section of the zee. I suppose I could slide the cab forward a couple inches but then I'd have to also push the engine too. And I actually pulled the engine back 12 inches so the carb lined up with the center of the front wheels. This way the grill line would be right at the leading edge of the front wheels to give that "forward axle" look.
I know, I'm not making this easy at all?

I think the best way will be to move the crossmember that the trailing arms are attached to forward. It's only 6 bolts so it should be easy.
It's amazing how many things have to change just to add fenders. But the truck is still in its moch up stage just for that reason. Once I get all the main parts where they need to be, I can finalize the chassis and drivetrain.

Thanks a ton for everyones input!

 

[CORPO]

its looking good man, I had thought about running a small step on my truck too.. something kinda like what you got there.. but I have a new Idea I am messing around with...

Heres a thought I had for centering the wheels in the fenders...

Cut the wheel opening and shift it back a bit to give it the illusion that it is (more) centered...

just an idea

 

[jmlcolorado]

Well, progress has been slow. Ended up buying a house. SO, had to move and rebuild the garage.
But i got a wild hair today and decided to upgrade to disk brakes. From the time i got the thought in my head to finished only took about 4 hours. And that included seeing if the junk yard was open, driving to it, inspecting the 4 trucks to choose what parts will come from, removing, renting a ball joint press, installing and returning the press. I think it was all done in record time


1) The surgeons table of tools.
2) The lucky donor truck.
3) Bye Bye drum brakes, HELLO disk brakes!

 

[skull]

difference

the difference will be quite noticable, going to the dics on all of my 1965 and 1966 chevelles made a world of improvement

Later

 

[ratrodney]

Man dude thats looking sweet! Yer really movin along. How long before the big drive it day? RR

 

[jmlcolorado]

Man dude thats looking sweet! Yer really movin along. How long before the big drive it day? RR

It took a long break cause apparently you get distracted durring the summer time with other things. And the whole time i thought i would be able to put some serious hours on it this summer. Guess i gotta fire up the furnace to get real work done on it [S
Im thinking by the end of the winter, it'll be road worthy enough. I think i spent more time researching things for it and staring at it in "design mode" then actually grinding on it.
Good news is my electrician is coming over thursday to install my sub panel for the garage so i can use up my own electricity that means the welder gets fired back up again. AND i get to use the new 60 gallon compressor

I see you posted on your thread, so ill head over there and check out your progress now

 

[Rusty54]

I love your truck. I am building a 54 r110 and after seeing your chop I almost want to do 7" instead of 3".

Laura

 

[jmlcolorado]

Well slow progress lately
I pulled the cab and bed off (for the millionth time) except this time, I put it It in the yard, where 20" of snow dumped around it. The thinking is to keep the body OFF the chassis till I get the entire chassis operational! I seem to put the cab and bed on cause I like looking at it, but then I gotta take it off to mount this or that, then this and that get put off cause the cab is in the way.

I have a lot of thigs to finish up before the body goes back on.
I got a crossmember motor mount In place, so now the engine has a perminate home, I need a trans adapter so I can finalize the mount for the transmission. Then gotta correct the angle of the rear end before making a drive shaft.
Picked up some front calipers at the junk yard today (for $14/pair!!!) and a tilt steering column out of a 93 blazer (for $20) which has the turn signal lever, ignition switch with key, horn button, and wiper lever.
I probably won't use the ignition switch since I was going to use about 11 regular switches that you would have to put In The right position for the truck to turn on, (1-0-0-0-1-1-1-0-1-0-1) then just a momentary switch for the starter. This should keep me from not being able to drive it without having the keys in my pocket [cl

Finally, I'll need to plumb the new brake lines and hard air bag lines......CRAP, that reminds me, I still need to buy front bags and mount them to the a arms too.
Then I can put the body on and setup the shift linkage for the floor shifter, place the fuel tank and air tanks.

It's getting there. So far I'm up to $2491.92 for ALL the parts for the truck
I won't make the $3000 club, but it'll still be cheap!!
Good news is, with the steering column, I've closed the gap for having parts from each decade since the 50's[cl

1950 international cab and bed
1960's Camaro 350
1968 GMC C15 chassis
1979 Chevy C10 front disk brakes
1989 Chevy s10 steering column
1990's BMW 325i seats
2007 Dodge ram 20" wheels (steel)

Now I think I need to broaden the decades by filling in parts from the 40's, 30's and 20's

 

[jmlcolorado]

I love your truck. I am building a 54 r110 and after seeing your chop I almost want to do 7" instead of 3".

Laura

REDICULIOUSLY late reply, but I love the 7" chop!!! Only problem is I took 7" out of all 4 corners when I should have taken 7" out of the back and 8" out of the front to level out the roof line in comparison to the rest of the truck [S but for a 1st chop, how as I supposed to know

NOW the next trick is going to be how I'm going to get a windshield for it. I can't find a factory reproduction windshield to have cut down, and if I do, it'll likely cost $700!!!
SO, I'm going to make a cardboard template that has the right radius out of cardboard, take it to the scrap yard and find a car that has the same curve. Then take that to have it cut.
Everyone says to just put in plexiglas, but i can't do that without hating it!!
That's also one of the many reasons why I split the windshield, cause it'll be easier to cut down 2 smaller pieces of glass then it would be to do 1 large piece. Plus it looks COOL!

 

[jmlcolorado]

Man dude thats looking sweet! Yer really movin along. How long before the big drive it day? RR

Driving day will probably be about the same time as yours neither of us are fast movers apparently. I've been waiting to see your monster rolling on its own [P

 

[jmlcolorado]

Made a slideshow of the progress this far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82Ex_JOAac8&feature=youtube_gdata_player