Recent content by TubularFab

This weekend's work achieved an important goal - I was able to finally prove out my ideas on how the body, chassis, and suspension would fit together. Up until this step I was relying heavily on some crude measurements, a lot of thinking, and a lot of luck to make this 3 dimensional puzzle work...

This cab is really rotted out pretty bad, which was why I decided to shorten it at the bottom. This is a good thing, as I'm not sure I would have been willing to do so much cutting on a good cab! I trimmed about 6" off all the way around, though in areas it barely required cutting. Here are...

I've been really busy on about everything BUT this project. But, I was able to put some time in this weekend on the chassis. The main rail components are now in place, and I think it's looking pretty cool. For fixturing I drilled holes in the concrete and installed 1/2-13 female threaded...

And I thought I was going over the top heavy with my F250/350 twin I beam sourced front end! That's a serious front axle!

Well, I’m afraid paying work had to take priority the last couple of weeks, but I finally got a little time to work on the international this weekend. A lot of time was spent dismantling the hastily tacked together “test fit” I created a few weeks ago. I now have the short spacer tubes (like...

Kenny - I will be using sleeves at the joints, and hide a bit of a fish plate on the back side as well. My bender only has about 10' of travel for the indexer, and things fall apart quickly when you try to do this without the indexer. In fact, the rear tubes are just a bit too long, and I'm...

Tubing has been bought, cut, and bent. It’s officially under construction now! It’s a less conventional design for sure. Using 2” schedule 40 pipe (2.375” OD x .154 wall) and mandrel bending it. It will fit around the outside of the cab. Doing some of that engineering stuff tells me that the...

The home brew block vat was quite successful! It came out very clean and now has paint on the outside and WD40 on the inside. This is major progress towards assembling it! After pulling the block out I set a front timing cover in the hot vat. It had grease 1/2 thick on it (diesel grease - very...

I have been pondering these same issues on the International I am finally starting to work on. I have drawn up jackshafts with chains, belts, transfer cases, and V-drives. But now I'm moving forward with everything conventional and a longer truck than I wanted. I have also thought about the...

I'm back to doing the frame rails in round, mandrel bent tubing. Mandrel bending is the niche that my fab shop specializes in, so I have to utilize it some! Looking at doing a pair of 3" OD tubes per side, doubled up to basically make a 3 x 6 rail. I am going to channel the outside of the cab...

I have had no luck finding a place willing to put this block in a wheelabrator. Nor have I been able to find a local shop to vat it. So I soaked it down with naval jelly and got most of the rust off inside and out. But - I wasn’t happy with it - it did not not want to clean off afterward! So...

Yes - I had figured I’d want enough overdrive to be able to cruise at about 1800 rpms - to preserve the engine and my hearing at highway speed. But I’m not too concerned about that part for now. I have the part number for kit to swap 4&5 when the time comes. Also - though I was aware that 2500...

Well, it's about 3 years later so this project should be long done and logging miles, right? Well, it hasn't really changed much I'm afraid. Too much time working and commuting - and on top of that I had projects I needed to do for other people that kept me from putting time in on this. No...

Yep - they are loud, but I like the sound. I reserve the right to change that opinion in the future! I was planning on using the "baby" Road Ranger 10 speed transmission I acquired at the same time as the engine, but it's just not fitting so well. It is really wide and tall, and takes up just...

Thanks everyone. I am definitely not going to be using the front end sheetmetal on this build - the goal is to have a very "mechanical" look on this project. My last project car had cycle fenders 1/2" off the front tires, and that was too much front sheetmetal! So, if you know anyone looking...