Her Name is Frank

[NITE KRAWLERS]

Sometimes a guy has to cheat a bit, ha ha nice. Your still kill n it man. Keep it up!

[BUDDERS]

I've seen some of those Snap on breaker bars break doing that.

You should see the way I've had to break loose crank bolts on the toyota I6 motors....

[Twisted Minis]

That was actually my 120 tooth ratchet. I broke a Matco breaker bar before that so I busted out the $400 ratchet. Lol.

I actually have this 120 tooth ratchet because of breaking the crank bolt loose on my 22RE in the daily. I took half the teeth off an 80 tooth and tore a motor mount apart. So when I got it warrantied I paid the difference to get the 120 tooth. They have two locking teeth as well versus the single lock on an 80 tooth. Such a nice ratchet.

[Slolyfe]

Impact driver wouldnt take it off?

By the way you do the most bada$$ fab work I have seen. Keep up the good work!

[BUDDERS]

I've seen 3/4" impact guns take stuff like that off, but most people don't have those laying around - let alone plumbing or a air compressor to handle them.

[Twisted Minis]

Impact driver wouldnt take it off?

Didn't even phase it. And I have some pretty impressive guns.

By the way you do the most bada$$ fab work I have seen. Keep up the good work!

Thank you!

I've seen 3/4" impact guns take stuff like that off, but most people don't have those laying around - let alone plumbing or a air compressor to handle them.

I have a 3/4" Ingersoll Rand I got from my grandpa. It's impressive, but it wouldn't take that damn bolt off. I seriously tried everything, even some rather sketchy stuff.

My neighbor machined a flat spot in the shifter for me, I drilled and countersunk the holes, and started working on some throttle linkage.

[Twisted Minis]

We now have a working throttle linkage. Still a bit left to do, like add a return spring on the carb, put the pivot in double shear, build an adjustable throttle stop, and some kind of limiting device to keep the pedal from coming up to far and flopping over. The upper end of the linkage is adjustable, for a 1:1 ratio and a 1.15:1 ratio.




Shifter installed, and working on a drive line tunnel. Built a notch/cross member to retain strength in that large cross member in the rear of the cars floor.

[Twisted Minis]

Drive line tunnel is complete.




Starting a sub frame for the car. Re using the stock control arms, just moving their pivots around to help the geometry.

[Twisted Minis]

The seat is finally mounted, and the steering column bracket is done.




This is what I came up with for an adjustable upper seat mount.




And some work on the sub frame. Got the rear lower control arm mounts done.

[BigMike]

[THK Matt]

WOWWWW

[Twisted Minis]

Lower arm mounts are pretty much done.

[Ironloki]

im infatuated with your work. ive been burning steel for 10 years now, and know its not the easiest thing to do.
Then to see quality like this is few and far between, its an art form, not just a job. This is the type of work ive been dreamin about since waay back. how did you get started, and do ya need any help?!?! haha cuz it doesnt look like it.. but its always worth a shot.

[Twisted Minis]

I just picked up a welder in my uncles shop about 8 years ago and listened to people and read a lot. And of course built a bunch of stuff that didn't work. Sometimes it's the best way to learn. I am juggling two employees right now, can't really afford any more than that.

[yjay]

Perhaps I'm ignorant, but how did you make or where did you get the circle part of that steering wheel. That is sick.

[Twisted Minis]

The entire steering wheel came from Speedway for under $60. I have a feeling it will be gone once the owner drives the car for the first time, being a 13" wheel.

A piece like that could easily be made on a water jet though for probably $25.

[Twisted Minis]

Oh wait, circle not center. A piece like that would need to be rolled, welded and metal finished. Would probably be easier and cheaper to buy a Speedway wheel and cut it out if you wanted to make your own. It looks like they press it in two halves and weld it together like exhaust donuts, then metal finish on a lathe or something.

[yjay]

I figured you Macguyvered it yourself. You sure do sanitary work. To be able to produce consistently clean work like you do fast enough to make money at it is really impressive. Wonder if that wheel will be slippery when it's warm.

[Twisted Minis]

It has nipples on the back. Lol. Not sure though. It feels strange to the bare hand, but I figure it will feel good with gloves.

