Her Name is Frank

[jimbo74]

awesome work as always....

so is your blue pickup still around? did you ever start building a 4x4?

[Thomas P]

x2, where have you been hiding?

[Twisted Minis]

I also did the charity build for the kid with Epilepsy, which took up a lot of my time, since I was also doing many other small jobs at the same time. I also was spending time at another shop helping with a SEMA build. Here are some pictures of the S10.

Bag crossmember I designed and had laser cut, then dimpled it.




Built a 3-link and a panhard bar bracket that doubles as a shock mount.





It is level here at ride height, it's just angled back away from the pumpkin.



Ended up swapping to a rod end on the axle due to bag clearance issues with the wide bushing.



In order to provide a convenient and easy place to mount the valves and compressors, I built an air manifold that doubles as a frame crossmember.






Final assembly of the rear.




Did a 2.5" mandrel bent TIG welded exhaust system.






Here are the nearly finished pictures of John's truck. I had to move it out to get the VW in to work on it. He brought by a battery so I can start it, and finish up the little stuff and the stereo now.






Obviously cutting the inner fenders more is one of those little things I need to take care of.

[THK Matt]

I was just starting to wonder bout you man! Glad to see you're still hard at work.
thats a trick looking bag crossmember, looks good buddy.

Whats this SEMA project you speak of?!

[Twisted Minis]

Here are some quick pictures of the Double Cab VW to get you up to speed. First, I built a custom bell housing to go from a Porsche 911 engine to a 944 torque tube and transaxle.






After that he designed some motor mounts for me to build. He told me he wanted some of those cool hole things I do in them.






He took it back to his shop to do some mock up, so these are pictures he took.




And here we are installing the sub frame. I'm a lot further along than this now, but I haven't taken any pictures.




Here are a couple of the cool parts off of the SEMA build I mentioned.







Panhard. Maybe my favorite part.












Powdercoat.






And here it is at SEMA.

[Twisted Minis]

awesome work as always....

so is your blue pickup still around? did you ever start building a 4x4?

No and no. I don't have enough time to work on a personal project right now. I did however order some Wilwood stuff for that clip I was working on a while back. The show season is coming up soon so I want to get something done on it. I've been so busy lately though that I haven't had a chance to think about anything for myself.

x2, where have you been hiding?

I've been hiding in the shop. I'm so busy lately that it's nuts, and I don't really have anyone helping me. I have been spending a lot of late nights at the shop. I'm really physically exhausted and sore right now. Today is the first day I've taken off in a while. I'm about to go enjoy it and watch some good movies with my Dad.

I was just starting to wonder bout you man! Glad to see you're still hard at work.
thats a trick looking bag crossmember, looks good buddy.

Whats this SEMA project you speak of?!

I just posted some pictures of it. I can't take credit for much of the work, I was just there to help with the deadline. There where 3 shop owners (including myself) in the shop working on the vehicle all at once. It was a really cool experience and I had a lot of fun.

Oh, I also came down with the Swine Flu about 10-11 weeks back, that lasted almost 2 weeks.

[THK Matt]

That's gotta be the sickest thing I've ever seen, you outdid yourself man!! HOLY CRAP!

not matter how much work you  actually put in.

I am sure you got a lot of NEW ideas and to work from.



and that swine flu is NASTY!

[THK Matt]

and the thermostat mod on Ethel, is interesting.

[pumkin toy]

i'm sittin here lookin at those pics and its like daaaammn!!  looks sick bro, i love how your mind works.  that control arm through the panhard is wicked innovation man!

[THK Matt]

also.... is that rear.... BAGLESS?! i just noticed that

[Twisted Minis]

On what, the Tahoe? No, the bags go on the rear lift bars behind the axle, on the inside of the frame. There just aren't any pictures with the bags installed.

[Thomas P]

im glad you got some time to post up some of your work, its amazing as usual, i really wanna see you build a crawler, but yhou prolly will never find the time, you are a truely creative person and your work is top notch! id like to drive down to the shop and see this stuff in person some time.

[Twisted Minis]

Ya I'm not sure when I will find the time for my own project again. One thing that is important to me though, is to start my F100 before it's too late for my grandpa to see it. He was the one that found the project for me, and helped me go and get it when I was 14.

You're welcome to stop by the shop anytime you are in the area. Hopefully I have something cool inside at the time.

[twistedtoy92]

you do some of the sickest work ive seen....    mad props to you! 

