1928 Rpu progress

Since theres a few hambers building rpu's i figured i'd post mine.Its a 28' cowel with prefabbed doors,cab and bed.2x3 square tubing frame,40' ford frontend,Dana 44 rear with 4:00 gears and a Uni-trax locker and with big ford bolt pattern (scored for $100).327 w/350 trans,Cut top of cowel and posts off and sank in a sedan windshield frame at an angle then cut top off. I bought a few sheets of louvers at a swapmeet for $10 and sinking them in as tastefully as possible.I also used a dash cut in half for each side of the bed.It should be fun with the locker and its 92" wheelbase....The small lil booboo was the 1" mis- measurement i did when installing eng/trans,..no room for the radiator...ouch...so after a few beers,and saying screw moving the mounts 100 times to a few friends, im going to mount radiator in bed.....But the real question is should I run the fluid in frame rails or run pipe?and why?

 

That bed looks kinda cool. Are the whole bedsides curved like that, or just the stake pockets?

 

Those are interesting locations for the louvers. Are they functional?

 

Heres a pic of the bed sides then i cut an old dash in half and just used it to look better from behind,not really a stake pocket,but now you mention it i could make a pocket.The louvers are mostly for looks but are cut into cowel and tank.Im not using stock tank and also cut a door on right side of tank under dash and am using the cavity in the tank as a glove box.

 

Looking great,
Id run seperate tubes for coolant..just to avoid leaks/sealing problems, and your chassis rails corroding from inside out over time aint something Id want to have in my mind as i drove it!

 

that is really cool - any more pix on how you set up the front end?

thanks
- Joe

 

Jason, you can run aluminum hard line, for feed and return. You could probably mount on the inside of your frame rail. If you need any help give me a call.
Jimmy White

 

Has the mill got a short water pump on it?

If not there's your 2".

 

Thanks guys,heres a pic of the frontend,just piecut the outside of the wishbone and pulled the cut shut to keep the front spring.I'll definately call you Jimmy if I run into any snags,gonna hit the wrecking yards this week and look for a radiator.As always its a budget build...I figure when im done i'll have $2500 into this.

 

Thanks for sharing and by the looks sofar...its spot on. Please keep us posted, during progress ! If possible, I'd like to see some full side shots, thanks.
/ primerkid

 

Looks great! -- a real artistic eye for detail. Nice proportions, too.

Look at a Fiero and Fiat X-19 and see what they do for the coolant transfer tube question: sizes, fiittings, insulation, vibration isolation. Then, scale up cross-sectional area of the tubing in proportion to your hp. Maybe you won't do exactly what they do, but it will give you a few extra ideas to work with when you engineer it yourself.

--Matt

 

How about a cross flow radiator disguised as a tailgate????

Charlie

 

nice work!

 

You could always chop a cylinder off the motor and go to a Buick or Chevy V6,....... or not.
Craig

 

Heres a side shot,still fitting things.It would be real easy runnin fluid in the frame but i'd probably be paranoid and change the fluids every 4 months .Any idea of what diameter tubing i can get away with?Im thinking a little smaller than the inlet outlet on radiator because less diameter less strain on pump and theres going to be an extra gallon or more so i can get away with it??