Blackdiamond (Gup-C build-up)

[blackdiamond]

The bdrunner has landed...um...is sitting in my garage.  It was a more interesting trip than I expected and a few "bugs" have been identified, but it's home for now.  Some details on the trip to follow later.

I hate driving without a speedo or tach in a truck that I'm not used to driving with a gear/tire combo that I wasn't yet used to on the bdtruck, I need to get the speedo extension on order from Marlin.
 

[gotrocks]

glad you got home safely.  Now stop slacking at let people see the "finished" product.

[blackdiamond]

glad you got home safely.  Now stop slacking at let people see the "finished" product.

I'm still working on the "finished" product, but honestly I've just not had time.  Last night I worked on the leaky brake line connection, bled the front brakes and topped off the coolant that seemed to be causing the temperature issues during the trip.  Today and friend of mine offered to assist with the valve cover gasket swap, to stop the super leak, after I attended a science fair at the school I'm on the board for and then I headed to Seattle on the ferry to have dinner with my wife and some friends.  Also got the truck washed and vacuumed out.  I'm thinking that a starter isn't far in the future as I had to "bump" it tonight to get it to start.  Thankfully, I had parked on a hill and up on the curb which caused enough impact rolling off to kick it over.  I have school board tomorrow night or I would finish undercoating the rear fenderwells so that will have to wait until Tuesday at least.  I should have time, however, to get some pictures posted of the sweet rig that gotrocks sent me home with!

     

[gotrocks]

Happy hear you got those little issues taken care of.  I feel bad I didn't have them taken care of but you kinda had to get home.  I guess everthing couldn't be perfect when the test run for everthing was only a few hours before it got driven across the state.  I guess I did something right if it didn't fail on a 300 mile test drive.

[topar]

  Waiting for pics.

[blackdiamond]

Happy hear you got those little issues taken care of.  I feel bad I didn't have them taken care of but you kinda had to get home.  I guess everthing couldn't be perfect when the test run for everthing was only a few hours before it got driven across the state.  I guess I did something right if it didn't fail on a 300 mile test drive.

No worries, you built a great 4Runner and I'm happy to have it.  There will always be some "bugs" to work out of any project and we both know that a 320+ mile trip is risky business so early after it comes out of the shop.

Waiting for pics.

[gotrocks]

The pictures should be worth the wait guys.  It looks very awesome.  (not that I'm bias or anything).

[blackdiamond]

It looks very awesome.

gotrocks 

[Yota87Truck]

Lookin good (from the latest pics.)  I like the black rims...makes it look way nice.

[blackdiamond]

Waiting for pics.

This is mrsbd.  I can't post pics under my account.  Kinda annoying.  Anyway....the pics you've been waiting for.  From every angle.  The first is in gotrocks driveway before the break-in 320 miles.  The rest are here.

[blackdiamond]

hers and his

[gotrocks]

It kinda looks like crawlerdans 4runner just a little shorter

[blackdiamond]

I think that I figured out my plan for the center console.  There should be room to bend the twin stick shifters forward so I can keep the switch portion of the console that is removed.  It would almost fit now so it will depend on what kind of shifter clearance I need.

[gotrocks]

good to hear

[Cheesemaker]

Sweet!

[blackdiamond]

Today I dropped off the rear driveshaft at the shop, driving in FWD with an Aussie Locker is interesting to say the least.  I got the exhaust redone at the back because it was nearly contacting the shackle.  I set the timing and installed new cap, rotor and plug wires.  I am in the process of installing a tach, but I'm not making much progress.  See my new thread requesting help.

[blackdiamond]

The tach is now working and I will get it mounted tomorrow evening.  Gotrocks to the rescue again! 

The speedo extension should be delivered tomorrow, the rear driveshaft should be ready to be picked up and hopefully I can get the bdrunner registered.

Here are a couple of pictures of the revised exhaust.  You can compare to the last set of pictures.

[BLACKDOG]

The tach is now working and I will get it mounted tomorrow evening.  Gotrocks to the rescue again! 

The speedo extension should be delivered tomorrow, the rear driveshaft should be ready to be picked up and hopefully I can get the bdrunner registered.

Here are a couple of pictures of the revised exhaust.  You can compare to the last set of pictures.

I'm hearing a "crunch" coming from that corner in the near future  

  Looks good bd, and gotrocks   you definitely did some good work.  Looks like the runner has some saggy syndrome, or is it just the angle of the hill? 

[blackdiamond]

I'm hearing a "crunch" coming from that corner in the near future  

  Looks good bd, and gotrocks   you definitely did some good work.  Looks like the runner has some saggy syndrome, or is it just the angle of the hill? 

I think the exhaust will survive some contact, it should have enough movement in the hanger to push up to the bumper level if need be.  I'll try to avoid hooking it on things however.

The bdrunner does sit a little lower in the back, but not as much as the pictures make it look.  Once I get the FROR front bumper and winch installed it should bring the front down a bit more.  I may end up with a short block to match the ride height, but I'm going to let everything settle in a bit first.

[blackdiamond]

Rear fenders are undercoated and I shot a little primer on some of the remaining rust spots.  The tach is installed, the speedo is working again and the driveshaft is tested to be smooth to about 70 mph.

It is amazing how poorly it seems to handle after driving the Speed 3 this afternoon, night and day. 

About the only thing left to do in the immediate plan is to play with the shifters and console and swap out the stereo.  I also need to primer the back side of the fenders.

[Duffil]

Rear fenders are undercoated and I shot a little primer on some of the remaining rust spots.  The tach is installed, the speedo is working again and the driveshaft is tested to be smooth to about 70 mph.

It is amazing how poorly it seems to handle after driving the Speed 3 this afternoon, night and day. 

About the only thing left to do in the immediate plan is to play with the shifters and console and swap out the stereo.  I also need to primer the back side of the fenders.

God, I hope so! otherwise, your Mazda is a pile of

[fatt_matt]

clean.. i like it!!

[blackdiamond]

A short wheeling adventure this afternoon and I'm sold on the dual ultimate! 

[blackdiamond]

I'm currently running 5 inch shackles front and rear so I'm thinking about going to 4.5 front and 6 rear to help with the front/rear ride height difference.  It should be a subtle change, but it should take a lot once the front FROR bumper get put on.

[blackdiamond]

Here's a few pictures from the initial test run.  I crawled over the pile of rocks in the bdtruck with the 4.70 single case and the dual ultimate made a HUGE difference.  The front tires seemed to rub a bit, but it appeared to be on the front bumper support bracket that hangs down and not the fender.

[gotrocks]

Looks really good.  Did you get to test out the rock sliders?  Also did you get a chance to fix that shift rail?

[blackdiamond]

Looks really good.  Did you get to test out the rock sliders?  Also did you get a chance to fix that shift rail?

The rock sliders didn't touch anything, but I did manage to put the rear bumper in the dirt once...but it was done with extreme TLC.

I'm going to wait on the shift rail until the cases get pulled for the twin stick shift fork pin removal.  It stayed in gear just fine, the one time it came out I think I just didn't push it all the way in.

I got some tires off the ground a couple of times, it has a very different feel than the bdtruck.  It rides much better with 35 psi than the bdtruck did at 10 psi, the springs are great! 

[DTB]

looking nice bd....nice build up 

[blackdiamond]

looking nice bd....nice build up 

Let me correct your post...

"looking nice bd...nice build up gotrocks"

[DTB]

Let me correct your post...

"looking nice bd...nice build up gotrocks"

uhh yea that what i meant lol.....good job gotrocks! 



u have some nice friends bd