yep, another rat rod build.....imagine that!

[Mark Eckert]

So, the garage, which was packed full (See the last video on my channel, "MERC1320" on YouTube, is getting cleaned out. About one more good day and I will be ready to put up the 8 mil plastic "Tent" to keep in some heat so we can start building! I'm posting a link to the video showing how packed the garage was. It's amazing how much stuff accumulates in such a short number of years!

Here's the video, from the "Rat Rod" playlist on my channel: (I have to fix the intro to shorten it from 5 seconds of black screen)

 

[Mark Eckert]

I got the front-end parts on a black Friday special and saved a few hundred bucks! Picked up a Chineeesium plasma cutter as well. We'll see how well it works.....Got one wall of the garage done with plastic to keep heat in better than nothing until spring...Hopefully I will be ready to work in a week or so.

 

[Mark Eckert]

Ha! I just reread my previous post and realized I transposed the channel address of my YouTube channel! Doy! Lots of derp with this one I swear!

It's actually MERC2130 not 1320 like I posted.........Durr...

https://www.youtube.com/@MERC2130

 

[Old Iron]

You'll like the plasma cutter, the Chinese units do a good job for the money.

 

[Old Stuff]

Just stumbled on your build. Look forward to following it along.

 

[Mark Eckert]

So, got the engine apart and starting to lay out frame rails. Pics coming tomorrow and new video in the next couple days. Things are finally moving after the holidays and getting the garage put back together.

 

[redidbull]

You'll like the plasma cutter, the Chinese units do a good job for the money.

I agree with that. Make sure if 110/220 to run it on 220. Works so much better. Jim

 

[smallfoot]

I have one of those cheapo plasma rigs too an mine works well on 110 V. Although I have 220 in the shop, I've never used it for the plasma cutter. I've sliced up 3/4" steel and works like cutting butter. I did change to a better wand only for more availability of consumables!

 

[Mark Eckert]

So Saturday, we played around with frame dimensions and made a list of goals for this build. It will be a drag-and-drive rig, so NHRA rules will come into play for part of it. Planning ahead will make this a lot easier when it hits the road for events like Drag Week, where you may have to make repairs on the fly, so to speak. A quick trip to the car wash today got the worst of the crud off the block and some WD40 will hold it until my engine brush kits gets here in a couple days. Then out come all the plugs and some more cleaning. The convo pros will look sweet with fat slicks on them for drag days, while the old S-10 wheels will give the tires up for sacrificial burn-outs. The main hoop seen in the pics is an S-10 main hoop. Not going to use it. Most likely, we will bend our own cage. My AlphaTig 225x won't ship until May they are saying now. So we will make do with the MIG for frame welding. Next up is get the slicks mounted this week for final rear frame dimensions and then knock the old perches off the rear end. Then it gets cleaned up and new perches welded on. I'll have steel in the shop by Friday most likely.

 

[Mark Eckert]

So, the machine shop called the other day, and it seems the heads I took in need some more work done to make them decent to use. That's all the push I needed. No sense sending good money after bad. The reason I was gonna go SBC in the first place was thinking I had a ready to run (for the most part) core. So tomorrow I'm going to pick up a couple 454 blocks to use instead. I'll use one for mockup while the other one gets built. I'm a huge fan of big block chevy engines. I think since I want to build this to grow into, I will go ahead and order the 6 second cert from SFI and build the chassis out of cromoly. I have the 7.5 cert book now. This will help the resale value if I ever have to sell it. Plus I can grow into the chassis as the engines get more serious over time. First thing is first. Get the body sectioned and chopped so I can start building the cage to fit in it once the new TIG machine gets here. So that's the plan. Go big or go home right?

 

[bob w]

This is going to be a serious machine.

 

[Mark Eckert]

So, I have been working on other projects that demand my time, but Ryan and I got into work mode yesterday and did some stuff. The old windshield is out along with the dash. Got my NHRA approved seat a couple days ago, and did some preliminary fitting. Should have plenty of leg room, even with the cage. I picked up a big block to build for this that will eventually see Holley EFI and twin turbos. 496 cubes will most likely be the final displacement, all forged internals.For now it will be N/A with a carb and HEI.

I drilled all the spot welds out that hold the dash in and removed it, to make it easier to bend the cage to where it needs to be. It will be an SFI 25.3 cert cage, meaning it will be legal to 6 seconds in the quarter mile. I can grow into the chassis this way versus having to tear it apart later and re-do the cage. The spec calls for 100% 4130 cro-moly so I am eagerly awaiting my new TIG machine, which is now supposed to ship in mid-March. I will be visiting Rhodes Race Cars in Merrillville, Indiana, a couple hours from me, as they say they have a pre-bent 10-point roll cage for these trucks. That is the start of the main cage. I still have to add a bunch of bars to make it cert. I want to see how the fit is, and that will determine whether or not I bend my own tubes.

For now here's a few pics. I will shoot an update video for my YouTube channel later this week.