Nice shots man, arb is looking good.

Which projectors did you decide to go with again? I remember you posting on the GB thread.

i was just trying to encourage people to get in on these bad ass projectors! i'm old school with the FXR2.0's. Still working great after ~3 years of service!

no suggestions on the hotter temperatures when bogging through the slushy snow eh? well i've been thinking replacing with an electric cooling fan might be good for her even before this incident today (the only getting warm incident I've ever had) i'm concerned enough i may just do it.....

Lol i didn't even seen your question, i was too busy looking at pictures. Have you flushed the coolant recently? I've never had that experience, or any snow experience here in socal. But it would seem about right that it would heat up after not gaining traction, electric fans is a real possible fix or something might have gotten caught in the condensor/radiator?

id go to an auto parts store, and buy a "T" fitting that allows you to hook up your garden hose to the cooling system, and flush your cooling system. basically you cut one of the coolant system hoses that run into the fire wall for your heater core. and you install the "T" valve(best to do it at its highest spot), and then use the hose clamps provided and put it all back together -if you need or want help doing this i can help. i pull the lower drain on the radiator and turn the hose on and start the truck, turn the heater on full, and let the system flush. i do this 3 or 4 times over a period of a week. then drain radiator and fill with straight coolant. there is enough water in the block that the 100% coolant in the radiator will fully mix with the water in a day or so to give you your mix of 60/40.

depending on what comes out of your cooling system or how well the flush works you might want to invest in a new radiator. i think they are only like $100 so its not a huge cost. i just replaced mine this past spring as i had a leak in the top core cap. -also not a bad time to install a external trans cooler

my radiator fluid tests good, it has been a couple of years since i replaced it... the radiator i replaced ~5 years ago (the top of it was leaking) like "the Kid" was talking about...

so what i'm taking away from this is it is NOT Normal to heat up like this... alright so i'll have to start poking and prodding......

oky doky, the B&M "super cooler" is installed! i attached an R1 Engine cooling fan to the back of it also (whoever recommended that, i thank you!) i was going to pull the transmission pan and clean up the filter also, but the cooler was such a pain in the ass that i called it quits, for fear of being too pissed off and screwing that up somehow.....

So the bottom part of my radiator shroud wasn't bolted to the radiator anymore, the plastic loop looks like it just broke on the end, so a giant washer is holding it in place now, hopefully that addresses the heating up when i was 'Snow Bogging' i'll have to put it to the test soon

any off road trips in the Portland / Vancouver area planned?

Deck-mod and ECT button / Rear Window button lights replaced!

Is it just me or does the deck mod make the throttle response seam allot faster?

i'll take a picture when the sun goes down so my perdy white lights can be seen

Next is the A/C button then maybe clean up the Dust and Dirt that I've been neglecting....

So the mysterious oil leak, was a cracked valve cover (Left side on the very back top bolt) so i couldn't see it leaking from there under the intake manifold.... 130$ later from Rockauto.com i have a shiny new Valve Cover that's not leaking.



Next non-repair project is a roof rack. I've been prowling the build threads and asking lots of questions (thanks to those that answered my nagging) and this weekend is the start of the build!! :

Perfect 45 degree angle!


and i tac-welded together a 'proof of concept' today:




The biggest challenge has been keeping everything at the proper angles, and vertical supports the correct length and tube notches equally deep (i'm just using an angle grinder). So the learning curve continues.... will have to disassemble this pictured test assembly to start welding the actual pieces soon! now beer-thirty & Kalbi marinated Steak!!



Or maybe some 10 Year old Bourbon....

An Afternoon of welding... my oh my lots of touch up work is needed....





Not going to do a full length rack because i don't think i need that much capacity... well i hope i don't at this point. Anybody want to try and sell me on needing a full length rack in the last minutes?

Ah, that takes me back. Lots of fun, isn't it? Looking good so far.

One of the reasons I went with a full length rack is that I wanted to put lights on the front of it, and I didn't want the lights behind the sunroof.

I can see how lights behind the sunroof would be annoying, the glare alone is reason enough. i'm going to put 2 lights on each side of the rack, facing at angles, back will be angled back and front angled forward, they are the "Tuff LED's" 27 watt's a piece, square, from Amazon, this is a picture of 1 light on: (borrowed image from the interweb)

Plenty of light for the sides and back i think, and i'll have 6 total, 2 on each side and 2 on the back, i already have 2 spot lights up front, with the FXR Projectors it gives the front A TON of light, so far i haven't needed more than that up front.

Bottom section Nearly ALL WELDED! just need to wire, measure, cut, weld the top. Progress! And then start on the roof attachment, going to copy Soco's Mount

Well after a wiring cluster-f**k, i pulled all the wires out, and continued assembly and will save the wiring until just before i'm ready for primer & paint, hopefully it'll go smoothly then because i won't be able to see what i'm doing at that stage of the assembly. I attached the top rails today! probably be awhile before i work on this again, need to find / fix a mysterious oil leak....


picture of today's progress:

Well when it's too cold to paint outside / in the garage, into the dinning room!



Wiring was a *****! but got it done, all the lights are in hand, will be wired and installed as soon as paint is is done.