[Twisted Minis]

I modified the stock spindles in order to work with the rear steer style suspension I am building for the car. These show a before and after.




Here is the completed sub frame. I had to build upper arms for it, there was just no way to make the stock arm work with the way they where shaped. The arms where intended to be quick and effective, not pretty by any means.



Here are a few pictures of the sub frame installed. It is basically just tacked in place at this point.





I stepped the arms for compression and clearance reasons.


Spindles are complete and modified for big brakes, and brackets complete. Just waiting on the hardware I ordered for them.

[pumkin toy]

lookin great as always dude!

[THK Matt]

im soo excited to see this come together

[NITE KRAWLERS]

Super tricky trick man. Nice work once again dude.

[Twisted Minis]

I shortened the arms on the anti-roll bar to increase it's effective spring rate. I am putting the suspension together for a dry run before it all comes apart for paint. I need to add shock mounts, anti-roll bar mounts, and brake line mounts before it can come back off. Probably bump stops too.






I safety wired the rotor bolts and then mocked them up. Also seen are the wheels. I built the suspension as narrow as I could with the stock arms and S10 spindles, and the wheels where selected for their scrub numbers, instead of selecting ones that clear the fender. He wants to wide body the car, I just want to flare it. Open to attractive ideas I could talk him into though.







Last two are the tie rod sleeves.

[pumkin toy]

yeah I agree with you. He needs to flare it, not wide body

[Twisted Minis]

Ya I am trying to push flares. I found some neat fiberglass ones that I could probably make fit in a few hours. I could build some in maybe 15-20 hours. I figure I will have 40 plus doing a wide body. Plus the wheel well should be moved about 1" forward, because I had to move the wheel that far to get it to work with the stock arms and fit a rack in front of the bell housing. Flares seem so easy in comparison.

Obviously I will do a wide body if that is what he really wants, because it's just more money. But I am not looking forward to that! Lol.

[pumkin toy]

I didnt know you did that much sheetmetal/body work too.  widebody sounds like a huge PITA.  widebody's look to ricer to me

[Twisted Minis]

I don't do bodywork, like filler, but I do the metal side. I'm actually pretty decent at it, I used to do it a lot more a few years back. The way he wants the wide body done, I think it will look really ugly.

[pumkin toy]

I am teaching myself how to do sheetmetal work on my 4runner right now.  I've had to do quite a bit lately.  I completely cut out my rear fenders and built all new tubs for tire clearance.  I also built a new tranny/t-case tunnel and I aslo need to cut out some of my firewall and re-tub it for front tire clearance.  Its rediculous, I just want to build cages and suspension! thats what I love doing!

[Twisted Minis]

Suspension work is definitely my thing, but I actually like sheet metal work. I did a lot on the VW, and have a ton more to do when it comes back, including making a few pieces from scratch that are not repopped. This car I did a lot of the tunnel on. I actually went out and bought a metal brake when I figured out I had to build the entire drive line tunnel. In my F100, when I get to it, I plan on building the entire floor and firewall from scratch, as well is sectioning the body and hood, with a mild chop. I figure I will learn a lot on that. I did a lot of metal work on the blue Toyota too, I did a roof skin swap, and I reshaped the skin of the roof to drop it down a 1/2".

I am currently doing lame sheet metal work on the Merc though. Building a functional cold air box for it, and the location sucks to work in. And I had to patch a huge rust hole. The metal in the engine bay is terrible to weld to. Been wearing a filtered respirator with the shop fan on full blast, and still getting nauseous.

Your 4Runner looks sick. The firewall tub reminds me, I need to tub my daily. I put bigger tires up front recently to match the ones I got for out back, and the rub like hell. I also need to go back and get it realigned. They adjusted the caster with shims on the upper arm and it moved the PS tire closer to the firewall. I need to get them to put it back and adjust it with the strut rods. Then I will have to tub it less. I can't turn for right now though, it's driving me nuts in parking lots.

Also not sure if I mentioned this, but at the end of the month I will be moving the shop. It's only across the parking lot, but the space is 2.5 times bigger than what I have now. I will be a lot less cramped. Will have 3 lifts now, and I need to buy a new compressor (looking at some IR 60 and 80 gallon uprights), and a new tool box. I've been spending a lot on tools lately and I have filled and then some my current box.