[Bazzi]

I was starting to miss you ..... a lot good to see you are still kicking

[Twisted Minis]

Here are some motor mounts I am sending out to a customer tomorrow. I changed my design a little bit to make them easier to TIG weld, and boxed the bottom in with a drain hole.

[Jordan7118]

Such a shame that your best work (panhard, links, frame notch) usually goes unnoticed, as who in the world could get their head between body and earth???

Glad to see you're alive and doing well. Glad you're busy, too. Many fab shops are feelin' the heat right now 

[topar]

Work looks great as usual, glad you could add some of those cool hole things you do to his project! 

[46&2]

freakin' awesome. Love the Tahoe. Looks fantastic. Way to go on having a project/products at SEMA, what an honor.   

[Twisted Minis]

It was cool. My name wasn't on it though, since it was built at another shop. I just helped with some jigs and suspension pieces during the madness that occurred during about 6 weeks (total build time). I'd like to bring something of my own there some day soon. Hopefully in the next year or so.

I definitely am glad to be busy right now. I powder coated those motor mounts yesterday before shipping them.


And I am starting a cage in the VW right now.




It's mostly aesthetic. His biggest concern was that it match the shape of the headliner, which was accomplished with some rolled tube, a few bends and a few sleeved splices. It's all his design so far. I have been trying to fight him on the cage design, but aesthetics and passenger room are numero uno. There is a rear seat which means the C piller can have no V, X, or even a shoulder bar, so that rear hoop as you see it is complete aside from being tied to the B pillar hoop with a straight bar above the window. There will be a V or X below the window on that side, but not on the PS because of the door. I'm not sure what it will end up like because he doesn't like my ideas for it, and I also only have about 4 feet of tube left. So he's got time to stew it over.

[Twisted Minis]

Such a shame that your best work (panhard, links, frame notch) usually goes unnoticed, as who in the world could get their head between body and earth???

Glad to see you're alive and doing well. Glad you're busy, too. Many fab shops are feelin' the heat right now 

You could see a lot through the 26" wheels! But you are right, the majority of it is hidden and won't be seen much if at all.

[BLINGCRAWLER]

Awesome work!  And to think...I thought I would be the only one rolling a bagged rig on here lol

Here is my 96 Ranger...the usual 4 link, beams blah blah blah...




Tucks the 20's pretty good.

[Twisted Minis]

Some goodies for the frame.

[Twisted Minis]

Here are some new pictures.

I modified an RCI fuel cell to fit low and offset to the PS and over the new torque-tube tunnel (need to take pics of that, forgot). Would have been easier to start new, he had me add internal baffles while I had it apart, and add a side fill to line up with the stock filler location.




Here is some shots of the cage. It's finished for now, until he comes back for what he calls three.point.oh or the third visit. Then it will get the front half. The top bar in this first picture looks crooked (it is in comparison to the rail below it, depends on what's important) but the B pillar hoop is 3/4" taller than the C pillar because the roof is higher in the center. And that bar intersects with the welded joint to add some support to it.


This was a pregnant dog.







I took pictures of every weld, and those are the only shots that aren't blurry. I'm looking into a nicer camera.

[Twisted Minis]

Stephen brought the motor in today to get it installed. Second picture is the intake I rotated as the first part of this build, to get the throttle body and air box lower to clear the body. Third shot is the motor below the truck. Is has to go in from the bottom, which is definitely difficult.




A shot looking down at the motor, then two angles of it installed.




Some more pictures of the motor, and a bell crank I am working on to get a little more travel out of the coil overs. Mostly just for the sake of saying it's got a bell crank though.




As you may have noticed in the last picture I added some sheet metal braces to tie the cage to the back of the cab. I did this in the morning before Stephen showed up. Hopefully this will add enough rigidity to it since I can't do much else with the C pillar hoop.

Last shot is the truck on stands in the shop.

[AaronB]

Do you know any good mini trcking forums? I am going to be building a 69' F100 and wanted to get some ideas.

[Twisted Minis]

Streetsource, my site, and DropNDrag are pretty good.

[vetta]

That is one sweet rig.

[85yotabox]

dude this thread is awsome!  evrytime i look at it i wana build a minitruck, i was thinking the same boby style and color as my 4x4 would be pretty cool.  
i wish i had a shop like yours where i could just fab trucks all day, thats exactly what i wana do, people i have talked to say i do good work but im too young to expect people to trust me with their vehicles and $$$.
anyways you do great work! keep it up!

[Twisted Minis]

I just turned 21 and I have had this shop for almost 2 years doing it full time now. I can't imagine you are too young. If you do good enough work, people will pay for it.

It might help that I look older than I am.