Classic Ford Front End

You know, when it comes to hand building a custom truck,

everybody recognizes the impact of major modifications, like chopping a top or shortening and narrowing a frame or channeling a body down on the frame. And this is all stuff that I've showed you how to do in the past and I'll continue to show you how to do this kind of stuff. But sometimes the modifications that make the biggest impact

are the little ones like French in headlights or shaving door handles or like what we're gonna do today, custom fitting gauges.

Now, a lot of you might be thinking, oh, gauges, that's easy. You just drill a hole in the dash and mount the gauges in there, right?

Well, sometimes it is that easy and I can give you the look that you're after, but most of the time you are dealing with the piece that has already been hacked and hacked a lot.

So not only do you need to fix the hacking,

but you also have to come up with the design

and this gives you the opportunity to come up with something unique

that nobody else has.

So the first thing that you need to decide is what style of gauges you're gonna use,

how, how many you're gonna use

and how exactly you're gonna mount them into the dash. For example,

this is the dash of the Hairy Hauler. A full on hot rod truck. So that's the style we're after.

I also want full instrumentation, which generally means six gauges.

And then of course, I want to mount them all in this area here, which is

not only gone, but it's also very small. So here is how I'm gonna solve these problems.

The gauges I'm gonna be using are from classic instruments and these are called the Tetras series. Now, what's cool about these

is you have one big 4.5 inch gauge

and then you also have two smaller two inch gauges. Now just a minute, come up here, take a closer look at this. You got speedometer,

tack

volts, oil pressure, temperature and fuel. You got full instrumentation here, all six gauges, but they're in a nice tight little package that'll all fit in this area.

And these are the classic hot rod look black face, white pointers. These are cool.

Now, the key to any custom dash is in the accents, not just the gauges

because you don't want the gauges just flowing out here in the middle of nowhere by themselves. Now, you need to have some sort of trim, go around here and also probably in these areas too to bring it all together make it all flow.

So we're gonna find that stuff, place called Motorhead jewelry.

Now, Motorhead jewelry builds their stuff the old fashioned way and that is by using sand casting. Here's how it works.

I met with Bruce, we came up with a drawing of what exactly it was that I wanted.

And then they transfer that drawing to these wooden bucks. Now, these are hand built

and this is actually a mold of what the piece is gonna look like.

Then these bucks are cast in sand

and the cavities are filled with molten metal. And what you end up with

is a metal version

of this shape.

Then they take them out, cut them apart, polish them, finish them out. And what you end up with

is a nice heavy work of art. This is a nice alternative to all the cookie cutter bill aluminum pieces out there. If you want something unique motorhead jewelry can do it for you. Now, once you have all your pieces assembled, it's time to start building a dash.

The first thing that we'll do is work out any dents or lumps in the dash.

Now, we will mount the motor head pieces,

make sure you take the time to get them straight.

All right.

Now, we are ready to mount some gauges. But to what there's nothing here, obviously, I'm gonna have to weld some metal in here to replace what was cut away a long time ago.

But instead of just having metal in there. This is your chance to be a little creative you can use.

There are things as accent pieces on top of that metal like wood or polished aluminum or engine turned metal or in this case,

I'm gonna use this plastic pick guard material like you see on electric guitars. This is gonna be cool and this is how to put it all together,

cut your accent piece to match the opening,

then cut a duplicate piece out of steel, making it about a half inch longer on the outer edges.

Now, spot welded the steel plate to the dash, making sure it is recessed to match the thickness of the accent piece.

OK. Here's what we got.

We got our new metal filler piece welded in place. It's recessed behind the dash.

That way this accent piece fits right into the indentation fits nice. Then

the chrome trim goes around it and now we are finally ready to put some gauges in this thing,

first mark the location of your gauges

and then take a deep breath

and cut big old holes in that new metal.

Now, this my friends is a cool looking dash,

especially when you consider the piece of junk that we started out with.

Now, the only thing I have left to do is weld in these holes that I'm not gonna reuse and this thing will be ready for paint

and hopefully this gives you some ideas on how to make your gauges look unique.

Remember you're gonna be looking at them a lot. You, you might as well have something good to look at.

We'll be back after this.

Hey, welcome back. If you are driving a diesel truck or you're thinking of buying one.

Well, it's a good thing you're watching because we are about to talk your language. Now, if the rig you're driving is gasoline powered.

Well, you're gonna want to see this too because invariably when gearheads get together,

the subject of diesel comes up and what the future holds for these kind of engines.

And who knows when we're done,

you may be shopping for a diesel too.

We managed to catch up with racing legend and diesel Guru Gail Banks

and got his opinion on the present crop of diesel engines. The deal here is

we need to build a diesel which is lighter in weight.

We can reduce the torque output,

but we need to increase the power output. We need to turn the engine faster. My goal, my personal per personal goal

for diesel RPM is 7000

a diesel V8, 7000.

You can turn a reliable 7000 RPM out of one of these. I'm open,

we'll find out, stay

tuned.

I

think you can. And the basis if anybody can,

the basis for that experiment is this DX

now, it's 7000 RPM.

What kind of horse bow are we talking?

Well, I'd like to be putting eight or 901 thing about

here's the deal.

I hear you.

That's awesome. On the street

and where he saw them going in the future, what, what's going on with that? What do you see with, with biodiesel? Well, if we buy oil from the Middle East,

we send money to people who want to kill us.

If we buy biodiesel from the Midwest, we send money to ourselves

to guys we want to hang out with. There's not much of a choice there. I'm telling you, it's the only choice. We also discussed his way of building real reliable power into a diesel engine there. If we can improve air density

through higher boost through better cooling

and better ducting like this air in that piece, then we ultimately

end up with the ability to make 18 to 20% more horsepower and more torque at the same exhaust temperature at the same limit.

So if you give me anybody's tuna,

I'll kick your ass with air density. I'll make it happen.

And ultimately, that's engine durability too.

Now, I know you're probably thinking. Oh

yeah, that's great. But

is that even available? Could I have a truck like that?

Well, actually you can't because Gle Banks has finally quit dinking around

and he's building trucks that you can go out and buy

like Jack Ralph like Joe Gibbs. But Gale's trucks are diesel powered,

they're four wheel drive, they're lifted, they're broke

there. It is

it's called the Banks sidewinder all terrain.

And it sits on a six inch fab tech lift

and it rolls on 20 inch weld wheels and Toyo mud terrain tires.

The engine comes fully loaded with all the weapons from the bank's arsenal from exhaust, the inner cooler to intake to computer. It's all here.

The bumpers have been lifted and tucked for better approach and departure angles

and the fenders have been opened up to clear bigger tires. All right, here's the deal. You can go to banks and buy the truck or you can send them your truck and they'll modify it for you

or you can buy the parts from banks and build the truck yourself. So you got some options here.

Now, we're gonna take a look at some of those parts

and see if this truck lives up to the bank's name

after the break.

Welcome back to trucks.

Well, we are taking a look at this new truck

that Gail Banks is offering called the Sidewinder all Terrain. Now, if you're the type that likes to go out and just buy a truck and go play,

this is a good choice. But what about those of us that like to save a little money, do it ourselves.

Well, that's what we're gonna look at. Now, the parts you can buy to build a sidewinder of your own.

Now, Banks has rolled this into a nice big package for you. You got your four inch stainless steel exhaust.

Then you have your ram air, air inlet and all the ducting.

This is the bigger inner cooler you gotta have that.

And then for the computer, you have the six gun

and the speed loader. Now I've showed you how to put all this stuff in, in the past.

There's no reason to go into that. But what you haven't seen

is this power PD A come on,

this sits in a specially designed cradle and allows you to monitor and tune engine functions,

change power levels, check and clear diagnostic codes. Run 0 to 60 times. You name it. This allows you to literally custom tune your power train with the push of a button.

Now, it's obvious that this truck looks really good rolling down the road

and we're all familiar with the incredible power that you can get out of these engines with the bank's upgrades.

But how does it hold up off road?

That's what we're gonna find out

with my buddy, Tim Watson standing by on the tractor.

I took this rig places that no sane person would take a truck like this

and it did. Well,

we'll get out here one way or another.

Of course, you know, we got stuck

more than once,

but then again, so did the tractor,

when in doubt, get a bigger tractor?

And if I don't take it easy on the trucks that I build,

why the heck would I want to take it? Easy on a rig that somebody else built.

That's the only way to find out just how tough they are.

And guys, gay banks can build a tough truck

here. This is, this is your truck, right? Yes.

Now, is this your personal truck? It will be when it gets home

and this is your truck.

Yeah.

And after flogging and beating on this thing unmercifully,

we just cleaned it up and drove it back to the shop.

I wouldn't say without a scratch.

Uh, sorry about that paint job gail

bye.

But with no mechanical damage

and there you have it. The gale banks sidewinder all terrain

and whether you buy a turnkey or build it yourself, you can have one of these trucks. So, what are you waiting for? Get moving?

You know, everybody knows that big rigs are heavy. Heck, the front end of this thing alone weighs

more than most pickup trucks. So, how do you steer it?

How do you turn those big old tires with all that weight on there?

Ah, good question.

The answer may surprise you because it's not as high tech as you think.

This is how it works.

How it works is brought to you by Wyotech.

All right, Danny. Come on over here today's subject. Big rig, steering and front suspension.

Now, the first thing that is gonna amaze people is the size of these components, man. Look at that box. It looks like a transfer case on J

let's talk them through it here. All right, we start out with the reservoir, of course, where all our oil is stored. Um, and it sucked up by the gear pump through this line. Man, that is huge. And that's something. And at capacity there too also. All right.

And then the pressure comes out of the gear pump which comes to our steering gear. Now, is there a reason that this gear is so big just for strength or is it just an old design? They never made smaller? I think the biggest thing is we need this size, um, for what we're trying to steer as far as the load that we've got on this front end. So, yeah, we need the capacity. We need the size. Ok. Got the steering shaft coming down from the steering wheel.

Pitman arm. Look at the size of that thing. It's got some meat on it, doesn't?

It sure does. Drag link comes down to the spindle. Now, here's something that a lot of people may not know what we're talking about.

Kingpin.

Why are they still using the kingpin? You know, it does a great job for us again. We've got a pin in here that is huge. All right. And carries a load for us. Low maintenance. We've got a couple of brass bushings in here that can be replaced

again. Very low maintenance and does a great job for very strong. Yes, it is. Ok. Now I'm looking at a big IB axel. I haven't seen that since the f,

on trucks.

You know, why are they still using it, man? Low maintenance again and can carry the load that we don't even have to worry about at all. I mean, it can, it can handle the work. How heavy would you say that? A

is? Oh my. I don't know, probably two or 300 pounds.

I

want to

pick

up

you,

you got leave

springs

and you've got, you know, shackles back here. Kind of looks like a mill.

Terry

Di

no rubber bushings, not at all. Uh, low maintenance against all brass. There's two bushings in there. One in the bracket. One in the spring. That is, I mean, we just take the load off of it, pound the bushings out, back in again. We're ready to go down the road again. Very, very low maintenance. Ok. Now, the big question, you got all this stuff. This is kind of an old school steering system. It really

is. All right. How does it drive if you're in the cab, turning the wheel?

How does it feel? Does it feel like an old truck or? No, this is easy. I mean, it's like driving your car. I mean, we've got the capacity and the power and the pressure to be able to handle the weight, turn it very, very easily getting back in our loads in and out does a great job

there. You have it

that

is how it works.

This is amazing, isn't it? You would think they would have upgraded it into rack and pinion or something.

I think some guys have tried and we always come back to the same stuff.

It looks cool, man.

It's great.

You know, it seems like everybody nowadays is coming out with heat activated products from deodorant to shaving cream underwear.

So it really comes as no surprise that Quaker State has come out with a heat activated oil called Q.

And this stuff actually works better, the hotter it gets

because the heat activates the synthetic lubrication and it protects your engine better.

Sounds weird, but it actually works making this a good choice. If you tow a lot,

you can pick up Quaker State stuff at any auto parts store

that heated underwear, you're on your own for that.

If you have an S 10 and you've put a V8 in it and you need some headers for it.

We are about to make your day because Patriot exhaust systems has a special set of headers specifically designed for V8 swaps and S tens. Now, of course, these give you the flow that you're after. But

more importantly,

they are shorty design with all the right bends to actually clear everything.

These will single handedly solve one of the biggest problems with putting a V8 in an S 10.

So if you're ready to finish up that little Chevy, get it out on the road

patriot exhaust can help you out.